I placed my first seed order before Christmas! (Already had the credit card out, online shopping, and I must have seen something shiny and got distracted!)
I have yet to find a box of seeds- misplaced as things went out to the garden last year. I'm sure I asked a child to take it down to the cold room, but no one remembers doing it- and thus I haven't even attempted to do any stock checking. That's ok though, more seed is always better than less!
I placed my first order from Ontario Seed Company (OSC Seeds) again. While they haven't taken the safe seed pledge (or at least I haven't seen it on their website), they do offer a wide range of heritage and open pollinated seed, at very reasonable prices. They also sell larger packets of seed by weight, so I know exactly what to expect, rather than opening a packet to find only 5 or 6 tiny seeds inside.
Beets- Bulls Blood- Heirloom- 60 days
Broccoli- Green Sprouting Italian- Open Pollinated- an old Italian variety that matures early. Produces heavy
crops of large, solid, central heads with numerous medium size lateral
heads produced later in the season- 70 days
Brussels Sprouts- Long Island Improved- OP- 90 days
Cabbage- Copenhagen Market- OP- 68 days- I grew the same variety last year and it did fairly well.
Cauliflower- Early Snowball- H- 65 days- I only intend to plant a few cauliflower as a treat for #2 and Husband. However, if the green worms return, it'll be the last time for cauliflower in my garden.
Celeriac- Giant Prague- H- Perennial- 110 days- New for me.
Cucumber- Straight Eight- H- 52 days- This is the variety my Dad always grows, and he had a hard time finding them last year. The Marketmores I grew last year never caught up to his Straight Eights, planted weeks later, and I found the texture a bit rubbery.
Kale- Red Russian- H- 50 days
Kohlrabi- Purple Vienna- H- 60 days
Mangel- Giant Red- H- 90 days- these did very well for me last year, and the turkeys loved them. They'll be a part of the garden until I can clear a couple of acres to grow them as a crop for livestock feed.
Onion- Early Yellow Globe- OP- 98 days
- Southport White Globe- H- 98 days
Peas- Alaska- H- 55 days- I added these to the mix last year as well. I save pea seed, so I end up with a cross breed mix.
Peppers- Hungarian Yellow Sweet- H- 72 days- These are amusing. My Dad grew sweet yellow banana peppers when I was a kid. I've grown a variety of yellow banana peppers over the years and they always end up hot. I've bought countless banana peppers in the grocery store- and they're always hot. Husband has told me countless times to stop buying banana peppers, lol. So when I stumbled upon these, I knew I had to try them.
- Sweet Cubanelle Ramshorn Pepper- ?- 65 days
- Sweet Pimento Heart Shaped- H- 78 days
Rutabaga (Swede)- Laurentian- H- 95 days
Spinach- Bloomsdale Long Standing- H- 47 days
Squash- Marina de Chioggia- H- 100 days- a bit long for our growing season, but they're said to keep 2 to 3 years, so I really wanted to try them.
Swiss Chard- Rhubarb Chard- OP- 60 days
Watermelon- Tendersweet Orange- 85 days
- Sugar Baby
Borage
Lovage
Sage- OP
Chamomile
Lavender- OP
I ignored the bean section, lol, which was the first thing I looked at at my second seed website, Heritage Harvest Seeds. It was an accident- I clicked the 'new for 2013' link and got suckered in. I haven't ordered yet, but this company definitely has my attention, particularly their bean, corn and squash varieties.
My priority this year though, is procuring non GMO sugar beet seed. So far the only seller I've found is Richter's, and I'm afraid to look through their catalogue. I spent quite a lot there last year, and haven't got my perennial bed established. There's so much more on my want list, and most of it isn't really food... Best to find a more veggie oriented source...
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteMe and my mom just ordered MORE seeds also. It's always nice to have more. We love Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds www.rareseeds.com . They test there seeds to make sure they are not GMO contaminated.
I am also a pickled banana pepper lover. Last year I grew Italian Pepperoncini, but they are very soft. Not what I was looking for. So this year I ordered Hungarian Hot Wax pepper. Hopefully they will be nice and crisp.
I didn't see any tomatoes on your list. If your a tomato lover you might want to try www.wintersown.org I just got FREE heirloom tomato seeds from them. They said each packet contained at least 6 seeds, but each packet they sent me had approx. 15 seeds.
Can you tell that when I see the word SEED I start jabbering away. Hehe
Kimberly-The heirloom seed addict
Jabber away!, lol. Thanks, Kimberly. I'm looking through their online catalogue now. They do ship to Canada, so it's tempting...
DeleteI'm kind of working on developing my own strain of tomato. In 2011 I grew a variety of heritage tomatoes and saved seed from the best of them. In 2012 I added a couple more varieties, although I was quite pleased with how the 2011 seed grew. Most were like very plump romas. This year I don't want to add anything new, and save seed only from the best tasting, quickest growing, most cold hardy of the bunch.
Beans, corn squash--have you grown three sisters?
ReplyDeleteThis area grew pimientos for King Pharr. I tried to grow pimiento because I spend a small fortune on tiny jars of pimiento, but had no luck. Have you grown pimiento before? Any luck if you did grow them? Got a secret?
I've done the three sisters a few ways. Planting them beside each other in the 'square foot greenhouse' last year worked best for me. I mostly grow bush beans, but I did try some pole beans in the popcorn last year. The popcorn quickly drowned them out. Squash hasn't done well in the open garden, due to our short growing season.
DeleteHeritage Harvest Seeds, in Manitoba, has a similar climate and growing season to me, and many of their veggies are early varieties for short growing seasons.
First time growing pimentos for me, and I've only ever eaten them stuffed inside of olives. They interest me as a small sweet pepper.I tend to be lucky if I get two half sized bell peppers off of a plant, but always have more jalapenos than I can possibly use. I'm specifically looking for small sweet peppers that might do well in a short season.
The only pepper growing secret I have is- forget to water them from time to time. Peppers like it dry.