Time to start the seedlings

Happy New Year everyone!!! Hope everyone had a Happy Holidays. It was definitely a quiet one for me. Anyhow, its that time of year when I start my seedlings. My general plan is to start seedlings in the first week of each month from now till May, then, cross your fingers, I can start planting everything out. Here is my general seedling plan (not my direct sow plan, that is very dependent on the weather):

• January: onions and leeks
• February: eggplant and basil
• March: tomatoes and peppers 
• April: Beans, Melons, cucumbers, various annual herbs, maybe spinach and maybe okra.

I used this plan last year and it worked out really well. Planting in the first week of the month takes the guess work as to how old the seedlings are when you go to plant them out (I am horrible about dating my seedlings, they are lucky to have a name and sometimes have the specific type on them). 

This year I am ordering most of my seed from High Mowing Organic Seed. Last year, I had bought a few packets of their seed from Wegmans (it was much cheaper than the Burpee seed) and I have been following them on Facebook for a while so lets see how it goes. I was a little late in ordering them though (I ordered them New years eve), so I am not sure if I will have it in time to be able to plant my onions and leeks by the end of next week (i.e. the first week of January).

 I am starting all of my indoor seedlings (except onions and leeks) in these coconut coir pellets from Burpee. This will be my third year using these. I love them. I find pellets to be a lot less messy and less hassle. I like using the coconut coir for several reasons 1) it is much more sustainable to use coconut coir than peat moss 2) most of the coconut coir comes from southeast asia so in a very small way I am supporting their economy and lastly 3) it has a neutral pH (compared to peat moss which tends to be more acidic). I have found that onions and leeks are not easy to grow in single cells or single pellets. Last year I densely sowed them in a large tray filled with soiless medium (last year I used a Scotts mix, this year I will probably just use regular coconut coir). I have held on to these take out containers (pictured below) which I am hoping will work for the indoor seedlings. 

So that is about all for now with the seedlings. I will leave you with a few pictures I took on New Years eve.... some volunteer cilantro (left) and mache (right) that showed up in the garden. I should have planted a winter garden this year!!