Fifth Acre Food Forest

February 21, 2026

It’s February, and just when it seemed the worst of winter had passed, the snow is falling again. That fickle late-winter weather makes it the perfect excuse to hunker down inside, turn up the heat, and start dreaming about this year’s garden. Seed-starting season has officially begun.

This year, I’m planning for both my garden and my parents’, so there will be some magical tray shuffling happening over the next few weeks as I juggle space under the grow lights. Today I planted brassicas — broccoli, cauliflower, Romanesco, kale, and cabbage — along with a few bunching onions. There’s something deeply hopeful about tucking tiny seeds into soil while snowflakes swirl outside. It’s a quiet reminder that spring is coming, whether the weather agrees yet or not.

Brassicas prefer cool weather, and here in northern Ohio’s Zone 6b, the window between frosty spring mornings and summer heat waves can be surprisingly short. That means they need an early start indoors before being transplanted outside. For today’s planting, I placed the trays under grow lights set up in the basement. The lights are connected to smart plugs, which let me schedule them automatically, making the process much easier. I used a seed-starting mix and carefully labeled each row in the trays with its variety, because experience has taught me that I will not remember.

I look forward to fresh broccoli and cauliflower, but Romanesco is one of my favorites. It’s just a bit more flavorful than its cousins, and it looks absolutely stunning when ready to harvest. I grew a second fall crop last year and served it at Thanksgiving. My mom enjoyed it so much that she asked us to grow some for her garden this year.

Next weekend, I’ll be starting tomato seeds — and that always feels like the true turning point toward spring.