It is February break, and I just planted my first bedding plants of the year 4 days ago. My planning process starts in late January when I determine where I will place things in crop rotation in my various beds (read this post for a detailed description of the planning process). We start all our plants in a grow table Mike picked up for us, then transfer them to our green house when it is warm enough. This year it is so warm that the greenhouse is already hitting double digits in the middle of the day sometimes, but it isn't heated and is not warm enough for sprouting.
We have been eating sprouts for a while, and I just planted pea shoots, which are always a treat. The weather has been so nice, I feel less desperate for something fresh to eat, but I am still excited. Pea shoots are great because you can plant and eat them, then cut again and eat them a couple of times until they are too tired to start over.
I have also started the most southern crops we grow, peppers and basil. This year I planted 30 basil plants and 25 peppers. The peppers are mostly bell and mini bell peppers, but I also planted some chili peppers. I will buy a jalapeno bedding plant in the spring to round out our pepper planting. My timing and plant numbers are similar to last year when we had a good crop of peppers.
The last thing I planted was some spinach and lettuce. Most people don't realize how easy it is to grow your own greens indoor in the winter. Spinach is so hardy that I was cutting my own in my front yard in October last year and will be able to plant it first in the spring in the floor of the greenhouse (built in 2008 by Mike and my dad). We will be eating these greens in March, and they will never be planted in the open garden.
The start of the planting year is always exciting for me. Because I live in a 2B Zone, I have a long, cold winter with a short summer. I really have to make the most of the growing time I have. Last week we finished the last of our potatoes and we roasted our last pumpkin yesterday. Our last fresh storage vegetable is squash, and once it is gone this week, we'll only be eating frozen, canned and dried things from our 2011 crop. I will spend the next several months planting, dreaming and preparing for my new garden season, then by April, I will be out in the yard again celebrating spring. I spent a happy half an hour on my deck two days ago just anticipating. Mike laughs because I find a small snow-free patch, wrap myself in a blanket and drink hot chocolate just to stay out there. But like the grow table full of soil, I don't really care about what is. I can see through that to what will be.
