Yesterday Eugene and I sat down in front of the computer with several seed catalogues and proceeded to do our main seed order for 2011. This year we ordered from Fedco, Johnny's and Baker Creek. We will likely order some more seeds from Seed Savers Exchange and Dixondale (they do nothing but onion and leek plants and we have heard great things about them and after 15 years of starting our own onions, scallions, leeks and shallots from seed we are thinking about trying seedlings and see what happens).
Here is what we have ordered so far. You won't see many lettuce or tomato seeds in these orders as we save most of what we grow from our own stock, same with yellow and red onions, popcorn, arugula and many other things. And, of course, we have left over seed that is still viable from last year and years before that. But this does give you a fairly good account as to what we plan to plant this year. for the complete list see our
FEDCO Seeds
Jade Bush Green Bean
Maxibel Bush Haricots Verts OG
Golden Gopher Muskmelon
Sunsweet Watermelon
Crimson Sweet Watermelon OG
Halona Muskmelon
Peace Watermelon
Dark Star Watermelon
Super Zagross Middle Eastern Slicing Cucumber
Telegraph Improved European Cucumber
Cocozelle Zucchini
Carnival Acorn Winter Squash
Zeppelin Delicata Winter Squash OG
Sunshine Winter Squash
Yellowstone Carrot
Arat Root Parsley
Gilfeather Turnip
King Sieg Leek OG
Ailsa Craig Onion
Space Spinach
Olympia Spinach
Tyee Spinach OG
Giant Winter Spinach
Flashy Green Butter Oak Lettuce OG
Bright Lights Chard
Champion Collards
Red Russian Kale OG
Winterbor Kale
Diamond Eggplant
Purple Beauty Sweet Pepper
Revolution Sweet Pepper
Valencia Sweet Pepper
Johnny's Selected Seeds
Flavorburst Peppers Sweet Bell
Lipstick (OG) Peppers
Merlin Beets
Green Magic Broccoli
TendersweetCabbage
Purple Haze Carrots
Atomic Red- Carrots
White Satin Carrots
Bolero Carrots
Nadia Eggplant
Javelin Parsnips
D'Avignon-Radish Long French
Easter Egg- Radish
Discovery Daikon
Emu Spinach
Costata Romanesco Zucchini
Waltham Butternut
Tatsoi
Kyona Mizuna
Baker Creek Seeds
Charentais Melon
Red-Seeded Asparagus Bean
Valencia Winter Melon
Raspberry Lyanna Tomato
Striped Roman Tomato
Showing posts with label Baker Creek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baker Creek. Show all posts
Friday, January 14, 2011
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Seed Buying
One of the big events in winter for us farmers is the seed order. Since we garden on acres this is a far larger undertaking than when we did home gardens. Ordering has happens much earlier for us growing commercially than for home gardeners. In fact we get our commercial catalogs about 3 weeks earlier than the home gardener catalogs (we know this because several of the companies we use have both). So in mid December we get our first catalogs-Johnny's and Fedco Followed by Seed Savers Exchange. A those are the 3 main companies we use for our seed supply.
There are a whole lot of companies we will not use due to the fact they source most of their seeds from companies owned by Monsanto (Peto and Semenis seeds). Jung's is one of them. Okay, another big reason we will never ever buy from Jung's Seeds ever again is they have sent us a lot of horrible plants and seeds. The rhubarb we got from there all died within 12 months, 95% died within 3 months. Than there were the trees they sent us last year that should have come in March or early April but cam in mid June and all but 1 were dead. We also do not like the policy of no refunds, store credit only. And they have bought up a lot of smaller companies (that people think are still independents) such as Totally Tomato
Vermont Bean Seed Co., Burpee, Cook's Garden, Earl May Seeds, Gardens Alive (not really a seed place they are more into fertilizers, pest control, etc.. and used to be a really good place to buy organic inputs), Lindenberg Seeds, Mountain Valley Seeds, Park Seeds, T&T Seeds, Tomato Grower's Supply, Willhite Seed Co., Nichol's, Rupp, Osborne, Snow, Stokes, R.H. Shumway, The Vermont Bean Seed Co., Seeds For The World, Seymour's Selected Seeds, HPS, Roots and Rhizomes, McClure and Zimmerman Quality Bulb Brokers, Spring Hill Nurseries, Breck's Bulbs,
Audubon Workshop, Flowers of the Month Club, Wayside Gardens, Park Bulb's and Park's Countryside Garde.
I also have quit buying seed from Baker Creek because they have send too many wrong or poorly bred seed. This is a shame because I really like Baker Creek. they are independently owned, they do not sell any GMO seed nor source with companies that do. All things that are important to me. but the seed quality for the most part sucks and in my market garden I have to have good to great seed quality and the seed should match up with what it says on the packet. I would say with Baker Creek, 3 out of 5 times there have been mistakes on their part.
Now savvier readers will note I order from Johnny's Selected Seeds and that Johnny's does indeed source some seeds from Semenis/Peto Seeds (though I hear rumors saying they have stopped or will stop buying from these corporations). The reason I make this exception for Johnny's is because I have been a happy customer for over 15 years, the seeds are top flight. There are very few mistakes made and when they happen they always make good, often within hours. they are an employee owned independent seed house with inhouse seed breeding program that is second to none. They are an official AAS trial site because of their location and great breeding program and they have one of the best seed catalogs in the world. And they have signed the Safe Seed Pledge (This link has a list of all the seed houses that have signed this pledge in 2009).
Around Christmas time we get the first catalogs (Johnny's first than Fedco a week later and finally SSE) and we start looking through them and also looking at the list of seed needs I complied last year as we used up the seeds (this is something that I had not done before 2009-or if I did I lost the list before seed ordering time. This saved a lot of time and made the order far more accurate than in the past). this year Eugene did the order and I was the one who got to put the orders on the order blanks, check to make sure we got everything (we never do and this year has been no exception. IIRC we still need a few tomato types) and than the order is calculated, checks are written and than everything is put into the correct envelopes, stamped and sent out.
This year Johnny's got $193, Fedco $207 and SSE $17.50. I know we still have to order strawberry plants which will be another $75 or so. And there will likely be other orders for seeds due to various reasons. And believe it or not this is a relatively small seed order for us. Many years we spend over $600 on seed alone (and several thousand on other inputs and equipment).
After the orders are dropped into the mail box at the Post Office we go home and sit around and await the incoming orders.
As per usual, Johnny's was the first to send us our order. About a 10 days ago the UPS guy delivered a box full of seeds and we were happy. We took the box inside and went through the seeds and found 3 kinds on back order. But within 3 days those seeds had also arrived at the post office. After the Johnny's order came the Seed Saver's order of heirloom tomatoes arrived. And yesterday we picked up the Fedco order at the post office. Or at least the majority, as many things are on back order and one thing was out of stock Even'star American Rapa which seems to be something for spring mixes so not a big deal that there is none. Besides I contacted Fedco and asked if they could send Hamburg Parsley instead of a refund and they said certainly (because they are flexible like that). one thing i am very happy about is the fact our onion seed arrived yesterday. You see CR Lawn, Fedco's founder always includes a newsletter with the order and he wrote that 6 varieties of onions have been on back order but during his writing 3 types arrived at their wearhouse and thus Fedco was able to fill some of their onion orders, including ours. This is important because onions (and leeks and shallots) really need to be started by Feb 1st for best results. It really sucks to see the term "Back Order" next to the seeds you need early as possible (and it is even worse when there is a note stating those seeds will not be available for 2 to 3 months and you already know there are none to be had anywhere because you already checked out 15 different companies for the variety-this happened to about 10 years ago mainly because we were not ordering our seed early enough, so we got smart and got into the habit of ordering early in the year).
Now that we have our seeds let the planting begin! And it will today with onions, leeks and shallots (and maybe kale and lettuces too).
There are a whole lot of companies we will not use due to the fact they source most of their seeds from companies owned by Monsanto (Peto and Semenis seeds). Jung's is one of them. Okay, another big reason we will never ever buy from Jung's Seeds ever again is they have sent us a lot of horrible plants and seeds. The rhubarb we got from there all died within 12 months, 95% died within 3 months. Than there were the trees they sent us last year that should have come in March or early April but cam in mid June and all but 1 were dead. We also do not like the policy of no refunds, store credit only. And they have bought up a lot of smaller companies (that people think are still independents) such as Totally Tomato
Vermont Bean Seed Co., Burpee, Cook's Garden, Earl May Seeds, Gardens Alive (not really a seed place they are more into fertilizers, pest control, etc.. and used to be a really good place to buy organic inputs), Lindenberg Seeds, Mountain Valley Seeds, Park Seeds, T&T Seeds, Tomato Grower's Supply, Willhite Seed Co., Nichol's, Rupp, Osborne, Snow, Stokes, R.H. Shumway, The Vermont Bean Seed Co., Seeds For The World, Seymour's Selected Seeds, HPS, Roots and Rhizomes, McClure and Zimmerman Quality Bulb Brokers, Spring Hill Nurseries, Breck's Bulbs,
Audubon Workshop, Flowers of the Month Club, Wayside Gardens, Park Bulb's and Park's Countryside Garde.
I also have quit buying seed from Baker Creek because they have send too many wrong or poorly bred seed. This is a shame because I really like Baker Creek. they are independently owned, they do not sell any GMO seed nor source with companies that do. All things that are important to me. but the seed quality for the most part sucks and in my market garden I have to have good to great seed quality and the seed should match up with what it says on the packet. I would say with Baker Creek, 3 out of 5 times there have been mistakes on their part.
Now savvier readers will note I order from Johnny's Selected Seeds and that Johnny's does indeed source some seeds from Semenis/Peto Seeds (though I hear rumors saying they have stopped or will stop buying from these corporations). The reason I make this exception for Johnny's is because I have been a happy customer for over 15 years, the seeds are top flight. There are very few mistakes made and when they happen they always make good, often within hours. they are an employee owned independent seed house with inhouse seed breeding program that is second to none. They are an official AAS trial site because of their location and great breeding program and they have one of the best seed catalogs in the world. And they have signed the Safe Seed Pledge (This link has a list of all the seed houses that have signed this pledge in 2009).
Around Christmas time we get the first catalogs (Johnny's first than Fedco a week later and finally SSE) and we start looking through them and also looking at the list of seed needs I complied last year as we used up the seeds (this is something that I had not done before 2009-or if I did I lost the list before seed ordering time. This saved a lot of time and made the order far more accurate than in the past). this year Eugene did the order and I was the one who got to put the orders on the order blanks, check to make sure we got everything (we never do and this year has been no exception. IIRC we still need a few tomato types) and than the order is calculated, checks are written and than everything is put into the correct envelopes, stamped and sent out.
This year Johnny's got $193, Fedco $207 and SSE $17.50. I know we still have to order strawberry plants which will be another $75 or so. And there will likely be other orders for seeds due to various reasons. And believe it or not this is a relatively small seed order for us. Many years we spend over $600 on seed alone (and several thousand on other inputs and equipment).
After the orders are dropped into the mail box at the Post Office we go home and sit around and await the incoming orders.
As per usual, Johnny's was the first to send us our order. About a 10 days ago the UPS guy delivered a box full of seeds and we were happy. We took the box inside and went through the seeds and found 3 kinds on back order. But within 3 days those seeds had also arrived at the post office. After the Johnny's order came the Seed Saver's order of heirloom tomatoes arrived. And yesterday we picked up the Fedco order at the post office. Or at least the majority, as many things are on back order and one thing was out of stock Even'star American Rapa which seems to be something for spring mixes so not a big deal that there is none. Besides I contacted Fedco and asked if they could send Hamburg Parsley instead of a refund and they said certainly (because they are flexible like that). one thing i am very happy about is the fact our onion seed arrived yesterday. You see CR Lawn, Fedco's founder always includes a newsletter with the order and he wrote that 6 varieties of onions have been on back order but during his writing 3 types arrived at their wearhouse and thus Fedco was able to fill some of their onion orders, including ours. This is important because onions (and leeks and shallots) really need to be started by Feb 1st for best results. It really sucks to see the term "Back Order" next to the seeds you need early as possible (and it is even worse when there is a note stating those seeds will not be available for 2 to 3 months and you already know there are none to be had anywhere because you already checked out 15 different companies for the variety-this happened to about 10 years ago mainly because we were not ordering our seed early enough, so we got smart and got into the habit of ordering early in the year).
Now that we have our seeds let the planting begin! And it will today with onions, leeks and shallots (and maybe kale and lettuces too).
Friday, August 28, 2009
Tomatoes
I haven't posted in a while. Between long days working the farm, marketing food and Facebook I haven't made time to post here in weeks.
Like all summers it's been busy at Boulder Belt Eco-Farm. We have had a great summer-the weather, for the most part has been cool and dry and the crops have loved it. we have huge tomatoes this year, despite the evil specter of late blight which has been stalking the tomato patches of the eastern US this summer. We don't seem to have that problem. Our tomato plants look pretty bad as they have once again been struck with whatever crud we have in our soils but it is not late blight as our crud rarely effects the fruit. It just kills the vines which can lead to sun scald problems but not fruit with disgusting lesions and rot. At any rate, the fruits are huge.
I did not know that Glick's pride was a beef steak tomato as it never has gotten all that big for us in the past 12 years we have grown it. But this year we have a lot of 1 pound+ fruits.
I notice the paste tomatoes, Amish paste and Opalka are also both huge this year. Usually the Opalka come in at about 1/2 pound or less. This year they are at least twice that big. Same with the Amish paste.
The early girl are not all that big this year but quite prolific
The Paul Robeson are all over the place on size-some are teensy and catfaced, others are big and beautifully round. the taste is good but not quite as good as I expected. still seeds have been saved for next year
Great White tomatoes like others are huge and for the most part perfectly round. And they taste really good for any tomato, but especially for a white tomato which generally are pretty insipid. unfortunately because they are strange they do not sell well (I guess I will have to get aggressive about them and convince people to try them)
The Nyagous are perfect cue ball sized black tomatoes again this year and they taste fabulous. these have become one of my favorites.
The Black Krim are just wrong. 95% of them have catfaced horribly making them pretty unusable for anything other that displaying as a freak of nature or sauce/juice. I dunno what happened there, but it ain't good.
I don't know what happened to the Green Zebra, but with pretty much all the different types of tomatoes we grow ripening to at least the point of identification, we don't seem to have any. But we do seem to have a lot more red saladette types than I remember starting. It's been years since we have grown Green Zebra but I remember them being pretty early so if we have them we should be harvesting them by now. We got the seed from Baker Creek. I do like the philosophy at BC but this is not the first time we have gotten wrong seed from them. I doubt we will order from them again as we cannot afford to spend money with such a lax seed house.
The Costoluto plants died early but they did produce a crop of beautiful fluted medium red tomatoes before they succumbed
The cherry tomatoes are doing well this year. We have way to many sunsugar about the right amount of Cherrywine (which is nearly stable this year-I believe there was only one sport-a pink saladette). The yellow pear plants are not dead and generally they are the first to die of our home grown tomato ick. The green pear seem to be stabilized their first year of selection-100% of the plants are producing green pear maters. As a mater of fact, I found a couple of green pear plants in with the yellow pear plants. The red grape are going gang busters and the green grape are nice and healthy and just beginning to ripen.
It looks like we got 2 crinckovich plants this year and they are noting special. I do like the fruit so I think it will be worth seeking out a good seed source as I do not have enough to keep seed from (you really need a minimum of 8 plants and I have 2).
The Sunray tomatoes are just now ripening up and they are about perfect in every way. huge round deep yellow fruits with great flavor and very prolific. I am surprised the plants have not broken under the weight of all the fruit.
The Dr Wyche's Yellow is almost over for the year and they were, like so many other tomatoes pretty spectacular. Very few deformed, catfaced fruits. Good flavor and good yields.
The Boulder Belt Striped was very good this year. As far as I can tell, we had zero off types so I will declare this a stabilized breed. the flavor is good to boot.
The Matina has been great. Wonderful small tasty fruits and very very prolific
So That's the August rundown of our maters
Like all summers it's been busy at Boulder Belt Eco-Farm. We have had a great summer-the weather, for the most part has been cool and dry and the crops have loved it. we have huge tomatoes this year, despite the evil specter of late blight which has been stalking the tomato patches of the eastern US this summer. We don't seem to have that problem. Our tomato plants look pretty bad as they have once again been struck with whatever crud we have in our soils but it is not late blight as our crud rarely effects the fruit. It just kills the vines which can lead to sun scald problems but not fruit with disgusting lesions and rot. At any rate, the fruits are huge.
I did not know that Glick's pride was a beef steak tomato as it never has gotten all that big for us in the past 12 years we have grown it. But this year we have a lot of 1 pound+ fruits.
I notice the paste tomatoes, Amish paste and Opalka are also both huge this year. Usually the Opalka come in at about 1/2 pound or less. This year they are at least twice that big. Same with the Amish paste.
The early girl are not all that big this year but quite prolific
The Paul Robeson are all over the place on size-some are teensy and catfaced, others are big and beautifully round. the taste is good but not quite as good as I expected. still seeds have been saved for next year
Great White tomatoes like others are huge and for the most part perfectly round. And they taste really good for any tomato, but especially for a white tomato which generally are pretty insipid. unfortunately because they are strange they do not sell well (I guess I will have to get aggressive about them and convince people to try them)
The Nyagous are perfect cue ball sized black tomatoes again this year and they taste fabulous. these have become one of my favorites.
The Black Krim are just wrong. 95% of them have catfaced horribly making them pretty unusable for anything other that displaying as a freak of nature or sauce/juice. I dunno what happened there, but it ain't good.
I don't know what happened to the Green Zebra, but with pretty much all the different types of tomatoes we grow ripening to at least the point of identification, we don't seem to have any. But we do seem to have a lot more red saladette types than I remember starting. It's been years since we have grown Green Zebra but I remember them being pretty early so if we have them we should be harvesting them by now. We got the seed from Baker Creek. I do like the philosophy at BC but this is not the first time we have gotten wrong seed from them. I doubt we will order from them again as we cannot afford to spend money with such a lax seed house.
The Costoluto plants died early but they did produce a crop of beautiful fluted medium red tomatoes before they succumbed
The cherry tomatoes are doing well this year. We have way to many sunsugar about the right amount of Cherrywine (which is nearly stable this year-I believe there was only one sport-a pink saladette). The yellow pear plants are not dead and generally they are the first to die of our home grown tomato ick. The green pear seem to be stabilized their first year of selection-100% of the plants are producing green pear maters. As a mater of fact, I found a couple of green pear plants in with the yellow pear plants. The red grape are going gang busters and the green grape are nice and healthy and just beginning to ripen.
It looks like we got 2 crinckovich plants this year and they are noting special. I do like the fruit so I think it will be worth seeking out a good seed source as I do not have enough to keep seed from (you really need a minimum of 8 plants and I have 2).
The Sunray tomatoes are just now ripening up and they are about perfect in every way. huge round deep yellow fruits with great flavor and very prolific. I am surprised the plants have not broken under the weight of all the fruit.
The Dr Wyche's Yellow is almost over for the year and they were, like so many other tomatoes pretty spectacular. Very few deformed, catfaced fruits. Good flavor and good yields.
The Boulder Belt Striped was very good this year. As far as I can tell, we had zero off types so I will declare this a stabilized breed. the flavor is good to boot.
The Matina has been great. Wonderful small tasty fruits and very very prolific
So That's the August rundown of our maters
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Seed Ordering Time
January is seed ordering time here at Boulder belt. The seed order used to be a huge event for us that caused a great deal of stress (what if we forget something? What if we get it WRONG!!??!?). we would get the seed catalogs in the mail (most arriving by Jan 1st because we are commercial growers and commercial growers get their catalogs before the home gardening crowd). We would study the catalogs for days dreaming of spring and planting and warm mornings and fresh food being harvested daily and other unwintry thoughts. We would put big black stars by the seeds we wanted to buy and would fill out order forms and check them twice than send in the orders.
And every time we would discover we had missed something important and would freak out.
These days we do not find the seed order is such a big deal because we have started in the past two years putting 2 to 4 seed orders every year pretty much in every season. So if something is forgotten we no longer freak out. Instead we just order whatever it is we need and grumble about S&H charges that could have been avoided if we only had order whatever with the rest of the seeds.
So far this year we have put in our orders to Johnny's selected seeds and Fedco and have only forgotten one item-5 pounds of sugar snap peas, one of our best selling crops. I have not decided if I want to put in another order to Johnny's or Fedco or go with one of the Heirloom companies-Baker Creek or Seed Savers Exchange. Both have sugar snap seed, I believe. But we have not order sugar snaps from either of those companies before so don't know the quality. We usually get our peas from Fedco or Johnny's and do know what to expect form them.
Something that has come up in the various forums I use about seed buying-The fact that Monsanto bought Semenis seeds and now controls something like 85% of the global seed stocks. We at Boulder belt do research where the seeds we buy come from and we avoid buying Monsanto owned seeds. This has meant dropping several hybrids that have always done very well for us and finding substitutes. This has not been an easy task for a couple of crops. I have yet to find a replacement I really like for the Fat n Sassy green to red bell pepper. It has been fun trying out different peppers both hybrid and heirloom. I have found many heirloom varieties I like a lot but none have come close to replacing this red bell (but I have found some wonderful yellow, purple, brown, red cheese and other peppers that now have a place in the market garden)
We used grow a wonderful pure white sweet onion called Superstar that we dropped because of the Monsanto connection and have yet to find anything close. So now we grow heirloom sweet onions that are not as pretty but have no ties to Monsanto and have excellent taste, though rarely are as mild as the Superstar.
I am hoping today we finish up the seed ordering for this month. We still have to order some tomato seed. There are two heirlooms I want to grow-Paul Robeson, a black beefsteak mater named for the performer/activist, Paul Robeson and also Green Zebra because Miami University is interested and we have not grown a green full sized mater in years. We grew GZ about 6 or 7 years ago and it was prolific, pretty but not the best tasting mater that we grow. We also have to order eggplant and of course the sugar snap peas. I think we will also order several flower varieties. We have been wanting to grow sunflowers for years and I think this is the year to do so. Sunflowers can brighten up any day and it looks like we are going to go through a lot of very dark days and will need sunflowers to rescue us all. And we need yarrow and there will likely be many other seeds we will decide we cannot live without.
And every time we would discover we had missed something important and would freak out.
These days we do not find the seed order is such a big deal because we have started in the past two years putting 2 to 4 seed orders every year pretty much in every season. So if something is forgotten we no longer freak out. Instead we just order whatever it is we need and grumble about S&H charges that could have been avoided if we only had order whatever with the rest of the seeds.
So far this year we have put in our orders to Johnny's selected seeds and Fedco and have only forgotten one item-5 pounds of sugar snap peas, one of our best selling crops. I have not decided if I want to put in another order to Johnny's or Fedco or go with one of the Heirloom companies-Baker Creek or Seed Savers Exchange. Both have sugar snap seed, I believe. But we have not order sugar snaps from either of those companies before so don't know the quality. We usually get our peas from Fedco or Johnny's and do know what to expect form them.
Something that has come up in the various forums I use about seed buying-The fact that Monsanto bought Semenis seeds and now controls something like 85% of the global seed stocks. We at Boulder belt do research where the seeds we buy come from and we avoid buying Monsanto owned seeds. This has meant dropping several hybrids that have always done very well for us and finding substitutes. This has not been an easy task for a couple of crops. I have yet to find a replacement I really like for the Fat n Sassy green to red bell pepper. It has been fun trying out different peppers both hybrid and heirloom. I have found many heirloom varieties I like a lot but none have come close to replacing this red bell (but I have found some wonderful yellow, purple, brown, red cheese and other peppers that now have a place in the market garden)
We used grow a wonderful pure white sweet onion called Superstar that we dropped because of the Monsanto connection and have yet to find anything close. So now we grow heirloom sweet onions that are not as pretty but have no ties to Monsanto and have excellent taste, though rarely are as mild as the Superstar.
I am hoping today we finish up the seed ordering for this month. We still have to order some tomato seed. There are two heirlooms I want to grow-Paul Robeson, a black beefsteak mater named for the performer/activist, Paul Robeson and also Green Zebra because Miami University is interested and we have not grown a green full sized mater in years. We grew GZ about 6 or 7 years ago and it was prolific, pretty but not the best tasting mater that we grow. We also have to order eggplant and of course the sugar snap peas. I think we will also order several flower varieties. We have been wanting to grow sunflowers for years and I think this is the year to do so. Sunflowers can brighten up any day and it looks like we are going to go through a lot of very dark days and will need sunflowers to rescue us all. And we need yarrow and there will likely be many other seeds we will decide we cannot live without.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
More Seed Orders
A post I made a couple of days ago about inertia and being done with seed orders was all lies.
It turns out we were not done with our seed orders because we were bored and there were two catalogs we like, Baker Creek Seeds and Gourmet Seeds International, sitting there tempting us with their purty pictures and tantalizing descriptions. So Eugene ordered some winter melons, Piel de sapo (aka toad skin) and Verde da Inverno and a yellow, Italian, heirloom pepper called Melrose from Gourmet Seeds. Eugene has wanted to grow winter melons for several years and now he will have the seeds to do so.
I ordered a blue poppy and two heirloom tomatoes-Paul Robeson, a very hard to find heirloom I have been wanting to try for about 10 years as I love about everything about Paul Robeson-great actor/singer as well as humanitarian. I also ordered Tomesol, a white beefsteak tomato that is said to have the best taste of any tomato. We grew a white mater last year but I was not impressed. It was not really white, the taste was okay but not the greatest and the fruits tended to split. I probably would have been more impressed with it had I started the seeds and dealt with it the way we deal with our plants. But this white came from our friend Wyatt (he gave us something like 8 heirloom varieties last year) and the plants were too big to put with the other tomatoes on landscape fabric. So they went into their own area, unmulched, no irrigation and quite stressed from travel and living on the porch of the store for 2 weeks. So I am thinking these white tomatoes did not give us their all. This is why I am trying out another white tomato. The other thing we ordered from baker Creek intrigues me. The Cassabanana (aka melocoton) which looks like a large bright red cucumber. the flesh is bright orange and sweet. the vines can get to 50' long and it takes these things a long time to grow (It doesn't say how long but I am thinking 120 days). This will have to be started in April so it can be put into the garden in early May (with at least a row cover over top to keep thing warm if May is at all chilly) and than I am sure a hoop house will be erected over top come October. I know we have the technology and know how to get these puppies to ripen. If we can do cukes and zukes in November we out to be able to get these to ripen.
Along with the 2 seed orders was a big order to Nolt's produce supply for irrigation equipment (a new filter, some more drip tape and a reducer) as well as a couple of cases of pulp pint and 1/2 pint tills, 5# of rubber bands and a couple of rolls of 3' wide landscape fabric. We used to use Monte Packaging for our marketing supplies but found that Nolt's is about 33% cheaper across the board. So Nolt's gets our money.
I am hoping this is it on the seed ordering this year. I am pretty sure it won't be the end of seed orders. We will run short of something or realize we forgot to order something important or will find a back order is not an out of stock item. But I believe that we are done for the most part, except ordering chickens to be raised on pasture for meat (and maybe layers if we can get a coop built this spring summer)
It turns out we were not done with our seed orders because we were bored and there were two catalogs we like, Baker Creek Seeds and Gourmet Seeds International, sitting there tempting us with their purty pictures and tantalizing descriptions. So Eugene ordered some winter melons, Piel de sapo (aka toad skin) and Verde da Inverno and a yellow, Italian, heirloom pepper called Melrose from Gourmet Seeds. Eugene has wanted to grow winter melons for several years and now he will have the seeds to do so.
I ordered a blue poppy and two heirloom tomatoes-Paul Robeson, a very hard to find heirloom I have been wanting to try for about 10 years as I love about everything about Paul Robeson-great actor/singer as well as humanitarian. I also ordered Tomesol, a white beefsteak tomato that is said to have the best taste of any tomato. We grew a white mater last year but I was not impressed. It was not really white, the taste was okay but not the greatest and the fruits tended to split. I probably would have been more impressed with it had I started the seeds and dealt with it the way we deal with our plants. But this white came from our friend Wyatt (he gave us something like 8 heirloom varieties last year) and the plants were too big to put with the other tomatoes on landscape fabric. So they went into their own area, unmulched, no irrigation and quite stressed from travel and living on the porch of the store for 2 weeks. So I am thinking these white tomatoes did not give us their all. This is why I am trying out another white tomato. The other thing we ordered from baker Creek intrigues me. The Cassabanana (aka melocoton) which looks like a large bright red cucumber. the flesh is bright orange and sweet. the vines can get to 50' long and it takes these things a long time to grow (It doesn't say how long but I am thinking 120 days). This will have to be started in April so it can be put into the garden in early May (with at least a row cover over top to keep thing warm if May is at all chilly) and than I am sure a hoop house will be erected over top come October. I know we have the technology and know how to get these puppies to ripen. If we can do cukes and zukes in November we out to be able to get these to ripen.
Along with the 2 seed orders was a big order to Nolt's produce supply for irrigation equipment (a new filter, some more drip tape and a reducer) as well as a couple of cases of pulp pint and 1/2 pint tills, 5# of rubber bands and a couple of rolls of 3' wide landscape fabric. We used to use Monte Packaging for our marketing supplies but found that Nolt's is about 33% cheaper across the board. So Nolt's gets our money.
I am hoping this is it on the seed ordering this year. I am pretty sure it won't be the end of seed orders. We will run short of something or realize we forgot to order something important or will find a back order is not an out of stock item. But I believe that we are done for the most part, except ordering chickens to be raised on pasture for meat (and maybe layers if we can get a coop built this spring summer)
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