December Dreaming

[Beekissed]

Great thread...and a great list!

I find myself dreaming of the garden as well. Last year's had me so discouraged that I wasn't looking forward to this next season at all...then I switched to hay instead of chips and suddenly I've got a little tingle of excitement starting about the garden once again.

Today I placed bales of hay in the garden to form a small raised bed...just three bales long, one bale wide. I wanted to get it set up so I could start filling it with things that can start rotting downward. It has a floor of hay right now that I'll likely scuff up a little so the ground is showing in places, then will put some bark and wood scraps left over from the wood getting and also some wood chips. Then a layer of hay, a layer of leaves, a layer of hay, a layer of chicken compost and so on and so forth until I get it as full as I can get it.

Come spring I'll plant some spuds in the middle, a squash or two on one end and carrots everywhere else.

My list doesn't vary much nowadays....

Romaine lettuce
Pak Choy
carrots
broccoli
napa cabbage
Beets(just for harvesting the tops)
Sweet onions
Tomatoes
Red Pontiac spuds
Sugar Snap peas
Green peppers
Hot banana peppers
rhubarb
flowers
cukes
Half runner and Fortex beans
squash
pumpkins
sunflowers
zinnias

Already in the garden....

Rhubarb
A few asparagus(been there a couple of years but has never produced anything)
strawberries
chives
garlic
lemon thyme
lemon balm
Russian Sage
honeysuckle~pink and white
raspberries
Black eyed Susans

 

[baymule]

Treerooted, a part time job shouldn't cut into your gardening time, but it WILL give you more money to spend on seed!! LOL

www.rareseeds.com they export seeds........

 

[Chic Rustler]

Order details
Product Total
National Pickling Cucumber × 1 $0.99
White Wonder Cucumber × 1 $0.99
Assorted Beet Mix × 1 $0.99
Blue Lake Pole Bean × 2 $1.98
Purple Beauty Pepper × 1 $0.99
Jalapeno Early (Hot) - Pepper × 1 $0.99
White Sweet Spanish - Onion × 1 $0.99
Texas Early Grano 502 Onion × 1 $0.99
Little Gem Butterhead Lettuce × 1 $0.99
Bibb Butterhead Lettuce × 1 $0.99
Rainbow Mix Carrot × 1 $0.99
Sugar Snap pea × 1 $0.99
Yolo Wonder Sweet Pepper × 1 $0.99
Golden Cal Wonder Pepper × 1 $0.99
Sunbright (Sweet) Pepper × 1 $0.99
Slow Bolt - Cilantro × 1 $0.99
Bouquet Dill × 1 $0.99
Waltham Butternut - Squash × 1 $0.99
Italian Oregano × 1 $0.99
Italian Large Leaf - Basil × 1 $0.99
English (Common) Thyme *Perennial* *organic* × 1 $0.99
Subtotal: $21.78
Discount: -$1.99
Shipping: $3.75 via USPS
Payment method: Credit Card
Total: $23.54



I just ordered a load more seeds. Good deal too

 

[treerooted]

Lol @baymule , yes you are an enabler

But ya, having a bit of extra money could go a long way around here, it can be a bit tough raising a family on one (mechanics) income these days. But, we're fine if I don't get a job, though I would love to spend a bit more on repairs around this place and be able to put something into the chickens and garden.

And other then local growers, I think I'll try William Dam Seeds this year.

 

[baymule]

Even if you part the weeds to pick something to eat, it is still a victory.

I ordered Maestro peas too. I've grown them before and they are good!

 

[tortoise]

I woke up to Baker Creek shipping notification in my email.

I need to mark my calendar for getting ordering bareroot trees, I think it's in January. There's a program through our county soils and forestry department. They offer certain varieties of trees and shrubs for sale at ridiculously low prices. They're usually native species. In bundles of 25. I decided not to do it last year because I was especially unhealthy and DH had enough obligations and extra burdens without digging a hundred holes to plant trees.

In previous years, we have gotten hazelnut, high bush cranberry, and nannyberry tress/shrubs through the program. We got a single hazelnut off one of out baby hazelnut trees this year! I am always excited to see the year's list of available species. It's always different.

 

[Chic Rustler]

just got my seed order from Migardener! 22 packs of seeds for $24 shipped. Hope They do well. I'm gonna try sprouting most things in the biodegradable seed pots and then transplanting. They say it even works with root crops.

I ordered way more stuff than last year. I'm going to try this biointensive gardening to maximize usable space. They say it even cuts down on weeds because it keeps the soil shaded. We will see.


Finally getting some rain! The woodchip garden needs it bad. Stuff is never gonna break down without water

 

[tortoise]

I second baymule's experience with biodegradable pots. I also had trouble with them splitting and leaking soil - killing my seedlings. This year I'm trying jiffy pellets, but I'll peel the "biodegradable plastic" off before setting in the garden. the world doesn't need any more microplastic.

 

[Mini Horses]

I have a LOT of seed for veg & flowers. While some are a year or two old & germination may be lessened, they are here & paid for so they will be used for plant starts. Going thru what I have and made a list of a FEW things I'd like to grow & have no seed. Truly, they are things I want only a few of but will be my "try it" for this year Pimento, paprika & jalapeno peppers. May be able to just buy a couple plants.

Would like to try smoking paprika to powder and use in seasoning. Jalapeno for that & chipotle use. Pimento because. LOL

While off this week it is colder than our norm but, ok. I see the few weeds that poked up after my last till in a small garden area are dead from heavy frost. Will get them gone. Other things have died down so I can SEE where I need to work the soils. Plan to add some aged barn bedding to the slightly raised beds, collect cardboard for weeds, etc.(not all this week, just soon). Clover seed ready to plant as cover between veg rows. Hope to have this smaller area ready for my "kitchen garden" early Spring. Another spot is being eyeballed for my attempt to grow some "animal feed".....turnips, pumpkins, mangel beets, etc., soon & late summer. Couple pastures will get a winter "rough up" then some seeds for pasture mix grass, Australian peas, vetch, clovers, chicory, etc., will be broadcast. I buy discount bags of "wildlife food plots" to help with cost & variety.

At my farm, I need to plan to feed self and livestock.

Could I order "Spring weather soon" anywhere????

 

[Beekissed]

For the longest time I only bought started plants. Then I decided I'd like to try and save money by saving seed to grow my own...when you put in as much tomatoes as we do, it can get costy if you buy started plants here.

Then I also had to have plants that were not hybrids if I wanted to plant true and one cannot always find heirloom types when they get bedded plants...depends on how early to try to get them or if they even have those kinds available. I grew tired of the iffiness of it all, so decided to start planting my own from seed.

That's been a rocky road and I'm still learning how to do that successfully, but I really love the idea of taking something from a tiny seed, nurturing it into a large plant that reproduces a million more seeds...not to mention all that food per tiny seed. When I buy seed now, I try to get heirloom seeds so I can reliably reproduce the same good traits of the plants I choose.

That's one reason I moved towards hatching my own flock replacements too....very costly to order from the hatchery, you get an unknown quality or strain, so you have no idea if they can reproduce their own kind or even if you WANT to reproduce that kind until you see how they perform over many years.

It became a logical direction to move to selectively breeding my flock for the traits I wanted, hatch my own breed stock, etc. And so very cheap to do it too! Cuts out the middle man, costs me nothing and I can almost insure the same quality of the parent stock...so far I've been able to keep and improve upon their positive traits.

I hope to do the same with the seeds I save from whatever plants I choose. Save the best seed from the best plants and the best fruits of that plant.