A Fresh Start

Valentine's Day, 2015... seed starting begins for this year's garden. I completed my garden layout in mid-January and have been itching to get the seeds started since. It was a real trial to make it until mid-February, but here we are... finally.

I decided to invest in some new high-output growing lights, I hope that investment will pay off. Last year, my seedlings got a bit lanky from reaching for the light, so along with the new high-output lights, I lined the aquarium set-up with silver, reflective paper. You really can't have too much light.

New varieties that I am trying this year include Topepo Rosso Peppers, Red Cheese Peppers, Little Marvel Peas, Baby Blue Hubbard Squash, and Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck Squash. Also on the list is a red cabbage that I planted in my 2014 Fall garden, Red Express. I found it to be extremely sweet and tasty, grew very quickly, and handled the Autumn temperature fluctuations that we experience in SW PA very well. I'm hoping it does as well for a spring planting.

At this point I have only started the seeds for the slow growers, and cold lovers. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and petunias that my husband likes are among the slower growers, while cabbage, kohlrabi, and kale make up the cold lovers. Swiss chard is on the list for the next round of seeds to start, along with some beets. The cucurbits develop much faster and it's still far too early to start seeds for those, and the peas, lettuce, and spinach will be direct sown when the soil warms enough.


Vegetable Garden list for 2015:

Peppers:
Red Cheese
Topepo Rosso

Eggplant:
India Paint

Pumpkin:
Snack Jack

Kohlrabi:
Early Purple Vienna

Cabbage:
Red Express

Melons:
Honey Rock
Golden Midget
Blacktail Watermelon

Peas:
Little Marvel

Tomatoes:
Black Krim
Persimmon
Riesentraube
Polish Linguisa

Cucumber:
Marketmore '76

Beets:
Chioggia
Golden
Early Wonder

Squash - Winter:
Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck
Baby Blue Hubbard

Squash - Summer
Ronde Nice

Kale:
Vates Blue Dwarf Scottish

Chard:
Ruby
Seafoam

Lettuce:
Sunset
Devil's Ear
Tennis Ball

Spinach:
Merlo Nero
Bloomsdale Long Standing
Monstrueux de Viroflay