Are You Getting Excited for the New Garden Season?

 

I am certainly getting excited for the next garden season to get started.  I have already begun planting some seeds indoors at the beginning of the month of March.  The most of the planting was just my flowers that I always start first.  They are usually the first start the season and the last to end the season each and every year.  They are very important for the garden and that is why I love giving them the biggest head start that  I can.  Once they start sprouting and growing they are just about ready to go outside.

 

This does not mean that they are ready to be transplanted into the garden, but they are ready for cooler temperatures than what they have been growing in indoors.  So far the temperatures are still a little bit too cold for them and that is why I will keep them indoors for a little while longer while the temperatures warm up a bit.  So far they are growing well indoors and look forward to getting them outside as quickly as possible with weather permitting of course.

 

With cold frames it is possible to start a spring crop right about now, but I have decided to just have a very small spring crop with some cabbage, kale, lettuce, and maybe some celery.  Still deciding whether  I should be growing radishes and snow peas.  Depending on how some of my seeds sprout will depend if I grow more in the garden for the springtime.

 

Celery is one of those seeds that is best started  in peat pots.  Starting them in the ground is a difficult as starting other small seed plants in the garden.  Some of these seeds include carrots, celery, and possibly a variety of flower seeds which tend to be very small.  This is why I start them indoors in various types of containers depending on what I happen to be planting.

 

In the beginning of the season I start out with dill, alyssum, and a mix of different wildflowers that help get all the insects I need for the season hopefully.  These three I have found to grow best in large containers with hundreds of seeds and plants.  This method works well for me and makes it much easier to transplant them into the garden once all the roots have wrapped around each other.  For now it is just time for waiting for a little bit better weather and spring time is just around the corner.

 

Getting Some of My Onion Bulbs Planted in Totes

I like using totes for my onions and I also do use the ground for them as well since it worked out last season I wanted to do it again to make sure it works.  I have not placed them in the ground yet and I hope to finish that tomorrow with weather permitting. 

I have already placed them in totes this past weekend and since it usually doesn't take that long I took just one hour to get that completed.  It will take a little bit longer to plant them in the garden which is why I was waiting for a good day to do so.

I also needed to get my squash plants ready indoors as well.  This is around the time when I get them started now that most of my plants have filled the windowsill.  I can place both zucchini and pumpkin seeds under flourescent lights for a quick sprouting.  I do still have some tomatoes that are under lights, but for the most part many of them are getting light from the sun.

I will soon be placing my flowers outside along with lettuce that is being hardened off right now.  They have been outside the past week and I want them to get ready for the weather outside before transplanting them.  I probably will be planting lettuce by the end of the month if possible.

I am also growing some basil and parsley this season for something extra.  I don't usually grow herbs except for dill and cilantro, but this season I wanted to add some to the garden because when I grew parsley last season as a test they were able to last quite awhile and I collected quite a bit of it over the season.  Since parsley worked in 2015 this year I am adding basil to the list.

Spinach Sprouting Early and Flowers and Herbs Planted

So far I have only planted my alyssum as a flower to be used in the garden this season.  I like to always get as many flowers as possible to help out the insects outside and give them food that they need.  If I help them then they will help me and my garden in return. 

Dill is a great plant for this reason and I like to plant as many as early as I can.  This is only done once I get my spinach planted along with my alyssum.  I have many more flowers that I would like to plant which I will do either today or sometime during this week.  Time is catching up and very soon I will have to start planting tomatoes, melons, eggplants, and so much more.

Right now I am focusing on flowers in the beginning and later on I will deal with vegetables and fruits I will need to plant early.  Just like my alyssum flowers I use large pots that will hold many seeds and many plants for at least a couple of months at the most until the weather is warm enough to put them in the ground.

Just on a quick note I wanted to let you know that my spinach seeds are actually growing and they are popping through the soil.  They usually take a while to grow because of their hard shell, but this year they are thriving very quickly.

More Plants Added to Garden This Week

I still have some plants that have not been added to the garden due to the fact that they were planted a little bit later and their roots were not ready to adapt to the new ground soil.  I always wait a certain amount of time before embarking on this task of transplanting.  Once the roots are stable they then are ready to get into the ground as soon as possible.

This week the time had came for some later planted tomaotes, flowers, and herbs. The flowers and herbs were actually placed into the garden after I had the tomatoes in the ground.  I like to plant all the important plants such as fruits and vegetables and then I move on to herbs and flowers.  They are both important and play a crucial role, but the whole point is to have a great harvest.

These are just a couple of images of tomatoes and herbs that I planted this week.  You can get even more when you check out this post today.