SEED ORDERING TIME!!!!!

Squash from Straw Bale Garden 2011

(Abundant Life Seeds)

So this year I was fairly sure that I would be going with Abundant Life Seeds again after the great performance of their product last year. That is, of course, after I decided to go the seed route again at all. I had initially made up my mind – or so I thought – to go strictly with seedlings bought from local nurseries, both to make life easier and to ensure a healthy start to Straw Bale Garden 2012. Then the seed catalogs arrived en masse in my mailbox in early January and such thoughts were quickly put aside. Such vibrant bounty of vegetable loveliness jumping off the pages… I was hooked again!

I was slightly taken aback by the arrival of two new catalogs that I have no recollection of contacting or soliciting before. It is scary how personal information makes its way around to people you don’t even know exist, you know? If I had dealt with any of the seed companies electronically last year it would be one thing, but all dealings were done via snail-mail and yet, here were two new additions begging for my business unsolicited. Needless to say, these companies will not be getting any publicity in this space.

The other two catalogs were again Abundant Life Seeds and Burpee. I put Burpee aside and immediately began planning what I would order from Abundant Life… but it was boring. While last year everything was new to me, this year’s catalog didn’t have much different to excite my senses. I didn’t want to redo what had already been done, I knew that much. I can vouch for Abundant Life Seeds: their seeds are fantastic. Their variety is lacking though, as can only be expected from the “little guys” of the seed world.

So I found myself being more and more drawn into the bright, flashy catalog from Burpee, and what I found was that there was a lot more there then I remembered seeing available on the Burpee display at Home Depot. The variety was almost endless. Oh, and they offered perks like free organic fertilizer for orders over $30 and FREE SHIPPING! (Yay!) for orders over $50. I knew from last year that my order would easily exceed these marks, so… Burpee won me over. Is this the dark side? I guess we’ll find out.

Can't be pure evil, can they?

Leaving the details of each variety for a future post, here is the basic plan for growing from seeds this year:

· Lots of Arugula – Fell in love with this stuff from last year’s Mesclun Blend

· Salad Mix – Not the same Mesclun Blend, but something similar

· Mustard Tendergreens – Late season, something not addressed last year as the “greens” bales went to seed

· Green Beans and Wax Beans – Did I mention this year’s garden is going to be bigger? Twice as big + actually!

· Cherry Tomatoes – 2 different varieties, 1 yellow, 1 red

· Microgreens – Sounds cool, huh? Much more on this later.

· Cucumbers – Some to grow over the fence, in the old compost from 2011; Some “Spacemaster” to try from a fresh bale

· Broccoli Raab – Really loved this stuff when we were members of a CSA 2 years ago

· Spinach – My loving wife Andrea insisted (and I love it too of course)

· Edamame – See “Spinach”

· Sugar Snap Peas – Last year’s were an afterthought, put in a planter that was too small and disappointed. The few that we got though were heaven!

· Sweet Peppers – Mislabeled seedlings from Home Depot last year were the biggest disappointment of the garden. Going to do it right and start my own this time!

· Patty Pan Squash – Another request from Andrea, these will also go into the compost from 2011.

Flesh the above out with Musque de Provence pumpkin squash seeds harvested from last year and several tomato seedlings from the nursery (both to go in the 2011 compost) and there you have it! Tune in later for more details and eventually a schematic of the final garden plan.