Seedling Surprise

I must confess that I've been holding out on you and I have started many of my early spring veggies. I just didn't want you looking at plain old soil for weeks so I waited until I had a few seedlings to show you.

Artichoke -Imperial Star-Started 2/10 and 1st true leaves on 2/26
Strawberry- Ruegen and Yellow Wonder -Started 2/12 and sprouted 2/26



Broccoli-Early Dividend, Small Miracle and Di Cicco-Started 2/21 -Sprouted 2/26

Cabbage- Gonzales, Sombrero, Pak Choi- Started 2/21-sprouted 2/26
Eggplant-Lavender Touch, Dusky, Pingtung Long-Started 2/21-not yet sprouted
Pepper-Jalepeno M, Dulce, Red Marconi, Chile Anaheim- Started 2/21- not yet sprouted
Pansy- Swiss Giant- started 2/10-on 2/26 only a few have sprouted
Begonia-white-started 2/21- not yet sprouted
Cardoon-started 2/10-1st true leaves 2/19
Angelica- started 2/12- not yet sprouted

So the planting season has begun and I'm always surprised at how quickly the broccoli and cabbage sprout and how long it takes others like Pansies to sprout. There is always a learning curve to my gardening. This year I want to plant less seeds but plant them more often to have a continual harvest. It seems I end up with too much of a good thing all at once and too much of it goes to waste or in my case the compost pile. This year I really want to just put out a few plants like cabbage and broccoli in the spring since they tend to bolt quickly in the Midwest heat and humidity. However, I want to plant out a mid and late crop of each to extend my harvest into the fall. Gardening is after all hoping in the future so this year I want to plan a little better and eat a little longer.