Started Tidal Waves, cabbage, broccoli, and Coleus. More to come in the next week. The Tidal Waves take forever to get any size. At least this makes me think spring is close even if the weather isn't cooperating. We will start over 500 plants in the basement before moving them to the greenhouse.
I haven't started yet. It's been hard for me to get into the spirit with 6" of hard-packed snow and ice on the garden but I know it's time and I'll probably get things going this weekend.
I don't do a garden anymore, but when I did I usually started the plants around April. I had better luck planting seeds in the ground too, the seedlings seemed to get conditioned too much to no wind and less sun and would not make it outside. Or the freaking moose would come
I direct seed some things; beets, carrots, potatoes and peas. Seeds started inside need to be hardened off before they take up permanent residence outside. Take the young, tender plants out for a couple hours each day. Start them out in the shade or partial sun. Every day expose them to a little more sun and wind. In about 2 weeks they're ready to make the move .
The last couple years I've tried to grow some cucumbers in big pots and had no luck. Too much rain, not enough sun/heat I guess. OF course I didn't bother last year and we had a record summer for nice days. I love fresh cukes. The "cukes" they sell at the store are down right gross. Not even good enough for a pickle.
I have 4 kinds of peppers up and 1 tomato. Going to start some more at the beginning of March, maybe. I don't know. It is tough to judge this season because of the weather.
I probably struggle with green peppers the most. They don't seem to get going until fall. Then they have a bumper crop. The hot peppers like jalapenos and serrano's do a lot better in the heat of summer. Tomatoes are my big crop. Can't wait to get them going. The broccoli seeds sprouted over night.
I had mountains of good cukes last year. I use Boston Pickling. I ended up making around 40qts of pickles; sweet, dill and bread-n-butter. I'm getting a little low on tomato sauce so I'll do a lot of tomatoes this year.
I had a small garden some years back, had maybe 8-10 cuke plants. I had so many cukes that I couldn't even give them away fast enough! I haven't bothered with canning any. Not really worth it for the amount of pickles I eat when the cost of a big 1/2 gallon jar is only $4-5 or so.
It's not always the cost or any savings, perceived or otherwise. Often it's knowing what's (not) in the jar. Especially (some) preservatives, additives, etc. You gotta have time, too. and enjoy doing it
