It may still be a little chilly out, but this is actually a great time to start thinking about your vegetable garden.

We often hear about the importance of buying local and organic produce. It can’t get much more local than from your own yard! And since you are the one growing it, then you can be certain that it’s organic.

Prepping the soil:

A few weeks ago, I wrote about composting. This can help you cut down on your trash, and makes excellent organic fertilizer for your gardens.

If you have a compost bin, now is the time to put a few inches of compost on your garden. No compost? Try straw. Allow this layer to stay on the ground until you are ready to work the soil

Rex Truelove writes in an article for Helium that the layer will help increase the fertility and improve the quality of the soil.

Start your seeds indoors:

If it’s too cold to plant anything outside, you can start planting some seeds inside.

Put the seeds into individual peat pots, which are made from compressed peat. Once the seed sprouts, the entire pot can be planted in the ground. This is a much more earth friendly way to sprout seeds than using plastic containers, which really can’t be used more than once.

Answers.com also reports that peat pots can reduce setbacks caused from transplanting.

You should be able to pick up peat pots at just about any home improvement or garden store.

Recommended early spring varieties:

If you’re excited about getting your early spring garden ready, but not sure what you should plant, Demesne has a great graph detailing different types of veggies, along with when you should start the seedlings and how much sun they need.
If you’re curious about your hardiness zone, check out this graphic by the USA Today.