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2010 veggie garden & bed planning
We ordered our seeds last week from www.highmowingseeds.com, they only do organic seeds and nothing from Monsanto! We're doing:
-Sweet and hot peppers
-2 kinds of Tomatoes (for canning and eating)
-Snap and English peas
-Cucumbers
-Bush beans
-onions (bought these as sets from Johnny Seeds)
-Yukon gold and russet potatoes
-Carrots
-Eggplant
-Spinach
-Lots of herbs (probably rosemary, oregano, basil, thyme, camomile, and cilantro)
I found this AWESOME tool for planning our raised beds, http://www.gardeners.com/Kitchen-Garden-Planner/kgp_home,default,pg.html. Not only can you plot out your beds, when you print it out you get a ton of tips for each plant like what to start indoors vs. direct seed, how deep to plant, sunlight requirements, and a lot more.
Re: 2010 veggie garden & bed planning
Go you! We're in a townhome and our yard was converted into a deck so I'm restricted to a container garden. It's my first year doing it and I'm nervous and super excited!
I'm going to try:
Early Girl and Better Boy tomatoes
Blue Lake bush green beans
Survivor peas
jalapenos and hot cherry peppers
I also ordered some regular and garlic chives to plant in a window box, and some gerbera daisies to plant in my other two window boxes out front. I'm dying to start my little greenhouse, but I haven't wait until Valentine's Day.
I didn't think about the seed thing until I was playing on the gardening board this weekend, but I did buy organic seeds when possible. I'll reevaluate next year and try not to buy Monsanto seeds. I was bummed, because I'd never really thought about them doing tomatoes and beans - just corn and soybeans and other large field crops.
Thanks for posting that planning site, too! It's awesome; I wish there was one in existence for container gardening!
Thank you!! I've been searching for something like that, and found garden plans, but nothing i could customize, or that provided any information/suggestions about actually creating the garden. Thanks!
Best sound ever: baby's heartbeat! (Heard @ 10w1d)
Looks great! Thanks for that website rec...I have been reading The Vegetable Gardener's Bible and it is also really helpful w/all the planting info. I borrowed from the library but I might have to buy this one. http://www.amazon.com/Vegetable-Gardeners-Bible-10th-Anniversary/dp/160342475X
I ordered my seeds this weekend too - from SeedSavers as recommended by curlydoglover. I'm doing:
-Beans (pole & bush)
-Beets
-Broccoli
-Brussels sprouts
-Carrots (one regular variety, one crazy heritage purple variety!)
-Cucumbers (one pickling variety, one salad variety)
- Lettuces (got a mix of 8 kinds)
-Cantaloupe
-Onions (red & yellow)
-Peas
-Tomatoes - got some seeds of a heritage variety, will also buy plants locally.
Also got a variety pack of sunflowers!
Will buy all the herbs locally (basil, dill, parsley, cilantro...)
We also bought a rotoiller this weekend!! Found it on craigslist, it was a steal!! DH already had it running
Jeff & Em, we live in a TH too! All those plants are going in 2 raised beds we have behind our small deck. Even if you only have a small amount of space, you might be able to fit a 3x6" raised bed.
We did a container garden last year and while it was nice, it didn't give enough yield for normal eating, just "oh we have enough cherry tomatoes to have on a salad!" Our goal is to grow enough to eat all season, and produce from the Farmer's Market gets frozen or canned, so we can eat local year round.
We failed miserably at starting seeds indoors last year, but we're better equipped this year. We have a big grow light, and biodegradable pots so we don't have to transplant from seeding trays into larger pots before moving them outside. You can just plant the whole pot!
Agreed that the store ones are pretty bland...we use a lot of onions too! I got seeds, but will get plants if the seeds fail me. I have not grown them before.
My mom thinks I'm crazy for doing so many things from seeds, but, I'm stubborn like that
I am reading about which to start inside/which not to, when to plant, etc...I want to give it a try!
Thank you very much for this site! I am interested to see what my results yield--I'm always challenged because our soil is red clay--thankfully I do have some great raised beds!
Just out of curiosity, how do you know that your seeds aren't coming from Monsanto? I was planning on ordering from Pinetree Garden Seeds(www.superseeds.com) because they offer a wide variety of Heirloom varieties, along with their own heirlooms/hybrids. On the one hand I kind of feel like it's my right to ask if they source any seeds from Monsanto (or DuPont for that matter) but at the same time, I also don't want to insult anyone either, and then "oops--we lost your order."
I wish we had room for a raised bed. But really, the entire area that would have been yard has a beautiful deck/patio that was put over it. : ( I'm also not sure exactly how the sun will hit the area down there because we moved in sometime in late July or August and I didn't pay much attention. The containers will let me move the plants to where they need to be.
I've been freecycling and craigslisting like crazy to see if I can get some huge pots and planters so we'll have enough without spending a ton of money to get a decent amount of food. I noticed that IKEA had some nice sized terra cotta pots for about $5 each, too, so those are my backup plan. : ) I'm sure we won't be able to grow enough to cover everything all winter long, but I'm hoping to be able to freeze some veggies. Unless I decide to do all sundried tomatoes, I'm sure we'll be able to get enough that I'll be able to can our own tomatoes for cooking over the winter, too.
If you ask where their seeds come from and they "lose your order," is this really someone you want to give your money to? This company is where the food your family is eating is coming from, shouldn't you trust them? Regardless, the seed company branch of Monsanto is Seminis. I e-mailed the company I bought our seeds from, www.highmowingseeds.com and asked if they have Seminis seeds or anything from Monsanto. They said they don't. Monsanto is the largest seed supplier in the U.S., so if you're buying from a commercial seed place they probably used Monsanto seeds. Super Seeds looks like a local, small operation but looks can be deceiving. E-mail them and ask about where their seed come from and if they're supplied by Seminis.