Seeds Started 20230529

An old vinyl window being used as a cold frame.
Sooooo many saved yogurt cups.

mid sized cold frame
saved rain barrel water

  1. 9 beans, scarlet runner pole (Heirloom, 2018)
  2. 15 beans, black turtle dry (Heirloom, 2018)
  3. 15 corn, Dakota black (Botanical Interests, 2020)
  4. 15 corn, sweet Golden Bantam  (Territorial, 2021)
  5. 15 corn, sweet Hopi blue (Territorial, 2021)
  6. 15 corn, pencil cob (Heirloom, 2018)
  7. 15 melon, Lilly (Territorial, 2021)
  8. 15 melon, honeydew (saved from grocery, 2018)
  9. 15 squash, acorn (saved from grocery, 2018)
  10. 15 squash, butternut (saved from grocery, 2018)
  11. 15 squash, butternut (saved from grown above, 2019)
  12. 17 sunflower, evening colors (High Mowing, 2021)
  13. 29 sunflower, enchanted garden mix (Heirloom, 2019)

Continue reading “Seeds Started 20230529”

Seed Progress 20230527

Forgot to post this! My apologies.

Old window lying on some scrap lumber to act as a cheap and dirty cold frame for gardening. The window is half open, and that half is screened. Planting plugs can be seen behind the screen.
Kludgey, but works!

I took the small sized cold frame out of the garage so I could move the plugs into it. I also hauled out some rain barrel water from our stash in the cellar, and made sure nothing was “resting” in the watering can that was closest to the door. (One year, I had left water in a can over winter and a small rodent tried to get a drink and drowned in it. Not the most fun thing to find months later.) I’ve mentioned it before, but when we empty our rain barrel to take it in at the end of season, I always fill up old vinegar jugs we have so I can use them over winter on house plants, and in spring for inside started seedlings and later outside as well. Given how little rain we’ve had the last week, I am so glad I have some left over. As of writing this, there is no rain forecast any time soon.
Continue reading “Seed Progress 20230527”

Seeds Started 20230526

Reused plastic cookie trays filled with cut up pieces of TP rolls filled with germinated seeds and potting soil.
I try to reuse whatever I can. Here I used washed plastic trays from store bought cookies. Inside are “plugs” I made from cut up pieces of TP rolls filled with potting soil.

kitchen windowsill
city water

  1. 9 beets, Merlin (Territorial Seeds, 2021)
  2. 9 pumpkin, unknown type (Saved from 2020 Halloween store bought pumpkin)
  3. 1 pumpkin, jack-o-lantern (Heirloom Seeds-last of free 2018 batch)
  4. 9 pumpkin, small sugar pie (Hart’s Seeds, 2020
  5. 9 pumpkin, small sugar pie (Territorial Seeds, 2021)

Continue reading “Seeds Started 20230526”

Seeds Started 20230524

Four small glass bowls with pea seeds in water in a window for germination tests.
After the germination tests I’d done prior, I am using the city water. Sadly, the fact that the water seems to help break down the seeds faster isn’t the greatest thing…but it is what it is.

kitchen windowsill
city water

  1. 9 peas, alderman (Territorial Seeds)
  2. 9 peas, little marvel (Heirloom Seeds)
  3. 9 snow peas, little purple–plasma treated (Territorial Seeds)
  4. 9 snow peas, little purple–non treated (Territorial Seeds)

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Posted in Behind the Scenes, Indoor Musings, Seeds

Remember The 2 Hour Garden book?

I fell in love with this book when I first borrowed it from our local library.  Yes, it was older and a handful of practices within it had since been improved upon within gardening communities, but more often than not, the lessons and strategies within were still sound.  When I realized how many times I was borrowing it, I tracked down a copy and bought itContinue reading “Remember The 2 Hour Garden book?”

Posted in Plants, Seeds

The unexpected seed order

A friend of mine gave me a gift card to Territorial Seed Company, which is closer to the other coast so we hadn’t ordered from them before even though I had previously bookmarked a few of their products in my garden planning bookmark folder.  They sell an abundance of kitchen garden crops within their products.  Given our garden budget for this year had nothing earmarked for kitchen crops save one rosemary starter, this was a very welcome gift.  Hopefully—with some careful seed saving—it will also be one that keeps on giving. Continue reading “The unexpected seed order”

Wild Seed Project in Maine

I forget how I stumbled upon their site, but recently I finally found a much closer source for sundial lupines (Lupinus perennis), which I have written about before.   The Wild Seed Project in Maine had sundial seeds available, which is more in line with our budget than buying plants in containers.  Nasami Farm is west of us here in Massachusetts and does have sundials, but only in one quart containers.  I’ll write more about Nasami Farm in future posts. Continue reading “Wild Seed Project in Maine”