Aren't those pretty seed packets? The mailman delivered two orders of seeds to my house so far this week. These are the seeds from Pinetree Garden Seeds. I placed this seed order last Saturday evening while I was watching the Colts vs. Ravens football game. I can't "just watch" games like that. I have to be doing something else at the same time.And there in the upper right hand corner are some perennial seeds from Hardy Plants. I've got a lot to say about those (all good!) so I'll have to do a … [Read more...] about Here Come the Seeds
seeds
Can You Be A Gardener and Not Sow Seeds?
It started as a few questions on seeds and seed sowing, a few thoughts put out as a blog post as I prepared to end the holiday celebrations and return to work. It evolved into several longer than normal comments and many more posts from fellow seed-sowing, garden-blogging gardeners from all around.It showed that many gardeners enjoy sowing seeds! Yeah! It is not a dying aspect of gardening, in a society that wants, and expects, instant results. Many of us are willing to sow seeds and wait, to … [Read more...] about Can You Be A Gardener and Not Sow Seeds?
Year of the Pea
Peas. Little green jewels of the early summer garden. Fresh shelled peas. They bear no resemblance to canned or frozen peas. They are like an entirely differently vegetable. I don’t particularly care for frozen or canned peas. I can accept them in vegetable soup or maybe a casserole, but I wouldn’t just eat a forkful of them.Fresh peas are different, they actually taste pretty good. But you generally can’t walk into a grocery store and find fresh peas, still in the pod, ready to be shelled. You … [Read more...] about Year of the Pea
Seedy Tools
With any hobby, over time you acquire some tools that help make the tasks more enjoyable. A painter needs brushes, a knitter needs needles, and a seed sower needs a good set of seed sowing spoons. Do you have any seed spoons? I got these from Lee Valley Tool Supply. If you look closely, you will see little indentations of different sizes on the tips. These are good to use when you are sowing tiny speck-like seeds. The kind of seeds that when you put them in the palm of your hand you immediately … [Read more...] about Seedy Tools
On Sowing Seeds
A packet of seeds is a packet of possibilities. From a tiny radish seed, you can harvest a delicious radish in as few as 21 days. With one seed the size of a fingernail, you can grow an 8 foot tall plant with big, bright sunflowers in a season. And from that little flat seed the size of a large crumb, you can get the essence of summer itself, the home grown tomato.Don’t you just love it when you get all your seeds for the season? You spread the packets out on the kitchen table and look them … [Read more...] about On Sowing Seeds
On Buying Seeds
The first seed catalog usually lands in my mailbox in November, and a few more trickle in through December. Then right after Christmas, in that week before New Year’s Day, another little rush of seed catalogs replaces the annual Christmas cards and letters. That's how it all starts, my annual seed buying odyssey.I stack the catalogs up on a side table and then one evening (which will be soon), I’ll sit down and go through all of them. Some I read quickly, knowing I probably won’t order anything … [Read more...] about On Buying Seeds