It's that time of year again--seed catalogs

Okay, y'all.  Get a cup of hot tea--any flavor will do, a blanket, your seed catalogs and curl up on the cozy couch and start shopping.  Or daydreaming.

Y'all know that I love my seed catalogs.  Johnny's Selected Seeds.  New this year is the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog.  Pages and pages of glossy photos of vegetables and flowers.  All the possibilities.

That's really what the seed catalogs hold: possibility.  The possibility of growing your own nourishment in your back yard. Or in my case my deck.  

Photo Credit: adamr from freedigitalphotos.net

But the truth is I won't be buying many seeds this year since I have so many left over from last year.  My attempts at growing radishes, lettuce, and peppers failed last year.  I started too late with the lettuce. I didn't plant the radishes deep enough or in a large enough pot.  The peppers didn't mature.  I had minor success with the tomatoes.  I think I got about 8 good ones, but I started too late with them too.

All those mistakes don't matter, though.  I'll keep trying.  I've got a better plan for starting seeds courtesy of an article in Heirloom Gardener Magazine.  And this time around I will actually take the advice of my Aunt Jane.  Like it's really important to harden off your seedlings.

Starting in February, I will start the seeds for the lettuce.  Then in March I will start the seeds for the radishes.  April will be the beginnings of the pepper and tomato seedlings.

Ah, the possibilities.