Eighth of an Acre Bounty

Random thoughts and anecdotes on cooking, critters, gardening and life on our small city lot.

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The Seed Orders are in, c’mon Spring!

December 28th, 2008 · 20 Comments

I finally sat down today to go through the various seed catalogs I’ve been bookmarking for the past month and put together a seed order for the coming year. I am still searching for a source for Ozette Fingerling seed potatoes, if anyone can point me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it! No new tomatoes, I have a lot of seed from last year and also saved seed this year so we are set there. I have winter squash, tomatillo, kale, radish, nasturtium and a variety of other seeds left from last year that will round out the garden.

Gary wants to do an experimental planting of the 3 sisters, so he chose the corn variety, the Hidatsa beans and the scallop squash. We don’t usually grow corn, it will be interesting to see how it does on the windy hill. A lot of the seed ordered will be put in for a winter garden. I figured if I put my money where my mouth was up front this year and ordered the seed ahead of time, I will be more likely to get my act together in time for fall planting. Not to mention building the other two coldframes we have the materials for.

We finally started to thaw around here. I went out to the garden to see what survived the snow and it looks like the leeks are going to pull through will little to no loss. We did lose all the cauliflower and the nasturtium greens. A few of the broccoli look like they might make it, and I have hopes that the parsley will rebound. The rutabaga and chard may rally as well, so we may actually be eating some greenery before March if we are lucky.

I ordered from two new catalogs this year, Wild Garden Seed and Nichols Nursery – both based in Oregon. Hopefully they both work out. Wild Garden Seeds I learned of from Throwback at Trapper Creek. They also sell a chicken lettuce mix by the pound that can be broadcast sown. I bought a pound of that for the girls to keep them in greenery when we don’t want to share. I am working on a way to broaden then divide their pen area to grow in one area and range them in the other, then switch. It would be nice to get them more on food grown from our yard rather than feed from the store. Orders also went in to Territorial Seed and Seed Savers Exchange.

Nichols had amazingly good prices compared to the others. If their seed is true and I have a good experience with it this year I can see ordering more from them in the future. On average they pack envelopes by weight, with the average number of seeds much higher for a lesser price than competitors. And it is a second generation family business.

  • Golden Bantam Corn
  • Sunny Delight Scallop summer squash
  • Lagenaria Longissima summer squash
  • Hidatsa Shield Figure Beans
  • Scarlet Runner Beans
  • Giant Musselburgh Leeks
  • Arugula (I saved some seed from last year, but am not sure it was mature)
  • Ishikura Improved Green Onions
  • Broad Windsor Fava Bean
  • DeCicco Broccoli
  • Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage
  • Early Jalepeno pepper
  • Chervena Chuska pepper
  • Early Radish Mix
  • Mr. Big shelling peas
  • Razzle Dazzle Spinach
  • Envy Carrot (not my first choice, Oxheart was sold out already!)
  • All American Parsnip
  • 4 color Hierloom Mix Beets (Golden, Chioggia, Albino and Red)
  • Ground Cherry
  • Lacinato Kale
  • Champion Collards
  • Sugarloaf Chicory
  • Pungent Mix Mustard Greens
  • Behana Mustard Greens
  • Miners Lettuce
  • Machalong Mache
  • Jersey Knight Asparagus (25 root crowns, $$$ ouch!)
  • Tatsoi
  • Golden Purslane
  • Mammoth Sandwich Island Salsify

Tags: Gardening

20 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Mangochild // Jan 1, 2009 at 4:24 am

    Going through the seed catalogs is one of the things that keeps me sane through the dark winter days. Your choices sound really interesting, especially the various greens. Mustard is delicious, and kale – wow, in any variety. Looking forward to hearing how they do…. are you starting any seeds early before transplanting?

  • 2 maya // Jan 2, 2009 at 1:01 pm

    Hey Mangochild, I do think that the winter seed catalogs give us a bit of sanity too! I am going to start a bunch of seeds indoors. We have pretty mild summers here, so things like tomatoes and peppers always need to be started inside. Other items I am starting inside just to try and get as much out of the summer as possible, even though they would germinate outdoors if I waited a month or two. First on the list for this and next month for indoor starting are Leeks, Broccoli, and Cabbage. I will start tomato and pepper in March and then Ground Cherry and Tomatillo.

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