Last night in the deep deep dark of winter, I snuggled down and began to dream. Of lush green, of earthy scents, of warm sunshine. Garden dreaming. I dove deep into the depths of soil that is Seed Savers Exchange and ordered up some new seeds for the Estate Garden 2013.
One of the reasons I order seeds from them is to support their mission. I love saving seeds and so do they! They supply seeds that CAN be saved and thus, you don’t have to order them anew the next year. I have saved the seeds from some of last year’s successes (Turkey Craw beans for instance) and can just plant them anew this spring. However, you always need to try something new…and with a large selection of heirloom varieties, you can always find something a little different to try.
So in addition to 132 cloves of garlic (12 varieties, 6 new for this year) that were planted this fall, I give you some new selections for the upcoming year:
Bean: Cherokee Trail black bean, can eat it in the pod or shelled
Cucumber: Double Yield (organic) with my measly cucumber crops, hoping this will do the trick…
Kale: Dwarf Blue Curled (organic) I love kale so I want to try some…wish me luck and any advice here is appreciated!
Lettuce: Tennis Ball (organic) Perfect size for a single salad for lunch or dinner, picked fresh.
Pea: Sutton’s Harbinger Early and heavy-cropping? Yes, please!
Hot Pepper: Aurora (organic) Pretty, tiny, colorful and hot…just the right thing to grow in a pot!
Sweet Pepper: King of the North Red sweet pepper to grow in cool, short climates…I either hit gold here or really missed the mark, depending on how hot this summer is…
Shallot: Zebrune Since I have leeks and garlic running amok, why not add some savory shallots? First time trying to again, any advice is appreciated!
Tomato: Redfield Beauty (organic) 80 days, vigorous growing, will give it a shot.
Herb: English Lavender I have one lavender plant and it’s simply not enough. Will try to start some from seed again. Usually they don’t survive much past the transplant stage.
Flower: Bowles Black Black velvety pansy/violet. I ordered these last year too but they were out and so I did not get any. Hoping to see them in my delivery this year, fingers crossed! The picture here is also not the right photo; they look like THIS.
What varieties will you be trying new this year? Anything you go to year after year? Favorite places to find seeds? Does anyone out there trade seeds?
OK, off to draw up some garden plans and figure out a new indoor seedling growing station….
brown bird green string 