I am putting together a Garden Calendar to help ease the pain of the grey winter days. It's just starting, but hey, it keeps me thinkin of warmer days! I've watched a couple very interesting videos online at Mokeysee.com (see link below post)& I have learned A LOT about gardening organically & what went wrong last year. So plannings to enhance the soil are in the makings to make next year a fantastic growing season. I live in a small apartment that I am lucky enough to have a little space to work with outdoors, so my garden is a 4x4 square foot raised bed garden (based on the Square Foot Gardening book) situated in a hand-made "cage" to keep hungry 4-legged critters out.

What crops would be great for early starting indoors for later transplanting outside in early spring (March-April)?

What veggies do well in partial shade? See, I live next to a beautiful woods that unfortunately shades my growing area in the summer. So getting veggies (like tomatoes, cucumbers, & herbs) to grow has been a challenge.

Thanks bunches!