I’m late off the mark this year. It’s almost April and I haven’t got any of my seeds started yet. But I have them on hand – well, in a drawer actually- and figuratively speaking they are starting to burn a hole in it.

I think that I’ll get the ball rolling tonight and start my tomatoes, peppers and basil. I’ve got three heirloom tomatoes this year – a cherry, a plum and a beefsteak, three peppers a Passila, a Serrano and a hot Hungarian Paprika for drying, two different Thai basils, a lime basil, and I’m going to try growing some Stevia. Stevia is used as a sweetener.

I have a French heirloom cucumber that was grown for cornichons so I’m hoping that this will be the year that I can be organized enough to grow some cucumbers for pickling and pick the darned things when they’re ready and make small batches throughout the year.

One of the best parts of all of this is that I’ll be using a full Gourmet Garden -12 planter version of my new self watering container garden system which was launched this year at the Canada Blooms Garden and landscape show in Toronto. It’s called the H’Urban Garden and I created it last year for people – like me- who are growing vegetables in containers and want to get the best yield and the best quality…..or for those with more modest expectations – just keep them alive.

I’ll have four planters for my tomatoes and cucumbers- a total of 16 plants, another 5 planters for herbs, peppers and snow peas ( I’ll start them early and train them to the trellises in the back row. By the time the tomatoes are ready to take over the trellises, the peas will be done anyway.