I spent much of January and February every year in a funk because I don't get enough sunlight and I don't spend much time outside. I usually pass my time pouring over seed catalogs and websites. In the past, I have mostly grown flowering perennials in my garden, some herbs, and tomatoes. Last year, I started an asparagus bed and planted some raspberries. This year, I'm getting deeper into growing produce. I even dug out a perennial bed to make room for veggies!
Last year, I experimented with starting many of my plants from seed. I bought a shelving unit and attached shop lights under each shelf. I used this set up to grow seeds in my extra bedroom. My plants did quite well and I got an abundant harvest from them.
[Here is one of my tomato seedlings right after I potted it up in order to develop a strong root system.]
[On the porch, you can see some of the plants that I started under lights. They were on the porch to harden off before planting.]
This year, I am attempting even more plants and varieties. Here's some of what I have planned:
basils: cinnamon, genovese, lemon, bounty, Thai, opal, lime, sweet, magical Michael, osmin
other herbs: stevia, chives, oregano, parsley, chamomile, cilantro
tomatoes: Napa grape hybrid, brandywine, sweet tangerine hybrid, Wolford's wonder, Henderson's wins all, Fred Limbaugh potato top, chocolate stripes, blondkopfchen, bloody butcher, yellow stone, 1884, Italian heirloom
potatoes: all blue, banana fingerling, carola, German butterball, red gold
other veggies: lemon cucumbers, sweet success cucumbers, bush champion cucumbers, mesclun, spinach, zucchini, greensleeves beans, royal burgundy beans, super wax beans, carrots, sugar snap peas, onions, garlic, shallots
I didn't initially plan to plant this much, but I lost my mind in the seed catalogs. I'm sure that I will have enough seedlings for myself and all my neighbors :).
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