Can I start doing anything for my gardening now?
Hi!
I know it’s only February, but I’m anxiously awaiting gardening season. (Vegetable gardening, that is.) I’m wondering if there is anything I can start doing in preparation for my garden now or soon. I live in New England, so of course there’s snow. But are there any plants that should be started inside, or anything else I can start working on? I’ll be selling a lot of my vegetables, too. Thanks for your help!
July 18th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, and melons can be started indoors. So can tomatoes, but they’re not as easy.
July 18th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Sure there is. You can start some seeds of the cole crops (broccoli, cabbage, etc) now. The will be ready to put out in April as soon as the ground thaws. In a few weeks you can start tomatoes and eggplant.
July 18th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Sure you can start almost all your plants inside:
Two key factors:
SUNLIGHT:
Make sure your seedlings get at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight. A south facing window with no shade from trees would work best.
CONTAINERS:
You can use dixie cups or buy containers. Some containers are made with peat and can be planted in the ground to decompose as the plant grows bigger. Those are pretty cool.
There is a balancing act when it comes to container size. Too big and you will run out of space. To small and the seedling will outgrow the containers before it is warm enough to plant. If this happens you may have to bump the seedlings to bigger pots. Not a big deal but more work.
When growing in colder climates the more growth you can get before planting outside the better!
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July 18th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
February is a good month to place orders for seeds and plants, acquire your seed starting supplies, and most of all, for planning.
Even if you “can’t draw” you should sketch out some plans. For a veggie garden, graph paper is particularly useful.
If you do not have any seed/starter plant catalogs you should send for those now. A couple favorites of mine:
http://www.seedsofchange.com/
http://www.territorialseed.com/
July 18th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
This is the month to order your seeds. Last year (and it will happen again this year) most seed companies sold out right away. You will get a better variety if you order w/in the next week or two. I have spent since mid December doing this 😉 As far as what you can start now, I would wait. You can start anything you want at any time….but as far as up here in New ENgland it would be best if you take a look at the last frost date in your area (zone) and check the seed packet for the best time to start. For instance, I am in zone 5 here in NH and I plan on starting my tomato and pepper plants at the end of February, start of March. Some will be started inside and some outside in the green house. If started to early you will find them to be weak and unhealthy in general. Plus, up here..even in February the sun isn’t what it need to be for these plants. I just don’t seem to get enough light. Most plants should be started about 8 weeks before you plan on putting them out.
I graph my garden area (approx) on paper and start planning in this month. What you could do for now is your research. Companion planting is a great subject for any gardener to read up on. Crop rotations too.
You can also start to wash out the pots or cells you plan on starting the seeds in. Diseases can be spread from year to year if the starting pots aren’t cleaned regularly.
You said you will be selling some of your food …not sure if you have done this or not, but you might want to take this down time before the seed starting begins to do you market research. See how much the other locals are getting for their veggies. Also, see what niche market you can zero in on and make extra money on.
Good luck with everything and happy growing!
July 18th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
There are plenty of things to do. Check out some of these articles for ideas and check my blog (site address below) for updates of when things are happening.
http://www.ehow.com/how_5826565_start-vegetable-seed-early-_indoors_.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_5917550_early-jump-start-vegetable-garden.html?shared=true
http://getready2garden.com/page7.html – This is a planting guide which I put together, it will give all the information for most vegetables in your garden, including: when to start indoors, when to plant outdoors, seed planting depth and spacing, row spacing, etc.