Planting the seeds for spring, right now

Spring may feel a long way off, but for local gardeners, the season begins well before the last chill fades. January and February are prime time to start laying the groundwork for a successful spring garden.

To help new gardeners get ahead of the curve, Globe Miami Times spoke with Christopher Jones, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension agent and coordinator of the Gila County Master Gardener Program, about what locals should be doing now to prepare.

Start seeds indoors now

Whether planting herbs, flowers, or vegetables, Jones recommends starting many seeds indoors during the winter months, especially crops with long growing seasons.

“Then come March and April, you've got your seedlings up and going,” Jones says. “And so you're ready to plant once we get warm enough to get them outdoors.”

This is particularly important for seeds that take a long time to germinate, which tend to be members of the nightshade family.

“That nightshade family that we like to eat, particularly tomatoes and peppers and eggplants, those take up to three weeks before they'll even start to germinate and come up,” he says. 

Use heat and light to your advantage

To give seedlings the best start, Jones suggests investing in two simple tools: heating mats and grow lights.

Heating mats keep soil warm, helping seeds germinate more quickly. Grow lights, which can be suspended above seedlings and adjusted as plants grow, ensure young plants get enough light during shorter winter days.

“They’re inexpensive, and you can use them year after year,” Jones says.

“If you don't have good light, then they're going to be what we call leggy, and they tend to grow a long stem before they start putting out any leaves,” he explains.

Both heating mats and grow lights also help prevent damping off, a common plant disease caused by soil-borne water molds and fungi that thrive in cool, wet conditions. It is most common in young seedlings. Once affected, seedlings will die.

Water from below

Another way to reduce the risk of damping off is to avoid watering seedlings from above. Jones recommends wicking water into the soil, where a porous line of fabric or rope is used to carry water to plants. Another solution is watering from the bottom by setting seed trays into shallow water.

“If you water from above, the water can get onto the stem,” Jones says. “Once they fall over and die, that’s it.”

Keeping stems dry while roots draw up moisture can make all the difference in those early weeks.

Choose varieties that grow well locally

While it’s tempting to try exotic or specialty varieties, Jones encourages less-experienced gardeners to stick with plants that perform well in the local climate and soil.

“All of us want to have a fancy beefsteak or brandy wine, but those are hard to grow and they're really susceptible to diseases,” he says. “Our soil, our climate being so hot and dry, you'll have a tough time with those.”

Instead, he recommends reliable varieties, such as perennial tomato varieties like the Celebrity and Early Girl, which tend to do better in the region’s hot, dry conditions.

Tackle weeds now, not later

One of Jones’ strongest recommendations is to start dealing with weeds now, before spring planting begins.

“I'm concerned about all these weeds that came up from our September, October rain,” he says. “Those will harbor bugs and even perhaps diseases.”

Gardeners should be clearing those weeds from their yards now, so their gardens are ready to plant as soon as spring arrives. 

“People should be mowing [weeds] down, getting them under control, putting them into their compost and not allowing them to just go through their whole life cycle and do their thing,” he says, “because it's just a great place for all those little bugs to hang out and cause us troubles.”

A promising season ahead

With early preparation and a little planning, be ready to reap the benefits.

“This should be a really good spring for our gardens,” Jones says.