Blackbird Hollow
Blackbird Hollow Almanac

The Sowing Board

Not A Frost Calculator — What The Week Is Asking For
The Third Week Of July · First Frost Around Oct 28

In the Ground This Week

Seed Goes Straight Down
Bush Beans
Phaseolus vulgaris
Sow It With — Heirloom Bush Beans
Sowing Window68 Days To Pick
Late MayEarly Aug
Sow Now
One more round. They’ll beat the frost with a month to spare.
Carrots
Daucus carota — For Fall
Sow It With — Heirloom Carrot Seed
Sowing Window75 Days
Mid JulyMid Aug
Sow Now
Fall carrots come up sweeter. Keep the top inch damp or they sulk.
Kale & Collards
Brassica oleracea — Fall Greens
Sow It With — Lacinato Kale Seed
Sowing Window55 Days
Mid JulyLate Aug
Sow Now
A frost only makes them better. Plant for the cold on purpose.
Cilantro & Dill
For The Pantry, Not The Heat
Sow It With — Cilantro & Dill Seed
Sowing WindowQuick
NowSeptember
Sow Now
It’ll bolt in this heat — sow a pinch every two weeks and stop mourning it.

Start for Fall

In Flats, Out Of The Worst Sun
Broccoli & Cabbage
Brassica — Transplant In 5 Wks
Sow It With — Broccoli & Cabbage Seed
Start IndoorsSet Out Early Sept
Mid JulyEarly Aug
Start Inside
Too hot to direct sow. Baby them in flats where you can shade them.
Fall Lettuce
Lactuca — Loose-Leaf Types
Sow It With — Heirloom Lettuce Mix
Start IndoorsTransplant Aug
NowLate Aug
Start Inside
Germinates cranky over 80°. The refrigerator trick still works.

Hold the Seed

The Ground Isn’t Asking Yet
Garlic
Allium sativum — The Patient Crop
Sow It With — Hardneck Seed Garlic
Plant WindowOpens In Fall
 Late October
Wait
Goes in after the first hard frost. Order the seed garlic now; plant it later.
Spinach & Peas
The Fall Second Act
Sow It With — Spinach & Snap Pea Seed
Sowing WindowOpens Late Aug
 Sept
Wait
Six weeks off. Sow now and the heat will just cook them.
On The Potting Bench This Month — A Good Pair Of Japanese Snips and The Copper Mister That Outlasts The Garden.
From the Almanac · The Paid Companion

The whole year, written down.

The board tells you what this week is asking for. The Hollow Planting Calendar tells you the rest of it — every crop from the last frost to the first, month by month, start to harvest, in the same plain hand. A printed almanac to keep by the potting bench, tuned to your ground.

The Hollow Planting Calendar — $9 One PDF per USDA zone · Zones 3 through 10
Pin This Month’s Board A Fresh Board The First Of Every Month

The board doesn’t tell you the weather and it won’t do your thinking. It tells you what a working garden this size, on ground like yours, would be putting down this week — and what it would have the sense to leave in the packet.

Take the Board With You

Put the Sowing Board on your site

A living copy of the board, tuned to your reader’s zone — paste it anywhere and it keeps its own counsel.

<iframe src="https://blackbirdhollow.farm/widget/" style="width:100%;max-width:420px;height:320px;border:0" loading="lazy" title="Blackbird Hollow Sowing Board"></iframe>
<a href="https://blackbirdhollow.farm/sowing/" style="font-size:11px">From the Sowing Board at Blackbird Hollow</a>
Adjust The Zone Up Top And The Board Moves With You. · Read How The Hollow Reads The Season →