Direct sowing outdoors: how to get it right
Carrots, radishes, peas, beans, spinach, dill and many flowers are sown straight where they are to grow. That saves windowsill space and transplanting.
Preparing the soil
Loosen the soil, remove weeds and rake the surface to a fine tilth. Sow into moist but not wet soil. Soil temperature matters more than the date: beans and sweetcorn only germinate from about 10–12 °C, peas and spinach in cool soil.
Sowing depth and spacing
As a rule of thumb, sow two to three times as deep as the seed is thick. Light germinators such as dill or lettuce are only pressed in. The calendar shows depth and spacing for every plant; thin out carrots or beetroot that come up too densely.
| Plant | Sowing depth | Spacing |
|---|---|---|
| Beetroot | 2–3 cm | 30 × 10 cm |
| Bush bean | 2–3 cm | 40 × 10 cm |
| Carrot | 1 cm | 25 × 3 cm |
| Chives | 1 cm | 25 × 25 cm (clump) |
| Coriander (cilantro) | 1–2 cm | 25 × 5 cm |
| Courgette (zucchini) | 2–3 cm | 100 × 100 cm |
| Cucumber | 1–2 cm | 40 × 100 cm |
| Dill | needs light to germinate | 25 × 10 cm |
| Florence fennel | 1 cm | 30 × 30 cm |
| Lamb’s lettuce (corn salad) | 1 cm | 15 × 5 cm |
| Loose-leaf lettuce | needs light to germinate, just press in | 25 × 25 cm |
| Nasturtium | 2 cm | 40 × 40 cm |
| Parsley | 1 cm | 20 × 5 cm |
| Parsnip | 1–2 cm | 40 × 10 cm |
| Pea | 3–5 cm | 40 × 5 cm |
| Pot marigold (calendula) | 1–2 cm | 30 × 30 cm |
| Pumpkin / squash | 2–3 cm | 100 × 150 cm |
| Radish | 1 cm | 15 × 3 cm |
| Rocket (arugula) | 0.5 cm | 20 × 5 cm |
| Runner / pole bean | 2–3 cm | 60 × 60 cm (6–8 seeds per pole) |
| Spinach | 2–3 cm | 25 × 5 cm |
| Sunflower | 2–3 cm | 50 × 50 cm |
| Sweetcorn | 3–5 cm | 60 × 30 cm (in a block) |
| Swiss chard | 2–3 cm | 40 × 30 cm |
Succession sowing instead of a glut
It is better to sow radishes, loose-leaf lettuce, rocket and bush beans in several small batches every three to four weeks than all at once – that way you harvest fresh produce all summer.
Note: The dates apply to Central Europe (e.g. Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Benelux countries, Poland, northern France). In warmer regions such as the Mediterranean, many dates come earlier; in Scandinavia or at high altitude, later. Use “Climate” and “Last frost” to adjust the calendar.
Sources
- Bavarian State Research Center for Viticulture and Horticulture (LWG), Bavarian Garden Academy: vegetable garden guides (in German) – lwg.bayern.de/gartenakademie
- Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), German weather service: phenology and the “Ice Saints” (in German) – dwd.de, phenology
- Federal Centre for Nutrition (BZfE): seasonal calendar for fruit and vegetables (in German) – bzfe.de
- Seed packets and variety descriptions from seed producers – the information on the packet always takes precedence.
The dates in the calendar are typical ranges for Central Europe. Variety, location, soil and weather can shift them. As of November 2026.