The Pacific Northwest is not known for being the place to grow a vegetable garden. At first glance the area appears lush and green and one would think that anything would grow well here. But the cool, wet climate is not conducive to the growth of, say, tomatoes or eggplant because we simply don’t get enough sunlight. Combine the lack of sun and heat to the short growing season and the rain that leaches necessary nutrients out of the soil along with the unpredictable late frost dates and vegetable gardening is spotty at best. Nothing close to my Eastern Washington experience of being able to grow almost anything.
Most people I know who grow gardens in this area put their plants in sometime around May or June. Most seed packets and garden books, however, suggest that seeds can be sown sometimes as early as February with good results. I wasn’t quite organized enough to direct sow that early, but I was able to put in my first planting in early April. I followed with a second round of planting yesterday and so far so good. The weather here has been cool and certainly the plants are not growing as quickly as when I planted similar plants mid May last year, but I have yet to lose a single little sprout to frost, pests or disease. I will keep the blog updated time to time with how this is going. The radishes, kohlrabi, and peas all have little sturdy sprouts peeking up through the soil.