SEEDS!

I've been thinking about seeds and looking at seed catalogues all winter long... obsessively. I flip through glossy pages and newsprint pages and the organic gardening encyclopedia and google. But how do I buy for a three acre garden? How do I know how much of each variety to plant? How do I pick varieties? Well.... I just sat down and did it one day.

I spent hours figuring the number of, oh say, onions that I'd like to put in each CSA box from when they were likely to be ready until the end of the season. And cabbages, and broccoli, and tomatoes, and potatoes, and garlic, and asparagus, and kale, and celery, and peppers, and tomatillos, and squash, and zucchini, and cucumber, and......

It took me a whole winter of thought, and then two full days to write up my order. An epic experience to say the least. As I made my order, I checked for seeds that I already had, then checked my list, then added the veggie to my giant wall calendar.... Plant onions first. :) I had the kitchen table fully extended. I had pages on the floor. I had the computer open. I had all my notes with advice from everyone I knew at the ready. When in doubt, pick the variety with the fewest days to maturity.

If you're me, you can't decide and end up getting everything. I have 12 varieties of tomatoes. I have 11 varieties of peppers. I have so many squash varieties. I have anything that comes in a crazy color. Purple is my favorite. I ended up with over 100 varieties on my Irish Eyes Seed order. And I had other orders as well for things that I couldn't find at Irish Eyes. I am, quite simply, young, enthusiastic, overly romantic, and cant' wait for my box of seeds.

And my gosh I wish I had a picture of the box when it arrived in the mail. It was only about a cubic foot (not including potatoes or asparagus or garlic of course). It seemed so small to contain all those seeds. I'm used to using the horse trailer to pick up pallets of wheat for our farm... But here was my fate. Like a little Pandora's Box. Thousands of seeds in individual packets.

I decided to start with Tomatoes.

It's early to plant... too early if you don't have a warm, light spot. I am lucky to have a passive four season greenhouse. A grand little strawbale structure that I built with my dear friend last winter. But you can also put your seeds in your heated garage or guest room or bathroom or kitchen... under plane old fluorescent shop lights that you can get for a couple bucks at the re-store. The lights should be cool and should hand about 2-4 inches above the seedlings. Also be sure to use seedling soil mix. Its very important that your seeds don't get diseased. Definitely worth buying the stuff.

I got together ten varieties of my tomatoes and went to town! wetting my soil, labeling each row, making a little dent in each square to receive the seed, covering and patting. I used warm water and set the flat on a heated dog mat. My dog looked displeased, but with the weather we've been having, I told the dog he'd be fine. I also put the flat in a clear plastic bag to create a sort of greenhouse effect.

Oh the joys of it! So fun to take a break from massive infrastructure projects to actually plant something!!!!!!!!!!