Now!

I am often asked, "When is it the best time in the season to sow seeds?" Since, I am a youth gardener I am going to reframe the question as "When is it the best time in the season to sow seeds with my kids?" The answer in my opinion is any time. . .really.

Nothing replaces the opportunity to bury seeds and caring for it until it pops up before your eyes. There is so much to learn from such a simple experience. If you are looking to tend for the fledging plant long-term then of course thinking about whether the plant is hardy, a cool season or warm season crop or when it normally blooms are all factors to consider. But I would love to see families passionately, gone bonkers over planting any and every kind of seed on which they can get their hands. Do not plant one of each type like some sowing prude, but sow the whole packet, sow hundreds of them!

Now, I know what you are asking in the back of your mind, "Yeah but what about if the plant dies because we planted it so late or too early or we did not have the time to take care of it?" My answer again is good! There is a lesson there too. Why do plants die? How do we know it was a live in the first place? I live by the maxim I learned from a college prof of mine, "A dead plant in the garden is an opportunity not a failure, an opportunity for something else."

Posted by Josh Steffen