It’s February – time to start thinking seriously about this year’s garden. By now you’ve probably received multiple seed catalogs in the mail and you are already starting to think about what you want to grow this year. Now it’s time to think about starting some seeds indoors so that you’ll have some plants ready to go into the garden as soon as it warms up outside. I haven’t had the best luck with starting seeds indoors, probably mostly due to lighting and temperature issues, but hopefully this year will be different.

Something that may be helpful in the planning process is a seed starting chart, which will help you decide when to start each of your seeds. After all, you don’t want to start all your seeds at once because some plants will be ready to transplant faster than others and some plants can be placed outside earlier than others. There are several resources that offer seed starting charts. Two that come to mind are Organic Gardening and You Grow Girl. In order to successfully use these charts, you will need to know the Spring Frost-Free Date for your region. A good place to figure that out is Dave’s Garden.

Once you know what you want to plant and when to plant it, and you have your pots, growing media, lighting, and temperature issues in order, you’ll be ready to go. With dedication, determination, and a little luck, you should have a healthy batch of plants to fill your garden come spring. Happy planting!