Soil temperature is directly related to the length of time it takes a seed to germinate. In areas with slowly warming soils such as the Klamath Basin, starting seeds indoors is a more valuable tool than in other locations.

When it’s time to move those seedlings outside, not all vegetables will respond to transplanting equally. In general, tap-rooted plants such as carrots, parsley, beets and turnips don’t transplant as easily as plants with other types of root systems. Take this into consideration when you are determining your strategy for which seeds to start indoors and which you will direct-seed and therefore need to protect at some point in the spring. Plants started indoors will need to be acclimated for the colder temps when they are moved outside.

For more details on planting and harvest times as well as general vegetable gardening info for Oregon, see Vegetable Gardening in Oregon, an OSU Extension publication that includes planting recommendations by geographic regions.

If you reference this guide, you’ll see that the early outdoor planting times for the Klamath Basin is April, but some dedicated gardeners will start seeds indoors earlier to be able to transplant at that time.

Following is a closer look at some of the easier cold-hardy vegetables to try. If you have children interested in gardening, these easy and fast-maturing veggies tend to keep kids’ interest — and are easy to incorporate into meals.

Carrots

Usually directly seeded, carrot seed is tiny and can be hard to distribute evenly. It is common to seed thickly, then thin out some of the plants so the others have enough room.

Don’t overlook the importance of thinning. You can continue to thin as the carrots grow, harvesting some while small and leaving others to grow.

Carrots don’t compete with weeds very well — weeding is important. They also need soft, well-worked soil so the root tip can easily journey deeper into the soil for nicely shaped carrots. Carrots can be grown in containers or raised beds.

Chard

Incredibly colorful and cold hardy, chard grabs kids’ interest and is loaded with nutrients. Roasting it in the oven creates a sweet flavor or incorporate it with stir-fried veggies for both eye and crunch appeal.

Chard has few growing challenges in Klamath other than leaf miners — detect them early and they are easy to control by pinching affected leaves off the plant and destroying them. Chard can be started indoors or out. For both chard and spinach, covering a bed in black plastic and planting through holes to warm the soil in early spring may be beneficial.

Spinach

Grow this one by direct seed or transplant, depending on your situation. Crinkly leaved varieties tend to be much harder to clean if the wind blows grit and dirt around in your garden.

Spinach grows quickly and can be harvested in small amounts almost continuously if there is enough sunlight. A possible challenge with spinach is its tendency to bolt when there is a big difference between the night low and daytime high temperature.

Bolting is when the plant switches gears from growing leaves to producing flowers. Protecting spinach plants from cold at night can help reduce bolting and therefore increase production, even if the protection is not strictly necessary to keep the plants from freezing.

You can also pinch off the flower stalks as they are developing to encourage the plants to develop more leaves. The success of this method seems to be variable.

In the kitchen, a layer of freshly picked spinach leaves adds vitamins and subtracts guilt from a frozen pizza on those crazy nights when a quick and easy meal is in order.

Lettuce

Loose leaf lettuces are easier to grow in the home garden. Newer blended-variety seed packets are popular and easy to maintain with frequent cutting. Seed thickly and thin out plants as needed.

Many leaf lettuces are “cut and come again,” and the grower will be able to get several harvests from a relatively small patch until the plants eventually bolt in the summer in the same manner as spinach.

There is some evidence that red-leaved lettuce varieties are less prone to bolting. Lettuce can tolerate some shade outdoors, but additional lighting will be necessary for indoor growing if anything more than an “incidental” harvest is desired.

Radish

The secret to sweeter radishes is a consistent supply of water — those that dry out too much tend to be much hotter/spicier. Radishes are one of the fastest maturing of all vegetables and come in a variety of shapes and colors, not just the red and white ones found at grocery stores.

Like many root vegetables, roasting in the oven makes their flavor sweeter and potentially more palatable to children.

Succession planting is recommended for many vegetables in gardening books but can be hard to achieve in areas with short growing seasons like the Klamath Basin. Radishes can be planted a few at a time, even in corners or other small spaces in the garden, and harvested both in warm and cool temperatures.

A common consideration for all of these early season vegetables is that they are smaller plants that might be easier to manage in containers, raised beds or patio spaces. Many of our warm-season vegetables tend to sprawl considerably (melons, pumpkins, beans) or need large areas of planting for pollination (corn). If you are limited to indoor growing, any of the leafy greens mentioned above — chard, spinach, or lettuce — will be more likely to succeed than the root vegetables.

Even for those with plenty of space, small-space gardening methods make a lot of sense for those of us who will continually need to guard plants against the elements. It’s far easier to lay tarps or clear plastic over a small, square patch than several long rows. It’s easier to open and shut the lid of a cold frame right next to the house when there is six inches of snow in the yard than when the cold frame is out in the back of the yard. Happy planting!

Source: extension.oregonstate.edu