seed starting tray with celery and pepper seedlings

I keep my seeds organized in a large box which is divided into 4 sections, each containing the seeds I will be starting in February, March, April and May. Quart baggies work perfectly for holding the seed packets.

A large box works perfectly for keeping my seed collection organized

I use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of what to sow and when. I update this spreadsheet with the plant variety, performance, requirements…. everything I need to know. Keeping a garden log like this is an  important part of the gardening process. It doesn’t matter what you use… just keep track. You can view mine here.

I use a combination of saved seed pots from plants I’ve purchased, as well as the little seed starting greenhouse kits.

Vintage Plant Light Stand with Leek Seedlings, Herbs, and Greenhouse Kits

I’ve tried starting my seeds on just the “sunny windowsill” method, but my windows just don’t get quite enough sun, so the seedlings started that way last year ended up all spindly and small. This year I’m using florescent lights, and so far its working nicely. The shelves are not adjustable, so once the seedlings sprouted, I put the trays on shoeboxes to elevate them closer to the lights.

The photo here is from mid February, when only a few seedlings are started. On the middle and bottom shelf are a few pots with some herbs that I had dug in the fall and brought in to grow over the winter. That worked okay, but I’ll probably not do it again: I think the “windowsill herbs” concept is a little overrated for me: a lot of flowerpot action for nowhere near as much herbs as I usually use in cooking. By March the chives had bit the dust.

The Garden / Water Feature on a Rainy Day in Early March. (And typical of Cleveland, I woke up to several inches of snow the next morning).

OMG we survived another Cleveland February.  March 5th its 50 degrees out, and the rain stops long enough for me to squish out to the garden / to look for signs of spring. Because yes, spring will arrive in two weeks. I have faith.

Soggy doesn’t begin to describe it. The garden after a snow melt and rain looks more like a leaf filled bog than a garden. But there are definite signs of spring.

The daffodils look the same, just a little bigger.

Daffodils in Cleveland. March 5, 2011

Last fall I heavily mulched the garlic with leaves to protect it from the cold. Today I could see some of the garlic sprouts bravely poking their little green heads up.  The Russian Red is popping up all over the place. This is the stuff that I had first planted, thought had died, but is now volunteering all over the place: it just doesn’t quit. The Kyjev and Westlake also are starting to sprout. The Music, Inchillium Red, German, Chesnok, and Transylvanian all seem to want to wait for more proof of spring before THEY pop up.

It may be only March 5th, but this Russian immigrant isn't fazed.... its TOASTY WARM OUT HERE, compared to Siberia!!!!

And more plants just peeking their little heads above ground……

If you want to grow catnip, I seriously recommend growing it inside a chickenwire cage until it becomes firmly established. Otherwise there will be nightly kitty parties in your yard, as neighborhood cats from miles around show up to partake of the “good stuff”. I’m not kidding.

The catnip is sprouting. Cats will be happy... it's time for a KITTY PARTAY!!!!

The garlic chives do not mind being in a soggy spot in the garden. They are tough enough to thrive no matter where i put them, but they do seem to really like the rich soil and wet feet they get in their  low spot at the edge of the raised beds.

These chives don't look like much right now, but in a few months they will become a huge plant filled with green chive goodness.

The ferns are starting to show up everywhere…..

Those little brown lumps will turn into big gorgeous ferns very soon..

And one of my favorite signs of spring: PussyWillows!!!!

I love pussywillows. This was an impulse purchase at Trader Joes.

The green peppers have just started to sprout.
Leeks are looking scraggly.

I have begun a new section of this blog, Gardening Through the Year. Each Month will have it’s own page, with the highlighted activities broken down by week. So far I have added January through April, in particular focusing on which seeds to start when.

I’ve also updated the Garden Spreadsheet, with more on what I am planting this year.

For February, its been mostly about the early seed starting indoors and updating my blog and documentation. There’s only so much you can do when the garden outside looks like this:

The Garden in Mid February.

Alma Paprika Peppers: 6 plants. These were an impulse purchase. The Peppers can be either eaten fresh or dried to make Paprika Seasoning.

Here’s a closeup of my beloved leeks:

Giant Musselburg and Carentan Leek Seedlings

The haul: a nice supply of volunteer mustard greens*, a few leaves of Lacinato Kale, and a handful of baby Cosmic Purple carrots that I had missed during the autumn harvest.

Mustard greens, kale, and a handful of baby carrots harvested in the garden on New Year's Day, 2011

I am definitely going to focus more on cold hardy vegetables for my plantings this year!

The take-away: The mustard greens had all been heavily mulched with leaves, which protected them during the snow and cold of December (only a few inches of snow, but weeks of weather in the teens and twenties).

The kale was from a plant that I had left standing with a nice cluster of kale leaves, just to see what would happen. It had been mulched around the base, but not at the top. I only took a few leaves, leaving the center young growth (which was left over from the fall). I’m watching to see what happens with the remaining leaves and plant come spring (and hopefully it will go to seed). Most of the older leaves were hanging down and looking the worse for wear. The leaves I harvested had a bit of freeze burn, but were still good.

The carrots had also been covered with leaves.

There was a lot of salsify I probably could have harvested, but it would have involved digging in the mud, and I wasn’t into it.

For this year’s garden (and for the winter/spring 2012 harvest), my note to self is: plant carrots and possibly parsnips for winter and early spring harvesting, and mulch heavily.

*Volunteer veggies are those that have seeded themselves and popped up all over the yard. Mustard greens are very enthusiastic about this, and the deer and rabbits don’t eat them. They are therefore growing EVERYWHERE in the backyard flower and vegetable beds!

You know, I really do not understand recipes that call for “only the white part of the leek, remove the leek greens, but whatever. When I cook with leeks that I grow, I use the entire leek, except for the roots. The whole thing is edible and tasty.

After surfing my fave recipe sites and checking out my cookbooks I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted, so I adapted a recipe from the Monestary cookbook I have (Potato and Parsley casserole) to include my leeks and a perfectly good bulb of garlic that I found in the compost pile (obviously missed when I was harvesting garlic).

Potato Leek and Garlic Casserole

Ingredients:

• 3 leeks (white part only) sliced in rounds.
• about 10 small potatoes, chopped. (I used Yukon gold, but only because they looked better than the redskins I usually get).
• 1 large bulb of garlic, peeled and chopped (I’m a garlic aficionado, this may be pretty garlicky for most mortals).
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/3 package of gravy mix.
• 2 cups of meat flavored soup stock. (I make my own from meat scraps and the roux from cooking various meats and fish, and then save it in 2 cup portions in the freezer, but a can of beef or chicken broth is fine).
• Salt/pepper/Old Bay Seasoning to taste. (I forgot to include this this time).
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (would have been 1/2 cup, but my 1st year parsley is still not all that big, didn’t want to kill it).

The electric food chopper I scored at Dave and Busters is awesome for chopping lots of garlic and parsley.

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook potatoes until tender in just enough water to cover, about 15 minutes. Add leeks about 2 minutes before they are done, let them sit in the water until ready to add to casserole dish.

Saute garlic in  olive oil.  Add parsley and broth/stock.

Remove potatos and leeks from water, reserving water for future soups. (I freeze it).

add potatoes and leeks to casserole dish.

Spoon garlic and parsley over potato/leek mix, then pour the remaining stock into the casserole dish.

Add gravy mix.

cover with foil or lid, bake for 45 min, then remove lid and bake uncovered for 15 min more.

Yummy!