peas planted!

▼

Thursday, January 02, 2014

sorting seeds

seed packs 2 There's a blizzard outside today - a good day to sort seeds.

I got out my seed basket, sorted the packets by type, and then selected the ones I want to plant this year. I've accumulated so many seeds that I really don't need to buy any this year. I'll get some new carrot, beet and summer squash seeds. Also some broccoli and zinnias. But mostly I'll try to use up the old seeds and not buy more - easier said than done....

I'm thinking I'll plant a section of garden for the chickens to forage in and direct sow my old greens seeds at 2 week intervals. (I read about doing this in the Territorial catalog last night.) I must have 50 packets of lettuce, escarole, etc seeds.

I checked the seed planting calendar at the link on my sidebar then sorted out the seeds that get planted at the same time. I wrapped these together in a rubberband labeled with the date for planting. Im almost ready to go! In the middle of February, I'll start planting (11 weeks before my last frost) - the onions and celeriac go in first. I have a month to get my seed shelf and lights set up.
at

10 comments:

  1. the striped roseJanuary 02, 2014 3:41 PM

    I have plenty of seeds too, but my head is turned by all these seed catalogues that keep arriving! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 02, 2014 8:08 PM

    I have a ton of seeds but somehow going to The Seed Bank in Petaluma is tempting. Also, the seed catalogues with all those pretty pictures usually make me break my best intentions. I haven't checked my last frost date so I will have to do that. Thankfully I have the greenhouse for hardening off this year.

    ReplyDelete
  3. CalchasJanuary 03, 2014 2:06 PM

    Not buy more - easier said than done. Yes—one of the great joys of growing a garden is poring over the seed catalogs. There’s always something new to try. And today there are the traditional paper catalogs and the voluminous online catalogs—enough choice to drive anyone crazy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. kathyJanuary 03, 2014 5:04 PM

    Well, I ordered about a dozen seed packets. I'll see if I can stop there for the season. Right... Its not only the catalogs and online sites, but the garden store displays, and even the grocery store has seed racks - they're just so hard to pass by.

    ReplyDelete
  5. CalchasJanuary 03, 2014 6:02 PM

    Those fancy displays--with all the flashy, color-saturated (bordering on meretricious) packaging. I know. I need treatment too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Marian (LondonUK)January 04, 2014 1:43 PM

    Ha Ha! Yes it is so tempting to slip a couple of packets of seed into your supermarket trolley, a bit like chocolate!

    Marian (LondonUK)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Joene at joene's gardenJanuary 05, 2014 1:08 PM

    Kathy, I just found your blog and love it. Thanks for sharing some great info. I've already used your spring and fall planting calendar links and plan to suggest them in a future post on my blog, www.joenesgarden.com. Keep up the great work!

    ReplyDelete
  8. UnknownJanuary 08, 2014 12:19 PM

    So it is okay to use last years seeds? This is going to be my second year with my vegetable garden and I thought I had to buy the seeds all over again.

    ReplyDelete
  9. kathyJanuary 09, 2014 11:14 PM

    Yes, yes, yes! You have to use your old seeds. I'd go broke if I didn't. I love to save up lots of varieties of seeds.

    Tomato, pepper, eggplant, bean, beet, broccoli, etc seeds save 5 or more years - as long as you don't leave them out in the rain like I did with a few of my seed packets last year.

    Ones that don't keep so well are the carrot family. Carrots, and parsnips. And the onions. I make sure to have some fresh carrot and onion seed every year and I plant any old seed knowing that it might not sprout.

    You can also save your own seeds. I save bean, sunflower, tomato, and pepper seeds.

    ReplyDelete
  10. UnknownJanuary 10, 2014 9:37 PM

    I am glad I saved my seeds from last year!!! Thank you for clarifying!

    ReplyDelete