notes: 2009 seed starting schedule

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Sat down with the seed packs, and worked out germination times. Decided which ones I can direct-sow outside and which need to be started indoors. Last frost is early-mid May.

seeds are here!

In case you can't read the Andy Rooney quote on the tomato packet there:

“The federal government has sponsored research that has produced a tomato that is perfect in every respect, except that you can’t eat it. We should make every effort to make sure this disease, often referred to as ‘progress’ doesn't spread.”

notes: 2009 seed order

After getting and perusing a whole buncha seed catalogs (Burpee, Kitchen Garden, Cook's Garden, Seeds of Change, Baker Creek, Rocky Mountain, Territorial), discussing with Bram what we'd like to (try to) grow, and cross-referencing between all the catalogs, I decided to place our whole order with Baker Creek:



These guys are crazy amazing. The head of the company is a 27-year-old who's built a seed business he started at 17 into a heritage farm/natural food demonstration village, music festival, and magazine. Did I mention this guy is only 27? They only sell open-pollinated, non-GMO, and heirloom seeds.

Here's what I ordered:
BN103 - Henderson's Black Valentine Beans
BT102 - Golden Beet
CR103 - Little Finger Carrot
CU103 - Lemon Cuke
CU104 - White Wonder Cucumber
OML107 - Tigger Melon
RD124 - Munchener Bier Radish
SQ118 - Rouge Vif d' Etampes Pumpkin
SQ159 - Honey Boat Delicata Winter Squash
TM122 - Principe Borghese Tomato
TM178 - Roma Rio Grande Tomato
TP104 - Black Prince Tomato
TS113 - Tigerella Tomato
FL240 - Sensation Mix Cosmos

the current state of things

Here's a simplified schematic of the yard as it currently stands:


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Front yard: The big tree north of the driveway is a locust, the one on the other side is an apricot. Shrubs in the front yard are (clockwise from the corner of the drive + sidewalk): chamisa, another chamisa, a sad lilac, forsythia, and two horrible junipers.

Back yard: Trees and shrubs (along the perimeter, clockwise from the northwest corner): another chamisa, crabapple, Russian Olive, 3 cypress things, an even sadder lilac, and a 3-leaf sumac. The tree in the middle of the lawn is an aspen.