My seed collection before the order came (well there was SOME order... this IS me we're talking about but I had used Post-It notes in the past and they always got curled and lost were always sticking to at least one seed packet that I wanted to use which became a pain):
It took up three containers and many seeds were still in the same little bags I had taken outside with me last summer and fall to plant out in the garden and since there wasn't a great system in place to put them back... well, I just didn't put them back.
Sometime in February when I was in full-on decluttering/organizing mode I went to work on my garden seed collection. I made little index card dividers with the planting time on it (like 8 weeks before frost, 3-4 weeks before frost... with frost being last spring frost), also wrote where it went on the front of each seed packet with a black Sharpie (to make it very easy to put it back in the right place as opposed to having to read through the descriptions on the back of the packet to see where it should go), and put everything behind the correct tab. This task that took less than 20 minutes to do and has proved invaluable as I've shifted into gear into this season's seed starting. I'm not doing as much as last year in another effort to simplify and maintain balance and I think this will mean having less seedlings at planting to time to give away or throw out. I always feel horrible throwing out the extras that no one has claimed. It seems cruel after raising them from tiny seeds. And wasteful. But I don't have unlimited growing space so this year I'm start less (and weed out varieties, excuse the pun, that we don't LOVE) to better suit our needs.
Here is the newly organized seed collection. It was a mess before. I've thought about putting it into page dividers so that the packets can be better seen but for now this is working for me and didn't require me to buy anything as I had some index cards in my closet that I turned on it's side and put to good use.
About 4 weeks ago we started our seed starting which means (since we didn't start sooner) we are not growing eggplant. Okay by me because I never like it or buy it. I have a feeling this might change this summer but if it does and I end up liking it then I'll just know to grow it next year.
So what are some things that went into our first planting of the season? I planted peppers, a whole variety of tomatoes, basils, and herbs indoors.
I planted peas, kale, chard, spinach, radishes, watercress, arugula, mache, and others outside.
Jessi helped me one morning before school also. She loves helping out and looks forward to this getting-read-for-spring ritual.
Here's the complete list so far:
4/11/11 - planted outside
- Teton spinach
- Epazote
- Watercress
- Mâché
- Cilantro
- Oregon sugar pod II (no more seeds left)
- Baby choi
3/27/11 - planted outside
- Caselode peas around tomato cages to enrich soil
- Alaska peas
- English breakfast radishes
- Easter egg radishes
- Kale
- Bright lights chard
- Emu spinach
- Arugula
3/25/11 - Started seeds indoors
- Siam Queen Basil
- Purple Ruffles Basil
- Genovese Basil
- Cherokee Purple Tomato
- Sun Gold Tomato
- Super Sweet 100 Tomato
- San Marzano Tomato
- Brandywine Tomato
- Yellow Pear Tomato (Jessi likes these and asked me to plant at least one plant for her)
- El Jefe Jalapeño (last year I grew Hungarian Wax tomatoes and had tons but didn't love them. We use lots of jalapenos in our weekly salsa so we're making an effort to grow these instead)
- Lovage
- Winter Savory
- Chervil
- Tangerine Gem Marigold (edible flower)
- Red Gem Marigold (edible flower)
- Cracker Jack Marigold
- Parsley
- North Pole Lettuce (didn't grow, not surprising as these were last year's seeds and in my experience lettuce doesn't usually last from year to year like most other seeds)
- Red Russian Micro Mix
