I finally got my outdoor seeds started!
I live in Minnesota so my first day of safe frost-free planting is May 20th this year according to my handy Farmer’s Almanac. There are seeds that you can start outside before that, but not many. I like to transplant plants to the garden for a lot of veggies.
Carrots, tomatoes, and several others can take 75+ days to harvest. With only 3.5 solid months of growing season I need to maximize my garden time, and that means starting from plants, not seeds, for anything that has a growing time of 60 days or more. (You don’t want your first harvest to come during your frost! What fun would it be to not eat anything out of your garden for months?)
Here is a picture of the seed flats I have started:
I have press-and-seal wrap over the trays to preserve moisture and warmth which will start the seeds faster. I have 2 kinds of trays: small egg-crate style, and large potter style. I use the large pots for things that need to get pretty big before transplant like carrots and tomatoes. I use the small egg crate style for flowers and smaller veggies, and things that can go in the garden sooner size-wise as well as colder-tolerant.
So here’s what I have started:
- Yellow Onions
- Long Carrots
- Jalapenos
- Bell Peppers
- Broccoli
- Beef Steak, Roma, and Salad Tomatoes
- Petunias (regular ones :))
These I will sow right in the garden:
- Beans
- Peas
- Short Carrots
- Cilantro
- Basil
- Radishes
- Zucchini
- Cosmos
- Morning Glories
These are either fast growers, or cold weather tolerant and do well going right in as seed.
Thanks for stopping by!
I was just reading my Farmer’s Almanac for this year and found out the meaning behind the term “Victory Garden.”
In 1588 Queen Elizabeth sent riders out into the country side to tell the folks out there to prepare for war. One of the main things that was told to everyone through out the land was to plant extra food in their home gardens because without it they would be going hungry. This is was part of the reason the English were victorious over the Spanish invasion!
Likewise during WW2 the department of agriculture told people to start home gardens (which at that time were few and far between here in the U.S.) to relieve the demand for food in the grocery stores. Many families took this advice and ate better (and a lot healthier) for it!
So, the Victory Garden is just that – a sustainable way for families to maintain themselves during times of war. Thinking about all of the ways this effects the whole country is amazing to me. A war can be won due to sustainable living, in particular – gardening for our selves and not relying on the grocery stores to be there for us.
This is just as true now as it was back then. Gardening this way can conserve energy and also keep us healthier!
