It's That Time of Year Again!

Today I got to play in the soil!  I got my "garden fix" in anticipation for spring.  Up here in the north country we are pretty much sick and tired of winter and SO anxious for spring.   Those of us who enjoy gardening have been itching to get our hands into soil!  About this time of year I start several trays of plants from seed, and so I get to do a little bit of "indoor gardening" as I wait for the real outdoor gardening season.  Since I have a high tunnel greenhouse I can start many plants earlier than most gardeners.  I figure on getting into the greenhouse to plant things like carrots, lettuces, spinach and snow peas by early April.   This is about 6 weeks earlier than other outdoor plantings.   So I spent an enjoyable afternoon sorting through seeds, washing trays and containers to reuse this year, and putting seeds into potting mix!  Harold set up the sawhorses in the living room again, and the grow lights.  Right now I started plants that have long germination times and some that just take a long time to develop, such as peppers, herbs and some flowers.  In a couple weeks I will start the rest of everything like cabbages and tomatoes and certain other flowers like marigolds and Chinese lanterns.  It was GOOD to dig in the soil again!   The weather guys are predicting a nasty storm at the end of the weekend with rain, sleet, snow, wind and at least a foot of snow.   It will be good to watch things grow again, right in my own living room!

All set up for planting.  I like to use Miracle Grow potting soil, as it it clean and consistently gives good results.  Other (cheaper) soils have a lot of junk in it, like weeds, pieces of plastic or glass, and things just don't grow well in it. 

I buy some seeds from companies that sell non-GMO seeds like Johnny's, Pinetree Seeds and Jungs.  Some seeds I save myself because I try to plant heirloom varieties. (non-hybrid).  In the left tub I have carnation seeds from last year and in the right tub are mixed petunia seeds.  I put all the petunia seeds in one envelope every year, and when I remove the seeds from the pods, I am surprised every year at what colors grow.   I like surprises!

My grow light set up in the living room.   I have two long boards that will support about 20 trays of plants, and 4 grow lights.   I don't need the grow lights yet until the seeds sprout.  As the plants grow, I can adjust the height of the grow lights by moving the side support boards up as needed.

A closer view of one of the trays and grow lights.  When the seeds sprout and reach the top of the cover, I remove it and turn on the grow lights.

Yes, starting your own plants from seed is a lot of work, but it's fun - and sure saves a lot of money.   We save our own seeds from green beans, cucumbers, corn, flowers, winter squash, pumpkins, summer squash, peas and dry beans.  This year I hope to save seeds from tomatoes, too, and other flowers.   We also dig up and save bulbs from gladiolas, one of our favorite flowers.   I always search out varieties of non hybrid vegetables that we might enjoy and save the seeds.   You cannot save the seeds from hybrids.  I also enjoy many of the heirloom vegetables and flowers - sometimes those older varieties are the best!  And since they are also non hybrid, you can save the seeds on those, too.   Seed saving certainly cuts down on the cost of gardening.
     So let the snow come!  I have something to watch now................