This weekend I ran into a few problems with getting my tomato seeds into the dirt.  The first being that I was out of dirt.  We’re being really careful where each and every dollar is going right now, so I really had to weigh whether or not it was a good time to buy a new bag of potting mix.  I decided it was, and Andy stopped and picked some up for me.  Then, with dirt in hand, I had to dig around the house to find something to plant the seeds in.  Lol.  My seed starting trays are all occupied at the moment with beautifully starting seeds.  Some of those, I actually need to transplant today to a larger container, but the problem of the moment was where to plant tomatoes.

After having success with the plastic drink cups a few weeks back, I went to grab some more of those when I decided to grab the paper cups instead.  I was thinking there that I could just write on the cups then what was going in them.  Then, after I chose the cups, I needed something to set them in to catch water for watering purposes. Gosh, I really need to bulk up my gardening supplies.   This time, I ended up grabbing an aluminum roasting pan from the basement.  I poked drain holes in the bottom of my cups, filled them 3/4 of the way with dirt and set them in the pan.  Then I very carefully started getting out the seeds- I wanted to be sure which seeds went in which cup, and I really had to think about how many I wanted to start.  I have 12 varieties going- most of them I only want one plant for myself, and the rest are meant to be shared with anyone who wants them.

You may be reading this asking if it’s worth the trouble to start my own tomato seeds when I can just go to the garden center and buy a few plants. Well, first of all, a packet of 25 seeds is about $2.50 average for the seeds.  A plant costs at least that for just one plant.  So cost wise it makes more sense.  I am also all about growing real tomatoes.  I don’t want the Better Boys and the Celebrity tomatoes that everyone else is growing because they just don’t taste as good to me. I want to grow heirloom tomatoes- the ones that are different in each and every way.  Some have more seeds, some have more juice, some have more pulp, and they all have a different color, which is fun too.  Each one also has a unique flavor- they’re not just tomatoes, they’re something special, and I enjoy each and every one.  I also enjoy the process, oddly enough.  Last year was the first time I ever started tomatoes, and it was so exciting to watch them sprout, and grow and turn into tomato plants.

So the tomatoes have been started.  Now we’ll see how long they take to germinate in the greenhouse.

Spring has sprung.  And my seedlings are sprouting.  It’s a fantastic day.  Later this week, once “The Great Melt” has completed and the ground has firmed back up a touch, Andy will see to repairing my garden sides.  Saturday, the tomatoes get started inside, and then we wait.  We wait and watch those overnight lows to climb up, and then the peas will go in the ground.  And then the lettuce, and then… well, who knows!  And the bulbs! I have all these tulips and daffodils that can go in the landscaping.

One day at a time.

There’s something about these tulips that has me completely smitten.  The way the petals have fallen and dried up a bit in beautiful waves… it’s like a dance.  An elegant dance, with the perfect skirt swirling in the breeze.  It’s a hidden beauty that has me mesmerized, I thought the tulips themselves were beautiful, but these dried blossoms are enchanting.

The problem with gardening (okay, maybe problem is not the right word) is that it’s infectious.  And when you hear that a neighbor or friend has started certain varieties of seeds… well, you just get an itch! A big itch! So this afternoon, after picking up Abigail from school, I trekked out to the shed and pulled my “official” seed starting tray. It’s one of the small cell pack trays, so it holds 32 little cells of seeds.  This one tray is perfect for doing the bulk of my seed starting.

So I started some seeds.  I started cauliflower, kale, scallions, leeks, bell peppers, sweet stuffing peppers, eggplants, hot peppers, and then the herbs- lovage, borage, summer savory, basil, sweet marjoram and the cilantro went in it’s own pot on the windowsill.  I decided to go ahead and do a few eggplant- if you remember, I had been waffling on them.  But since Baker Creek sent me a freebie of a new-to-me variety, well, how could I not give them a whirl?  And despite my dismal failure with hot peppers last year, I’ve now got some Anaheim chilies and some Serrano chilies planted.  You’ll also notice that those sweet stuffing peppers made it back on the list too- I’ll tell you, I was all determined to not grow them again, and then I pickled the last pickings off the plants last year. Oh. My. Gosh.  Totally worth it for just that jar of pickled peppers.

I think I’ve started just about everything that can be started ahead of time- except the tomatoes.  I still have some calculating to find out exactly when I can start those, but I do know it is much too early to think ‘mater.

I’m planning a trip to my favorite garden center in the next week or so, and I suspect that I’ll be adding to the seeds here, not to mention I’ve got a trade in the works, so some brussels sprouts will be added to my collection as well.  Overall, I’m thrilled it’s March, and I’m feeling very optimistic that we’ll have a great gardening year.  Two years ago I planted the garden the second week in April, so if we hold to that for this year, my plants have all been started perfectly.  That means I really need to get out the grid paper and get planning.  Once the snow melts and the ground thaws, there are peas and lettuce just dying to get in the ground!

I’ve been meaning to post this for a few days, but since I’ve been a little busy…

I was very excited last week to check on the plants in the greenhouse and find vegetable sprouts! It’s completely fascinating to me that these teeny-tiny seeds I planted a few weeks ago have put forth these tiny seedlings which will eventually turn into food for our family.  I don’t think I’ll ever tire of the growing process.

I’m pleased to report that I have 100% germination on both the Caraflex Cabbage and the Green Goliath Broccoli.

I planted ten cabbage seeds and have ten seedlings, and I planted five of the broccoli seeds.  Let me tell you about this broccoli.  The seed packet itself is over two years old, and the fact that I still am experiencing 100% germination tells you something about seeds.  Mainly, they keep.  I haven’t done anything special to them, I just put them in a rubbermaid container, and that container itself has been hiding in the closet above the washer and dryer.  Now, I really debated buying new broccoli seeds this year, as I’d love to find a more compact variety for my square foot garden.  But I decided that I would try my old seed first, see how it takes, and then buy new if I didn’t get results.  Well, I sure did get results!

The onions are also coming along slowly.  These are Red of Florence, and I really didn’t have good luck with them last year.  They never really bulbed out before it got cold, so I thought I would simply try starting them earlier this year.  What is very interesting here is that I have read in more than one place that onion seed is not always viable from year to year- it goes bad quickly.  Well, it will be a few weeks yet before I’ll say that they’re done sprouting, but so far we are at least at 50% germination.  I’ll be keeping an eye on them, that’s for sure.

This next weekend, more seeds will be started.  I’m just going to run out of places to put them pretty soon.

As yet another winter storm is bearing in our direction, what a beautiful thing to find this morning.  And a wonderful reminder that this too, shall pass, and spring IS on the way.

Well, actually, I’m pretty sure today it was Postwoman, but Postman rolls off the tongue much easier, and always reminds me of the Kevin Costner movie that totally tanked in the theaters, but which I happen to love.

Oh! The package! That’s right.  Today I got my package from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  I had to smile, when I opened up the package and found a little note tucked in that said something along the lines of “Sorry it took so long to get your seeds to you, we’ve had more business than usual this year, and some storms that have delayed shipping as well. Our apologies, and thanks for your business.”  First, I think it’s fantastic that they are so busy- their care in preserving heirloom fruits and vegetables is first rate, and I think it’s wonderful that people recognize that.  It’s also a sign that more people are gardening- that is also fantastic.  But what really made me smile was that it didn’t even take two weeks for my seeds to get to me.  And they were apologizing. It’s so cute!

Additionally, they were out of one of the varieties of radish seeds I ordered, and when I opened up the invoice, there were two one-dollar bills stapled to the invoice as a refund for the seeds I paid for online.  I just love their service, their care, and their attention to detail.  Last year when they were out of cucumber seeds I had ordered, I had asked them to go ahead and substitute something else.  Now that I think about it, for some reason, that wasn’t an option at checkout this year. Hmm.

Anyway, this completes my seed shopping for the year. (I know, if I tell myself that enough times I’ll believe it!) I ordered Huckleberries, two varieties of radish (well, three, but one was cancelled), bok choy, spinach, red orach, two varieties of cucumber, and serrano chilies.  Baker Creek also always throws in one packet of free seeds.  Last year they sent me the patty-pan squash, but this year they sent a packet of Thai Yellow Egg eggplant.  I hadn’t planned on doing eggplant this year, but now I’m very tempted to see how this variety is.  The real gold in this order though was the order of heirloom tomato seeds.  After last year’s success with the heirlooms, I will never go back.  Flavor wise, there was no comparison, they were so much better than the tomatoes I had from the garden center.

So without further ado, these are the new tomatoes I’ll be trying this year, their color in parenthesis afterwards:

• Malakhitovaya Shkatulka (green)
• Grace Lahman’s (pink)
• Black Krim (purple)
• Pantano Romanesco (red)
• Reisentraube (grape tomato)
• Golden Monarch (yellow)
• Yellow Pear (yellow)

IN addition, from last year’s tomato seed stock I’ll also be doing:

• German Red Strawberry (red)
• Dr. Wyche’s Yellow (orange)
• Green Zebra (green)
• Roman Candle (yellow)

I’m on the fence about the Fox Cherry tomatoes I did last year.  Mine didn’t produce for some reason, but the ones I shared with friend grew, and they were delicious, but I may have enough other varieties to keep me busy- no?  That’s eleven varieties of tomatoes in my small square foot garden.  Lol. I cannot wait.  If you’re curious about the varieties at all, you can check out the descriptions at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  Of all the plants I grow, these are my favorite.  I loved the tomatoes last year, and I can’t wait to get them going again.  I want to have plenty for in my garden, and plenty to share with others for their gardens.  Heirloom tomatoes.  There’s nothing like them.

On Saturday the Post Office dropped off a little bundle of goodness from Seeds of Change.  This order has my herbs, as well as a few odds and ends I wanted.  My green lettuces are in here- my trusty standby romaine-type, Jericho, and then a Verte Mar to give a try.   You can also see a packet of butternut squash… I really don’t have room for squash, but I really would love to grow them, so as long as I have the seeds, I can always decide to make room.  The Swedish Brown Bush Beans are a dried bean.  I have no idea if our growing season is long enough for beans to grow and then dry on the plant, but I’m really excited at giving it a shot.  I love dried beans, and would love to find a few varieties that I can grow myself.

For herbs, I have some new ones to try out this year.  I bought Chervil, Lovage, Summer Savory, Cilantro, and Marjoram.  Oh, and Borage.  The lovage was highly recommended to me by a few people on Gardenweb.  It is a perennial, and the leaves are very much like celery- and it grows really well supposedly.  I’m looking forward to trying it out.  The borage I’m not so sure is really edible, but it can be used to make tea, and has medicinal purposes.  On top of that, it’s an attractor for pollinators, so I think it would be a nice addition to any garden.   The cilantro is a slow-bolting variety, but I have my doubts.  I’ve never had much luck with cilantro, so we’ll see how this one goes.

One more package of seeds to come- this one is the tomato seed order, and I expect it any day now.

It is February here in the Frozen North, so even though we had some gorgeous weather over the past week or so, we’re back to normal cold winter.  The last few days though, I have to say, it’s been looking really gross out.  All brown and dirty and yucky, so it might as well snow some more right?

Ah well, if it’s not going to be spring, there might as well be fresh snow to keep it looking nice.

We had a bright moment yesterday afternoon though! The first of the seeds came!  My order from Johnny’s Seeds came yesterday, and going through them, I felt all giddy with excitement.  Mostly I ordered my beans, scallions, and my cole crops from them.  I went with a rainbow of beans this year, green, yellow wax and royal purple, and then I went with a fantastic speckled variety that says it’s great fresh or dried- Tongue of Fire, I believe they are called.  This year I’ll also be doing a blend of pole and bush beans, as I haven’t had great luck with poles, but love the idea of the pole beans being prolific.  I also purchased some inoculant, and this will be my first time using it.  The inoculant kind of gives beans and peas a boost. It’s completely organic and safe to use, and while I’m not entirely remembering what it does, I have heard that the yield on the beans is much better with the use of inoculant.

My cabbage didn’t come though, and I’m thinking I might pick up some seeds at my garden center, because it’s on backorder, and will be shipped a full three weeks after I should have had them started.   Next Saturday, in fact, I will be starting the cabbage and the broccoli, provided I have the seeds.   I’m striving for a spring garden with the cole crops, to see if I can avoid those horrible cabbage moths.

My leeks also didn’t come, also on backorder.  I still have some leek seed though from last year, so I’ll start those and see if this other variety comes in with time to plant.  I loved having leeks in the garden.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be giving my garden plan a thorough going-over.  I have an initial layout which I used to order seeds with, but I think it will need some tweaking.  I’ll share that as it comes.