In the midst of cold weather, snow and dead grass, it’s hard to even begin thinking about the summer months. Or maybe not, since most of us long for the days of warm weather and no schedules. 
But, believe it or not, these winter months are the best time for you to start thinking about and planning your home garden. If you’re still on the fence on whether or not you need to plant a home garden, here’s ten reasons why you should!
If you plan on starting your garden plants from seeds {which I highly recommend!}, now is the time to begin ordering your seeds so you can get your seedlings started. This will give your seedlings ample time to be mature enough to plant outside when it comes time and bear fruit before growing season is over.
Where to Purchase Seeds
Personally, we prefer to use non-GMO heirloom seeds, but everyone is different.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
We buy the majority of our seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds for many reasons. Through the years, we’ve been impressed with their variety, pricing and germination rate. It also doesn’t hurt that they aren’t too far from here. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds offers 1300 different varieties of seeds {herbs, vegetables, and flowers}–all of which are non-hybrid, non-GMO, non-treated and non-patented.
GenericSeeds.com
GenericSeeds.com is your source for non-GMO garden seeds, sprouting herbs and all things vegetable gardening– all at a low price. Unlike Baker Creek, GenericSeeds.com carries growing supplies, tree kits, and other seed planting needs. Plus they offer FREE Shipping on orders over $20!
HerbKits.com
If you are like us and are wanting to grow more of your own herbs–HerbKits.com makes it easy! They have premade kits of Culinary Herbs, Medicinal Herbs and Herbal Tea Garden Kits available. In addition to offering Herb Kits, they also have food dehydrators {perfect for drying herbs or preserving your vegetables}, mushroom kits, and mini-greenhouses to help sprout and nurture your seedlings.
Keeping a Garden Journal
When gardening and starting seeds, it’s important to keep record of when you planted your seeds, when they germinated and any notes about the plants change. Keeping track of these things will help you have a better idea of when you should expect germination and harvest.
That’s why I’ve created a Garden Journal just for you! You can click here for your FREE copy!
How are you going to keep track of your plants if you don’t even know what they are? Here are some Seedling Labels to help you. For best results, laminate them, and attach to popsicle sticks.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Growing my own garden is one of the FIRST things I’m doing for myself and my family once we buy a house! Right now we have a small townhouse in the city … I cannot wait.
@Giselle, Don’t rule out container gardening in the meantime! Oftentimes, you can grow enough for a family just as easily that way.
Phoebe, I’m wondering if you have any suggestions for dealing with pesky squirrels and container gardening? I live in a major city, 4th floor apartment with a small balcony area. Our building has rather active squirrels that routinely make the rounds on the balconies (we’ve nicknamed one of them Scraggles because of the way his tail & fur look). Scraggles is into EVERYTHING on the balcony. My husband and I keep our bicycles on the balcony and he will climb all over them, even sit/swing in the helmet hanging off the handlebars. He climbs into the cleaning buckets we leave out there and scales the mops. Scraggles in no joke! In previous apartments we had grown herbs and tomatoes in pots, but I am concerned about doing this with Scraggles around and worried he will just dig/eat anything I plant. Any ideas? Thanks!
@Lea, So, I have to admit, I was laughing while envisioning all the fun that Scraggles has on a daily basis!
Anyway, my first thought would be to put bird netting around your plants–they will still be able to be pollinated, but Mr. Scraggles wouldn’t be able to get to the goods. I did a little digging, though, and also found that many people use a red-pepper solution as well as {gag!} various animal urine {like bobcat and fox} around the base of the pot {not in the dirt or on the plants}. I don’t know about you, but I’d probably do the red-pepper solution first! It’s basically a couple of tablespoons of red pepper powder {or pulverized red pepper flakes} mixed with a couple tablespoons of dish soap or oil. Add that solution into your watering can and water like usual.
Here’s a link I found that has some additional ideas. Hope that helps!
I heart Baker Creek and I’m fortunate enough to live close enough to their Petaluma store to visit a couple times a year. There is nothing like wandering through the aisles looking at all the fantastic things just waiting to be grown!!!! My birthday was Sunday and my present was to go seed shopping before dinner… I got some amazing things -all kinds of dried beans, some lemon-yellow snow peas and orange flesh, purple smudge tomatoes… I can’t wait for planting time!
That sounds like the perfect birthday gift, Thea! I’m also very anxious for planting time. This time of year is so hard for me because I’m always tempted by great weather to plant early.