Hello! My name is Bethany and I grow things insides and outside of my home in Chicago.
In today’s video, I’ll go over my planting schedule for my garden this year.
Overall Schedule:
March 1 – direct sowing cool weather crops
April 3 & April 17 – starting warm weather seeds indoors
May 15 – direct sowing warm weather seeds outdoors and planting the warm weather seeds started inside
Scheduling app: From Seed to Spoon (they also have a YouTube channel!)
My Seed Schedule video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R86rutTSx4
Link to seed schedule doc for you to use: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t1i8a3wyus8KFCjSkz0aVf5MI9hIMM8l7JXda_zbktY/edit#gid=0
Winter Sowing Videos:
For daily updates, follow me on Instagram @chicagogardener
14 Comments
Yes out here in the far western suburbs we have use Mothers Day as a safe time to plant too. However over the last several years I have had to cover my newly planted flowers so now I wait an extra week or so. Got tired of seeing sheets all over my beds lol.
Great video. Thanks for the helpful information 👍🏾
I'm so glad,I found someone who gardens in Chicago. Im Chicago westside garden. Loving my tulips: You gave me the courage to try again with my tulips in pots. The first try I didn't cover them lost 99 tulips. The weather was very harsh. I had 100 one was rotten (lol). The snow was heavy and hard. I wish, I could send you a picture. I was going to give up until, I saw your; You Tube video, and you live in Chicago too.🤗🤗🤗. This time I covered them up. Crossing my fingers.🤞🤞⚘⚘
I also resonate on the colder weather cozy mentality. I love to be warm and cozy too! However I find that our SoCal summers can get too hot and the bugs are more active, so I try to make the most of prepping my garden for the warmer season.
A lot of good information Bethany. I have a spreadsheet too. It’s my first time using it. I’m sure it will be very helpful. Thanks for sharing your schedule with us!
I'm in NW Indiana. My Grandma always told me it was safe to plant after the first full moon after Mother's Day!
I use a little notebook for a "gardening diary". That way, anything that is a repeat from last year, I can reference when I started the seed, when I transplanted, what containers I used.
Yeah I've also seen YouTubers start seeds too early. It's too risky/not worth it. I love the lilac (??) color of your shirt. One of my favorite colors
I am also in Chicagoland area, I always go by zone 5? South side a mile away from Indiana.
I loved this information! I'm a new gardener (although I've helped my mother garden growing up), I've never started one from scratch myself. Doing the research and seeing so so many people starting seeds in January and February is a bit overwhelming, so to see this so easily laid out and comforting that I am not too late to still start is awesome!!
I’ve found it baffling and unfortunate that so many of the frost Deere dates are way more F’d.
Surely, it’s not a marketing ploy 🤦♀️ if BB stores sel plants and people plant them, it will set the plants back or cause death….then they’ll have to replant.
Anyway, I thought it was poor info when so many were just breaking into gardening.
You are awesome! Thanks for sharing your spreadsheet, this will be very helpful 🙂
Wow, this was so helpful. I always feel so overwhelmed when watching other videos. Yours was perfect.
I'm from Western Europe in a similar climate. My mom remembers that when she was little, her grandma would always tell her that the "cold Sophie" (name day) would have to pass prior to planting anything outdoors. Coincidentally, the name day for Sophie is May 15, and so we also always wait until then!