This Is What You Should Be Doing In Your Louisiana Gardens This Week

SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA, La. (KPEL News) - It's early February, but not too early to start doing what you need to do to get ready for your Spring garden. The ground is likely not ready and there are still some potential bouts of freezing weather in the forecast for the next few weeks. Don't let that stop you, use this time to get and stay ahead of the game this year!

Start Growing Your Seeds Indoors

While you typically don't want to plant most seeds in the ground before the last frost of the season, you can start propagating your seeds now, indoors. Those include cool-season vegetables like lettuce, kale, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, beets, and early varieties of tomatoes and peppers.

Read More: Louisiana Gardeners, Here's a What and When to Plant Guide |

Read More: Louisiana’s Spring Forecast: More Rain, Warmer Temps Ahead |

According to the LSU AgCenter's Louisiana Vegetable Planting Guide, you can start planting certain varieties of beans and leafy vegetables as early as mid-February. If you live in coastal Louisiana, the guide says you "may extend the fall planting season by a month in many cases, as freezes seldom, if ever, occur. Coastal Louisiana gardeners may also begin transplanting all warm-season crops as soon as late February".

How You Plant Is Important

Now is a good time to lay out your garden. According to the LSU AgCenter, there are important things to consider:

• Seeds/Plants per 100 Feet of Row
• Depth to Plant Seeds
• Space Between Plants
• Days Until Harvest

Take the time, using the information in the guide, to map out the footprint of where you want your garden to be. Use lawn stakes or another type of marker to note where you will need to work your soil. Identify where each type of plant will go, and ensure you have the appropriate amount of space between plants.

Over the next several weeks and months, we will discuss each step, in detail, as we get our gardens ready for harvest.