Planting seeds
I love January! In North Texas, January is when the action starts. I’ve been setting up my seed starting station… in my dining room. This would drive my daughter insane if her gardener-husband setup a seed starting station in her dining room, but it works for me. First of all, my husband doesn’t mind having it there, and I see it every day which reminds me to check on the seedlings, water them, uncover them, lower the light, turn on the fan or START MORE SEEDS! I’m pretty sure that seed starting is my favorite gardening activity. There is just something about seeing the life sprout from the soil. It’s a fresh start with each precious seed.
What seeds do I have germinating in mid-January? Today I started some of my cool weather crops, broccoli - Happy Rich and cauliflower - Fiorett0 -70. I’m trying these new (to me) varieties from Johnny’s seeds. I’m planning to put some of them in my Greenstalk and some in my raised beds and see how they grow. Of course, I’ll report back. I plan to start my tomatoes next week. Yes, it is a warm weather crop, but it takes a while. In North Texas, we need to get some fruit before the weather oven gets turned up to high, so timing is everything. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from gardening is that it takes such a long time for a seed to grow into something edible (fruit or veggie) or beautiful (flowers), patience ~ it’s a virtue.
The herbs I’ve got growing are dill, yarrow, feverfew and echinacea. I’ve hedged my bets with the echinacea and decided to start some of the seeds indoor and some in a milk jug outside. They are kinda hard to grow. They need cold stratification (a period of time in the cold) and they can take up to 30 days to germinate! That’s what I’m talking about, learning that “patience” virtue. I also started some lemon balm to grow inside for a while, because my husband decided he likes the lemon balm tea and used up all of my lemon balm that I grew last year. I’m glad he likes it, and if I’m being honest, I drank that tea right along with him. It is just delightful and beneficial.
