Here Come the Seed Orders!

Joy! Joy! Joy!  The first of my seed orders just came in the mail today!  This one is from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  I love them for the $3.00 shipping, fast service, dedication to open-pollinated varieties, that the packets always have many more seeds than they guarantee, and that gorgeous catalog.  I am not sure why I keep starting so many tomato varieties - more about that in another blog. 

On a quest for the largest harvest possible, I ordered Six-Week Purple Hull Cowpeas and Alabama Black Butterbeans.  As I am one to give just about anything a try, I'm toying with the idea of starting both of these, along with Christmas Pole and King of the Garden butterbeans, indoors to get a jump on the season.  Last year, soil temps were cold and legume seeds rotted in the ground because the weather just wouldn't warm up. Typically, cowpeas take at least 60 - 85 days to mature to harvest.  I think it would be great to get at least 4 crops of the Six-Week peas out of the garden.  With succession sowing, I think it can be done.

One reason the lagniappe from Baker Creek is appreciated is that some of these seeds will be shared with others to help them get their gardens started.  It's part of the Seed Bank program at Josie Gladys Gardens to bring greater food security to more homes.  Looks like there are 2 community gardens that will receive seed from Josie Gladys Gardens this year.  Since the seed offered are open-pollinated, the recipients will be able to save their own seed for next year, and that means less strain on people's budgets.

The next order that should arrive (maybe tomorrow) will be from Seed Savers Exchange.  It includes a stuffing tomato called Striped Cavern, Blue Jade sweet corn that is a container candidate, Lazy Housewife bean, and Golden Midget watermelon (for early harvest and a color-change when ripe).

Mostly, the focus in variety selection is for maximum production whether due to prolific fruiting or shorter days to harvest.  On my website - http://www.sandrareaves.com/ - I have a growing list of vegetables that are ready in about 60 days.  Next, I'll shoot for a list of vegetables you can harvest in 45 days.  Just imagine what that would do to fill pantries! 

Start Seeds Now!

Time to start seeds for 2 types of vegetables:  ones that love cool weather like the cole family and ones that love hot weather like the solanaceae family. 

Cole crops need to be started indoors now so they will be big enough to grow to maturity before the weather gets too hot for them.  Included in this group are cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, and kohlrabi.  Other cool weather veggies you can start indoors include onions, leeks, parsnips, and carrots.  For all of these, sow the seeds closely and divide the plants when it's time to set them out in the garden.

Solanaceae plants are tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.  They need the really warm weather of summer for the fruit to ripen and the plants need a long time to get mature enough to produce fruit.  Counting the days to harvest for these plants starts from the time you transplant them into the garden, rather than when you sow the seed.  This means you need to back up about 8 weeks on the calendar from your planting date to figure out the latest date to sow the seed.  If you sow the seed closely, go ahead and plan to divide the plants so you can put each in its own pot to get nice and big before you transplant into the garden.

Free Vegetable Seeds

JosieGladysGardens is giving free vegetable seeds to encourage home gardening. There is no charge and there are no strings attached. The seeds will more than likely be open-pollinated varieties, which means that you can save seed for the next season for your own garden and maybe to share.

Go to www.SandraReaves.com/SeedBank.aspx to get the specifics. Then go to www.SandraReaves.com/ContactUs.aspx to make your request. Seed requests will be filled in order of request.