These sage seeds are just a few I planted in flats.

I just couldn't wait anymore. My bowl of seed packets has been calling my name for weeks now... "Cindy..... Cindy.... plant us Cindy! Don't wait or you might start too late!"

I waited too long to get started for the fall crop. I don't want to make that mistake again.

The average last frost in Central Texas is March 15, which is a good 8 weeks or so away. Many of the seed packets I have from last fall have directions on them that say I can sow them indoors in flats and transplant after the last frost.

I'm there.

I had three seed-starting flats leftover from last summer's seed-starting adventure. I had seed-starting soil. I had liquid seaweed for fertilizer. I had seeds.

I set to work.

In one flat I planted "Red-Ruffled Pimiento Sweet Pepper" (a mild pepper that's supposed to turn red when ripe and be great for fresh-eating) and "Imperial Black Beauty Eggplant" (an heirloom variety that was introduced around 1910). I separated them with a row of sage.

In the second flat I planted three varieties of tomato, separated by a row of more sage and medicinal borage. The tomatoes are "Martian Giant Tomato" (which is supposed to be extremely productive), "Prize of the Trials Cherry Tomato" (a rare variety that thrives in hot, dry climates) and a "Roma Paste Tomato" (that is disease resistant).

The third flat has a hodge-podge of vegetables, herbs and flowers, including "Tomatillo Verde," "Waltham Broccoli" (I'm scared of growing broccoli, but it was a freebie seed-pack), "Lime Basil," "Sweet Genovese Basil," "Thai Basil," more borage and "Texas Hummingbird Sage."

But that's when I ran up against another potential problem.

This is the frame that will hold the lights.

What about light?

No room in my house gets enough light for little seedlings -- at least not for 14 to 16 hours. It's winter time! What to do?

I consulted my personal carpenter (my husband) and asked him to help me build a light frame.

He took some of the 2x4's we had leftover from a sandbox we built for my son and made two braced arms. Then we took four coffee mug hooks and installed them on the bottom part of the overhanging arm.

We bought two 2ft long fluorescent lights with the tubes and put them together according to the instructions, and hung them using chains off of the hooks.

The finished lights hanging over the seed flats.

Then we placed the three seed flats under the lights and hung the lights a couple of inches from the top. We plugged the lights into a timer, so we won't have to worry about turning it off and on.

The cool thing is, the little bit of heat that the lights emit will help encourage the seeds to germinate. Once they have sprouted, I'll be able to adjust the level of the lights with the chains, so they can rise as the plants grow.

Cool, huh?

If all goes according to plan, I'll have vegetables producing before the summer heat sets in.

Ha, ha, ha ha, ha!

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