It's March! It's time to start your (indoor) garden and plan your summer bounty

CATHY WURZER: Today, March the 1, marks the first day of meteorological spring. And despite the slushy conditions outside my window, that's got me dreaming of greener days ahead. And I'm not alone. Our gardening expert Meg Cowden is way ahead of me, plotting her spring garden. Meg is the author of Plant, Grow, Harvest, Repeat, and founder of the Modern Garden Guild. She's here with us to talk about [SIGHS] what to expect this spring. I'm so sick of it. I'm really excited about spring, Meg. How are you?

MEG COWDEN: Hi, Cathy. It's great to be back. Thanks for having me.

CATHY WURZER: OK. So you look out the window, and you're thinking to yourself, Oh, my goodness. Let's get this going here. Let's start thinking about gardening. What are you doing to celebrate today?

MEG COWDEN: Yeah, it's snowing again, isn't it? It's snowing outside the window right now. Umm, I like to start my gardening season on February 28 with a lot of indoor seeds. And this is like a mental head game, right? Like I could have started them today, but somehow saying I started them on February 28 feels a whole heck of a lot cooler.

[LAUGHS]

But there are some things that really do need a little extra time. So I've got quite a few things growing under my grow lights already. I planted about 200 different seeds yesterday, over like four different trays that are now just sitting under some heat mats in the dark, they're going to slowly germinate here this week. So there's a lot going on inside.

CATHY WURZER: I have attempted to start plants from seeds and have failed every single time. Are the grow mats the way to go?

MEG COWDEN: So for germination, yes. In my book I've got this chart about how different seed types will germinate in different soil conditions. So for example, something like spinach, we had talked about this last fall, spinach can germinate like in cold, cold soil. Also spinach seeds when my soils read about 40 degrees in spring, they might take 15 days to germinate at that temperature.

But when you sow them in ideal temperatures, which is usually about 75 to 80 for almost all seeds, they'll germinate in about two days. So having that seed map, it basically all we're doing is mimicking summer under the potting soil inside. That's one factor, Cathy. The other factor is light. Don't expect to grow great tomatoes if you're trying to grow them in your kitchen windowsill, or a south facing window. That is not strong enough light.

So even the simplest thing like a shop light from a home improvement store with half cool white and half warm white lights, so you want to do one of each, would be a huge step. And that's the next step in seed starting if you're really getting serious about it and curious.

CATHY WURZER: Ah, OK. Yes, I did not do that.

[LAUGHTER]

Seed buying can be, I think, overwhelming for a new gardener. How do you suggest folks get started?

MEG COWDEN: Oh, that's a really good question. It can be overwhelming. I am really partial locally. I really love botanical interests seeds and Bachman's have really great displays of them. I know the owners, actually I know the new owner who just bought the company, they're all great people.

And I would really start with thinking, what do I want to eat in summer and work back from there. You're going to want to look at days to maturity a little bit. I mean, if someone like you, Cathy, and you just want to buy some seeds and try growing things, I would steer people towards herbs and beans. Things like arugula and lettuces. Things that you can just so in the garden when our soils warm-up and the snow disappears sometime in April or whenever it's going to happen this year.

CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS] Whenever that is. I know that seed starting and seed sharing have gotten pretty popular. Can you explain for folks what those are. They sound pretty self-evident.

MEG COWDEN: Yeah, well, do you mean seed saving and seed sharing or seed starting?

CATHY WURZER: Yeah. Seed saving and seed sharing, excuse me. Thank you.

MEG COWDEN: Yep, yep. So a lot of people are into this and it's great. So a lot of seeds we can save like any of my prairie seeds out front, my milkweed, my black-eyed Susans, my echinacea, all of those seeds will grow true. So if I gather those seeds in the fall when they're dry, I can throw them in an envelope and share them with people.

And it's a great way of really spreading around what is. Seeds are naturally abundant in nature. And yes, we have seed companies, and I am a supporter of as many different seed companies as I can buy from, even if they're seeds I could be saving myself. So some of my tomatoes I like to grow, I can't save the seed because they're a hybrid variety.

So the only vegetable and flower seeds we can save that will grow out the same year over year have to be what are called open pollinated varieties. And the seed pack will say that. So to be careful. I would say the best places to start would be beans, if someone wants to try saving seeds this year. Zinnias, things like Cosmos, but steer clear of your pumpkins, and your squashes, and cucumbers, because they have male and female flowers.

And so the pollinators that we rely on, the squash bees and things like that, are promiscuous, they go from flower to flower. And so very often you'll get what's a hybrid, not the hybrid that a horticulturist makes. But the hybrid would be whatever the bees did in your garden and you'll get something that's crossed, right. You'll get a pumpkin that looks nothing like the pumpkin you ate.

CATHY WURZER: Got it. Oh, my goodness. OK. So is it too late to start seeds right now? It sounds like you just started. So I mean, if someone were to run out and get some grow lights and some mats you could probably maybe launch into something before it does warm up.

MEG COWDEN: Yeah. I think unfortunately, we've got some time before it warms up. So [LAUGHS] that's in everyone's favor this year. I think now is a great time. I think March is a great month to think about seed starting. So if people want to try their own tomato varieties, March until very early April would be a great time to sow seeds like that.

Things like cabbages and broccoli would be another great thing to sow this month and transplant out. Onions, I'm going to be sowing more onions this week. I have already onions started, but I'm going to add some more. I love, can't get enough onions in our kitchen. So there's lots of opportunity.

And then there's a whole bunch of seeds that you can just wait and that mature very quickly that don't need to be started indoors. And that's probably the easiest and most friendly way. But if someone wants to get really their hands on some dirt in March, I would recommend good light and tomatoes. Peppers too, although they can be a little finickier. I have a troubled relationship with my peppers, but they always persevere come June when they're actually in the garden.

CATHY WURZER: See before you go, I love the fact that you incorporate life lessons into the gardening lessons that you offer. So because this is the first day of meteorological spring, you reflecting on anything specific?

MEG COWDEN: This winter I got very sick and had to really slow down and really embrace a true rest, and it was really hard. But what came out of it was this renewed sense of creativity that I haven't felt since before my dad died. But I feel like this extended snowfall that we're having is an opportunity for all of us to just really not go into higher than second gear for a little while still. And just embrace even though it's meteorological spring, I'm still embracing winter. Because it's not over, we all know that.

[LAUGHS]

CATHY WURZER: It's not over. That little warming blip that we had was a false spring for sure. So thank you.

MEG COWDEN: Yeah.

CATHY WURZER: Thank you. I always appreciate hearing from you. You're fantastic. Thank you so much, Meg.

MEG COWDEN: Thank you, Cathy. Talk to you soon.

CATHY WURZER: Absolutely. That was Meg Cowden, author of Plant, Grow, Harvest, Repeat. She's also the founder of the Modern Garden Guild. You can find her tips on her website seedtofork.com.