Here’s a quiz. When should we start onion, tomato and carrot seeds? Indoors or directly in the soil? And if indoors, when should we move them outside?
You might want to consult this list of last spring frost dates in Albany and this New York state map of last frost dates.
Winning prize? Bragging rights, if you do not need any more information from us. And note that seed packs typically provide information for figuring this out, that the calculations are not that difficult, but that seed pack instructions are not always worded so clearly.
We often show kids how to figure this out around this time of year. It’s a nice low-key way to open the door to conversations about biodiversity, climate change or particulars about the seasons that we don’t always notice. And if doing before talking helps make these serious subjects feel more meaningful to some students than a classroom lecture might, we will suggest this exercise as a small model of teaching and learning.
–Bill Stoneman
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