Spring Has Sprung...At Least in My Mind!

Or, maybe my mind has sprung a spring!

In spite of the dusting of snow we received Sunday night and the chilly winds Monday, I convinced myself that spring is here. All it took was a trip to a garden center Monday afternoon.  No vegetable plants yet, but seeds of every kind. And they have six packs of pansies!  That is clearly proof that spring has arrived.

 I had to bring one pansy pack home and put it a window box container. Pansies are hardy plants that will tolerate some frost, perhaps losing the flowers, but not the leaves. But with the temperature heading down  to 25 f all night/overnight in Lancaster, I brought them in again until this morning. These plants a greenhouse grown. If I had planted them outside last fall, I'd have left them out and just thrown a good covering of straw over them.

And of course there was the seed selection. Herbs, vegetables, flowers....so much to choose from! So I started with a basic question. Should I get seeds or wait and buy plants instead ?  Some of the vegetable choices shown above (and others I may buy later) are best bought as seeds in my opinion. Although I've seen green bean plants offered for sale, I'd never pay $0.98 EACH for the green bean plants I saw last year. I grow at least three 8 foot beds of green beans (includes the yellow wax beans) per season. With the plants spaced 3 inches apart, two envelopes of seeds is a much better deal. The two envelopes of beans shown above cost $1.29 (green) and $1.88 (yellow). We harvested 9 pounds of the beans last year - which comes to about $0.36 a pound. I skipped buying eggplant seeds since I only plant one of those each year. That being said, if you're only planting 2 tomatoes (or squash, cucumbers, etc.) buying small  plants will work just as well for you. The same thought applies to herbs and flowers choices in your garden.

Starting your own seeds also has the advantage of getting an early start planting your garden if the weather permits, as opposed to waiting for the garden center to put their plants out in late April or May.

Lettuce update: Some the seeds planted March 2 have sprouted. I'll be starting spinach seeds today in the peat pots I picked up yesterday.

I hope to see you here again soon!  Questions?  Push the comments button and send them along to me.