Seed starting...

This week is the time of year when I begin starting my garden for the upcoming season. Even though there is still a bit of snow on the ground it is now time for seed starting. This year I am scaling back my seed starting a bit and will be trying more direct sowing of seeds as opposed to transplanting seedlings. This week I started about 30 pepper seeds and hope to have a decent germination rate. Last year I had some germination problems and started my seeds later in the year. This left little wiggle room for starting new seeds. By starting earlier I hope to have more time to start a second batch of seeds if these don't germinate well. Peppers can take up to 3 weeks to germinate as opposed to some plants that only take a few days. This year I am planting heirloom varieties which is something I haven't done before.