Start Planting Now

Spring weather is starting to appear, and before we know it, it will be time to start our vegetable gardens outdoors. For now though, while there is still frost and the ground is too frozen to dig up, vegetable gardens can be started indoors. By beginning planting now, your vegetable plants will already have a great head start and produce vegetables sooner after they have been transplanted outdoors. You can begin your indoor planting in small pots or wooden boxes, but containers work very well too. Water, pop, and juice bottles that have been cleaned and cut open actually work very well for beginning plants. Empty yogurt, butter, cottage cheese, and other similar containers also work well, as do jars and even tin cans. When I was young, I planted a few bean seeds in a pile of dirt in a clean two-liter pop bottle with the top cut off, and a small door cut into the back. I couldn't believe how quickly the plant grew, and how large it got. It quickly outgrew that pop bottle, and its stalks were spilling out the small door and out of the top. It was an easy plant to care for as well, it could easily be placed in sunlight, and was easy to water. It was also easily transportable. I think I even took it on a trip to my grandparent's house a few hours car ride away, and it still survived well. 
Indoor plants that are started with seeds will need a nice amount of soft dirt, lots of light, from sunlight or lamps, and water. They will also require some temperature control, room temperature is fine, but ensure that it is not too warm or too cold or drafty. Dedicate a spot in your house where the plants won't be disturbed by temperature changes, won't be accidentally knocked over, and can access light and water easily.
Herbs are always good plants to have indoors. Aside from those, here is a list of plants that are commonly started indoors before the springtime, and they benefit from this quite a bit.

• Cucumbers, Peppers, Tomatoes, Lettuces, Carrots, Broccoli, Eggplant, Celery

These vegetable are suggested as starting indoors either because they require longer growing periods, grow better when transplanted outdoors as a plant instead of a seed. or require a bit more TLC.

PHOTO CREDIT:"p1000812"  http://containergardening.wordpress.com/2007/08/14/gardening-ideas/ . Container Gardening, n.d. Sunday, April 29, 2012.