With spring seed catalogs for the next growing season arriving in the mail as early as November, you might think it’s way too early to start thinking about a garden. But, January and February are the best months to dream about spring and all the fun of raising your own veggies and flowers.

There is so much power in a tiny vegetable seed. One corn seed represents a delicious ear of sweet corn. One watermelon seed can become the sweetest, juiciest fruit you’ve ever eaten. One zucchini seed easily becomes a freezer full of shredded squash just waiting to be made into zucchini bread, cake and muffins. During the darkest time of the year, dreams of all the good food you can raise in the spring and summer help to make the cold days pass faster.

If you are new to gardening, wanting to know how to garden, and you just received your first mailbox full of gardening catalogs, you might be overwhelmed by the fantastic number of choices for fruits, flowers and vegetables. A trip to area nurseries can be equally overpowering; so many plants look good you can’t help but over spend and you bring home way more plants than you have room for.

Before you spend a dime on seeds or live plants…

Here are some tips on how to plan your garden:

Save and get the most for your money and space.

1. Make a list of your family’s favorite fruits, vegetables and flowers. Write it all down, from tomatoes and eggplants to strawberries and jalapeños.
2. Check the planting zone maps located in just about every gardening catalog, or ask your local Extension agent. Find your location on the map. The zone maps tell you what will or won’t grow in your area. For example, parsnips and peanuts require a growing season of at least 120 frost free days. If you live in northern Wisconsin, you may very well have a growing season of 90 days at the most. As much as you would like to grow parsnips and peanuts, your season will be too short to allow these plants to mature. But you might be eating fresh lettuce and cabbages all summer long.
3. Study the garden seed catalogs. The description for each advertised seed packet gives an estimate of how long it will take that plant to grow. Before you order seeds, make sure the growing time listed for the seed falls well within the range of your zone. Luckily, plant researchers have worked for years breeding plants with shorter and shorter growing seasons. So it’s possible to raise a short season tomato. On the other hand, if you live in the deep southern part of the United States, you might find your springs and summers are way too hot to successfully raise lettuce, cabbage, broccoli and radishes, which are all cool weather crops. See if you can’t plant these plants in the late fall and grow them over the winter.
4. Talk to people in the know. Pay a visit to your county extension agent or the folks who run nearby plant nurseries. These people are a wealth of information about what grows best in your area, and when to expect frosts. They might have suggestions for seeds to try. Also, pay attention to gardeners in your area. Most gardeners LOVE to talk about their gardens. They might even give you vegetable samples to try. Beware of the zucchini season, though. You might end up with your arms full of summer squash!
5. Match the information you’ve gathered to your list of favorite vegetables, fruits and flowers. Choose the varieties you think will work in your area and that you might want to try. The beauty of raising your own vegetables is that you have so many wonderful varieties with which to experiment. We love lettuce fresh from the garden. In a typical year, we raise 16 different varieties of lettuce in the spring, ranging from loose leaf and romaine to butterhead, and varieties of loose leaf lettuce in the fall, because the growing season is shorter in the autumn in Missouri.
6. Consider space, time and ambition.Unless you live on a farm in the country, space for a garden can be very limited. In a high rise apartment in a city, you might be restricted to a few pots on your balcony. Although you can pack a great many plants in a small space, there is always a limit to what you can raise. Think about how much time you might spend on a garden. Gardens, even small ones, take work.As the size of your garden grows, so does the workload: the watering, weeding, staking, fertilizing and processing of the foods you raised. If you and your family love being outdoors and can work for hours on the garden each week, go ahead and dig up your entire lawn if you want. When everyone in the family is working or busy in extra-curricular activities, time is short, as should be the confines of your garden. Also, if you live in a community with covenants, check to see if there are any restrictions to size or location of a garden.
   

   Our narrow Montana Garden

   When we lived in a small Eastern Montana town, we had just about the tiniest yard in town. But, we were able to raise a fairly significant garden by digging up the yard perimeter inside a tall wooden fence that surrounded the yard.

   Now we live in the Missouri countryside and we have tons of space for all those great fruits and veggies we never had room for in Montana, such as pumpkins and watermelons. But we still sometimes get the September blahs, when Mother Nature doesn’t water our garden in time and we just can’t pull one more jar of dill pickles out of the water bath canner. However, we persevere, and come January, we are very grateful for all the vegetables we’ve stored away.

7. Consider whether you rent or own your property. Buying long term investments like fruit trees and bushes, or expensive perennials doesn’t make a lot of sense if you rent your property. Consider investing in annual flowers and vegetables and buy your fruits at the local farmers’ market. You can get a lot of colorful mileage from a packet of annual flower seeds, like zinnias and marigolds.
8. Draw a map. Before ordering seeds, use graph paper to draw a map of your yard and garden and indicate where you plan to place your different seeds and plants. This helps you visualize your garden and gives you a good idea of just how much room you have. It also makes sure plants that don’t like each other don’t end up together (companion planting). A map also allows you to get right to work planting when the ground warms in the spring, instead of wasting time trying to figure out where everything goes as you plant.
9. Save money by taking a seed inventory. If you have leftover packets of seeds from other years, don’t assume they are too old to plant. If kept in a cool, dark place, many seeds can last for more than one year. Usually, the only seeds that need replacing yearly are members of the Alliumfamily, such as onions and chives.Lettuce, parsnips, corn and parsley seeds can be planted one to two years beyond the due date on the packet. Beans, carrots, cabbage, radishes, peppers and spinach seeds are good for three to five years. For super seeds, turn to tomatoes, cucumbers and beets, which can still be good over five years after the package due date.Sometimes, seed companies don’t put a date on their seed packages. In that case, write the date on the package. We’ve had more trouble trying to guess the age of some packages of green beans and garden peas. Last year’s total green bean crop failure was the last straw. We’re buying new bean seeds this year and writing the date on the package!
   

   Cabbage seeds in a germination test.

   If you aren’t sure about the germination abilities of your seeds, do this simple test. Fold a white paper towel so it fits inside a clear drinking glass or pint canning jar. Wet the paper towel with water and mold it to the inside of your jar. Place 10 of the same variety of seeds between the wet paper towel and the glass. Keep the towel moist and place it in a sunny location.

   Check every day or so to see if seeds have sprouted. If eight seeds sprout, you have a chance of 80% germination, which is very good in the world of gardening. If only three out of 10 seeds sprout, seriously consider buying new seeds this year.

Gardening is Sharing

Of course, once people know you garden, they are more than happy to share. You will receive offers for iris bulbs, 70 extra tomato plants from the old gentleman down the street who enjoys raising tomatoes from seed but doesn’t really plant a garden, extra strawberry plants as some kind person cleans up her berry patch, and heirloom flower seeds which have been in someone’s family since they arrived from the Old Country. Having a plan lets you know whether or not you can take advantage of these kind offers.

So, use the long, cold winter season to dream and plan your garden. Take the time to study all the beautiful vegetables and fruits available, and how you might fit them into your life. When spring comes, you are ready to make your dreams a reality.

When the cold winter winds whip the snow into massive drifts, let a hint of summer into your home by growing your own lettuce. As long as you have a light source, you can raise your own greens, which taste much better and are more nutritious than anything you buy in a supermarket.

how to garden indoors and grow your own salad

• Flower pot or planter. We use three-foot long rectangular planters, because they sit side-by-side under the grow lights and maximize the space.
• Potting Soil. Use a good name brand potting soil, not soil directly from a garden or ditch. You want the soil to be soft and somewhat fluffy. This allows for good drainage and root expansion.
• Lettuce Seed. Loose leaf lettuces work the best for indoors, because their growing season requirements are shorter and they don’t need the extra light and energy to make heads. The best seed we have found is New Red Fire, but Red Sails also works well.  We also grow arugula (also known as “rocket”), but I am sure you can try a variety of other seeds, such as kale, for a vitamin-packed winter salad. Buy seed in the spring when it is readily available, and hold onto it in a cool, dry location until you are ready to plant. Or, order seed online from places such as Harris Seeds, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Pinetree Garden Seeds or Fedco.
• Water. Because of the dry climate of most modern homes, lettuce needs to be watered frequently, as much as once a day.  Pour tap water into a gallon jug and let sit for 24 hours with the cap off, to allow the chlorine to evaporate from the water. Use this water to water your lettuce (and other houseplants).
• Light. We use fluorescent grow light bulbs in four foot shop light fixtures for our source of light, but any window that gets at least half a day of sunshine will work just as well. Just remember to turn your plants every day, to ensure even growth. If you used fluorescent lights, maintain the light bulb height at about 6-inches above the plants. As the plants grow, raise the light accordingly.
• Temperature. Until they sprout, the seeds need warmth. Place them on a table in the sun or near any warm spot in your house, such as a stove or a furnace register. Check often after the first day or two. Place your growing containers in light as soon as the seeds sprout. Once the sprouts appear, heat isn’t a big deal any more. Winter greens actually prefer life in a cool room of your house. The room we use generally ranges between 55-65° F. A hot room will cause the lettuce to bolt, or go straight into flower production. Bolted lettuce is bitter lettuce, and doesn’t taste very good.

PREPARING THE PLANTER

Cover the drainage holes of your planting container with gravel to keep the potting soil from clogging the holes. Pour the potting soil into your container, press the soil down firmly, and fill the planter until you have soil to within an inch of the top.

Make ¼-inch furrows with your finger, place the seeds about ½-inch apart and cover the seeds with soil. Or, scatter the seeds around the surface of the planter and cover lightly with soil.

Pat the soil down around the seeds and water until it runs into the holding tray under the planter. Place in your warm location. You should see lettuce starting to sprout in about three to five days.

PLANT AEROBICS

Your seedlings may look a bit thin and weak at first. One way that we strengthen our weak-looking seedlings is to turn a fan on low, aimed at the plants. We figure plants outdoors get plenty of air movement and look strong, so air movement indoors is a benefit to the little lettuce seedlings. Our son, Bill, calls this the daily plant aerobics. Once the lettuce has developed their third or fourth leaves, the fan isn’t as necessary.

THE HARVEST

Harvest by cutting carefully with a knife about one inch up the plant from the soil surface when the leaves are about five inches long. The leaves will grow back at least once more. Pull the plants out and reseed when the lettuce starts to bolt and produces a bud.

We usually plant eight planters of lettuce each winter, seeding two per week in order to guarantee a steady supply of lettuce. However, even two planters under lights give you cheap, healthy food. The lettuce is very tender and delicious, and tastes great in salads and on sandwiches.

Pictured are arugula (background) and New Red Fire lettuce (foreground).

HOW TO GARDEN INDOORS WITH PETS

One thing you have to guard against is marauding house cats. This specific blog was scheduled earlier, but our first attempt to grow lettuce this winter ended up upside down on the floor within an hour of planting, thanks to our little grey kitty, Rosemary. What a mess! Thank goodness it hit the tile floor in the sun room and not a rug or piece of furniture. Cleaning mud out of furniture is no fun.

Also, cats like greens as well as you do. Depending on how many house cats you have (we have four), your delicious homegrown salad fixings can end up looking like the attack of a truckload of billy goats.

The best way we’ve found to handle house cats and winter indoor lettuce is to grow the lettuce in a room which has a door we can shut. That way, we get our fresh salad without worrying about cat antics.

Our cat, Rosemary