Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Starting seeds


It's that time of year again! I have nearly 150 seeds in trays in my laundry room. Many of them have come up already! Lots of good things in the works for the garden so far.
For salads...
Arugula, Broccoli Raab, English Sorrell, Lacinato Kale, Mixed lettuce, Nasturtiums, Five Color Silverbeet
The tomatoes...
Gold medal and Brandywine(both slicing tomatoes), Roman Candle, Speckled Roman, Green Sausage( for sauce/salsa) Jaune Flamme(drying) and both Red and Yellow Pear. The green sausage were outstanding last year-my all time favorite for sauce. No core to speak of-just great tomatoes. They don't even need staking, and they were positively loaded with tomatoes. If you're looking for a new variety-that's my recommendation!
Regular ol' vegetables...
Cauliflower-mixed colors, Lemon Cucmbers, Golden Zucchini, Cocozelle squash, Fish Peppers, Pretty in Purple Peppers(those two are hot)and Buran, and Golden Treasure(both sweet). I even went ahead and sprouted some of my Cherokee Trail of Tears beans, because I just couldn't resist. I know pole beans grow fast(they did great last year!) and it's just as well to direct sow later on...I had a weak moment, I guess. It continued until I had started my Spaghetti Squash, the Amish Pie Pumpkins, and a couple of Marina di Chiogga Squash. I did hold off on the okra and eggplant and the other beans. Whew!
Of course I have some Marigolds sprouting to scatter around the edges of the beds, and a dozen or so seeds from a "Mixed Cutting Garden" packet that I bought several years back. I keep all my seeds in the fridge so they last several seasons.