The garden beds are calling, even when covered in snow.
You know, from our long relationship here on the blog, that I will be complaining about the heat and weeds and bugs but I love my garden and am anxious to get started.
I save seeds from the previous year’s crops but almost every year, I will add new varieties. I’m also going to have more garden space since I’m adding some mineral tubs from my friend who has cows. I’ll probably use less grow bags simply because we’ve had such dry summers lately and they require so much water and time to do the watering.
Yesterday I ordered more seeds from Rare Seeds. Pepper seeds take forever to start and get going and I like to start the tomatoes early so I can get them as big and strong as possible before setting them out.
Here are the seeds I ordered:
Amish Paste Tomato – These are my favorite for canning sauces – tomato sauce, pizza sauce, piquante sauce and salsa.
Jalapeno – Pumpkin Spice – A new variety for me but I cannot grow enough jalapeno peppers.
Sunrise Bumble Bee Tomato – A new variety for me.
Paul Robeson Tomato – I’ve never grown this one but it’s supposed to be a good slicing/eating tomato.
Mortgage Lifter Tomato – Another new one for me. It’s a Beefsteak type tomato and supposed to have a great flavor.
Green Giant Tomato – Who doesn’t need a green tomato?
Cherokee Purple Tomato – I have a love/hate relationship with this one. It seems that one year it will grow so well and I think it’s all I will grow from now on and the next year, it does nothing. I’ll probably always have at least a one Cherokee Purple tomato growing but this past year, I didn’t get a single one so I probably need to start with new seeds.
Black Spanish Radish – I’ve never grown these but I think they will look good in a salad.
Purple Lady Bok Choy – We eat a lot of Bok Choy in stir fries and I’ve never tried this variety
Merveille Lettuce – Another one I’ve never grown. Once it gets too hot to grow lettuce outside, I’l move it inside under the grow lights and it will work just fine so I order several types of lettuce.
Arugula – I don’t try to save the seeds. We eat it as fast as it gets ready to eat and I’ll go through several packs of seeds each season.
Little Gem Lettuce – I’ve never grown this. Hoping it’s like little bitty heads of Romaine.
Rattlesnake Pole Beans – I’ve grown these before and we love them.
Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans – I grew these in Texas. Haven’t tried them here.
Kohlrabi – We love this and buy a good bit of it at the Farmers’ Market here. I’m hoping with the tubs, I’ll be able to grow enough to have without buying any.
White Zucchini – I’ll do the same thing with this that I did this past year – plant it late and hope to be able to move some into the greenhouse in the tubs as frosty nights start. We have a terrible problem here with squash bugs and they’re supposedly mostly gone by later in the season.
Dragon Tongue Bush Beans – I wish these were pole but they’re bush beans. We grew them in Texas and I like them enough to deal with picking bush beans.
Hopefully all of us who plant gardens will have a great garden this year.
What are your thoughts?