Author Topic: ....."Just sittin on that sack of seeds"..... (Read 1566 times)

longwinters · « **on:** January 26, 2012, 03:26:03 PM »

Well not really. But I did get my 1st order from Gurneys. Only little over 2 months before I can start my seeds and 4 months until I can actually plant. There is once again light at the end of the tunnel.

Long

keith44 · « **Reply #1 on:** January 26, 2012, 04:25:55 PM »

I have a "sack full" of saved and left over seeds that I am anxious to get growing. Need to buy some new seed stocks this year, so it all goes in the ground this time

bilmac · « **Reply #2 on:** January 26, 2012, 05:03:24 PM »

I remember when I was a kid and I started getting excited about hunting season or fish'n weeks before time to go. Now I'm an old guy, and I've already bought garden seeds and it's just January.

jvs · « **Reply #3 on:** January 26, 2012, 09:22:25 PM »

A - N - T - I - C - I - P - A - T - I - O - N, ANTICIPATION,

Is Making Me Wait.

keith44 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 27, 2012, 07:06:18 AM »

Quote from: jvs on January 26, 2012, 09:22:25 PM

A - N - T - I - C - I - P - A - T - I - O - N, ANTICIPATION,

Is Making Me Wait.

jvs · « **Reply #5 on:** January 27, 2012, 10:39:28 AM »

I hope you guys are happy now. I was shopping today in a Spillane's 5 & 10, and right inside the entrance they had a rack of seeds. One side Vegetables and the other side Flowers.

I bought a packet of Spinach, a packet of Bunching Onions and a packet of Snow Peas.

Now just what am I going to do with them for 2 months ? ? ? ?

THANKS ALOT !

bilmac · « **Reply #6 on:** January 27, 2012, 12:03:32 PM »

I bet you could grow some spinach in a flower pot in a south window.

jvs · « **Reply #7 on:** January 27, 2012, 12:36:07 PM »

My main south window is currently being used by that Lime tree, which believe it or not is doing quite well. It bloomed and has small Limes on it. Hopefully the limes will get big enough to use.

As soon as I got home from shopping the wheels started turning with the thought of some 2x4's, plywood and old plexiglass and glass windows I have in the garage.

I may just build a nice cold frame for some early planting, since I already have the seeds and enough time and energy to make it happen.

keith44 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 27, 2012, 02:02:51 PM »

see there, you did know what to do with those seeds.

Good luck with your lime tree, we looked at them but decided to pass for now. Do you move it outside in the summer? Or keep it in year round? We have a banana tree we move in and out. It does better inside, than it does out.

jvs · « **Reply #9 on:** January 27, 2012, 02:17:47 PM »

I will be moving it outdoors come late spring.

After doing some reading about the Persian Lime, I learned they can take it down to 40 F, so that shouldn't be much of a problem outside until frost hits. Then back inside for the winter.

reliquary · « **Reply #10 on:** January 27, 2012, 02:41:33 PM »

I just sent my order in to Willhite. And have started sorting through my seeds from past years, moving stuff around in the sunroom so I can get a flat of seeds in, and got my seedstarter trays laid out in the garage.

I get to put out snow peas in a couple of weeks and English Peas a week or so later. Love that Lower Zone 8.

powderman · « **Reply #11 on:** January 27, 2012, 03:45:13 PM »

I don't have the bug as bad as some of you YET, so I need to quit reading here before I do. POWDERMAN.

bilmac · « **Reply #12 on:** January 28, 2012, 05:08:44 AM »

I'm trying to go heirloom seeds as much as I can. Trouble is I've just moved to a new area and I have that plus learning about heirlooms. I have a whole lot to learn and not a lifetime of summers to do it, so I've started more record keeping than I have ever done in my life.

This week I started a 3 ring binder so I can keep copies of the seed jacket and other info I can find about the varieties I'm trying out. I'll keep notes about how the stuff grew and whether I liked it or not. Probably not a worthwhile project for my own use, but it could maybe prove useful to my kids or grandkids.

keith44 · « **Reply #13 on:** January 28, 2012, 06:44:43 AM »

not trying to promote anyone here but one site, a seed company that specializes in heirloom and open pollinated seeds is http://www.victoryseeds.com/. Click on the information tab on their website. I think it will at least start you in the right direction.

A couple things to keep in mind about the Heirloom and open pollinated varities when compared to todays hybrid varaties. First is the heirlooms usually take longer to bear their fruit, and produce small quantities spread through out the entire growing season. Open pollinated corn must be kept away from other corn types to prevent cross pollination (if you are wanting to save seed). Some hybrids are "designed" for market gardeners, and produce a more uniform fruit, that bears all at once, or produces a greater quantity in a shorter time frame.

Larger corporations are trying to patent new hybrids, and are designing them to not produce viable seed.

bilmac · « **Reply #14 on:** January 28, 2012, 10:57:33 AM »

I've been at it 3 years now, so I got most of that figgured out. What I'm finding out now is that I better start writing stuff down. I'm forgetting some of the varieties that I planted year 1. I am now using seed that I grew a couple years ago and I forget exactly what it was. What stuff I liked and others that wasn't so good.

longwinters · « **Reply #15 on:** January 28, 2012, 11:28:06 AM »

I did some record keeping like that some years back, although not with heirlooms. It helped quite a bit until I "got my feet under me" so to speak and is a good idea.

Long

keith44 · « **Reply #16 on:** January 28, 2012, 11:50:19 AM »

Oh, sorry. I use paper "lunch bags" to sort my seeds into, and can write on the bags, the year harvested, the variety, and I also document which garden bed it was grown in. I have a traditional garden area, flat and tilled, and laid out for "row cropping". Then I have three (soon to be six) terraced semi raised beds that are arranged on a hillside. So I need to track what I grow, as well as where.

srussell · « **Reply #17 on:** January 29, 2012, 07:22:18 PM »

ill start my cabbage and such middle oh feb.

bilmac · « **Reply #18 on:** January 30, 2012, 03:57:44 AM »

What happened to me was I planted some snap peas on year one, I didn't keep the envelope they came in. Then the next year I planted another variety. The ones I had planted the year before came up volunteer and so I was able to taste test the two varieties side by side. The volunteer peas were clearly better. I saved the seed from them, but now I'm not sure what their name is in case I want to buy more seed.

One of the things I am doing for record is copy all seed envelopes. I cut them down to original size and glued them onto a 3 ring binder page which will be the start of the record I keep for the variety. I also keep notes on the envelopes I store seeds in. Oh the trouble you have to go to when you start getting old man memory.

jvs · « **Reply #19 on:** January 30, 2012, 06:16:20 AM »

I bet your old man memory isn't that bad when it comes to money though.

I know mine isn't.

Sharp as a razor...

reliquary · « **Reply #20 on:** January 30, 2012, 07:16:06 AM »

I save seed packets and write on them with a Sharpie. The seed that I save, and the packet it came from, go into a Ziplock or lunchsize brownbag, which I also write on. Old-man-memory is alive and well on my place.

Went out today and tilled up the edges of my garden plot. I go out a couple of tillerwidths every year. That's where I dump the debris from the rakings and mowings, and then in the fall I'll till it under, and then plant a few things there as experiments. I also sow flower seed in the outer part.

The white Durch clover I sowed in the fall on my garden plot is up and about 3" tall. It has kept most of the weeds from sprouting so far; had to do a little hoeing but not nearly as much as usual.

I have an early peach in full bloom...Junegold...waaaaay too early. Even for Lower 8.

bilmac · « **Reply #21 on:** January 30, 2012, 12:37:53 PM »

Wish we had a long enough season to put in a manure crop. I grew some peas as a main crop, and when I went to till the garden next year you could tell where they had been planted, the tiller sank another couple inches in the ground.

chefjeff · « **Reply #22 on:** January 30, 2012, 02:04:36 PM »

hey,I know where the subject line comes from...got a little chuckle there...

longwinters · « **Reply #23 on:** January 31, 2012, 08:38:01 AM »

There were a few who caught it.....sign of age. JVS added one of his own.....

Considering it was 1 degree yesterday morning at my place the best I can do is order my seeds and draw out my raised beds with what will be planted where as I "rotate my crops".

Long

keith44 · « **Reply #24 on:** January 31, 2012, 03:37:34 PM »

Hey we're not that old yet, are we??

longwinters · « **Reply #25 on:** February 01, 2012, 03:58:28 AM »

Almost 55

keith44 · « **Reply #26 on:** February 01, 2012, 05:52:43 AM »

well I am perfectly centered between 40 and 50, and I remember the song.

keith44 · « **Reply #27 on:** February 13, 2012, 09:18:41 PM »

awaiting the delivery of a seed order from victory seed company,
http://www.victoryseeds.com/

I am transitioning to all heirloom seeds / plants starting this year. The threat from seed companies patenting these genetically modified seeds has scared me off everything but Heirlooms and a few F1 Hybrids (hand pollinated crosses).

call me paranoid, but if corporations control all seed supplies, and corporations are traded on the world financial market, that makes our food supply venerable to foreign influence. Check the price of gas if you think my paranoia is too far fetched.

jvs · « **Reply #28 on:** February 14, 2012, 05:36:18 AM »

The last few years I have been shying away from Heirloom Tomato's because they do not have a good record in my area when it comes to Blight. I have to use the genetically engineered types or I dont get anything. I wasted enough money on Heirloom Tomato's in the past.

They are less expensive but the dont produce around here and are more prone to disease.

keith44 · « **Reply #29 on:** February 14, 2012, 08:04:35 AM »

the tomatoes will mostly be F1 hybrids (hand pollinated crosses) early girl and celebrity are among the types I will look at.