What Seeds to Start in Winter So You'll Be Ready to Grow in Spring • Gardenary (2024)

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seed starting

seeds

winter garden

kale

spinach

swiss chard

January

february

herbs you can start from seed

herbs

leafy greens

The Top Seeds to Start in Winter Include Leafy Greens & Herbs

It's very much in the middle of winter right now where I live, and while it might seem strange to push seeds into a growing medium while it's snowing outside, that's exactly what I'm going to do!

Even if the last thing you're thinking about in January or February is the garden, it's actually a great time to start seeds indoors for frost-hardy leafy greens and for slow-to-get-started herbs. That way, as soon as the weather is right, you can move your seedlings outdoors and maximize their time in the garden—which means more leafy harvests for you!

Here are the seeds I recommend starting indoors now:

• Kale
• Spinach
• Swiss Chard
• Chives
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Parsley
• Oregano
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Thyme

Kale Can Be Started Indoors by Seed in Winter

Kale is a plant that you could wait and direct sow in the garden as soon as your soil is workable. However, I'm usually itching to start harvesting kale leaves for my morning smoothies as soon as the weather warms a bit, so I like to get a jump start on the kale growing season. Starting kale seeds indoors in early winter is the way to go.

These plants are fairly frost tolerant (some varieties more so than others), and should last you from early spring to late fall if you live in a colder climate, and year round if you live in a warmer climate.

I'm starting my favorites and some new fun varieties this year I purchased from Baker Creek. (By the way, this isn't a sponsored post or anything. I buy these seeds with my own money. I'll put the non-affiliate links here in case you want to shop any of these too.) The kale seeds I started include:

• Dazzling Blue Kale
• Scarlet Kale
• Dwarf Siberian Kale
• Toscana Kale
• Red Russian Kale

Tips to Sow Kale Seeds

Kale seeds are tiny. My method may not be the best etiquette-wise, but I like to lick my finger to wet it and then use it to pick up one or two kale seeds at a time. Try to put only one kale seed per cell in your seed starting tray or per soil block. You'll thank yourself later for slowing down now and separating your seeds out—because thinning out kale seedlings is a pain, trust me.

Spinach Seeds Can Be Started Indoors Now

It's time to start seeds for one of my favorite greens, and that is spinach. If you've never had spinach straight from the garden, this is your year to fall in love with spinach. It is so sweet and delicious when you get to cut it and eat it right away, and is there anything worse than paying like $7 for a bag of organic spinach leaves only for it to rot in the back of your fridge? I've done that too many times, but that doesn't happen when we're growing our own and harvesting leaves as needed.

Spinach grows really well when it's direct seeded in the garden, but you can always start spinach seeds indoors to get a head start on your homegrown salads. As soon as your soil is workable, you can begin sowing more seeds outdoors since spinach is so frost hardy.

My favorite kind of spinach to grow is Bloomsdale Long Standing spinach—highly recommend! I'm also planting Monstrueux de Viroflay spinach.

Tips to Sow Spinach Seeds

Spinach seeds look like little pebbles. Do your best to put one seed in each cell or soil block. A tip to help you keep track of which cells you've already planted is to wait to cover the seeds until you're done. That way you can avoid missing any cells or double planting.

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Swiss Chard Can Be Started Now and Makes a Great Frost-Hardy Plant

Swiss chard is a very prolific leafy green. It grows from early spring all the way until a really heavy frost finally takes it out. There's not a lot other than heavy frost that can kill Swiss chard.

I'm planting Five Color Silverbeet Swiss Chard, which I picked so that I can end up with lots of different colors of stems if I start lots of seeds. The directions on the back of the seed pack do say to sow in place, but I've always had success transplanting Swiss chard to get a jump on the season, especially since Swiss chard can be slow to germinate and take off.

Tips to Sow Swiss Chard Seeds

Swiss chard can take 14 to 21 days to sprout, so I recommend not starting it in the same tray as plants that are much faster to sprout. When you share a tray with different seeds, you want to make sure you're growing similar types of plants. Since Swiss chard and spinach are in the same family, you could have them share a tray, even though their germination time is not exactly the same (spinach will likely sprout by day 14).

Herbs Started Now Will Be Ready for Spring Planting

Some of the herbs on this last take a while to germinate and grow into a plant that's large enough to move into the garden, so it's best to start them now so that you have plenty of time for them to mature indoors. I wrote a whole separate post on the herbs you can start easily from seed indoors now—check that post out for more info on each herb and planting tips.

Herb Seeds to Start Indoors

• Chives
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Parsley
• Oregano
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Thyme

Tips to Start Seeds Indoors in Winter

If you live somewhere warmer, January and February might also be the time to start your warm-season plants indoors. Find the steps to figure out when you should start certain seeds indoors here.

• Moisten yourseed starting mixin a bowl so that it's ready to be a good medium for the seeds.
• Fill up yourseed starting traywith the moistened mix.
• Plant seeds in each row and label the row with the plant type and date planted.
• Return extra seeds to their package and keep handy in case seeds in certain cells don't germinate.
• Water the seed trays from the bottom, and cover your trays with a seed starting dome or plastic so you don't let your seed starting medium dry out as your seeds germinate.
• Put your tray under grow lights as soon as you see signs of growth. I like to go ahead and put my seeds under lights so that they feel light on them the moment they sprout.
• Keep grow lights on for 12 to 14 hours a day.

Make sure to harden off your seedlings before moving them outdoors for good.

Enjoy Loads of Herbs and Leafy Greens This Spring!

Now is the time to start these three leafy greens and your favorite herbs from seed so that you can fill your garden this spring. In just 4 to 6 weeks, you'll have plants that you can move out to the garden, some even before the threat of frost has passed.

I hope this inspires you to order your seeds and get some plants started indoors right away. You'll be so glad you did when you're snipping your first leaf harvest.

Thanks for growing with me!