Yes it's winter but time to gear up for that spring garden!

Wow time passes quickly and it's time again to think about our spring garden. I know it's cold outside now but soon it will be warming up. Now is the time to begin planning what you want to plant in your spring garden and begin to grow your seedlings. This is easy to do and all you need is a couple of florescent lights and some soil-less mix. I'm a big advocate of growing one's own plants. If you rely on the local nursery or big box store, you will have very few varieties to choose from. By growing your own, you can choose from literally hundreds of varieties. By growing the best varieties you can ensure a much better harvest! If you don't have a greenhouse, florescent lights are the next best thing. Simply buy a cheap florescent shop light (or two) from your local hardware store and and out fit it with normal cool white florescent lights. There is no need to buy expensive "grow lights". The key to growing under these lights is to germinate seeds in a community flat and then transplant them deeply into cell packs after they have come up. This will eliminate excessive stretching of the plant while it has limited leaf area. Most plants need to be grown for about 4 weeks inside and then need to be hardened off for another week by exposing it to conditions outside slowly, a few hours the first day to all day by the end of the week. This helps the plants to not be shocked by the harsh outdoor conditions, compared to the ease of life under florescence lights.

For the spring garden you should be planting cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, broccoli, etc. The spring garden is for cool loving vegetables than can handle frost. The crops should be transplanted outside by the first to no later than the middle of March.

For the Summer garden you should be planting crops such as tomato's, peppers, eggplant. Crops such as watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, squash, beans and corn tend to do better when planted directly in the garden from seed. All of these should be planted outside around May 1st in our area.

Happy Growing!!