NOW is the time to seed your winter veggies and spring flowers!
Q: Why can't I get poppies to grow?
A: Because poppies, like many other beloved perennial flowers, need a series of frosts to "break dormancy" and sprout, so fall is the best time to plant them!
Yes, it's true! Many of our most beloved garden perennial flowers, including many of our Idaho native flowers, need winter freezes and thaws to germinate. These flower seeds do best when thrown outside in fall or early winter and lightly raked in to the soil surface. All of the flowers listed in our Snake River Seed Co-op Fall Planting Guide will benefit from being fall seeded: 
Additionally, fall is a great time to seed cool-season veggies for late fall eating, and some will even feed you through the winter and into next spring if you do it right! Many of the same crops you'd plant early in the spring can be planted in the fall, and some, like cilantro, fennel, and spinach, actually do BETTER planted now because the weather isn't going from 60 to 90 overnight like it's known to do in the Intermountain West. Get the skinny on some of our favorite fall planted vegetables in the Fall Planting Guide above! Here are a few more tips for successful fall planting! To time your planting, follow these steps: *Add 30% onto the days to maturity of each variety you intend to plant. The shortening days make things grow a little slower than they would in the spring, when days are getting longer. *Decide when you want to be able to eat your crop. All of the varieties in our Seeds For Fall Planting webstore section can handle some frost, but as we all know too well, our falls can be erratic, so it's best to plan to eat your crops by Thanksgiving at the latest, unless you have protection like a greenhouse or cold frame. Some varieties, like Winter Giant Spinach and Cold-hardy Kale, seem to be able to make it all the way through most winters! *Count backward to determine the planting time for your crop. Now is the time to plant pretty much anything, so don't delay!
