First Days of Spring — Here’s What I’m Doing on the Farm
Happy first day of spring from Gotta Getta Goat Farm! If you’re anything like me, you’ve been watching the calendar since February, sneaking peeks at your seed stash and mentally sketching out garden beds while the ground was still frozen. Well, today’s the day we officially get to stop pretending and start doing.
I’m a working mom in upstate New York and every spring I have to make peace with the same truth: I have more garden ambition than I have hours in the day. So over the years I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing exactly where to focus my energy first, and when to let the rest wait.
Today I’m sharing how I’m thinking about the season ahead seeds, layout, and all. Grab a coffee.
First: a reality check on the ground
March 20th in Cambridge, New York is beautiful on the calendar and still pretty humbling in real life. We’re likely looking at nighttime temps in the 20s for another few weeks, and our last frost date is somewhere around mid-May. That means nothing tender is going in the ground yet.
Spring is about preparation, not planting. Today is the day I walk the garden plots, assess what wintered over, and make my plan. It’s one of my favorite days of the year.
My seed situation right now
I’ve started thinking about what needs to be prepped indoors; tomatoes, peppers, and some herbs that need a long head start. But today I’m pulling out my seed stash and getting organized for the season.
Here’s what I’m sorting through:
• Lettuce and salad greens, an absolute priority for early spring. These can handle cold, and I can get multiple cuts from one planting.
• Spinach, another cold-tolerant hero. I direct sow this as soon as the ground is workable.
• Herbs include basil, chives, and parsley. Chives are already coming back on their own, bless them.
• Edible flowers like nasturtiums, violas, and borage. These make everything prettier and tastier, plus the kids love to just eat them to be silly.
I source most of my seeds from a couple of companies I trust for and I’ll be sharing my full seed shop recommendations soon.
How I’m thinking about garden layout this year
I used to wing the layout every year and wonder why I ran out of room for things I actually wanted to grow. These days I sketch it out, even if it’s just on a piece of scrap paper at the kitchen table, and then let’s be honest, my family does whatever they want putting them in the ground anyway.
My approach is pretty simple though:
• Put the cold-tolerant greens closest to the front. You’ll harvest them constantly, and you don’t want to trek through mud to get them.
• Give tomatoes and peppers their own dedicated space where they’ll get full sun and won’t crowd anything else.
• Think in successions, not single plantings. I sow salad greens every 2–3 weeks from early April through June so I’m not drowning in lettuce one week and out of it the next.
• Leave room for herbs near the kitchen even if this is a porch planter. A handful of fresh basil or chives makes weeknight cooking feel fancy.
The goal is always the same: grow what we actually eat, as close to where we cook it as possible.
A little something I’ve been working on…
Speaking of salad greens and growing what you eat, I’ve been working on something that I am so excited to share with you.
I’ve put together a booklet all about growing your own salad garden! Think of it as your beginner’s companion to going from seed to bowl. It covers the greens I actually grow and tips for how to keep things simple when life is busy, and some of my favorite ways to eat what you grow.
It’s called Curbside Salad, and it’s almost ready. Follow along on Insta and Pinterest so you don’t miss what I’ll be sharing very soon, including where to get the seeds I recommend inside the booklet.
What are you planting first?
I’d love for you to drop it in the comments below. Whether you’ve got full on acreage or a few containers on a porch, spring is spring, and it’s time to grow something.
Happy growing, friends.