Little Seed so Small and Round...

Pushed way down into the ground.
With water and some sunshine glow
God will help you grow, grow grow!

That time of year is almost upon us, and I think I'm the last one to plan for it. Spring! Sowing seed! Weeee!

While thinking about what I'll be growing this spring and summer, I decided the first step would be to reduce the seeds I already had on hand. Last year I went a little overboard with seed purchasing--especially considering my lack of space to grow things. At one point I was buying a pack almost every time I went to a store that sold them. It was bad. Bad enough that I ended up with 3 packets of cilantro, and 4 different kinds of beans. I would see a pack, forget that I already had some at home, and convince myself that these plants would fit wherever felt logical at the moment. Oh, the follies of a novice gardener. My seed box was packed to the hilt with unopened or barely used packets, so I ended up Freecycling seeds I won't be using this season. Oh yes, I have learned my lesson. I will not buy seeds unless I already have somewhere to put them. In other words, no unplanned purchases!
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I should mention that I started the above portion of this post a few days ago LOL. Silly me...
After going out for Thai last night, I stopped by OSH to pick up my seed starting containers. I told myself not to stop by the seed rack, but how could I avoid it when it was right next to where my containers were? I had to look at what they had. Reminding myself that I had changed my ways, I visualized the plans I've been staring at for days, and walked out of there with Renee's Container Bush Slicer Cucumber, and Heirloom Leaf Cutting Lettuce Mix. GRRR! It must have been the endorphins coursing through my blood from all that spicy Thai food I'd just eaten. Yeah, that's it. Why did I buy those? We rarely eat cucumbers, and I had previously decided I wouldn't buy mixed lettuces again since there are usually one or two types in each mix that we end up not enjoying. You understand, right? I couldn't help myself!

This reminds me of something I've been grappling with since the beginning. How can I grow what I want, in the quantities I'd like, with so little space? Well, dear readers, I ended up applying for a plot at our community garden (enter girlie squeals here)! I've thought about this off and on, and each time we go to the park next to the garden, I longingly stare through the fence at all of the things growing in those 32 plots of land. Admiring the individuality of each gardener, and how they've utilized their 255 square feet of space... What in the world would I do with that much space? Well, I won't be getting myself all excited about 225 square feet of loveliness just yet. After my application was submitted, I received an email from the garden coordinator informing me that there are 20 people ahead of me, and only 5 plots opened up this season. It looks like it could be two years before my name even comes up. *sigh* Oh well... At least I'm on the list now...


Ok, back to the topic at hand. Seeds. Now that I have room in my seed box again (snicker), I've chosen plants that are compact, will be happy in our blazing Cali sun, we will definitely use, and use a lot of. Hey, the cucumbers were an impulse buy, ok, and therefore does not count in this conversation. hmph. I think I did pretty well. I only bought one or two packs of seeds that I won't be able to put anywhere LOL, and one repeat--doh!

 

Here's what I will be growing this spring & summer (excludes what's already growing).
Baker Creek Heirloom:
Tomato: Peasron
Pepper Hot: White Habanero
Basil: Fine Verde (not using this season)
Parlsey: Brayour
Lettuce: Lolla Rossa (not pictured, sown 1/29)

Territorial Seed
Tomato: Viva Italia
Oregano

Burpee
Melon: Isabella Charentais
Watermelon: Bush Sugar Baby (decided not to use after reading of low fruit quantity per plant)
Gazania: Creamcicle

Renee's Garden
Basil: Italian Cameo
Cucumber: Bush Slicer
Pepper Sweet: Baby Belle
Nasturtium: Whirlybird

Irish Eyes
Potato: Russet Burbank Minituber (sown 2/1)
Potato: Sangre Minituber (sown 2/1)
I purchased these in November, but they took *forever* to sprout

Sustainable Seed Co.
Royal Burgundy Bean (already had from '09 but never planted)

I also received a free packet each from Territorial Seed and Baker Creek Heirloom. They were both carrot seeds. This annoyed me slightly because I have yet to grow carrots successfully, and because of this, had given away 3 varieties of them only days before my orders arrived. Maybe I'm not supposed to give up on this delicious root?


In my next post, I'll share where these goodies will grow, and my strategies for this season.

Warm weekend wishes!

Making My Seed Mats

Last week Granny posted detailed instructions on how she makes her seed mats for carrots. After she mentioned this method last year, I decided I'd try them this fall, and am grateful for her reposting her instructions!

So, I made my mats containing carrot, lettuce/mesclun, and radish seeds. I used Kirkland (Costco) brand napkins, and followed Granny's lead with putting everything together. Granny didn't specify how she dotted her napkins, but I just stacked them up and held the permanent marker on them for a few seconds so the ink would go through all layers. This saved a lot of time by not having to dot each individually.

Lettuce mat...

Carrot mats...

Radish mat strips... The radish seeds are larger and easier to handle than carrot and lettuce seeds, but I chose to do these strips to save time later. These guys will be grown at the tops and bottoms of my broccoli squares.

With the weather finally cooling off, I decided to get my lettuce and carrots started yesterday. It turned out to be very helpful to have these mats because it was windy and chilly! Because of the wind, and having topped off the raised bed's contents last week, I decided to wet the soil to keep it  from being blown all over the place (my eyes are usually the casualties), then scraped a 1/2 inch layer off the top before placing the seed mats down. I then covered the mat with the moist soil, and I was done!

In addition to the lettuce and carrot mats, I planted my green arrow peas.

Here's hoping the weather stays cool!

Seeds are Ready and Waiting

This week I received the rest of the seeds in the mail from Sustainable Seed Co., and I'm so excited! The only plants left are garlic and onion. I actually already have the onion seeds, but I don't know where the packet is at the moment... I either grabbed the packet and it's being used as a bookmark in one of the many gardening books floating around the house, or the LO got his hands on it and has strategically placed it somewhere where I'll only find it when I've given up looking for it, and have bought a replacement packet... We're went to the Gilroy Garlic Festival this past weekend, and although we had a great time, and ate great food, I was disappointed that they weren't selling more garlic bulbs. I was really hoping to purchase a few good looking bulbs for planting in October, but the one small kiosk I saw only had small bulbs. Maybe because we went on the last day of the festival... Oh well. I've decided to purchase a few organic bulbs from either Trader Joe's or Whole Foods (need to find a store around me first). I picked my first cherry tomato yesterday... The others are slowly following behind this one, so I don't know what they'll be used for--especially since I don't like them. I'll let DH taste test this one. The Fresno chili's are still going strong, and the okra have slowed down their production. I finally have a sandwich ziploc bag full of okra, and will fry it up tonight or tomorrow. Boy Wonder and I picked out a new turtle stepping stone from Smith & Hawken's a few weeks ago... I asked him a few times if he wanted to name our new pet, but he's a very practicle 7yo, and giving a stone a name just isn't practicle... I'm hoping to find a hardy purple ground cover to plant between the beds. Suggestions anyone? The weather continues to break the 100's, so here's how the boys have been spending many afternoons...