I love this time of year. Though snow flurries are falling outside my window as I write this, the spring garden is becoming more of a reality. Plans are being made, seeds ordered, and the first seeds of the year have been sown, and are now sitting snugly under the grow lights in my basement.

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Here's how badly I need to get outside and do some digging: I spent over an hour sitting on my kitchen floor today with my worm bin.

Don't worry, it's not like I was naming the worms or anything. I was harvesting the vermicompost from the bin. It had gotten to the point that the bottom two inches of the bin were jam packed with vermicompost, and I was worried that I would soon be dealing with an anaerobic worm bin if I didn't take care of it soon (I was right: digging down into the bottom of that compacted vermicompost was not the world's most pleasant task. Ew.)

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I enjoy looking at my stats for this site, especially to see how people made their way here. Most often, searches send people here who are looking for information about a specific crop, pest, or disease. But I see from my recent stats that a few people have landed here by asking the question "what do gardeners do in the middle of winter?"

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Besides using my soil block maker, I am also a huge fan of reusing items destined for the trash or recycling bin for starting seeds indoors. With that in mind, I put the call out to some of my garden writer and garden blogging pals, asking them if they use reused items for seed starting. Boy, did I get a response! Several people had written entire blog posts about their love for reusing, so I thought I'd share them here to hopefully spark some ideas.

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This morning, the USDA released its new Plant Hardiness Zone Map (which you can see here.) About half of all the zones in the U.S. moved a half-zone warmer than they were on the previous map.

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January marks the beginning of the indoor seed-starting season for those of us in zone 6 and above. While the pickings are slim for me still (onions and parsley), it will be so nice to have something green under my grow lights again. Below are a few links to help you get started with seed sowing:

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I've hit that point in winter during which I start obsessing about the garden. Daydreaming, planning, re-planning, highlighting things to order... all fun, of course, but not nearly as fun as actually digging in my garden. I've got cabin fever, badly.

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If you've ever started plants from seed, only to find your healthy seedlings suddenly drooping, shriveled shells of their former selves, then you know very well what "damping off" is. Damping off is a fungal disease that causes your seedlings to wither and die shortly after germination. A long-standing practice has been to water seedlings with chamomile tea to prevent damping off, but gardeners now have a more potent tool in their arsenal: worm poo.

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I wanted to take a moment and thank all of you for helping to make 2011 a great year. I hope the articles you've read here at About Organic Gardening have helped you grow better, solve problems in your garden, and really enjoy the fruits of your labor. I'm looking forward to a great 2012!

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I admit to having a bit of tunnel vision when it comes to looking at seed catalogs. I go right for the vegetable section. Herbs, flowers --- nah. All I want to see are all of those tomatoes, the possibilities for salads and canning spread before me, just beckoning me to order just a few more heirloom varieties. Winter squashes, melons, lettuces and beans. These pages are addictive to me.

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There are many reasons to make a raised bed garden, from poor soil to a desire to extend your growing season. This article will explain the advantages of raised beds, and tell you how to make a raised bed garden.

Many of us are blessed (or cursed, depending on how you see it) with shady lots. The general assumption is that if you have anything other than full sun, you can't grow vegetables. Not true! These ten veggies will produce very well with three to six hours of sunlight per day.

Lasagna gardens are no-dig, no-till gardens that are created by layering organic materials wherever you want to make a new garden. Also called "sheet composting," lasagna gardening is eco-friendly and easy.

These four easy and inexpensive tests will tell you just about everything you need to know about your soil. You'll learn how to test for soil composition, drainage, biological activity, and soil acidity. Once you know which problems your soil has, you'll be well on your way to growing a beautiful, healthy organic garden.

Here is a solution for anyone who wants to make compost, but doesn't have much space. You can make a simple compost bin out of a plastic storage container.

These two homemade organic sprays have a proven track record of effectiveness when it comes to getting rid of aphids.

Coffee grounds are a valuable addition to compost and garden soil. Here are a few ideas for using coffee grounds in your garden.

Clay soil can be extremely frustrating to work with, and few plants will thrive in it. By following a few steps, and putting in some manual labor, you can improve clay soil. This article shows you how.

Strawberries adapt very well to container growing. This article explains how to plant and grow organic strawberries in a strawberry pot.

This table shows, at a glance, what the first and last frost dates are for each USDA hardiness zone.