Is anyone thinking of planting early this year?

Well, at the end of Fall I managed to get a hold of some free glass and lumber. If the weather keeps up, I'll be able to build a greenhosue sooner than expected, which will allow me to plant early. So yes, I'm thinking of getting an early jump this year. But maybe just a few species.

My very first garden was last years, so I'm still working on developing my veggie menu and quantities. Once I get a good rotation going, I'll start experimenting with early and late plantings.

'From Seed to Table' by Janette Haase
I found this book to be a big help for gardening specifically in Ontario. I'd recommend it to any beginner gardener here in Ontario.

The winter has been so warm... anyone else going to gamble on an early spring?

I will always try to plant some stuff early, not so much it would be a waste to lose or anything but last spring I had a small patch of potatoes in by mid March and some lettuce, spinach in mid April. The potato area I covered with a black tarp until they came up and kept them hilled right over. Any makeshift cold frame can give you a few weeks at both ends of the season, especially if it is up against your house, south side.

My garlic is already in-- 50 cloves in two patches. This year I'm doing Jerusalem Artichoke along the side of the house too...gotta love the food that takes care of itself.

can you get garlic seeds? if so where do you go for non organic seeds?

Paul

...and in answer to your question Im actually thinking of planting as early as possible. ive started off some seeds 7 days ago (beans, peas, lots of peppers, brocolli, spinach and tomatoes) and already have some of the bean seedlings 7 inches high. im going to start about 200 more over the next week or two...

now this is the first time in 38 years Ive grown anything...i mean anything....i buy house plants they die, almost immediatly. but ive gotta say ive caught the greenfinger bug, keep checking on my babies etc...

ive bought a hydroponics set up (big one) but think it's going to tak ewell over a month to set uu, with work and everything. and i also want to be able to grow naturally

can't plant yet though....foot of drifting snow outside and its about minus 15 at the moment with the wind chill....i don't think they'll do that well.

We have started some flowers and new herbs this weekend.
We started tomatoes already too. I have a large picture window so it is our indoor greenhouse.
over the next couple of weeks we will be starting all of our garden seeds. I have a major over haul plan for my pavement garden this year. Just have to keep the neighbours cats and kids out of it!

I have a number of different ways that allow me to plant early, I have a four season hoop house with cold frames inside of it, a south facing very sheltered plastic green house that starts things quite early, I tend to build a couple manure hot box's each spring for early planting, I have a large hugelbeet that we will be clearing the snow off of by the end of the month, I set it up so that I could create a steel hoop house over it, between the raised height, the south facing and the hoop over it, it should be ahead by at least a month plus for early spring plantings. I typically force at least a few rhubarb plants to come early each year, We normally shovel off and cover a smaller planting area with sheet metal to warm the ground under it for early planting in that area..

just thought Id show you this. I put it together on the 4th of this month and it works incredibly well...the beans are between 7 and 8 inches in less than 10 days. the peppers spouted about two days ago and from what im reading that's quick. brocolli sprouted the day after planting!!!

What wattage of bulbs are you using? Nice set up!

23w cfl, 6500k, 1600 lumens a bulb ($3.00 each from Walmart) and i have a heat mat under the bottom flat....think thats 13w. the bulbs heat the fats above them. they've been allowed no light except the artificial light from the bulbs and they've grown quick.

Hi Carbon04

I usually have a table fan running on low to blow on the seedlings, helps them get strong stems and I have less mildew problems if there's air circulation. Looks like a great setup that you built.

Foxglove

thanks...what kind of fan do you use? might be an idea.

I just use a regular household fan, we have several that we use to cool the house in the summer.

Oh m' gosh - second try, first attempt to post this just vanished on me, so here I go again.

Despite the load of snow we have out at the property, I feel an early spring in my bones this year, be it global warming or polar shift or whatever, it's gonna be a warm one.
Garlic is already in the ground also, potatos will be planted in boxes this year so they can be started early. Anything and everything will be in the ground about 2 -3 weeks before most other folks even think about it. :Last year we had very few if any killer frosts in the spring. This year I'm sure will follow suit.

I plant my garlic in the fall, doesn't everyone? Someone asked about seeds - each clove of garlic off the head is a seed. Plant half a finger deep in November or late Oct. Wouldn't hurt to try planting some just as soon as you can get into the soil.
I'm thinking spring will be at least a couple of weeks early, maybe 3.

We don't have any snow to speak of and we only got that this week. It's been a non-winter here. A few cold days. Kinda creepy. Usually by Dec. 15 there's too much snow to drive in to the BOL (near Mount Forest). I drove in a few weeks ago, maybe last week of January. I did leave early in a snowstorm thinking if I don't leave now I'll be stuck here till spring.