I’ve got a bunch of different tomato, pepper, dill and pole bean seeds to give away and have been rushing to get them ready in their little packages.  There’s 10 seeds in each package.  Look at how cute they are:

I bought the plastic baggies from the dollar store and measured the inside pouch area to help me create the labels.  Last year, I printed labels on stickers and stuck them to the top of the baggie which was expensive and annoying to get straight on the baggie.  This year I decided to print on paper and cut them out to stick in the baggie.  Genius!  Here’s my Word document I’ve been frantically working on this evening:

I found the pictures on an image website and I downloaded two types of font: Hand of Sean and Harabara.  Looking at the printed papers, I think I should have skipped the Hand of Sean font however it’s too late now.  I also skipped the Notes field that I included in last year’s seed table giveaway – it’s too much to do in this little time I have.

Of course I didn’t have enough baggies and will have to stop by the store to pick some more up this evening.  I still have a bunch more seed packages to break down into 10-seed piles:

More from Seedy Saturday tomorrow from 10 AM – 3 PM at the Ron Kolbus Lakeside Centre in Ottawa!

Somewhere online I read that alyssum should be started indoors 8 – 12 weeks before the last frost and then I read that it was 4 – 6 weeks somewhere else.  I looked around and couldn’t find a definitive guide to start dates for flowers.  Looking on the back of the package didn’t really help either as some companies put more information than others.  Then I wondered if there were different rules for a short growing season like I have here in my Canadian garden.

Checking my myriad of gardening books (mostly on vegetables, unfortunately) I found my Seed Sowing and Saving book by Carole B. Turner.  I really recommend this book if you’re just getting started in learning how to sow and save your own seeds.  It covers over 100 vegetable, herb and flower seeds and really breaks down the special treatments some seeds need to germinate.  It gives you instructions on when/how to sow the seed indoors and outdoors, special considerations, hints for success and what to do to harvest and save seed.

It’s the best book I’ve got on how to start plants from seed, however, it doesn’t cover all types of plants.  Anybody got a more complete resource?

Last year I offered pre-orders on plants around late April, after I had already started all the seeds.  This year, I’m offering pre-pre-orders whereby I will sow seeds by request on top of what I would typically sow at the end of March.  I figure, this way, those who know what they want will get what they want instead of whatever I have left over.  Let me know if you’re interested!

(also, I think I’ll just call it “pre-order” from now on)

Last year’s growing season was quite hectic.  I went overboard on my tomato sales (800+ plants), I never got my order of sweet potatoes and ground hogs threatened the satellite garden.  I did, however, manage to plant about 70 cloves of garlic before the ground hardened, a goal I’ve been trying to hit for the past two years.  Yay!

I’ve been elbow-deep in seed catalogues and have already received a big envelope from Johnny’s Seeds.  Carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn salad and lettuce top the bill.  I’m also awaiting a package from Tatiana’s TOMATObase because I really, really need more tomato varieties.  My partner joked that there should be a show for seed hoarders.  In an unrelated moment, he also mentioned that store tomatoes are tasteless and he’s looking forward to the summer, which I take to be tacit approval for my seed hording.

Looking for a way to uncomplicate your seed starting dates?  I’ve got an automatic seed starting chart in Excel for anyone who’s interested.  Just plug in your first spring frost date and first fall frost date and all the start, transplant and harvest dates will be calculated out for you.  There’s even consecutive sowings so that you’ll be up to your ears in lettuce and beans all growing season.  For those technically advanced, you can even add your own vegetables that I didn’t include.  All dates are based on You Grow Girls’ Automatic Seed Starting chart and the charts at the back of the All New Square Foot Gardening book by Mel Bartholomew.  Let me know if you’re interested!

I’ve been trying to source a European corn salad variety that my dad remembers from Germany.  It’s a narrower, darker green leaf with an upright habit, about 4″ tall; taller than a broadleaf.  The only thing he remembers is that they served it in first class on Lufthansa in the 80s.  I know, right? Anyone with a lead on a cultivar will have my eternal thanks.  So far, I’m looking at Verte d’Etampes, Cavallo, Verte de Cambrai, Vit, Rodion, Medallion and Granon and will be passing the pictures by my dad for some, hopefully, positive identification.

Oh, and those precious garlic bulbs I planted?  They’re under seige by my dog Maui who thinks digging, tearing and shredding at the tarp and straw that covers them is super-awesome-fun!

[insert photo here if I could find my camera]

P.S. I’m getting excited about spring!

The day before I wanted to put them in the ground, I brought them upstairs:

Lots of growth on the eyes.  Next you have to cut them, ensuring that all pieces have at least one eye.  First, hold the potato in one hand and a sharp knife in the other.  Turn the potato around to see which is the best way to make your cut:

Using your knife, make a clean cut through the potato.  These ones are kind of small so I only really could make one cut – larger potatoes could take up to four or five cuts:

Lay out your pieces, cut side up, on a tray so that they can dry out before you plant them the next day:

Here’s all my potatoes cut up.  It didn’t take very long:

Next you have to prepare the beds.  My mom has got a great way to plant seed potatoes in the garden and I’ve been doing it the same way she showed me a few years ago.  First you need to mark the trench (1) where you want to put your potatoes.  Then dig a trench (2) about 3″ wide and 6″ deep.  Space your potatoes (3) depending on the final size of your potatoes – mine are all smaller so I spaced roughly every 4″ – 6″.  Back fill the soil (4) so that it covers the tops of the potatoes.  As the potatoes grow, keep back filling until you’ve reached the same height as the rest of the garden.  This way you don’t need to hill the soil.