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Another birthday has come around and we are starting to see, hopefully, the end of winter. The tail end of January brought big ice storms to our part of Kentucky and even cold down to 8°F that kept our 1 inch of snow on the ground for about a week.
We bundled up trying to keep warm and we were grateful for our gas heating system and cooking range when this area was without electric for 24 hours. More grateful when we learned our over 300,000 of our neighbors were out of electric and water for a week!
It looks like the greenhouse has survived all this as we did also. However, a lot has to be done once it starts to warm up with normal zone 6 temperatures as we head into the 2nd week of February.
The seed packets are out in the garden centers and it is very hard to keep my hands off of them. I am looking through some of the packages of seeds that were left over from last year.
I never hesitate to use them each season and they seem to do their thing because I have kept them well away from light, heat and dampness.
A garden, this year especially, is a good way to help fight inflation and keep your food budget down when one realizes that a small package of seeds will yield 5 pounds of lettuce, 100 to 120 summer squash, 18 to 20 pounds of green beans or almost 20 pounds of carrots. Depending on the brand of seed you buy you will spend from $1.98 to $2.98 per package. I always recommend the heirloom type of seed and that will usually be in the high end of the seed price.
Of course we have to remember the seed that gives the “biggest bang for the buck” and that is virtually any kind of tomato seed. A package of tomato seeds will give you upwards of 30 tomato plants and each plant might yield upwards of 10 pounds of fruit. At the current price of vine ripen tomatoes of $2.98 to $3.98 per pound even one plant’s yield would cost you almost $40.00! So do the math at what a $2.98 package of heirloom tomato seeds will do for your budget.
Of course you have to help. You have to start the seeds, care for them, transplant them when the frost has left the ground, weed them, water them, perhaps stake them up, keep the bugs off them and then harvest them. Along the way you get the benefit of seeing something grow from a little seed to a great big beautiful healthy tasty tomato. You get some exercise, you get sunshine on your shoulders and if you incorporate your family into this gardening endeavor you will get “togetherness”, memories and life teaching lessons for your children. Imagine all that from one little seed!
Yes, February is the time to decide where this year’s garden will be and what will be in it. Radishes are a must because they give early results as will peas. Potatoes are an early producer and don’t forget all the different varieties of lettuce and other salad greens.
Keep in mind that gardens do not have to be “farm” big. Small garden patches give wondrous results and patio containers can feed you also.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… May your day be filled with…Peace, Light and Love,
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries and to take a walk through her pictorial garden or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books, including her new book, “The ABC’s of Wine and Beer Making”. Many of her articles written for Greenthumbarticles have paintings she has created of the subject and they can be seen at her “How to Do It” site. Remember to check out her artwork, especially of her fruits and vegetables. Many of her paintings are sold internationally and many of her works of art have been reproduced on note cards, post cards and other functional items and you can get Giclee prints of her artwork starting as low as $11.89 Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books, art, etc. go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my sites.”
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