February 23, 2023 at 1:23 p.m.
Fish Like a GIRL
Signs of spring - indoors
Fish Like a GIRL
First of all, I feel like February is a good time to get seeds going, although I know it should be a little later in the month. The thing is, because we finally bought a house last year, I was excited to finally have a bigger garden again, rather than just that little balcony space that I accidentally totally over-ran last year to the point that I had to ask a neighbor if I could use his patio in front of his apartment. He happily agreed. He said he loved the flowers and the plants and was happy the front of his apartment looked so nice. I also kept one of my Brussels sprouts down by him, and they did really well. I gave him a jar of pickled Brussels sprouts for letting me expand my garden.
But this year, I have an entire yard in which to plant! With that said, and the fact that Chet bought me an indoor greenhouse for my birthday, I had to get going as early as possible. Looking at it now, I feel like my beans and acorn squash, specifically, may need a place of their own before they can be planted outside. While everything seems to be growing pretty well, those are already growing like crazy, with the beans needing to move to the top shelf, where there is more head room.
The only seeds I planted that did not come up were some older tomato and pepper seeds. They were somewhat suspect anyway, as I believe they were three or four years old. But I had the space, so I thought I would just give it a try. Fail. But, you sometimes need to experiment and see what might happen.
I was also wondering about some morning glory seeds I had. I could not remember how old they were, although I knew some were left over from last year, and the others likely the year before. I put some of the seeds in a damp paper towel and stored them in a plastic bag in a warm, dark place. Low and behold, they came up. Once I knew they were good, I planted nine more plants, and those are already up and doing well, too. I feel like morning glories are pretty hardy. I have had good luck with them and have even, at times, somewhat ignored them.
Obviously I did not plant my root vegetables such as carrots and beets. Those I will plant once I get the garden beds all set and ready to go. Kohlrabi and turnips will be planted outside, too. But there is something uplifting about having seedlings sprouting indoors, even when it turns cold and snowy outside again (and it will).
Here is the issue, though. I have beans, peas, several varieties of peppers, squash, cucumbers, Brussels sprouts and most everything else I wanted already planted. That may not sound like a problem - until, each time I go to the mailbox, a new seed catalog shows up. The usual suspects such as Gurney and Burpee have come. But I also found a bunch of others from which I have never ordered. I do not remember my mom ordering from any of these, either, but I know she had her favorites, as all gardeners do. Part of me thinks, as gardeners, we stick with not only our tried and true, but also our perennial favorites. It is the same with fishing and what lures we always gravitate back to.
But at the same time, I also wonder if we get stuck on ordering from certain places in an effort to not confuse or overwhelm ourselves. One catalog I looked at had over 100 varieties of tomatoes. Luckily for me, I said I was not going to plant tomatoes this year, but would get what I needed for sauces and whatnot from the farmers' markets. But that is only one example, as I am sure most gardeners are aware. Name a vegetable and there are more varieties than I ever knew existed. Of course, years ago, some of these hybrids did not exist. They are bred to resist certain diseases or pests and whatnot. But honestly, I cannot see ordering seeds from various suppliers, planting them, and not keeping a gardening journal. How would one possibly remember all of the varieties and the years they were planted? But some of the catalogs have a little something special hidden within them - one in particular, is Seed Savers Exchange.
Seed saving and exchanges
I have done a little bit of seed saving in my day, but I had no idea what I was doing, to be honest. I just took seeds out of peppers, let them dry, and then put them in a cool, dry spot until the next year. It worked out pretty well, as I remember it. When I was leafing through this particular catalog, I came across a few books all about seed saving. Of course, I knew there was a specific way to do it, and I assumed different seeds might need different treatments, but I did not think much past that. I certainly did not expect to come across a book with the best seed saving tips for over 160 vegetable variants. Yes, that is now on my "to buy" list.
I know seed exchanges happen across the Northwoods. In fact, I recently received an email from the permaculture club in Rhinelander that had something in the bulletin about their seed swap. What a great way to try out varieties that a gardener has wanted to try, but just has not gotten around to yet.
In this catalog was also a link to join their seed exchange. I had to check that out as well, of course. What I like about it is that, once you search the seeds for which you are looking, you can also see where those seeds will be coming from. For instance, under anise hyssop, I found seeds from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Under a search term such as "peppers," there are many more choices, as I expected. Over 350, to tell the truth. I also have the ability to filter those results by various metrics, including only seeing rare seeds. I feel like this is going to be fun to play with, but also look forward to more local seed exchanges where I have the opportunity to talk to the person who brings the seeds to the event and who has experience with the specific variety.
Comments:
You must login to comment.