Early Start

[kyratshooter]

So the ground is covered with snow, the temp is 22f, the wind chill is obscene and what am I doing?

I am sorting seeds and checking the germination charts to get an early start on the tomatoes, peppers and okra!

This year the utility room will serve double duty as a greenhouse, complete with grow lights.

I intend to get a good harvest this year and have food coming in earlier than in the past. It drives me crazy being on the edge of a climate zone that throws me almost a month behind the harvest dates I grew up with.

50 miles south of me they harvest tomatoes by July 4, where I am it is usually the end of July before I get my first tomato and okra does not come in until mid August.

This year I intend to really overdo it!

[LowKey]

The snow came late here. Because I could still do outside work (the ground hasn't really frozen even yet!) I didn't sort my stuff til last week and I ordered my onion seeds today, along with the rest of the season's seeds.
But I have to put the onions in under the lights this week or next to get any size on them by fall.
Everything else gets started March 5-ish.

This is going to be a weird winter. It's 45 and raining here. In the middle of January.

[Winnie]

Funny, I have been doing the same thing over here. We have had a very wet and mild winter, I have plants in flower and along the road there are Daffodils in bloom.

[Rick]

KY - I always plant my lettuce, radishes and spinach on Valentine's Day even if there is snow on the ground. I just broadcast the seed on top of the snow. My grandfather swore by it and it's worked for me for close to 40 years. The seeds will lay dormant until they are ready to spout and it will provide you the earliest possible harvest without the muss and fuss of indoor planting.

[kyratshooter]

Funny, I have been doing the same thing over here. We have had a very wet and mild winter, I have plants in flower and along the road there are Daffodils in bloom.

I thought all the news sources were predicting the coldest winter in the history of England this year with electrical blackouts, starvation and tea shortages!

BTW we have our first snow on the ground and -15c temps this morning. Our winter had been ridiculously late in arriving.

[Winnie]

That would be the Daily Fail..er..Mail then, or maybe the Express. That story gets rolled out every year, I suppose they will eventually be right. However, there will never, ever, ever be a tea shortage in my home, it's just unthinkable!
Winter was a brief affair the end of November, we had a frost. With luck we might actually have some winter this week.
Looking to sow Peppers, Chillies and Tomatoes in a couple of weeks.