I started this post the week we put the seed order in, and I’m finishing it after they arrived. Every promise faithfully kept eventually, so here’s part three.
Now that I’ve gone back and read the first two installments, I have a better idea of what I already covered and where I left off.
Last year, one of the foundations we used in choosing our plantings was consideration towards what we typically enjoy eating. We did this because although we’d like our harvests to more fully represent our overall diet, since we were/are still baby stepping into our kitchen garden, it made sense to focus on what we would consider staples for us first. We did this in particular when choosing companion plants that double as herbs and/or spices.
Last year many of the seeds we purchased never even made it into the ground,
in no small part due to how late we ordered. (And then were further delayed for a whopping month after arrival to make it to the ground because we hadn’t prepared the beds in a timely fashion (see the progress image of the bed making from 17th of May last year to the right here). This year, we actually ordered somewhat on time so for some seeds that can be started indoors (which is very helpful here in 5b), we can do that. So some seeds we’ll be planting this year are actually new to grow for us even though we’ve had them since last year.
My partner is considering this year “the expansion”, and said “we’ll do whatever it is that needs to get done”, which makes me laugh. Of course that’s our intent, but intent doesn’t always work out as planned.
As to his comment about the expansion, though, that’s exactly what our list is. We decided not to order anything we ordered last year since we still had quite a few seeds left of even those we did manage to sow. We also remembered that we happened to have saved some seed from what grew, so that really meant even less reason to order again.
As to the seeds we saved, we have no idea of how well those will do, given how poor the soil was (and to an extent still is) here. We’ll be making sure to mark the difference between purchased and gathered to compare between them. I’ll likely mark ours with a little bee sketch on the label.
I will go further into seeds we gathered last year, whether from our garden or from grocery store produce, in a fourth post. I’m still a bit behind marking which need to be started indoors any day now, which I hope to do before next week. We’ll be picking up some old garage doors this weekend which I hope to make into a tool shed this summer. (Yay! A place to get more stuff out of the garage so we can actually keep a car in there. Whoda’ thunk?)
I do want to note that as of this writing, I can’t find any envelopes for the following seeds we bought last year:
- poppy
- butterfly flower
I had found some seed casings in what looks to be some critters’ stash, but it seems my initial guess was right and they stole seeds from our neighbor’s bird feeders next store, then ran along the clothesline that’s connected to our garage (a story for another time), slipped into whatever hole to get inside, and feasted on top of the cabinet where I found all the casings.
So if they turn up later, I’ll note that. But so far, no sign of them.
Next to last, I mentioned in the last installment of this series that I might mention garden related expenses. We’re still working on that budget, so I’m not sure when that will be posted about, but I can say it’s likely that will hover around $100 at maximum. That will include things like trellis supplies, any additional materials we need to make the cold frames, and hardware for our reused fencing multi bay compost bin we’re putting in this year. Oh…and I have a story to tell related to the new compost bin too, but that’ll be separate from this series.
Last but not least! Our actual seed order list, plus what we got for free this year since the order already arrived.
Our order:
- early purple sprouting broccoli
- catnip
- flax
- nigra hollyhock
- brown mustard
- luffa gourd
- little marvel pea
- red cherry sweet peppers
- sunflower mix
Our freebie seed this year:
- Calabrese broccoli
Other posts in this series:
Making our 2019 seed list–part 1
Making our 2019 seed list–part 2
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