The problem with gardening (okay, maybe problem is not the right word) is that it’s infectious.  And when you hear that a neighbor or friend has started certain varieties of seeds… well, you just get an itch! A big itch! So this afternoon, after picking up Abigail from school, I trekked out to the shed and pulled my “official” seed starting tray. It’s one of the small cell pack trays, so it holds 32 little cells of seeds.  This one tray is perfect for doing the bulk of my seed starting.

So I started some seeds.  I started cauliflower, kale, scallions, leeks, bell peppers, sweet stuffing peppers, eggplants, hot peppers, and then the herbs- lovage, borage, summer savory, basil, sweet marjoram and the cilantro went in it’s own pot on the windowsill.  I decided to go ahead and do a few eggplant- if you remember, I had been waffling on them.  But since Baker Creek sent me a freebie of a new-to-me variety, well, how could I not give them a whirl?  And despite my dismal failure with hot peppers last year, I’ve now got some Anaheim chilies and some Serrano chilies planted.  You’ll also notice that those sweet stuffing peppers made it back on the list too- I’ll tell you, I was all determined to not grow them again, and then I pickled the last pickings off the plants last year. Oh. My. Gosh.  Totally worth it for just that jar of pickled peppers.

I think I’ve started just about everything that can be started ahead of time- except the tomatoes.  I still have some calculating to find out exactly when I can start those, but I do know it is much too early to think ‘mater.

I’m planning a trip to my favorite garden center in the next week or so, and I suspect that I’ll be adding to the seeds here, not to mention I’ve got a trade in the works, so some brussels sprouts will be added to my collection as well.  Overall, I’m thrilled it’s March, and I’m feeling very optimistic that we’ll have a great gardening year.  Two years ago I planted the garden the second week in April, so if we hold to that for this year, my plants have all been started perfectly.  That means I really need to get out the grid paper and get planning.  Once the snow melts and the ground thaws, there are peas and lettuce just dying to get in the ground!