When to Plant

First, what do you, your students, or school community want to plant? Once you have your list, you can plan to plant your crops during the earliest possible planting times. But when will you and your students get to eat your crop? Look up the “days to harvest” for each vegetable. That will tell you how long it will take to grow until it’s ready to pick and eat. The packet usually states whether the seeds need to be started indoors or outdoors. 

Here’s FONA’s planting plan spreadsheet that has easy-to-grow vegetables and their days to harvest as well as planting dates listed.

Prepare Where You’ll Plant

Depending on what you’d like to do with your green space, it may be beneficial to leave it be (for now)! If you have perennial flowering plants (ones that come back every year), leave them. They will reemerge in spring. Leaving the dried brush, stems and leaves (natural mulch) is beneficial to keep the soil living. It also provides food and shelter for critters (birds, insects, and more!) trying to survive the winter. Once temperatures get warmer and new leaves emerge, that’s a sign to prune dead matter to allow for new growth.

If your students want to grow annuals like vegetables and herbs, it is time to start cutting down old plants, weeds, and cover crop (remember to cut, not pull out!). Add a layer of newspaper or cardboard to suppress weed growth. Then add 2 to 3 inches of compost on top for nutrients and moisture retention. The area is now ready for planting.

This is how to add to rather than deplete your soils. Mimic nature by always adding (and cycling) organic matter in your planting space. Think of organic matter as adding life to your soil.