The Slow Pokes: Why You Need to Start Your Peppers and Onions NOW
It is early January. The ground is frozen, the days are short, and spring feels a million miles away.
Most gardeners are relaxing, thinking they don't need to touch a seed packet until March or April.
But if you want to grow giant onions, red ripe peppers, or fragrant lavender this year, you are already on the clock.
While fast crops like lettuce and beans grow in a flash, there is a group of vegetables we call "The Slow Pokes." These plants have incredibly long growing seasons. If you wait until spring to plant them, the first frost of autumn will hit before they are even ready to harvest.
To get them across the finish line, you need to cheat. You need to give them a head start indoors, right now.
Here are the 3 crops you should be starting under grow lights this month.
1. Hot Peppers (Especially the "Super Hots")
The Challenge: Sweet peppers are slow, but hot peppers are painfully slow. Varieties like Habaneros or Ghost Peppers can take 3 to 4 weeks just to sprout! Once they do, they grow slowly, needing months of heat to produce fruit.
The Risk: If you start these in April, you might get a green bush by October, but no ripe peppers.
The Solution: Start them indoors 10–12 weeks before the last frost. They need time to build a strong root system so they can explode with growth as soon as the summer heat hits.
Top Picks: Serrano or Habañero.
2. Onions (From Seed)
The Challenge: Most people buy "onion sets" (tiny bulbs) at the hardware store. But if you want the massive, prize-winning onions that store all winter, you have to grow them from seed.
The Science: Onions are triggered to bulb by the length of the day. They need to do all their leafy growing before the summer solstice (June 21st).
The Risk: If you plant seeds in April, the plants will be too small when June 21st hits, and you’ll end up with onions the size of golf balls.
The Solution: Start them now. By the time you transplant them in spring, they should be thick, sturdy seedlings ready to bulk up.
Top Pick: Yellow Sweet Spanish.
3. Woody Herbs (Lavender & Rosemary)
The Challenge: Have you ever tried to grow Lavender? It is notoriously difficult to germinate. It acts like a sleeping teenager—it hates waking up.
The Risk: Germination can take a month or more. If you want a plant big enough to harvest from this year, you cannot wait.
The Solution: Sow them on the surface of the soil (they need light to germinate) and be patient. Starting them in January ensures you have a nice, transplantable bush by May.
Top Pick: Vera Lavender.
The Verdict?
Don't get caught off guard. Gardening is a waiting game, but for these crops, the waiting starts today.
Get your grow lights ready and get these "Slow Pokes" in the dirt. You’ll thank yourself in October when you are harvesting a bumper crop while your neighbors' plants are just getting started.
Start Your Engines: Shop our Colorful Garden Kit to save on a mix of Peppers & Tomatoes today.