If you and your family enjoy gardening, early spring is the perfect time to start planning for a great gardening season. It can be a lot of fun to look through the seed catalogs, deciding on the flower and vegetable varieties you want to grow once summer arrives. In fact, you can even get a jump on the growing season by starting some of your seeds indoors in early spring, so that they will be ready to transplant into the garden when the weather turns warm. Here are a few activities you can do as a family this spring to help get ready for a great summer garden.

Shop for Seeds

Whether you shop for seeds online or by browsing through a catalog, this can be a great activity that the entire family can enjoy. If you already know the dimensions of your garden, you can use these measurements to decide how much space you plan to devote to each crop. Then, you can calculate approximately how many plants you will need of each variety. Once you know this information, you'll know how many seeds you need to order. It can be fun to let each family member choose at least one flower or vegetable variety that they would really like to try. Of course, the photographs in printed seed catalogs are often so beautiful that it can be difficult not to want to grow everything. Once you've selected and ordered your seeds, you might even want to cut a few of these photos out of the catalog so that you can display them in picture frames as beautiful wall art.

Start Plants Indoors

Some plant varieties need a bit of a head start, so it can be helpful to start growing these plants indoors in early spring. Tomatoes, peppers, and some herbs and annual flowers fall into this category. By starting these seeds indoors, you'll have well-established plants to put in your garden after the danger of frost has passed. Plant the seeds in small containers that have good drainage, according to the seed packet instructions. Cover the containers with plastic wrap and place in a warm location, such as on top of the refrigerator.

While you are waiting for your seeds to sprout, you can prepare a place for them to grow indoors. Suspend a fluorescent light fixture over a table, making sure that you can adjust the light's height so that it's only a few inches above the top of your planting containers. As soon as the seeds sprout, remove the plastic and place them immediately under the lights. As the plants grow, continue raising the light height so that the bulb is always a couple of inches away from the leaves. Keep the soil moist but not too wet. In late spring, you can place your plants outdoors during the daytime, so that they can start to become accustomed to the outdoor environment. Once the danger of frost has passed, you can transplant them into the garden. Be sure to take a few photos of your family working together on planting day, since it can be fun to use picture frames to display these photos in your family room, living room or kitchen.