It is that time of year. Catalogs are arriving, internet sites are updating, and I cannot help myself. I keep looking at the glossy photos wondering what I am going to buy.
In all honesty, there is very little I need or even WANT to buy, but the pretty pictures keep telling me to.
But I will resist. I will stay strong. There are only a few things (honestly) that I do need to purchase, and that is because I cannot logically save seeds from those plants. These are (for the most part) the biennial crops, that were I to leave them in the ground would freeze out unless I took extraordinary measures to prevent. With ones like carrots, which do overwinter easily in buckets in my basement, seed saving is made pointless by the endless Queen Anne’s Lace which grows everywhere here. Yes, that is a wild carrot, but it has the texture of hemp rope and is not something I want crossed with what I want to grow.
So, as a short list, I need to get storage carrot seed. Preferably the Oxheart type which grows well in excess of a pound. I should pick up some Green Leaf Lutz beet seed. Really like those, because they store well, and if planted in the spring, by fall they are about 3-4 pounds and are still sweet without getting woody. Turnips and Rutebegas should be on my list as we have found they go wonderfully in meat and vegetable pasties (yes, pasties, not pastries) and I suppose onion seed should show up there somewhere as well.
In only a few short weeks I will be starting onions, as well as long season peppers. Not much of a winter so far, and exceedingly dry here. The only thing really frozen is the lakes, but not deep enough ice for vehicle travel yet. Odd weather for late December in Minnesota. Days are above freezing. Lakes would not be frozen except that it is night for 18 hours a day (and below freezing when the sun is down).
Green Leaf Lutz is great as is oxheart oxheart-type carrot though I can’t find seeds for it anymore. I am always expanding my seed list cause I’m delusional and think I can keep up with all the work – sigh.
I might have a connection for the oxheart carrots. We will see if it pans out.
Chuffed.. My gardens asmowe.. and i havnt paid for a thing.. besides the occasional One Pound’ shop purchase which i usually just take any way.. oh i forgot was holding that.. -Which is my first way of getting free seeds. Then there’s collecting the seeds from them from the very source.. ie.the flowers, fruit, root and vege which they are!- where there’s Markets and fruit shops theses always a bin out back (or front on garage night) shop keepers don’t usually mind if you ask for their waste either.. i tell them its for my animals. In particular tomatoes, pumpkins and peppers (definitely!), apples, avacardo, carrots (tops), potatoes (all sorts are easy!),citrus, peas, beans.. in fact i cant think of anything that hasn’t worked.. I even have a coconut palm (from a coconut !). Dry the seeds out by wrapping them in newspaper and putting somewhere warm. I put mine on top of the water-boiler. It takes from about a week for say chillies pepper or mandarin seeds to a couple of months, for say date or avacardo. -city style wild-crafting! Then of course germinate them. Quality compost is pretty essential here, the difference compared to using low quality dirt makes a couple of quid worth it. However i find there’s often broken packages of kids craft type grow kits in the shops from which you take the compost tabs that expand in water. when they’re little take them outside for short periods, get them used to the weather and temperature. Morning sun though the window, then outside till the evening then warm at night under the boiler is what i do. Then i transplant them straight into the ground..thirdly.. for The Window box! for herbs and lettuce, its an amazing place. More often now fresh lettuce and herbs is sold in pots -with roots!- from the supermarket. ( i get mine from the compost bin after my flatmates have used the other parts) leeks, spring-oinion, chives, yams, spinach.. any vege sold with roots basically- sometimes even fancy cabbage too.. obviously..plant these! but usually in well drained soil..I have a baby cherry tree and apple. Both these grew from seeds i collect from a nearby attolment. Which has turned out to be my fourth great source of free seeds! The old people there are great, I visit regulary, loads of advice and happy to share their seeds, bulbs, cutting..Its been a real joy,m and i think they like my keen interst.My goal was mostly for a totally recycled garden ie fences, beds, furniture.. its a bit of an addiction. But really if you compare a pound a pound of beams or tommy, or spud, ie. one family meal to a31.30 a packet of twenty, fifty or a hundred! seeds.- In my success- essentially each bean seed has given well over nine times one supermarket purchase. One potato has given me up to eight more potatoes, I now have fresh herbs and fancy lettuce all the time! and will NEVER have to buy tommy again! Its been an awesome project,I am thinking Id like to start a seed exchange sometime.
Your website has to be the elecrtonic Swiss army knife for this topic.
not raw, at least roast them and crush them if you really want to try and eat them, or just buy the pre-crushed cofefe and take half a spoon of that and see what happens, you should take it first on your day off, in case it causes a stomach ache or makes you too hyper.