Winter Plans in July

Though it's time to focus on tending our summer vegetables, it's also time to think about fall and winter. You don't need a greenhouse for this, as long as you have a sunny room.

My own plans include two varieties of baby lettuce, a very small tomato plant (and probably a cutting from one of my current tomato plants), and Alexandria strawberry plants. We won't actually get to eat the strawberries over winter, but we'll have nice strong plants by next season. My hope is that this ever-bearing plant will start developing fruit early in the spring.

I went ahead and put the tomato and strawberry seeds in peat pellets I had lying around from two or three years ago. Probably not an organic option considering several internet sources refer to an added "minor fertilizer charge," but I think using them up instead of buying seed starter mix and trays is worth dealing with this "mild charge."

And tomorrow, I plant lettuce seeds! Squeeeee!

These will all be houseplants. Even the lettuce, which is going in plastic dish tubs (with holes drilled in the bottom) from the Dollar Tree. I'll probably leave them out in the sun until the nights start turning cold, but then they'll live in our south-facing laundry room.