Sunday, January 23, 2022

seeds of change

 I just received the last of the garden seeds I ordered. Last year, covid caused a lot of first time gardeners, and seed availability was affected. I had to scramble to get everything on our list, but ended up ok, just couldn't get some of our favorite varieties.

This year I ordered a bit early, and did see a bit of sold out stock, but in general, much better than last year. So, did all those new gardeners become once off gardeners? Did the seed companies ramp up in reaction to the new surge? Don't know, but we are set, and starting plants indoors is not that far away.

I have never listed what all we grow, but thought I would now just to show the large variety, which we feel is important to stay resilient, since the weather from year to year results in some veggies having a good year, and others a dud. This way we always have something to put in the larder. We are also shifting further to heirlooms and less hybrids, to do more seed saving than we have so far.

So here you go, in no order, just off the top of my head.

carrots

parsnips

beets

broccoli

brussels sprouts

lacinato kale

collards

lettuce

red cabbage

green cabbage

shelling peas

potatoes

flint corn

four types of soup beans

butternut squash

honey nut squash

kabocha squash

cucumbers

red onions

yellow onions

shallots

hard neck garlic

ancho peppers

sweet peppers

cherry tomatoes

slicer/sauce tomatoes

zucchini

lima beans

rutabaga

swiss chard

okra

So that's the garden. We have an asparagus and rhubarb patch, and some black raspberries that are going a bit feral.

We also grow cilantro, basil, rosemary, thyme, and mint in our herb garden near the house.

In past years, we've grown wheat, green beans and sweet corn, but we still have plenty of wheat and green beans ( both canned and frozen), and corn can be a pain, takes a lot of room, so now just buy from a local farm that specializes in it.

I also ordered some more trees. More apple, pear, tart cherry, hazelnuts, and some hackberry for the critters. I'll review the trees in more detail another time.

Here is the south garden, asleep in the snow. 9F ( -13C) as I type.




2 comments:

  1. Hi Steve,

    You grow a decent mix of vegetables. I'm in awe of both of your cabbage options as getting cabbage to heart here is a nightmare which I've kind of given up on. Kale is easier from my perspective anyway.

    Out of curiosity are you increasing the diversity of apple trees grown? It's a good idea.

    Do you save much of your own seed? We do a mix of seed saving and purchases. The purchases adds genetic vigour to the saved seed - even hybrid varieties are probably good to chuck into the mix from that perspective.

    Far out, your garden looks cold! :-) 90'F here today in the shade, and it was far hotter in the sun.

    Cheers

    Chris

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  2. Hi Chris;
    Cabbage likes cooler weather, maybe that's the difference? Starting and growing at a different time of year in your location might do the trick? Anyway, Kale is great, and you've got loads of other food choices we can't grow here.

    Apple trees- yes, all kinds. Probably ten different varieties so far. Most are for eating/baking/sauce , but some are more for cider. In general, I pick varieties from the nursery that are claimed to have some resistance to fire blight or apple scab, since we don't use chemicals. I've done a wee bit of grafting, but need to do more, to save money and just get good at one more skill.

    We save some seeds, the easy ones, but are rather slap dash about it so far, need to get more systematic. We save seed ( or equivalent) from all the dry beans, flint corn, wheat, garlic, potatoes, peppers, basil, and have done tomato, but get some pretty weird crosses from them.

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