spring seedlings

It's finally time to start growing new plants! It's a bit early still for the warm weather stuff like tomatoes, but for the cool-season edibles it's time.

As usual I've bought too many different seed packets for my limited herbivore-free space behind the fence, but I just can't help myself.

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Remember that I already have in-ground kale, Swiss chard, spinach, cilantro, and a few beets -- those were all fall-planted and overwintered nicely.

So I have space for only about three short rows of spring greens, and I can plant in containers on the deck.

With that in mind, here are the cold-tolerant plants that I bought seeds for this year:

• Tatsoi
• Pak Choi
• Lettuce 'Red Romaine'
• Lettuce 'Merlox Red Oak'
• Mizuna
• Cabbage/Komatsuna hybrid
• Beets
• Swiss chard 'Rhubarb'

Plus I have older seed for:

• Lettuce, 4 or 5 varieties
• Peas, 3 or 4 types
• Kale
• Spinach, at least 3 different types
• Cilantro/corriander

Let's do the math: well over a dozen different types of plants, three or four available rows in the garden beds... I'll need a lot of containers for the deck!

I'm not sure if the older lettuce seed is still viable, but I planted some and I'll give it a few more days before giving up on it:

I really don't know where I'll put the peas this year... maybe as a single row in back of the long bed? I haven't had good luck with peas in containers so I think that's my only real option.

Right now I have Tatsoi, Lettuce 'Red Romaine', Lettuce 'Merlox Red Oak', Lettuce 'Buttercrunch' (as a test), and cilantro germinating. Once they get going I'll get them outdoors (they can all handle the cold) and will start on the others.

I'll figure out where to put them later, right?

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