So the hunt is on for the perfect seeds for the perfect garden, I know i am not the only one!
I peruse seed catalogs by the hour. drawings or photos, it is all just so beautiful. But decisions must be made..in my case, for determinate tomatoes vs indeterminate as many of the tomatoes are going to live in pots and planters, not the garden ( I rotate the beds and rotate out the tomatoes to keep down disease.) But i still have some gigantic tomato cages, so I needed some bigger plants too; I chose Goliath and Mountain Fresh for the main crop.good disease resistance, good sized tomatoes, I first ran across the Mountain series at Cornucopia Volunteer Farm..tremendous harvest from field planted tomatoes in a very hot dry summer. I may have room for a few heritage plants from the farmer;s market, rather than growing out trays of plants.....I have in the past covered at least four families a year, and gave tomatoes away at church one year, but don;t seem to have the contacts to get seedlings out to people anymore. As well, I could not resist Bossa Nova squash. a zucchini type from Brazil.Pretty. could not resist. We prefer patty pans, trombocini, and old Italian zucchini for it's firmness.I hope Bossa Nova lives up to its reputation!( hint trombocini can make superb fake crab cakes!) I chose four smaller seed companies, spreading it out more this year, we had a lot of trouble with germination last year Theories abound; some were rare heirlooms which might mean one source and a problem, another theory was that the post office irradiated boxes of seed in transit to seed companies. bummer. it' not a biohazard guys! So I chose a new snow pea..which is short and cute...we like snow pea pods and pea tendrils better than garden peas.I adore my old heirlooms but have to worry about damage to those specific cropsl I may have to buy compost/manure to start the season off; the chickens have been so wet all fall and winter they are now housed with wood shavings not the zeolite hay, which keeps them drier but takes much longer to break down.the strange weather has brought more of the hens into lay...which is nice. And I broke down and bought some row covers..peas carrots beets can be started under those no matter if the weather shifts as it has the past few years. I am doing a range of peppers in pots, spread out among the lily turf out front. I have enough pots of the same type to hopefully make it somewhat harmonized and orderly. So now the hard work, deciding what to start, getting seed starting mix, and watching the new babies grow, begins! and I have to buy a new broadfork :( |
Faith and ReasonA grandma's perspective on a few things.. Archives
May 2020
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