Starting the Garden

Spring came so early this year, I hardly know when it is time to start planting things outside. I usually plant cool weather crops in late April and yesterday it was in the 70s and I decided it was time to get my container garden going.

We will be away for about a month this summer, so I am scaling back a bit from last year. I loved having fresh herbs right outside the door so I am focusing on these. If I had a real garden, many herbs could overwinter there, but my apartment doesn't get enough sun to keep pots of herbs going in the darker months. I planted thyme, parsley, sage, and mint from seedlings. I also planted cilantro seeds. Since it has been a warm spring, I went ahead and got a strawberry seedling, too.

Our back porch only gets partial sun but I planted pea and lettuce seeds, too. I will probably just use the peas for pea shoots and I figured if I would give the lettuce an early start since it will grow slowly in the shade. Most of the seeds I already had, so I had nothing to lose by planting them. Although I hope to eventually grow most of my own food, right now whatever I grow is a nice bonus so I'm not afraid to experiment and try different things, like planting more seeds than I need to or planting a bit earlier than usual.

I have added a Plant A Garden button to the sidebar with links to garden posts from last year. I'd love to share more information and ideas for growing this year, too. Have you planted anything, yet?