Garden first steps

I had a bit of spring fever in March and started 48 basil (Mammoth, Genovese, and Lemon) plants indoors in the middle of the month. Such is the result of idle time in Lowes on a rainy day.

Today, 6 weeks later, the plants have been transplanted into bigger, biodegradable pots from their starters, but they are still smaller than I expected. Lesley and I also started, a bit later, tomatoes, catnip, bush basil, sunflowers, poppies, cucumbers, gourds, and myriad of other plants from seed.

I am designing a raised bed for everything that should be up in the next week or two. Our last frost date is the 15th of May, and I expect to be ready by then to transplant everything into the ground.

Lessons learned to be implemented next year:
-Start earlier. All the books and advice recommend putting seeds to start six weeks in advance. My plants are big enough right now, but I would prefer to put up bigger plants next year. Right now, most of my plants are just starting to get their first true leaves and some still only have cotyledons. My current plan is to start about the first of the year in the basement with grow lights. By the time May rolls around, I'll have much larger plants ready for the garden. I'll be making pesto while my neighbors are enjoying the last of their tulips.

-Start garden perennials with my annuals or even earlier. If I can start early enough, I can have decently sized perennials to add to the flower gardens, saving me a ton of money in the long run, even if I have to be more patient in the short-term.

-Basil is prone to damping off. I had to throw out all of the Lemon/Lime basil mix because of this. I need to water slightly less and ventilate much more.

-I need to practice dividing and collecting seeds in the fall. We'll see how this goes.