Choosing seeds
The ground is still white outside my office window, but I’m thinking about all things green.
On the first warm weekend, I’m going to build a raised bed for my vegetable plants. It’s also time to choose what I want to plant so I can start the seedlings indoors, getting them ready for when spring rolls around.
Last year, the task was much easier. I knew I wanted tomatoes and I knew I wasn’t quite ready for a full garden. So I went with two cherry tomato plants and two Better Boy plants in pots on the deck.
This year, I’m dreaming of yellow tomatoes for sure. The rest is a world of possiblities almost too difficult to cull. Gourmet radish blend? Broccoli? Italian or otherwise? Heirloom zucchini? What if the neighbors bring a bunch of zucchini again; do I really need my own? Pole beans or bush beans? Jalapeno peppers or Thai peppers? Do I dare try watermelons or cantaloupes in my first official garden?
The answer to all of these questions can probably be answered by looking at the small size of my garden space. Not everything that I want can be crammed in there, so with a little research I’ll figure out which varieties will fit in the space, what plants compliment each other and what can be preserved for later in the year.
Holly Scoggins, a horticulture professor at Virginia Tech, gave me a list of her favorite seed companies. If you don’t see your fave on this list, let us know. What are you planting this year?
Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Winslow, Maine. (877) 564-6697.
High Mowing Organic Seeds, Wolcott, Vermont. (802) 472-6174.
Pinetree Garden Seeds, New Gloucester, Maine. (207) 926-3400 (catalogue is better than Web site, Scoggins said).
Territorial Seed Company, Cottage Grove, Oregon. (800) 626-0866.
Fedco Seeds and Garden Supplies Co-op, Clinton, Maine. (207) 873-7333.
Tomato Growers Supply Company, Ft. Myers, Florida. (888) 478-7333.
March 4, 2009 - 3:18 PM
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Lindsey, please keep us updated on what you decide to plant! My husband and I have talked about a garden for a few years now, and last year we started small like you, with tomatoes. It went well until it got really hot and baby Sam was born, meaning we neglected the tomatoes for the cute baby!
We want to do tomatoes again this year, maybe 2 varieties (last year was just cherry). I also want to do a raised bed, so I have a limited space so as not to get overwhelmed with the work.
I’m interested to see what you decide to plant as I may end up doing the same!
Linsey, I have had excellent results with seeds from 2 companies; Nichols Garden Nursery and Seed Co. (http://www.gardennursery.com/) and Seeds of Change (www.seedsofchange.com/). They both have great selections, and they clearly differentiate between heirloom and hybrid varieties. What’s the difference? Basically, you can collect your own seeds from heirloom varieties and they will reproduce true to type each time; but you can’t do that with hybrids. Heirlooms are usually though of as ‘older’ varieties, which in some cases is true b/c people used to share seeds with folks moving on to new lands, but some heirlooms are fairly recently developed. Both companies allow you to order online, they both ship fast, and have been very helpful on the phone if I needed advice. I used 2 yr. old seeds from Nichols this past season and they produced better than the live plants I purchased from a local greenhouse; I realized last minute I needed more plants than I had seeds for, so I bought the exact same variety at a greenhouse. Nichols’ seeds produced more, hands down.
Sorry to double post – forgot to include my veggies for this year: artichokes, asparagus, garlic, onions, potatoes, tomatoes (4 varieties), peppers (5 varieties), corn, cucumbers (slicing and pickles), yellow pear squash, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, snow peas, sugar snaps, green beans, cantaloupe, flowers, and I also have several berry bushes and fruit trees, too. Whew.
I had GREAT success with the “upside down” tomato plantings I did last year. I was really skeptical, but it worked out REALLY well!! I’m gonna do that again. I much prefer grape tomatoes to cherry. The yield is enormous and you can stand in the garden and pop ‘em in your mouth!! I wouldn’t suggest cantelope or watermelon as the vines go EVERYWHERE. The only year I was successful at growing cantelope, it was worth it. Those melons tasted like liquid sunshine. There’s good yield with green beans. I’m HOPING to get some greens (collards & kale, especially) this year if the chickens will leave them alone. I was unsuccessful last year but I think my fence was lacking. Corn is a big waste of space, in MY opinion. I’m going to work on the greens, green beans and tomatoes and that’s about it for me. I MIGHT try potatoes again. They didn’t turn out real well last year, but it was my first try with them. My cucumbers and squash all went under due to bugs. To be honest, I think a lot of things kinda got lost in the heat of the summer. I go great guns in the spring, but once it starts getting hot, I’m not much, especially after working all day. But, ANYTHING out of the garden is much more delicious than things bought at the store. GOTTA be. You’d never go back to store-bought eggs if you had fresh ones. My grandson adores “picking” eggs.
Golly, Julie! How big is your garden? Man alive, I loooove artichokes.
Susan, I think I’ll do tomatoes and green beans, for sure. I’m thinking I’ll try some pole beans and see if I can get them to grow up on a trellis to save some garden space.
Corn, to me, seems useless unless you can give it a lot of space in order to get a decent yield. I also seem to remember that bad rain and wind storms can do big damage to the corn plants.
Potatoes are tempting — I love turning over a shovel of dirt and finding potatoes underground. They’re like gems.
I guess maybe I’ll put in some greens like Swiss Chard and spinach later in summer. Aren’t those cold crops? When do you plant them?
Lindsey, My garden isn’t huge, but it sure ain’t small
Especially when I’m weeding or watering ;-(. I have 2 sets of 4 elevated beds 4′ wide by 8′ long, separated by 2′ grass walkways (no use weeding where you don’t have to and reduces runoff in T’storms) with a 2′ wide U-shaped border around each set of beds for flowers. The flowers attract pollinators and repel certain pests. Total area is probably about 1/4 – 1/3 ac., including the fruit trees. And, I have 9 more acres if I need it!! I also forgot to mention that I grow butternut squash and I am planning to do some swiss chard this year, as well, maybe some bok choy. I grow all organic, BTW. We do a lot of stir-fry in the summer; it’s quick, healthy, and tasty and you can use whatever is ‘coming in’ from the garden. With my space, I am able to grow enough to can and freeze to get us thru the winter/spring, and sell the extras to a few select friends. And even in the winter, stir-fry from frozen home-grown veggies is hard to beat. I’m planning to add at least 2 more beds to each set this year; another 128 sq. ft. of growing space, which is a lot!
Also, corn is not hard to grow and doesn’t take as much room as you’d think, as long as you understand how it grows. Corn is only pollinated by wind, so you need at least 4 rows 2′ apart and 4-8′ long to get good results. You either need few enough plants to be able to care for each one, or lots of plants so the lost ones don’t matter. I use option 1 and have had good luck – 80-100 ears of corn from about 24 sq. yds. I do realize not everyone has this kind of real estate to use for corn, but it is worth it for the taste. Oh, and deer fencing is a must here – I live in Floyd Co.
Susan, 2 yrs. ago my chickens ate ALL my kale and rutabagas; I have not planted them since.
Oh, and another PS – plant your greens early – March if possible – for a May/June harvest. Another round planted in late Aug. will give you greens until the last hard freeze. By rotating like this, I had fresh spinach and salad greens for 9 months last year….
Last year I went a little crazy ordering seeds, but I’ve decided this year to just focus on my two favorites: tomatoes and zucchini.
Last year I grew “Eight Ball Zucchini” which are round and they came out really well! I didn’t have any luck at all with okra last year, I think the soil in my tiny garden space has too much clay for the roots to go deep. I am mixing in some organic material this time.
You can plant greens now. My dad always said you plant peas on St. Patrick’s Day. Grandfather always pruned roses on Valentine’s Day.
Spincah can be grown as a spring and fall crop. I have only been planting swiss chard the last two years, and I planted it in the spring with good results. The only staple I would add to Julie’s list is beets. They are my favorite. Something new that I planted last year was Kohlrabi….very delicious.
Buy local! Southern Exposure Seed Exchange in Mineral, VA.
Talked to my dad last night about helping me with my raised bed. One side will border the house, and it’s on a bit of a slope, so I’m going to have to graduate the timber border. I’ll stack it and secure it with rebar. I just need for my Dad to drill the holes for me and bring me some of the rebar he’s got laying around. I’ve got terrible, clay-heavy soil like many of us do. So I’m glad that all I’ll need to do is till it up a bit and then build up my bed with a mixture of topsoil and manure. Dad thinks that’s a good mixture for the plants I’m planning to grow. We shall see!! I do hate planting things in my yard because of the soil. I always end up with a bunch of leftover clay that I have to toss in some corner of the yard.
Talked to a horticulturist the other day who said you can plant viney veggies like squash along the borders of your yard, in between ornamentals. That’s an idea for folks who don’t have a lot of space to dedicate to a garden. Of course, those things ramble all over the place. I remember my mom’s spaghetti squash plant once trying to grow out onto the road. Haha.
Another warning: last year I planted 20 peanut seeds – and after about two weeks in the ground my beagle dug them all up and ate them. Ha ha.
I’ll be developing a partially raised bed starting this summer for planting next year. Our side yard had a lot of the good topsoil scraped away to grade our front and back yard when our house was built, so we have a lot of rock just under the surface that is too substantial to attempt to remove. So, we’ll be building a raised bed over the slabs to compensate for this unfortunate fact, and give it time to settle in before using it next year. As for seeds, I grab mine mostly at Lowes since it’s near my house, and I’ve had relatively good success with Burpee and a few other brands, but i tend to buy the organic or heirloom variety of seeds and grwo things organically. We did container gardening of tomatoes, peppers, and herbs last year and will likely do the same this year, and expand our efforts to corn, squash, lettuce, kale, brocoli, onions, potatoes, and other items once we can get the raised bed in place. Most of my efforts this year will be on planting flowers now that I have my ‘hard’ landscaping of trees and shurbs completed from last year.
I know its late but you should check out Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.
We are using them at the restaurant for our summer garden. rareseeds.com
I don’t think it’s too late, Justin.
Thanks to you and Mary Lou for the other suggestions.
My “garden” is just a strip of space against the back (facing west) of the house, and a “planter” type thing that’s about 10-12′ long and just wide enough for one row. Last year our better boy and jet star tomatoes did awesome! We planted a few jalapeno pepper plants as well and they did only fair. That’s probably what we’ll plant again this year, though my wife says she’s going to take my pepper spot for more of her jet stars; she only had two plants last year. We’ll see how that works out! I just buy plants from local farmers at the Salem farmers market.
I work in a preschool and would like to plant things with my class. What would be best to plant now. We were thinking of flowers and vegetables. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Grace, if I were you, I’d grow nasturtiums with them this year. They are planted as seeds and they are really easy to grow and pretty when they bloom. They are also edible! They taste like watercress.
I grew nasturtiums and morning glories in my first little flower bed when I was a kid. I called them “nastiums.”
Hi Lindsey,
I use Cook’s Garden for a lot of my seeds. I love the Asian corn (mini corn) along with the hundreds of varieties of veggies. This is a MUST for gardeners who love to cook.
http://www.cooksgarden.com