Planting Seeds for Spring

I'll admit that waiting for spring is tough for me. Generally I like cold weather and look forward to the southern heat of summer moving out and the chill of winter moving in. That said, at the end of winter I look forward to the coming spring - longer days, warmer weather and getting the garden replanted! We've been doing a lot of prep work: composting, adding soil to the beds, building some "hardscape" items like potting benches and trellises, and ordering seeds and generally getting things ready.

This week we started planting a few seeds - early spring stuff like broccoli, cabbage, chard, cauliflower and lettuce.

We'll get these out in the beds in a few weeks - really as soon as it looks like we won't have any more sub-freezing nights. I don't see that coming any time real soon, but soon enough and we want to be ready.

Additionally we've planted a few herbs: basil, oregano, parsley - that we'll grow in the greenhouse for the next few months, moving them outside from time to time when we have a few days of warmer weather.

Finally - thinking about the big peppers and tomatoes that always show up early in the spring in the garden centers - we've planted some as well. If the seedlings don't make it due to the cold (our greenhouse is only barely heated and can't really battle nights in the 20's) we'll be OK with that, but if they do we'll have a handful of plants to start early in the season and get a head-start on that first tomato sandwich or homegrown and homemade salsa! Vive la Spring and bring it on...PLEASE!