Time to Start the Garden

Those that live in Zone 5 or 6 (then there are some like me that seem to live in both) it is now time to start some seedlings.

All the cabbage family
eggplants
rhubarb
onions

Start these seedlings indoors, under a proper grow light. You can do this under a counter, on top of counter, in closets, under beds, or build some space for your plants. All the above plants (and you potatoes) should go out right after Saint Patrick's Day.

If you have very little room indoors to start growing, try building a corner shelf.

You need white paint, reflective white paint. You do not need to cover the entire shelf in white, only the underside of the shelves, this is where you will mount your lights. You can use specialty lights, like grow bulbs, or a mix of fluorescent and iridescent lighting. Keep your lighting at least 8 inches from your plants, and use a timer to give them the correct amount of light.

Plant your seeds shallowly in a mix of loam and clean soil. Keep it damp, not wet. In 3 days to 2 weeks you should have sprouts (some plants are slower than others) Watch you seedlings. If they look spindly you have too little light. Burning leaves mean too much light.

And in 6-8 weeks, as soon as the ground is workable, no worries about frost, it is time to move them to your outside garden (St. Paddy's Day)