GARDENING GREEN WITH DOUG
Spring Planting
by Doug Oster
March 18, 2025
On a warm spring day, honeybees emerge from their hives searching for the first taste of nectar from the earliest spring blooming plants. Their legs are covered with orange pollen as they fly through a bed of snowdrops, stopping at each bloom to feed. Sitting in the garden, listening to the sound of buzzing wings and watching them methodically visit the flowers is a welcome sight after a particularly brutal winter.
Even though gardeners are chomping at the bit to get to work, turning over the soil cannot be rushed. It’s human nature on a 60-degree day to rush out to the garden, but if the soil is too wet, digging will only destroy the soil structure. If the dirt sticks to the shovel, wait until the garden dries out before digging or tilling. Working in soil that’s too wet will result in clumps which will dry to the consistency of old bricks and persist in the garden all season.
The traditional first day of outdoor planting is St. Patrick’s Day, with peas being the customary first seeds in the ground. Other cool weather crops like beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce, arugula, Swiss chard and other greens can also be sowed the same day.
These varieties don’t care about frost and by March 17th, there’s nothing Mother Nature has left to stop them.
If the soil is too moist, dumping a couple of bags of compost from the local garden center over a bed will provide the perfect planting medium. There’s no digging needed, the seeds can be gently pushed into the compost or dropped into a shallow depression and covered with a little more of the planting medium.
Compost provides everything the plants need to thrive and it should be added to every planting area when the time is right for planting.
The tender crops like tomatoes, peppers, beans, cucumbers and many others don’t go in the ground until mid-May.
Starting seeds
One way to start seeds is inside under lights. There are a variety of LED lights available locally and good light is the key to starting those tomatoes, peppers and other crops.
Many gardeners try to start seeds on the windowsill. The seeds will germinate, but them become spindly (leggy) without strong light.
To get started, get some planting mix, flats and containers with drainage. In my operation, I save the six packs from last year’s flowers. The containers are filled with a pre-moistened mix. The perfect texture holds together when squeezed but doesn’t drip. The seeds are sprinkled on to the mix, then a little more of the mix is laid on top and pressed in to assure good contact between seed and soil. Then, cover the entire container with clear plastic and keep in a warm spot until germination begins. The plastic is removed and in a couple weeks. Start liquid fertilization at half strength, then two weeks later use the full concentration as prescribed on the label.
There are many reasons to start from seed. It saves money but also provides an amazing selection of unique varieties.
Nurseries and garden centers do a great job providing a wide variety of plants for gardeners, but they can’t grow everything.
Another wonderful aspect of growing from seed are all the extra plants which can be given to friends. Sharing is in the DNA of most gardeners, whether it's plants or information.
Winter sowing
If inside seed starting isn’t for you, try this winter sowing technique. Take a one-gallon milk or water jug and cut around the container horizontally until reaching the handle. Leaving a small uncut area creates a hinge.
Drill some holes in the bottom of the container and then fill it with moist planting mix.
Sprinkle seeds on the mix, push them in, and then barely cover them with more mix and close the lid.
The container can be put outside, and the seeds will sprout when they are ready. Everything from the cool weather crops to the tender seeds can be planted this way.
Other options for containers include the plastic clam shells from the grocery store. Anything that’s transparent or translucent with a lid and drainage will work.
There is a certain satisfaction to watching a tiny seed reach fruition in just a season. It’s one of the reasons gardening is so much fun.
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Doug’s Pittsburgh Preservation Project offers free seeds for Pittsburgh heirloom tomatoes.
The Pittsburgh Preservation Project aims at perpetuating three different Pittsburgh heirloom tomatoes.
Gardeners send a self-addressed stamped envelope to get the seeds, then grow the variety out, save the seed and send some back to Doug.
The project began in 2000 with the ‘Limbaugh Legacy Potato Top’ tomato. Introduced to Doug by the late Fred Limbaugh, this large (1-2 lbs.), pink, thin skinned, meaty tomato is considered by many as one of the best tasting tomatoes, with a strong, old-fashioned flavor.
‘3945’ tomato was discovered during WWII by the late Joe Roberts from the South Hills. His unit was crossing a field of tomatoes and the soldiers started eating the fruit. Joe thought it was the best tasting tomato he ever had. He stuffed a few seeds in his pocket and eventually got them back to Pittsburgh. For the next 70 years he grew out the variety, sharing them with gardening friends.
‘Dr. Jim Snow’ tomato is named for the late New Castle dentist. This large round beefsteak won a local competition for the tastiest tomato.
Here's how to get some seeds and be part of the project.
Doug is taking gardeners to London this May on a direct flight to see the Chelsea Flower Show and the gardens of the city. Information about the trip is here.
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Host of "In Doug's Garden" on CBS KDKA-TV Streaming
Host of the Talking Trees podcast for The Davey Tree Expert Company
Consultant for Farm to Table Buy Fresh Buy Local
Columnist for Pittsburgh Earth Day's "The Green Voice"
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