First Seeds of 2015

I already put in an order on Burpee for some seeds.  I'm starting to worry that I'll spend hours planning what to get, and then when I finally go to order, they'll be out of what I want, or I'll have a trip come up and I won't get them started soon enough.

I got:

• Lacinato Kale
• Bright Lights Swiss Chard
• Radicchio, Red Verona (the round kind, not Trevisio)
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Toy Choi
• Joy Choi
• Radishes, Cherry Bell
• Creeping Thyme
• Coleus, Wizard Mix (big leaf)
• and "Burpee Booster," which was recommended for peas and beans

They obviously aren't here yet, but I got all psyched up for it.  I got a bag of seed starting mix- it's Jiffy brand, 60% peat moss and coir, vermiculite, and a little lyme.  I think last year I mostly used the Miracle Grow brand, which of course has a little fertilizer.  I'm able to reuse the trays I got from last year; they're pretty sturdy.  I started 2 trays each of my old Lacinato Kale and Red Verona Radicchio. I've stored the Radicchio seeds in a pill container, and the Kale just in the packet, all of the seeds in a wooden box with lots of those silica packets.  If these germinate, that will be great.  I'm sure it was too warm and too humid for ideal seed storage, but we'll see what happens.

If they do work, I will feel kind of dumb for buying the same thing again.  The Radicchio is 90 days to maturity, and the Kale is 60, so I'm hoping getting a really good head start will mean I can actually grow some and get them finished before summer starts.

I'm going to buy another grow light.  This time, I'm going for the 2 foot 4 tube one.  I think I can use that on 6 trays at a time, and use my current 2 tube light on 4 trays at a time.  And, I only have 10 trays, so, that should be enough.

When this seed order gets here, I'll start some coleus, as many trays as I can.  It needs to be started 8 weeks early, and probably can't go outside until May, since it's tropical.  I realize that I would be starting it a month early, but I can transplant them to bigger containers inside and grow them that way until it gets warm enough.  Since they're shade tolerant, they should be fine as house plants.  Last year I wanted to get a ton of coleus, since it's the easiest thing to grow, it looks amazing, it gets big and full, it's just a great bedding plant all around.  But for some reason, I couldn't really find any, or enough that looked good.  The landscaping people at work must have bought all the coleus in the area, because every bed was crammed with it.  And they never took care of it or pinched it back, so it was all tall and started to flower... I would much rather have it stay low and full.

I'll also get some Creeping Thyme started.  I've pretty much given up on growing Thyme to cook with, but this will work as a ground cover and should have some nice smell and maybe some flowers.  And it's perennial to Zone 5, so it should last for a while.