Seed Starting thoughts

I am so excited this year.  I am going to try to plant some of the seeds for our garden.

Our Darling Boy gave me a gift card for Lowes (which I had asked for) and we purchased a shelf unit, two shop lights and bulbs with that, plus some of my Christmas money.  I have been itching to get it all together and get started, but I know that it is a bit too early yet.

So I continue to read and to plan.

Sometimes I think I plan too much though.  I become compulsive about knowing everything I can know and then I overwhelm myself and sometimes do nothing with what I have learned.  I don't want to do that this time.  I want this to remain fun, but I also want to be able to provide more food for us to help us keep expenses down and to become more self sufficient.

I bought three trays of 72 cells each and some starter mix for them.  And of course, I have ordered seed, and more seed, and, more seed.  Can you ever have too much?  Perhaps.

Part of my plan is to have the green beans in the ground along the deck and the lettuce and spinach planted into the rain gutters as early as possible. The beans will trail up the trellis, yet to be decided upon, and will help to shade the lettuce as the weather gets warmer and the sun gets stronger in the afternoons.  I am hoping that this will work in our favor.

I was not going to start tomatoes or peppers from seed.  I was going to buy them from the local nursery, but, I ended up buying seed.  I am planning to start four of each.  I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but, first, I want to see if I can grow them, and second, I plan to plant the tomatoes in the pots along the driveway and have not done that before.  I figure if all four seeds grow, I will give away the other three.  The peppers I purchased that I am really interested in are "sweet cherry peppers".  I recently bought some pickled peppers of this kind and liked them, so it is my hope that I can grow them and pickle them myself.  I am thinking that these will also go in pots on the deck so that I am sure they get lots of sun.  I will probably keep all four plants, if they grow.  We like peppers.

The carrots I will plant in the planter that Dear Darling made for me in the fall.  They are nice and deep and I don't have to disturb them at all, just water them.

I am also itching to get in to the actual garden, which will probably be a while with all the snow we've had this year.  I want to get the peas in as early as I can.  Partly for eating something fresh and green and partly to get the nitrogen into the soil.