We finally ordered our seeds! Not these, exactly, but I thought I'd show some examples of seed packets from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I learned about them from one of my favorite addictions, Garden Rant. Jere Gettle's story is worth checking out: he began the business at the tender age of 17 and has grown it into an entire town. The catalog itself is a work of art.
We've charted our plans and will start some indoors and some outdoors. Some will go into raised beds, some directly into the ground, and some in containers. We chose seeds based on whether we thought they would succeed (here is a great resource for Alabama, although I don't know how much they take rare and heirloom varieties into consideration), and we also indulged in some that are just plain cool.
The great thing about seeds is that you can get a lot of them for very little money, and once the plant establishes itself, you can use its seeds over and over again. That's the plan, anyway.
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8 comments:
We're talking about doing a raised bed garden this year. We have no idea how to do it though. Any tips or great websites to share? Guess I should get on that shouldn't I?
Hey Brandy! I'm going to try to document everything on the blog in case it might help other people who are just getting their hands dirty, like us. I checked out a BUNCH of organic gardening books from the library, I keep up with a gardening blog I like (gardenrant.com), and I link to several other local blogs that often discuss gardening. But the bottom line is I really don't know what I'm doing, and I'm lucky that my husband grew up on a farm!
We found some Bakers Heirloom seeds at Southeastern Salvage, of all places! We got several peppers and some lettuce.
Hey, regarding raised beds, we found the Square Foot Garden book to be pretty helpful, although it's pretty hokey and he's a shameless self promoter. If you're willing to sift through that though, the concept is excellent.
And wow, I didn't realize that Larry had farmed in addition to practicing law. That must have been quite a handful!
Hey Allison! I haven't been to Southeastern Salvage in ages -- what a great find!
Thanks for the book recommendation -- I will definitely check it out. Y'all's bed looks fabulous!
Yes, Larry was a country gentleman. Or something like that. They raised all sorts of vegetables, milked goats, kept chickens -- the whole deal. He's a great source of information, and Lee learned a lot growing up on the farm.
I actually drove by Southeastern Salvage the other day. If I'd read your comment before then, Allison, I would have definitely stopped by.
Does anyone else feel cheated when they find out they have hybridized seed?
Hmm, the word verification is "taxifibr." Taxi-fiber or taxi-fibber. Hey, this is like trying to figure out what license plate letters say or mean, lol.
Hey TCE! I had to laugh about the license plates. Sometimes it takes me forEVer to figure those out.
I enjoy Jere's story as well. I go to Thailand at least once a year, and since reading an article he did on heirloom plant seeds in Thailand, I've been on the lookout for seeds to bring back to the US, and did pick up few last time I was there.
Hey Woody! May I make a completely irrelevant observation that once I began using exclamation points in my comments, I found that I couldn't stop. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Anyway. Thai seeds -- WOW. What kind did you get? And what takes you to Thailand so frequently? Inquiring minds want to know. (!)
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