Spring is when the vegetable garden comes alive. The first sowings go in as soon as the soil can be worked, the seedlings raised indoors are hardened off and planted out, and by late spring the garden is full of young plants that need regular attention. Spring vegetable care is a routine of small, frequent jobs — sowing, thinning, watering, weeding, feeding and watching for pests — and the gardener who does them little and often gets a far better harvest than the one who does them in occasional bursts. This guide covers the spring vegetable routine from sowing to the first harvests.
Sowing and planting in spring
The spring vegetable calendar splits into two halves. Hardy vegetables — peas, broad beans, lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots, onions and brassicas — are sown directly outdoors from early spring, as soon as the soil can be worked, because they germinate in cool soil and tolerate light frost. Tender vegetables — tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, courgettes, cucumbers, beans and sweetcorn — are started indoors and planted out after the last frost, when the soil has warmed. Our spring planting guide explains the order, and the zone pages such as zone 5 tomatoes and zone 5 lettuce give the timing for your zone.
Sow in rows, at the depth and spacing on the packet, and label every row, because seedlings look alike and it is easy to weed out the wrong plants. Sow successionally — a small row every two weeks — so the harvest is spread out and a single cold night does not wipe out the whole crop. Water seed beds gently after sowing, and cover early sowings with fleece on cold nights. Check your local extension service for a sowing calendar for your area, because the dates vary widely with climate.
Thinning, watering and feeding
Thinning is the job most gardeners put off, and it matters more than almost anything else in spring. Seedlings sown too thickly compete for light, water and nutrients, and none of them grows well. Thin to the spacing on the packet once seedlings have their first true leaves, snipping the extras at the base rather than pulling them, which disturbs the roots of the survivors. Thin carrots and beetroot in stages, and eat the thinnings where you can — young lettuce and radish thinnings are good in salads.
Water vegetables regularly in spring, but check the soil first — see our spring watering guide — because cool spring soil dries slowly and overwatering causes root rot. Water the soil, not the leaves, and water in the morning so leaves dry before nightfall. Feed vegetables as they grow: leafy crops with a nitrogen-rich feed, fruiting crops once they flower, and root crops lightly, because heavy nitrogen produces leafy tops and poor roots. Our spring fertilizing guide explains the feeding, and our growing guides for growing tomatoes and growing lettuce give the details for each crop.
Frost protection and pest watch
A late frost is the biggest risk to spring vegetables, and it can destroy weeks of work in a single night. Watch the forecast, and cover tender plants with fleece, cloches or upturned pots on any night when frost is forecast. Cover in the evening and remove the cover in the morning, so the plants do not overheat. Hardy vegetables tolerate a light frost, but even they benefit from a cover on a very cold night. If a plant is frosted, do not touch it until it thaws — handling frozen leaves damages them further — and wait a few days to see how much has survived before removing dead growth.
Pests arrive with the warm weather. Slugs eat seedlings overnight, aphids cluster on broad beans and lettuce, flea beetles hole brassica leaves, and carrot fly appears in late spring — see our spring pest control guide for identification and control. Inspect plants weekly, protect seedlings with barriers and fleece, and encourage birds and beneficial insects, which eat many vegetable pests. Rotate crops so the same family does not grow in the same bed year after year, because pests and diseases build up in the soil.
Weeding, mulching and the first harvests
Weeds compete with vegetables for light, water and nutrients, and in spring they grow faster than the vegetables. Weed little and often, hoeing on a dry day so the weeds dry out and die, and mulch around established plants to suppress weeds and hold moisture — see our spring mulching guide — keeping the mulch away from the stems. A well-mulched vegetable bed needs far less weeding and watering all season.
The first harvests come in late spring: radishes, lettuce, spinach and spring onions from early sowings, and overwintered crops such as purple sprouting broccoli and leeks. Harvest in the morning, pick little and often, and leave enough leaves for the plant to keep growing — see our spring harvesting guide for the details. If a crop bolts — sends up a flower stem and turns bitter — pull it and sow again, because a bolted plant does not recover. Succession sowing keeps the harvest coming steadily into summer.
Crop rotation and companion planting in the spring vegetable garden
Spring is when the planting plan is set, and two ideas should shape it: rotation and companionship. Rotation means not growing the same family of vegetables in the same bed as last year. Potatoes, tomatoes and peppers are one family; cabbages, broccoli and kale are another; peas and beans are a third; carrots, parsnips and celery are a fourth; onions and leeks are a fifth. Growing the same family in the same bed year after year lets soil-borne pests and diseases build up, and it exhausts the same nutrients. A simple four-year rotation, moving each family to a different bed each spring, keeps the soil healthier and the crops stronger. Write the plan down, because it is hard to remember in a year's time which bed held what.
Companion planting in the vegetable garden means growing plants together that help each other. French marigolds planted among tomatoes are said to deter whitefly and root pests, and they certainly bring pollinators into the bed. Basil planted near tomatoes is a classic pairing, and it does well in the same warm, sunny conditions. Carrots and onions grown together confuse each other's pests — carrot fly is put off by the smell of onions, and onion fly by the smell of carrots. Sweetcorn, beans and squash grown together, the traditional three sisters, support each other: the corn gives the beans something to climb, the beans fix nitrogen, and the squash shades the soil. Not every companion claim is proven, but the pairs that share growing conditions and attract pollinators are worth trying, and a diverse vegetable bed is almost always healthier than a bed of a single crop. Our houseplants companion planting guide explains the same idea for indoor plants, where grouping by needs matters more than the pairing itself.
Frequently asked questions
What vegetables should I plant in spring?
Hardy vegetables such as peas, lettuce, spinach, radishes and carrots early; tender vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and courgettes after the last frost. Check your local extension service for a calendar for your area.
How do I protect vegetables from a late frost?
Cover them with fleece or cloches on any night frost is forecast, covering in the evening and removing the cover in the morning. Do not handle frosted plants until they thaw.
Why should I thin seedlings?
Seedlings sown too thickly compete for light, water and nutrients and none grows well. Thin to the spacing on the packet once they have their first true leaves.
How often should I water vegetables in spring?
Check the soil first and water when the top inch or two is dry. Water the soil, not the leaves, in the morning, and water seed beds and containers more often than established beds.
What eats vegetable seedlings in spring?
Slugs, cutworms and birds are the main culprits. Use barriers, fleece and hand-picking, and inspect plants weekly. If you are unsure, check your local extension service for identification help.