All About The Seeds
January starts one of my busy times of year. In my life there are several to be honest. We have seed starting, then planting, harvesting and processing, back to school, and the holidays. I guess you could say, I am almost always busy.
But that isn’t the point, this month we are starting seeds. It may sound early for most people but when you live in West Michigan (Zone 6b for the gardening enthusiasts) you realize that your growing season is rather short. Not as short as some areas, but still short none the less. To the people living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Alaska, Canada, and all the other Northern States that see harsh winters, I commend you. You all are the Super Heroes of gardening in my eyes. They have such short summers, yet they still manage to get these amazing harvests. Back to my point, our growing season is rather short so we have to start early. Especially if we want to get two harvests out of our year. Or at least attempt for two harvests.
Brussel Sprouts are one of my favorite vegetables!!!! I know most people reading this are thinking I am insane, but hear me out. I love them roasted in the oven till crispy, with just a simple salt and pepper seasoning. Maybe some seasoned salt and dipped in a beautiful Garlic Aioli. And I have tried growing them for two years now. They have never survived. They always get attacked by Aphids (evil, disgusting looking, gross bugs), or sunburnt, or even just don’t get a chance to grow to maturity before the last frost hits. They are one of those plants that has the longest maturity out there. So this year, I have a plan and will show you more as the growing season continues on our Youtube channel.
But that is my point, we have to plan out our garden to some extent. I am trying to be a little more open with our garden this year, to use up as much space as possible to get the best harvest we have ever had. I want this to be one amazing year for our plants and that starts with getting them started inside early.
Now to do that I have to get organized. And getting organized for me is rather simplistic right now. I would love to have a much better system, but that will happen as I start saving seeds and when we have a larger garden. For now, I just use a Dollar Store Plastic basket and some post it notes with the Month each seed needs to be planted. Now I do not put a sticky note on each packet. I group all of them together, and I know when I need to start each. The first two weeks of January will be the Brassica Family (Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Cabbage). Those need a little longer growing times. Plus with the Broccoli and Cauliflower, I am attempting a double harvest this year. Hopefully the timing works out for me. But then we have all the tomatoes and peppers, those take a little longer to germinate. So those will be near the end of January.
