May 26, 2009

Baptisia australis – false indigo

My neighbor gave me seeds last fall from her blue false indigo plant. I planted them today in a pot. Such a beautiful clear blue flower! I hope my seeds sprout. Blue false indigo (Baptisia australis) is native to the eastern US and was an important medicinal plant to Native Americans. The seeds require some sort of abrasion to be applied to their seed coat in order to germinate. The plants are legumes, members of the bean family, and are able to fix nitrogen. Planted in full sun in even…

April 24, 2009

my asparagus shipment is here

This box arrived yesterday! Time for planting asparagus. I have 25 crowns. My asparagus plot is 5 feet long and only 28 inches wide. At a spacing of 10 inches, that’s 6 crowns per row. Though the recommended spacing per row is 3-5 ft, I’d like to squeeze in two rows, 12 crowns. (Elaine is waiting to plant my extras.) So my rows will be only 14 inches apart. Since its only two rows and I can zig-zag the plants, I think this will work. But it will take a…

April 10, 2009

seed potato delivery

My potatoes have arrived! I ordered 5 varieties from Moose Tubers in Maine. Way back in mid January. I have the bed all planned out. I need to turn it and then dig trenches and then the taters can go in. I have the following: F. Fingerling (1 lb), Dk R Norland (2.5 lbs), Rio Grande Russet (2.5 lb), Red Gold (2.5 lb), and Green Mtn (2.5 lbs). That’s 10 lbs of regular potatoes and 1 lb of fingerlings. I looked up potato growing information from Johnny’s: CULTURE: Well-drained soils…

March 19, 2009

seeds for a friend

I’m planning to put together some seeds and seedlings for a friend who has never grown any vegetables and wants to grow some with her young girls. I’m trying to think of fun but easy varieties. She has a roof top patio, so they will be container vegetables. I’m thinking I’ll get her some of those little peat pots that expand in water and some cucumber seeds. And I’m thinking I’ll pot up some of my basil, thyme and tomato seedlings. I think maybe Sun Gold (cherry) will be a…

March 6, 2009

seeds

Two envelopes of seeds were waiting for me when I came home from vacation a few days ago. The ones from Ohio Heirloom were a free gift since this brand new company is using my tomato photo on their website. The seeds look awesome. Nice simple packets. (Thanks for sending them!) And I love the little packets from Reimer Seeds. I ordered a few extra tomato varieties from them. This weekend I’m planing to do some serious planting. Its time to plant broccoli, eggplant, lettuce, more onions, peppers, marigold, parsley,…

March 6, 2009

a few seed quotes

“I don’t believe the half I hear,Nor the quarter of what I see!But I have one faith, sublime and true,That nothing can shake or slay;Each spring I firmly believe anewAll the seed catalogs say!”– Carolyn Wells In March and in April from morning till nightIn sowing and seeding good housewives delight.– Thomas Tusser The mere fact that you get a lot of seeds in a packetdoesn’t mean you have to plant all of them.– Henry Mitchell

February 26, 2009

my growing late winter seed collection

I’ve heard that you shouldn’t go grocery shopping when you’re hungry. Is there a similar saying for seed shopping in late winter? When you’re really tired of snow and really looking forward to green, growing, sun and warm. But you already have seeds for at least seven gardens? Whole Foods now has a new rack of heirloom seeds (Seeds of Change) back by the meat counter. I went in for kebabs and couldn’t resist a few packets. Peas (Cascadia Bush Snap) will go in soon. Peppers (Nardello) looked sweet and…

February 22, 2009

more open pollinated mail order seed souorces

Gretta sent me name of a couple more sources for organic open pollinated seeds:High Mowing Organic Seeds (located in Wolcott, VT)Turtle Tree Seed And here’s a link to a newly started seed company that is using a tomato photo of mine on their banner! (it was properly licensed – thanks Mike)Ohio Heirloom Seeds I’ll add these and companies contributed in the comments section to my previous post, which I’ll put near the top of my side bar.

February 17, 2009

more seeds in the mail! – mail order seed sources

If you’re mail-ordering seeds for your garden soon, here’s a list of US companies offering all heirloom open pollinated seeds: SOURCES FOR ALL OP SEEDS:Baker Creek SeedsBountiful GardensFedco Seeds (Waterville ME)Sand Hill Preservation CenterSeeds TrustSustainable Seed CompanySynergy SeedsThe Garlic StoreThe Victory Seed CompanyHigh Mowing Organic Seeds (Wolcott VT)Turtle Tree SeedOhio Heirloom Seeds (check out my tomato photo!) I like to grow a mix of heirloom and hybrid (F1) varieties in my garden. So I’ll also list my favorite hybrid seed sources, too: SOURCES FOR HYBRID AND OP SEEDS:Botanical InterestsBurpeeJohnny’s Selected…

February 9, 2009

seed trade

I traded seeds with Dan (a blogger in Ontario) and it made my day to receive his envelope on Friday. I was interested to see how he’d package the seeds, as I’ve never done a seed trade by mail before. He put them in nice packets and just put the packets in a regular envelope. Tomorrow I’ll send off the seeds I promised him (six Delicata squash and a few Purple Calabash tomato seeds). I just wanted to see how to do it before sending mine. Dan included a extra…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost