Predictions for 2024, the sun will rise and the sun will set. I’m sticking to the easy ones as my prediction for an early winter was way off. With the severe Canadian wildfires this summer, devastating the Canadian forest canopy, I predicted snow for Thanksgiving and Christmas as I felt temperatures would drop much faster in the fall. 

Well, I was wrong, I better stick to my day job. But with snow in the forecast for this weekend maybe winter will finally get here. We need a little winter so that Spring will be even more enjoyable. I mentioned last week that the 2024 seeds are in and now you can start planning for your gardening season to come. Now I wouldn’t advocate that anyone start their seeds now unless you have a nice large heated greenhouse, but prior planning prevents poor performance. Now I know most of you will wait until spring and just buy the starter packs of vegetable and flowers in our garden center, but there are a few things that are better started from seed. Peas, beans and corn can be started in small peat pots about one to two weeks before you put them out in the garden. Many of your root crops like radish, turnip and carrots are sometimes best left to plant the seeds directly into your garden, so as not to disturb the roots. Cucumbers, squash and pumpkins are easy and can be planted directly or start them indoors about two weeks before planting out in the garden. But then there are tomatoes and peppers. 

These two need to be started earlier as they take some time to germinate. The problem is, start them too soon and they will get tall and leggy indoors as they stretch for sunlight or start them too late and they will be too small to transplant when the time is right. The later problem is easier to deal with as our growing season has become longer recently. Remember we are now zone 6A in the southern half of Sullivan county and since moving from Swan Lake to Eldred, I have noticed a difference in the temperatures. Even driving to work in the morning watching the thermometer in my car. I could start out with a temperature of 36 in Eldred and by the time I get to Monticello it is down to 32. So for the first time in many years, we are planning on having a large garden again, of course completely fenced in. Back in Swan Lake we were relegated to just growing in pots on our porch as the woodchucks, rabbits and deer would eat everything if we had it down on the ground. So this year I will get to start a few seeds indoors for some varieties that you just don’t see grown in the starter packs, like popcorn, Atlantic Giant Pumpkins, cocozelle squash to name a few. 

Besides vegetables, there are many flower seeds available for the adventurous gardener. This year there are over fifteen different types of sunflowers from the small teddy bear to the mammoth giants. Sunflowers and marigolds are the easiest flower seeds to start, while morning glories can be one of the toughest. The trick with morning glories is that because their seed casing is so hard, you need to soak the seeds in water for 24 to 36 hours before you plant them so that the seed starts to expand and break throughout the seed casing. Other than that they are just like any other seed, and the selection of morning glory seeds are far better than what we will have in ready grown plants in the spring. Also there is a price advantage for growing plants from seed as many seed packets are less than $2.99 and can contain anywhere from 10 to 30 seeds per pack depending on variety. And if you have children or grandchildren, watching plants grow from seed is an enjoyable and relaxing experience. Why do you think they still sell Chia Pets after all these years?