Time to Start the Veggies!

The time to plant is upon us!

At least in my part of the world, (Connecticuit) that is. Last year I started my seedlings the first weekend of April. Unfortunately, only the onions thrived and the rest weren't ready when I wanted to transplant them. So this year I decided to move them up to the second weekend of March.

It might be a little early, but I'm willing to take that chance. The worst that can happen is I buy plants, again.

That adds nearly 3 weeks of growing time to the peppers and tomatoes. I snuck the onions in even a few days earlier. They can use all the time I can give them and more in our cold climate.

Some day I will try store bought sets. For this year I had some left over onions from last year, some of which had started sprouting, that I am giving a shot as stand in sets. My onions got cut short last year, I think due to thrips. They stopped growing between dime and quarter size. They tasted good, but were small. So some of them *should* work as sets, we will see. I suspect many of them will bolt, but they were inedible anyways.

For now I have planted them in a window planter to give them an early start. I am hoping they can provide an early harvest. If so, maybe I'll give intentional sets a try in the fall.

I'm also giving broccoli from seed a start for the first time. We did plants last year and they did ok, although we got mini-heads instead of nice big heads.

Plant counts:

Green Peppers - 12
Jalapeno Peppers - 12
Roma Tomatoes - 12
Orange Tomatoes - 3
Cherry Tomatoes - 3
Broccoli - 6

Herbs:
Oregano
Chives
Cilantro
Parsley
Basil

Red Burgundy Onions - one package