Seeds For Christmas

Christmas came early to this gardener

Christmas came early in my mailbox this year along with proof of that old saying, "You can't win if you don't play".  Oh but this post is not about my winning, but to say thanks to my friend, author Renea Winchester for hosting the drawing for the gift certificate on her blog, "Bloggin' Billy's" and to let you all know about the company it's for, Botanical Interests high quality seeds.

I have been using their seeds for several years and have had great success with them.  They have signed the "Safe Seed Pledge"  so they sell non-GMO seeds which is important to so many of us and the future of our food.  And besides that, I love their commitment to teach and inspire and all the info they have included on the packets which are quite pretty too by the way.  They carry a nice variety of heirloom and organic seeds, some American native varieties and other products for gardeners as well.   So be sure to poke around the entire site, I bet you'll find something you can't live without...or at least cannot resist.

While you are at it check out Renea's blog too.  It is a wonderful and inspiring blog with lots of great information on gardening and more.  I'll just leave it at that as it's time I go spend that certificate before it burns a hole in my garden glove.

Happy Gardening!

Quick Gifts: DIY Seed Packets

DIY Seed Packet from scrapbook paper.

Do you need a quick inexpensive little gift idea for your gardening friends?  Here is a little seed packet that is super fast to make (under 5 minutes each), costs pennies and is easy enough for the kids to do too.

So many fun options for colors

You will need....

• 12" x 12" scrap book paper (printed on one side and not card stock)
• Scissors or paper cutter
• Straight edge (needed if you cut your paper with scissors)
• String, rustic twine, ribbon or raffia...sparkley, metallic, lacy, whatever...be creative! (narrow is better for the ribbon or lace)
• Craft glue...A small hand held roll-on adhesive dispenser worked best for this project, though you can use any good craft glue.  (Be careful not to over apply liquid glue or you risk glue seeping out from under the seams and having seeds getting stuck in it.)
• 1/4" dowel or round pen/pencil
• Waterproof marking pen (fine tip) in a coordinating color for writing the label.  Prisma Color, Copic or Sharpie markers all would work fine.
• Computer (optional if you want to create labels to stick on in a creative font)
• Coordinating paper for labels (Optional)

STEP 1 - Measure your sheet of paper first before you cut anything.  A lot of what are supposed to be 12" square sheets are a little bigger along one side (especially the less expensive sheets).  Trim off any excess now.

STEP 2 - Cut the paper into 6 - 2" wide strips...

2" x 4" paper pieces

STEP 3 - Cut these long strips into 3 - 4" long pieces (makes 18 - 2"x4" pieces).  These will become your seed packet tubes

STEP 4 - Next you want to label each piece of paper on the printed side. Do them all at the same time to save yourself time moving back and forth between steps. If you want to use a darker or really busy paper it may work best to add a label printed on complimentary colored paper or maybe try stamping and embossing the name in bright white so it is easy to read. 

Your computer can come in handy if you need make labels to add on later as it is often much faster creating a bunch of one kind of label in Word than it is writing a whole bunch of labels...and if you are like me and your handwriting isn't real beautiful...well you get the idea.

Seem glued tight and ready for #7

 STEP 5 - Roll each piece of paper around the dowel the long way.  This shapes the tube that will become the seed packet.  Again...do them all at once.

Step 6 - Add glue along one 4" edge on the plain side of the paper and carefully roll the paper back into a tube so the glue will not be exposed. The corners should meet the top and bottom edges of the tube...this will make the seam straight in the back.  Also note the tube you are creating will be larger than the diameter of the pencil/dowel that you used.

Glue and pinch tight

Once you have it lined up press it lightly to seal, insert the dowel/pencil back into the tube and placing the seam between the dowel and the work surface, roll the dowel back and forth applying pressure on the seam to make it stick down tight.  You will have a pile of tubes with both ends open at this point.

Glue and fold to finish sealing the end

STEP 7 - Put a spot of glue on the inside edge bottom (right) end of the tube and press down to seal.  Apply to the bottom 1/2 inch of the closed end and fold the end up on itself and press down firmly to seal. 

NOTE: You can use the adhesive applicator but I recommend 3 in 1 glue or Tacky glue for this.  Just don't over apply the liquid glue...it only takes a tiny bit.  Be sure this end is firmly sealed before moving to the next step!

Just a couple smidgens of seed will be enough of this lettuce

STEP 8 - Now you get to add the seeds.  It can either be seed you saved or purchased.  I save seeds from my garden every year to give to others and today I'm using the Bijou Lettuce seed...a favorite in our kitchen garden here at Tinkerer's Paradise.

I am putting in 2 smidgens of lettuce seed in each packet...yes I have measuring spoons for such things.  The set I have costs around $4.00 and are really handy for measuring out seeds.  They are available online and in some kitchen shops.

STEP 9 - Carefully add glue to the open end and press to close.

Center the packet in the middle of the ribbon

STEP 10 - Add the final bit of glue and lay the ribbon 1/2" from the end and fold the end over top and press down firmly until securely glued down.  Tie the ribbon ends together.  I just used a simple knot but you could make a bow to prettify the little packet.

Simple knot tied at the top and you're done.

Here is the fun part!  How many ways can you think of to use these?   I came up with these in just a few minutes...

• Purse/pocket presents...carry then with you so you can hand them out anytime or anywhere! 
• Seed Tree party favors for a garden party or kids party.  
• Gift embellishments added to the bow.
  Super stocking stuffers
• Bundle a bunch together artistically and create a useable ornament for the tree...the list goes on and on.
• New Years gifts for hopes for a bountiful new year.
• Or how about a collection of seeds for your favorite salad greens and edible flowers for a salad garden kit.

Now its your turn.  Make them the same size or bigger, in whatever color of paper you want...its up to you.
Have fun and happy gifting!


Copyright © 2011 by Patty Hicks
All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.

Anyone Wanna Swap?...The life and garden of the seed saver.

Are you bad at cutting off spent flower heads?  Has this task been on the bottom of your “needs to be done” list all summer and now you are staring at dead flower heads everywhere.  Take heart!  I’m here with good news!

Enula, my Enulam I have so forsaken thee!

It has been one of those years for me too, but I’m not going to sing the blues about it, NOPE not this gardener!  There is a blessing in those tatty looking flower heads.  You see the truth is this, they little seed factories…and I love seeds because they grow into more plants!

I don't know about you, but I would like some more of that Kale please.

If you are completely OCD about clipping off every spent flower head and yanking out every leafy vegetable before they run to flower, and if you hate to see any plant go to its final resting place…and I’m not talking the compost heap here, then you will not be able to collect seeds from your own garden.  All of this seeming tatty-ness that many of us classify as visual unseemliness is very necessary if our plants are to be allowed to go to seed.  I know, I know; that wasn’t what you wanted to hear, but it is the truth!  Honestly it’s not all that bad once you get used to it.

Go ahead...I dare ya.  Tell me what is not to love about this seed head?

Being a seed saver I’ve learned the value of living with a little “tatty” in the garden.  Personally it has help me, a type-A, “gotta have it show-ready” type of gardener, to actually relax and enjoy the seasonal progress that God intended in the garden and know that I will still live even if I am not “in control” of every leaf and flower.   The other amazing thing I have discovered is that most people, as in 99.9% of people, who visit the garden, really don’t see all the “tatty” that I do.  How that happens I have no clue, but they seem to see right past the tatty and on into the beauty.  I absolutely love that others are blind to what my critiquing eye sees and what a revelation that was for me the first time I experienced it.

Do you see what I see?  Do you see what I see?  A weed, spent blooms, ruining my view, oh I wish I could see like you.

When those spent flowers that never got cut off  completely died and are allowed to finish doing what they are designed to do, they will produce those seeds I keep talking about.

Astrantia major with the promise of...MORE ASTRANTIA MAJOR PLANTS!  WOO HOO!

Some plants will produce a lot of seed, others not so much.  Flowers are the most prolific.  So what you say?  Free plants I say!  And now you ask what happens if you save all that seed?  What on earth are you supposed to do with it if you do not have acreage to plant all that seed on?  WHY SWAP THEM OF COURSE!

Oh, just a few thousand seeds I gathered in yesterday.

Seed swapping has been going on for centuries all over the world.  For some reason we sometimes get the idea that it is new thing...but it is not.  Maybe I’ll write about that sometime but lets get back to business here.  We gardeners swap our seed bounty with each other, hold seed swapping parties, trade through online seed swapping groups and even hand them off to the cashier at the grocery store and total strangers if they’ll take them.

Preparing for a seed swapping party can be a lot of fun!

Honestly, we don’t care as long as someone wants to try growing them and hopefully will be happy with the plants once they are grown.  Now that makes us about as happy as a gardener can get.  This affords us bragging rights that the plants they are growing because...they came from “our” seed that "we" collected.  Oh its not what you think, we are just proud to have sown plants we love into the lives and gardens of others. 

Don't touch that lettuce!  Someone you know might love to have some of that seed!

We learn a lot about plants as we grow new plants from seed. We talk to gardeners who have grown the plants the seed came from and who give us tips that will help in our success in growing it.  This same information we will pass along to the folks we will also share seeds with from these plants.  Another thing, we get to show off what we have accomplished and most all the time, share the lineage of where that plant or plants came from…so and round and round it goes.

Some for me and some for you and some for, oh...whomever.

Basically I guess you could say that we gardeners are a somewhat out of control bunch; a mutual appreciation/admiration society, with a bent towards enabling our gardening addicted friends to continue to practice our common interest while encouraging others to get on board and start gardening too. We are often generous to a fault with what we know, what we grow and love to share with others, especially with other gardeners who also have stuff to share, like all those seeds that they have more of than they can or will ever use.  Most of us are a little bit compulsive about not wasting the seed or maybe its just that we cannot bear to see good seed go to waste, whatever the reason there is a whole lot of seed swapping going on.  How about you, wanna swap?

Sow Early: Winter Sowing for the Veggie Garden

It was a gorgeous sunny day out today and I had just enough caffeine in me to set me into a whirl of activity.  Ok...I went a little nuts at the nursery buying seeds but hey, the front yard is getting an overhaul anyway and the way I look at it, if I have plants that need to be planted then at least there will be something besides weeds taking up space this year.  The thought makes me pretty happy actually as I've long wanted to start growing more edibles in the front yard and I have been saving my milk jugs and butter cartons for a couple weeks to sow seeds into so today was the day to get going sowing our veggies.

I was not going to buy anything more than a package of parsnips and parsley seeds

I have tried a number of different methods for cutting into plastic milk jugs but my all time favorite is my little serrated kitchen knife...the same knife I use to slice tomatoes with.  It goes through that plastic like butter once you get it started.  I've tried hot knives and Xacto knives and found both to have draw backs that the serrated knife doesn't have.  By the way its an old fashioned serrated blade.  The new fangled so-called serrated blades don't seem to work as well either.

This knife was made in heaven I'm sure of it.

How to cut the milk cartons came from a great website http://www.wintersown.org/ .   Trudi Davidoff, the founder of the site, has done a fantastic job of providing inspiration and a place for community so if you want to learn more go check it out.  I first stumbled upon the winter gardening concept several years ago at GardenWeb.com back in the day when Trudi was moderating the winter sowing forum there.  Her passion for this type of gardening and seed saving was inspiring.  The woman is a gift I'm tellin' ya. She has a generous spirit and a gift for encouraging others.  We could use with more people like her in this world and in these times.  So back to what I'm doing with that knife and the milk jugs.

The thing about using the milk jugs is that they make wonderful little green houses.  People in cold climates and those of us in moderate climates can get a lot of growing done without the need for a greenhouse by using this method.  Milk jugs are easy to cut holes into for ventilation and so some rain will help to water the seedlings as they grow making the fussing over watering way less.  The other thing is that the seedlings don't need to be hardened off and are stronger, stouter plants instead of the spindly little things that are produced when we try to grow starts in the house and sometimes in green houses.  These reasons makes me like this method a lot.

To get started you need to cut vent holes in the shoulders of the jug and the same in the bottom for drainage.  I almost forgot to cut the holes in the bottom on these but don't you.  It's really important that the seedlings get good drainage or they will rot or drown, both of which are not the results we are looking for here.

The jugs have 3 good spots for air circulation vents at their shoulders

The 3 holes I nearly forgot...that would have been very bad.

The next thing you need to do is cut around the middle of the jug starting at just below and to the side of the handle, cutting all the way around and stopping just other side of the handle.  Do not cut the top off completely, severing the top from the bottom.  You need to keep the top attached just enough to be able to fold it back on those days when its warmed enough so the seedlings can enjoy a little more sunlight.

Cut with enough attached to be able to bend it back.

Finally I decided that not only would I write out plant tags for what was sown in the containers but I would write on the outside what was on the inside...that could come in handy at some point.  The first time I wrote in regular Sharpie marker...this will more than likely fade, so I decided to do a little science project to demonstrate the difference between UV stable markers like the Sharpie industrial types and the regular markers.  We'll see how long the regular Sharpie ink lasts.

Regular Sharpie marker is doomed to disappear with sunlight.

Now to wait and see.

The jugs need some planting media in them so to keep the cost down a bit, instead of filling the containers with seedling mix which is pretty expensive, I fill the jugs part way with regular potting soil which costs about half of what seedling mix does.  I don't recommend garden soil for this as it is too heavy and when you go to separate the seedlings their roots will be more apt to tear than with the potting soil.

Note that there are two tags so I don't forget what's sown here.

Next I scatter the seed on top of the potting soil.  I don't worry about spacing.  Most of what I am sowing doesn't really care.  The ones that are sensitive to transplanting I will direct sow in the garden so you can just scatter the seeds randomly unless they don't appreciate being transplanted.

Seedling mix is a screened lightweight media that seedlings can grow through with ease.

Next I cover the seed with seedling mix to the depth of whatever the instructions say.  So if the seed is sown to a depth of 1/4" that is how much seedling mix I put over the seeds...simple simple.

Still need  a piece of duct tape on each of the cut sides but you get the idea.

Secure the top closed using duct tape and set in a warm location.  Along the foundation of a south facing wall works great.  Don't put the lids back on the jugs as this is part of the ventilation system for your new mini greenhouse and how the plants are watered when it rains.  

Duct tape, duct tape, la la la...

Sitting in the sunshine on a February day.

Cement is a great heat sink to help keep the plants a little warmer.

The containers pictured above in the black pan were sown the same manner as milk jugs were and will stay on my southeast facing front porch which gets good sun and is covered so I can manage their watering better.  Another good thing is the cement and bricks act as a heat sink keeping the temperature there warmer than out in the yard.  By the way, the tub I found at Dollar Tree and I can easily cover it with a board if the temperatures are thinking of heading below freezing.   It also work great for watering seedling containers from the bottom, which is a really good idea as most hoses will quickly dislodge seeds with the force of the water coming out of the nozzle unless one uses a mist setting on the hand held sprayer.

Here is a list of what I sowed today if you are wondering.  Leeks, Swiss Chard, Endive, Florence Fennel, Parsley, Mizuna Mustard, Kale, Collards, Bok Choy and Brussel Sprouts.  I'll be starting some annual and perennial flowers and my tomatoes and peppers this way too.  I'll let you know how it goes so stay tuned as there are a couple more tricks up my sleeve I'll be sharing with you.

Happy Gardening!

Copyright © 2011 by Patty Hicks
All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.

Seeds Seeds Seeds!

I don't remember exactly when I started saving seeds.  It was probably back when I was taking horticulture classes and working in the garden at a local historic site about a dozen years ago or more.  I remember one year where I saved over 95 varieties of seed which even today blows my mind.  That is a lot of seed!  All I know is there is not a year goes by that I don't save the seeds from something.  This year was no different.

(Clockwise starting top left) Lychnis coronaria 'Angel's Blush', 'Bijou' lettuce, can't remember but its a nice perennial for shade, Blood Sorrel and Poppy.

This afternoon I spent some time going through the garden, cutting ripe seed heads so I could save the seed.  The cutting of the seed heads is always nice quiet work and brings back the memory of the flowers in all their glory. It stirs gratitude in my heart for this gift of seeds for future plants too as the seeds spill from the heads into the buckets and bags I am gathered in. The extracting of the seeds from the head is not quite as cathartic work and takes a bit more patience, but the end result is worth the effort.  Seeds to sow and seeds to share.  It is a good thing to know how to do and so I decided I would give you a look into what it takes to harvest, clean and store lettuce seed.

Lettuces rarely cross pollinate making them great to save seed from.

Lettuce is one of those plants that rarely if ever cross pollinates so if you have a lettuce growing in your garden that you enjoy you can let it go to seed you will be able to grow that same variety from your collected seed.  The variety I saved seed from this year was one that actually wintered over very nicely in my garden and grew well even with our excess spring rains.  It also holds well in the heat and doesn't get bitter as easily as some and one more thing...its a knock out beauty with amazing wine colored leaves that don't fade ever!  Now that is a lettuce worth keeping.  Finally it is no longer available in U.S. seed catalogs so I would have to order it from across the pond in the U.K. making me even more thankful I have saved seed for the past few years.

As a plant lettuce comes in basically two forms...loose leaf, which is a mound of leaves called a rosette or a head like Romaine and the old standby Iceberg lettuce many of us grew up on.  When the plant begins to bolt, or run to flower as some call it, the flower stem in the center of the plant emerges instead of leaves making the plant appear to be stretching upward.  This is what you want to see as a seed saver.  This process can take a while so don't expect to see flowers for a few weeks once the plant begins to stretch.

Bijou in flower early July

Lettuce beginning to bolt

Next the flowers open...soft yellow flowers which in the case of my Bijou lettuce looked quite nice against the burgundy leaf color.  The flowers don't open all at once so you have some time before you have to start thinking about harvesting.  After the flowers fade you will see these cute little puffs of fuzz, somewhat reminiscent of dandelion which is in the same family as lettuce.  Once you start to see the puffs form you can sit back and watch and wait as the plant continues to flower. Lettuces have a lot of flower heads on one plant and not all of them open at once.  The reward, if you are patient, will be a bounty of seed.

Bijou Lettuce with seed heads and flowers in late July

You can harvest the flowers as they form the puffs but here's the deal...lettuce, like dandelion, has this white sap that is sticky and gets all over your fingers and the puffy stuff and seeds making harvesting in this fashion a real pain so I don't recommend it.  What I found was that the slightest bump of the flower stems made that sap flow out in little dots all over the stem and flower head...it was a nightmare.  The sap needs to be tried up before you attempt harvesting the seed and as long as that stem is connected to the plant it's gonna will flow.

Because of the annoyance of the sap during my early seed harvesting attempt, I decided to it was best wait until the plant was pretty full of puffs and nearly done flowering before trying again.  When it was finally time I cut the whole head off the plant, placed it in a paper grocery bag and set it on our back porch for about a week to dry up the sap before again I attempted to harvest the seed.  I suppose I could have waited a bit longer to cut the flower heads off but I get paranoid about the seed falling to the ground as we get some pretty stiff winds in our area this time of year so I erred on the side of safety.

Once the sap was dried up I was able to cut the branches off the main stem so I could work with them much easier.  I think at this point I would recommend laying the branches out on a cloth of some kind to dry a bit more...a step I did not do and I think made it harder to get the seed out because some of the heads were still damp making it harder to get the seed out.  You could probably use an old cotton pillow case if you wanted to for this and hang it up in a drafty location where it wouldn't get wet to completely dry.

Oh yeah...I almost forgot.  While I was cutting the stems I found these little guys feasting on the leaves.  They weren't bothering the seed heads so I left them alone until I was ready to cut the side branches off the main stem.
 
The only ick factor in this whole process for me really was accidentally smashing one or two during this process.  Some were really tiny so keep your eyes peeled for them during the seed cleaning process too.

The birds love these larvae so if you have a feeder that gets good traffic just put the in it and stand back.

Once the stems were dry I took them a couple at a time and rubbed them between my hands, rolling them back and forth and rubbing the flowerheads with my fingers to dislodge the seed if it was being stubborn.  Like I said...it takes a bit of patience...and a bit persistence sometimes too.  The seeds sometimes do not release readily so the rubbing and pinching of the heads helps in this process.  There  are a small amount that fall off naturally so if you only wanted a few seeds you could just shake the heads over a sheet or pan.  I'm greedy when it comes to seeds as I like to have seed to share.  That is in part why I like to take the time and I also enjoy the process.  Peaceable work with profitable rewards is always a good thing.

The stuff you don't want in your seeds.

The end result of all the rubbing is a pile of part seeds and part plant material which then need to be separated out.  My favorite tools for this process are those wire kitchen strainers and a baking pan or small jelly roll pan. 

Kitchen strainers are a great tool for separating seed from plant material.  Hold your free hand at one side of the strainer and tap the strainer gently against your palm like you would a tambourine.

For the lettuce seed I used my larger colander sized wire strainer and then a smaller, finer meshed one with a handle on it.  Be sure to start with the larger holed strainer first and go down to the finer after.  You want the seed to be able to fall through the screen mesh so be sure you don't use too fine of a strainer.  If plant material falls through (which it almost always does) don't get excited, there are a couple more steps before we're done here.

Plant material that made it through the strainer.

Here is what you will have after you have strained the seed.  (Note: Not all lettuce seed is white, some is black)  This Bijou lettuce made it easier to distinguish the plant material from the seed as it was purple when dried.  Notice that there is also a bit of that fuzz left in the mix too.  To remove this you need to winnow the seed which will remove some of this unwanted material

Winnowing is basically letting the breeze carry the lighter plant material away from the seed.  You take the seed and slowly dribble it into the container letting the breeze do all the work. In order to not lose some of your seed during this process make sure to have a large enough container to catch the seed in and be sure the breeze is not too strong.  For a catch container I recommend using one of the larger plastic tote storage containers or you could do if over a large piece of cloth like a table cloth or sheet.  If you only need a few seeds saved you can use a 9x13 pan like I did here and it works pretty well. If you don't have a breeze make one yourself by using a fan or blow across the seeds instead.  Take care to see that your seed is not being blown away in this process.

After the winnowing there was some heavier material still mixed with the seed.  To separate it out I just held the pan at an angle and tapped it or shook it gently while stirring the seeds to release the unwanted material from the crowd of seeds.  The seeds will stick (because they are flat) and not roll while the other material will be rolling downhill and collecting along the side of the pan making it easy to remove.  This is probably the most time consuming part of the whole process.  Now I have to confess I get a little ODC here and want to save "all" the seed possible and will spend way too much time and effort at times to be sure I don't lose any seed.  Thankfully I didn't do that this year and the winnowings went into the compost heap.

Once the seed is clean (relative term here as we don't have those fancy mechanical cleaning machines that really get it clean) set them out on a coffee filter to dry them further which will help them to not mold in storage.

Sunflower seed gift envelopes I created

You can store them in paper envelopes (try making your own) or in jars.  I don't recommend ziploc bags as the seed sticks to the side of the bags, foil pouches work too.  Those little envelopes they use for stamp collecting work really well too.  Personally I have found coin envelopes to be really handy to use.  You can get them at local office supply stores like Office Depot or Staples.  Whatever you store them in be sure there are no places the seed can escape from like those unglued corners of envelopes.

Next I store the seed in a cool, dark, dry place to ensure they stay viable (alive).  In my propagation class at college we were taught that 13% humidity and below 40 F is good.  I just store my seeds in a box and tuck it on the floor in our office where it is cooler.  That works nicely since I don't have room in my refrigerator or freezer where some folks store there seed.  TIP:  You can place a couple of those desiccant pouches that come inside shoe boxes into your seed box to help keep them dry while in storage. 

So have fun gathering.  I'll post some seed packet ideas soon.

Copyright © 2010 by Patty Hicks

All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.

Seduced By Seeds

My favorite lettuce ever is no longer sold in the trade so I am sowing out what seed I have left for the specific purpose of saving seed to share with others and for fresh seed for my seed file.  My seed file is my personal seed bank...another geeky habit I have.  It tends to lean towards compulsion but with some restraint or as much restraint as I can muster in any given season and it’s girth ebbs and flows like the tides depending on how self controlled I am.
(pictured is my Bijou lettuce Baby!!!)

I have to really work at reigning myself in when it comes to seeds.  OK,I admit it!  I have a very hard time resisting the temptation to try the wonderful new or reintroduced varieties of seeds as I scan websites, catalogs and seed racks.  They all look so wonderful...so seductive...and I feel so hopeful when I read the descriptions and see the beautiful pictures of them in all their stunning glory.  I find food for hope that this year’s garden will be amazingly better than the last and in some small way even resemble those pictures.  And oh yes, hope springs eternal here...actually around here this time of year its more like a flood.  Every cell in my body reaches for those new varieties like a child reaching for sweets.

Because of this compulsion I have developed a series of questions that I have to ask myself before I dip into my pocket to purchase the seeds.  The old argument of "Oh, its only a couple dollars" or that fact the packet will produce plants far beyond the original cost of the seeds just isn't allowed...well most of the time anyway.  First...Do we need it...second...Will I use the food produced by it...and third...Will I hate myself if I miss out on getting this if I never see it again.

Today when I went out to shoot these pictures I realized that there is a mustard, or should I say mustards that are a good example of something I bought to sooth that grasping child in me.  I just had to have "BOTH" varieties...they were so cool sounding!  Red Streaks and Gold Streaks mustard.  I already grow Mizuna which we totally love but I love playing with color and texture in my garden and if its prettier and we can still eat it I can fall quickly into temptation. (Pictured here are the mustards...hmmm...maybe I can forgive myself for this one.)

So what are you growing this year?  What is your favorite lettuce variety?  What one variety can't you find anywhere that you would die to have again?  For me, hands down it would be my Bijou lettuce.  I have a list of reasons why too...color, form, taste, resists bitterness and holds its color.  Why the seedlings from last year even wintered over and tell me, are they not GORGEOUS!  It makes my mouth water just looking at it!  (This picture is of Bijou lettuce in all its glory)

In reality, unless God blesses the seeds I sow, this could be the last year I am able to grow my Bijou lettuce at all.  If it is the very last, I will be thankful for all the years I've been able to grow it and sad for its passing by the way of the Dodo bird.  All good things must come to and end...I'm just hoping the end for Bijou will not be in my lifetime.

Copyright © 2010 by Patty Hicks

All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.