opabinia51
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Get a head start on Vegetable Garden - Plant Seeds Indoors

Hello Everyone. Now is the time to start your various flower seeds indoors so that you will have plants to put into your vegetable garden to attract birds and beneficial insects.

I have started: Cosmos, Marigolds and..... Baby Blue eyes (not much space) and have yet to start Sunflowers (to attract birds), Violas and so on.

Also, if you are planning on growing artichokes and asparagus from seed, now would be the time to do it. And not to mention all the lovely heirloom and hybrid tomatoes.

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Grey
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I was waiting until February - in-ground planting dates here are supposed to be April 15 (yay, tax day). I'm not even sure where to put them yet - 400 sq. ft is pretty small - I may have to rearrange the living room or bedroom. lol!

opabinia51
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I have cleared to shelved off and place the non leaking plant trays there. In "A Year on the Gardening Path" it states that you should start seeds in the 3rd week of February but, I like to get a head start (especially for my tomatoes and marigolds) and plant them now. Plus, given the fact that it is cold out and I only have so much space indoors, the earlier I get things going, the more stuff that I can have to plant in the spring.

grandpasrose
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It's way too early to start stuff here. I usually start my seed near the end of February (the long germinating, or slow growing ones). Things start going out into the garden around the end of April here, so January is a bit early. :wink:

Val

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Some of us obviously have no patience... :lol:

Scott

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Grey
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I told DH I was going to have to make room for seedlings - he just kind of looked at me and said "WHERE? This place is pretty small - pretty cramped for space and all -"

Me: do you want fresh tomatoes?

Him: "I don't know how you're going to do it..."

(I can see THAT hit home - we both love our fresh 'maters!)


I figured it out tho. I'll have to move the bed to the other wall, and take the kitchen table and move it where the bed was, under the sunny West window. I'm the only one that bothers to eat at the table anyway.

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I hear the story of another tiny homeowner there (I mean the house, not me. I'm a great big lummox with more belt than I oughta have :oops: No not, you Grey. Me. The house...awww, fergit it... :lol: )

I am quite sure I am seeing a gardener's place when I see a little tiny (easier to care for) house with a big yard. It is a place to play, with a place to sleep. I just described my place, and once the handiwork is done, yours, Grey... :wink:

grandpasrose
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I totally hear you Gray and Scott! Our house is pretty tiny, even though we have a big yard and garden. We are constantly struggling about "where are we going to put this?" :lol: I was fortunate for my seeds though. My father built me a light table that has six shelves and lights for each one, so it only takes up the space of 2'X4'. It sits in my kitchen all year round cause I have no where else to put it!
Our family and friends roll their eyes at us cause we spend alot more time and money on our yard than our house - but it works for us - who needs a mansion when they have the things they love? :wink:

Val

opabinia51
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I think that your yard is your mansion Val! I hear you guys on a small house, I live a house with 3 other room mates and the only space I have is in my room to do the seeds. My landlord has allowed me to use the greenhouse but, it is still a little cold at night for me to try anything out there.

And yes, if you are going to try anything outside, the third week of february is usually the time to do it. Though, from my experience you will get better results if you do things inside.

grandpasrose
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That's a very good way of putting if Opa - my yard is my mansion. I'm going to use that one!
I remember the roommate days - not alot of personal space. But it did have other advantages, so I guess you take the bad with the good! :wink:

Val

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Grey
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Well I'm hopeful that by next year we'll have moved into the house - little more room over there! Of course, other than me sorting through the tools that have somehow scattered over four rooms of that house... we haven't started working on it yet. DH is working on the exterior of the little place - so at least we can call one "done." :lol:

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Every time I get the “Garden Antsâ€

opabinia51
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I know how you feel Bob. I'm tempted to try seeding some plants in the greenhouse. Either today or tomorrow I'm going to pot up my seedlings and move them out to the greenhouse. It's oh so tempting to just try and seed everything outside because I can seed so many more plants at one time.

Luckily, it's been a really mild winter up here this year.


Good luck on your wait.

Something you can do in the meantime (if you haven't already done it) is place mulched up leaves and manure over all of your beds. I am also adding the kitchen scraps atop the leaves that I have already laid down in my one bed.

I'd really like to get it all done at once (put the manure on) but, I think adding the kitchen scraps will be a great addition. (refer to the NPK thread in the organic section)

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AH there's the voice of reason I was looking for. Thank you Bob 8) , for that timely reminder that to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. Or words to that effect... :)

Seed starting for my friend starts this time of year, and after killing the first few batches (damping, leggy tangle of spindly shoots), he gets the crop that actually looks like something (invariably seeded about the time he should have started seeds in the first place); this is the one that shines. Don't rush the good thing... :wink:

HG

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That's what I've been trying to tell people. The year has been very strange weather wise, but it could get even stranger - who knows. So what I say - stick with the tried and true - plant the time you always plant! :wink:

Val

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Grey
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It has been a very odd winter here. We've had weeks of near-spring, and now this week we have lows in the 20s and highs in the 40s, with a windchill of 32... I'm expecting it to be like this for a while, Old Man Winter isn't ready to release his clutches yet!

So while I definitely have the itchies to start some plants, I lack the room in the house to do much just yet. I just keep going through Johnny's seed catalog, or old issues of garden magazines - seeing all that green helps a little. :)

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Forcing plants for all the shows always helps keep away the winter blaahs; maybe that would help...

Scott

opabinia51
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Yes, planting the time that you always plant is good for certain .... plants. But, with others that you may have not grown from seed before; they need to be planted earlier in the season.

I once was tempted to plant my tomatoe plants in the fall or at least late November but, through trial and error have found that planting them in Jan or Feb works just fine.



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