Garden Update + Need SEEDS Cheap?

As I've mentioned before, I get obsessive about a subject when planning. That's how the garden plan has been this weekend. I noticed, after checking here that we're a few weeks behind on getting our seeds going. Most of them we should have planted 6-8 weeks before the last frost date for our area, which is between April 15-21st.

Seed Starting Calendar

There is so much to think about when planning a garden. The little one and I sat down and looked through gardening company's catalogs. It was a good lesson in Science as we discussed plant spacing, growing season, potentially doing a doubling planting (planting another round of plants later in the season, also called Successive Planting) and how much room we will have.

Article on Intensive Gardening

Video on Successive Planting (ie: Autumn Harvesting)

One thing I recommend as you're going through a catalog is to write things down. I kept a list of the Vegetable Name, what catalog it was in, how many seeds in a packet, cost, page number and item number. I then input it all into a table and sorted by vegetable name. This way I could see which catalog had the best price in what vegetables. Yes, I'm weird like this.

My mom as well as a fellow homeschooling family are considering joining us in planting the gardens in our back yard. We have a large 30-70' area that we're adding 4 beds to (we already have 2.)

One of the seed companies, Jung Seeds, has an online program for planning your garden, free for the first 30 days. Imagine my delight, planning out a fancy schmancy plan and I was even able to print it! It told me how many seeds I need, when I need to get them in the ground and I even set the program for two growing rounds, some of the plants can be replanted sometime in July/August for a fall harvesting. How wonderful!

Here is what we decided on finally:

Basil

Green/Yellow beans

Cabbage

Rainbow Carrots

Cauliflower

Cilantro

Cucumbers

Kale

Lavender

Lettuce Blend

Okra

Oregano

Peanuts

Snow Peas

Regular and Tiny Peppers

Spinach

Yellow & Zucchini Squash

Heirloom, Roma & Red/Yellow Cherry Tomatoes

The little one is looking forward to the watering and caring of the baby plants. We will be starting some indoors after the seeds arrive this weekend. She has claimed the carrots as her own, her special food. I told her she had to share in the bounty but I'm not sure she's buying it!

I realize even though we have a huge space to plant, the packets come with SO many seeds. So I thought, after the seeds get here, I could split them up and split the costs with probably 2 people. If anyone is interested, just holler and I'll tell you how much and how many seeds you'll get of each (approximately.) No need to waste them. I don't think seeds are good next year. Who wants to grow with me?!

P.S. I'm ignoring the fact that there is late snow on my ground once again. It will warm up this week!

P.P.S.S. For those frivolous minded people like MY family members, you can play a game that really has nothing to do with gardening at all but is wildly fun: Plants VS. Zombies - link is a reputable company, CNET (it's a trial version).  Can also be found as a free demo download on your Playstation 3. Oh yeah, I forgot the teen has it as a download on her cell phone so you might check your phone's market for free downloads, if you have 'nothing' to do.

NOTE: Don't forget to see my new 'Garden Gurus' page at the top for more gardening information and links.