SPRING! Plants'n'Parades Post
Feb. 11th, 2008 01:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenstormThis weekend Juggler and I went to West Coast Seeds on his motorcycle. It was awesome-- first getting leathered up (I have lost a lot of hip and thigh lately) and the ride out across farmland out to Delta (which was so much fun), then spending too much money on seeds (of course), and finally the ride back, dinner and talking plants.
I also went to the Chinese New Years' parade, dressed up and painted my face in red and black, and went blonde fahsion-model-alien for the day. I got to the parade early for once, got great seats across from Sun Yat Sen gardens, watched until the rain and the fucking irritating crowd (well, not the crowd, just the people who believe that a camera in hand makes it acceptable to wait in the back till the parade comes, then stand in front of the first row and run into the street to take pictures for the whole thing) drove us to Kat and Doug's where a bunch of people played the ever-so-fascinating game Rock Band and we rummaged through the pile of give-away stuff their recent move has occasioned.
Watching cooperative games is a hobby for me. Rock Band sorta breaks my mind because, if you had told me ten-twelve years ago that, what were people doing then around me, FF7 and Tomb Raider, would be replaced by people singing and playing guitar in the livingroom, I'd have been like, yeah, let's just see you get people to do that in public. I think it makes me happy.
But now on to the really important part of this post.
I also found all the seeds I was going to bring to Kelowna last year and lost last-minute, so now I have A LOT of seeds, with two duplicates. I need to get some of these things out there real soon now so they can come up in their own time. I only ever have patience int he garden, you know? The list is as follows (I still want to get a couple of things at Seedy Saturday, I need to swap with Juggler for some tomato seeds, and I need to see what Ellen has, but this is a start with year and source:
-Calendula 2007 BN
-Basil, exotic mixed, 2007, PSP (cinnamon, italian large leaf, and holy)
-Sweet Cicely 2007 BN
-Sweet marjoram, 2008, WC (need to get summer savory too)
-Red orach 2007 BN
-Arugula 2007 BN (I'd like to get some wild arugula, which is super-spicy and makes my eyes water, too)
-Shingiku 2007 BN (!!!!!!!!!!! So tasty)
-Swiss Chard, perpetual spinach, 2007, WC (green)
-Gai Lan, Veg Gin 2007 + 2008, WC (doubles of this, oh noes, have to eat more!)
-Swiss Chard, fordhook giant, 2007, WC
-Oriental Greens Mix, 2008, WC (not sure what's in it but I bet mustard and mizuna, mix of 5 things)
-Parsley, dark green italian plain, 2008, WC (does anyone else also fall-sow parsley so it's harvestable through wintertime?)
-Spinach, Tyee 2008 WC
-Climbing spinach, 2007, BP
-Kale, rainbow tuscan, 2008, WC (exciting- lacinato plus a deep red curled, not a homogenous stabilised variety but a crazy mix)
-Lettuce, Rouge d'hiver, 2007, EYA (red romaine)
-Lettuce, Merlot, 2008, WC (deep red looseleaf)
-Cape gooseberry, Poha 2007 Stellar (Juggler has Aunt Molly's, so I'll grow two kinds this year. So trendy as 'golden berries' in health food stores at enormous prices, it makes me laugh)
-Broccoli, Purple sprouting 2007 Stellar
-Onion, Rossa di Milano 2007 Stellar (red)
-Cucumber, Satusuki Midori, 2007 Stellar (produced well in Kelowna)
-Beets, Early wonder tall top, 2008 WC
-Kohlrabi, Superschmeltz, 2007, WC (super-huge variety)
-Pea, Paladio 2008 WC (bush, shelling)
-Tomato, Stupice, 2007 + 2008, WC (doubles of this one, it's a small plant but I still don't need fifty of them, very tasty and very early. Good italian rich flavour, it also re-seeded itself in time to fruit before frost once)
-Tomato, Yellow brandywine, 2008, WC (only grown once before, pretty pretty fruit)
-Tomato, Prudens' purple, 2008, WC (haven't tried it before but why not? Celebrate global warming by planting more beefsteak/long season tomatoes!)
-Tomato, Black Krim 2008 WC (AMAZING BLT tomato. CrazyChris' favourite. Been a repeat several times. Classic black tomato flavour, wonderful!)
-Tomato, Longkeeper 2008 WC (Finally, been meaning to grow this for years and see if it really does what they say and keep on a shelf fresh for a month or two)
-Tomato, Rocket 2008 WC (supposed to be early, might as well try it)
-Buckwheat, oh duh!
*BP = Buds'n'Petals
BN = Brother Nature
PSP = Planting Seeds PRoject
EYA = Environmental Youth Alliance
WC = West Coast Seeds
Stellar = Stellar Seeds
Sorry to get this out so late, Wik, I know you wanted the info a month or two ago but I just got it now.
I was gonna catalogue them (planting date? Type?) but are peas a leaf crop or a fruit crop? Beets are root or leaves? Lettuce is early or late? Now that I go through the list I think Juggler may have ended up with a packet or two of mine, a lettuce f'rinstance.
I'd like some more assorted greens, I NEED magenta spreen (aka MAGENTA LAMB'S QUARTERS), I need Sungold tomatoes, pepperonici peppers, a summer squash or two, maybe some green beans, stuff like that. I think I'm set till late March though. I wouldn't mind trying Kootenai tomato, come to think of it. Juggler has Atomic Red carrots, I'm hoping he can grow some for me, I don't have carrot soil-- though maybe in a planter box? Need summer savoury & tarragon & thyme & oregano.
The living situation will be resolved one way or the other by May 1st, so in June the tomatoes will either go outdoors in pots in a new place or outdoors in the garden here (though I may do many potted things on my deck this year, it's sunnier than the garden and the garden isn't that huge)
So picture a girl with fluffy puppy slippers sitting in the livingroom by a window past which rain sifts ceaselessly, grinning to herself and singing along loudly to 3am by Matchbox Twenty and The Wanderer by U2 and Johnny Cash cause no one else is home, and compulsively cataloguing all her seeds online while ignoring the waiting laundry. Can ya see me? Hi guys!
I also went to the Chinese New Years' parade, dressed up and painted my face in red and black, and went blonde fahsion-model-alien for the day. I got to the parade early for once, got great seats across from Sun Yat Sen gardens, watched until the rain and the fucking irritating crowd (well, not the crowd, just the people who believe that a camera in hand makes it acceptable to wait in the back till the parade comes, then stand in front of the first row and run into the street to take pictures for the whole thing) drove us to Kat and Doug's where a bunch of people played the ever-so-fascinating game Rock Band and we rummaged through the pile of give-away stuff their recent move has occasioned.
Watching cooperative games is a hobby for me. Rock Band sorta breaks my mind because, if you had told me ten-twelve years ago that, what were people doing then around me, FF7 and Tomb Raider, would be replaced by people singing and playing guitar in the livingroom, I'd have been like, yeah, let's just see you get people to do that in public. I think it makes me happy.
But now on to the really important part of this post.
I also found all the seeds I was going to bring to Kelowna last year and lost last-minute, so now I have A LOT of seeds, with two duplicates. I need to get some of these things out there real soon now so they can come up in their own time. I only ever have patience int he garden, you know? The list is as follows (I still want to get a couple of things at Seedy Saturday, I need to swap with Juggler for some tomato seeds, and I need to see what Ellen has, but this is a start with year and source:
-Calendula 2007 BN
-Basil, exotic mixed, 2007, PSP (cinnamon, italian large leaf, and holy)
-Sweet Cicely 2007 BN
-Sweet marjoram, 2008, WC (need to get summer savory too)
-Red orach 2007 BN
-Arugula 2007 BN (I'd like to get some wild arugula, which is super-spicy and makes my eyes water, too)
-Shingiku 2007 BN (!!!!!!!!!!! So tasty)
-Swiss Chard, perpetual spinach, 2007, WC (green)
-Gai Lan, Veg Gin 2007 + 2008, WC (doubles of this, oh noes, have to eat more!)
-Swiss Chard, fordhook giant, 2007, WC
-Oriental Greens Mix, 2008, WC (not sure what's in it but I bet mustard and mizuna, mix of 5 things)
-Parsley, dark green italian plain, 2008, WC (does anyone else also fall-sow parsley so it's harvestable through wintertime?)
-Spinach, Tyee 2008 WC
-Climbing spinach, 2007, BP
-Kale, rainbow tuscan, 2008, WC (exciting- lacinato plus a deep red curled, not a homogenous stabilised variety but a crazy mix)
-Lettuce, Rouge d'hiver, 2007, EYA (red romaine)
-Lettuce, Merlot, 2008, WC (deep red looseleaf)
-Cape gooseberry, Poha 2007 Stellar (Juggler has Aunt Molly's, so I'll grow two kinds this year. So trendy as 'golden berries' in health food stores at enormous prices, it makes me laugh)
-Broccoli, Purple sprouting 2007 Stellar
-Onion, Rossa di Milano 2007 Stellar (red)
-Cucumber, Satusuki Midori, 2007 Stellar (produced well in Kelowna)
-Beets, Early wonder tall top, 2008 WC
-Kohlrabi, Superschmeltz, 2007, WC (super-huge variety)
-Pea, Paladio 2008 WC (bush, shelling)
-Tomato, Stupice, 2007 + 2008, WC (doubles of this one, it's a small plant but I still don't need fifty of them, very tasty and very early. Good italian rich flavour, it also re-seeded itself in time to fruit before frost once)
-Tomato, Yellow brandywine, 2008, WC (only grown once before, pretty pretty fruit)
-Tomato, Prudens' purple, 2008, WC (haven't tried it before but why not? Celebrate global warming by planting more beefsteak/long season tomatoes!)
-Tomato, Black Krim 2008 WC (AMAZING BLT tomato. CrazyChris' favourite. Been a repeat several times. Classic black tomato flavour, wonderful!)
-Tomato, Longkeeper 2008 WC (Finally, been meaning to grow this for years and see if it really does what they say and keep on a shelf fresh for a month or two)
-Tomato, Rocket 2008 WC (supposed to be early, might as well try it)
-Buckwheat, oh duh!
*BP = Buds'n'Petals
BN = Brother Nature
PSP = Planting Seeds PRoject
EYA = Environmental Youth Alliance
WC = West Coast Seeds
Stellar = Stellar Seeds
Sorry to get this out so late, Wik, I know you wanted the info a month or two ago but I just got it now.
I was gonna catalogue them (planting date? Type?) but are peas a leaf crop or a fruit crop? Beets are root or leaves? Lettuce is early or late? Now that I go through the list I think Juggler may have ended up with a packet or two of mine, a lettuce f'rinstance.
I'd like some more assorted greens, I NEED magenta spreen (aka MAGENTA LAMB'S QUARTERS), I need Sungold tomatoes, pepperonici peppers, a summer squash or two, maybe some green beans, stuff like that. I think I'm set till late March though. I wouldn't mind trying Kootenai tomato, come to think of it. Juggler has Atomic Red carrots, I'm hoping he can grow some for me, I don't have carrot soil-- though maybe in a planter box? Need summer savoury & tarragon & thyme & oregano.
The living situation will be resolved one way or the other by May 1st, so in June the tomatoes will either go outdoors in pots in a new place or outdoors in the garden here (though I may do many potted things on my deck this year, it's sunnier than the garden and the garden isn't that huge)
So picture a girl with fluffy puppy slippers sitting in the livingroom by a window past which rain sifts ceaselessly, grinning to herself and singing along loudly to 3am by Matchbox Twenty and The Wanderer by U2 and Johnny Cash cause no one else is home, and compulsively cataloguing all her seeds online while ignoring the waiting laundry. Can ya see me? Hi guys!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Um, seeds?
Date: 2008-02-12 02:45 am (UTC)- :) I currently have three types of 'Gai Lan' And I'm gonna try to eat them all!
- Would like to try some buckwheat - have ordered oats from WCS, for autumn sowing
Odd to notice how many of your seeds are things that I have :) Also - I had intended to get my seeds 'catalogued' but so many will be going in the ground, and then I'll only have them if I can save the seeds... I've mostly gone with a separate calendar to log when things need to be started inside or direct-seeded. Need to keep track so I can improve the process next year. Started 18 seed varieties this weekend - all flowers except for cutting celery. Rudbekia, Gloriosa Daisy, Lupin, Viola, Agastache, Bee Balm, Butterfly Flower and Butterfly Bush, Lady's Mantle, Cerastium, Armeria, Jacob's Ladder, Rock Cress, Delphinium, Hollyhock, Milkweed, Malva...I think that's it.
I have some Dragon's Tongue (bush) and some French Fillet (climbing) beans on order, and can spare you some. Also, open-pollinated light green pattypan, and a climbing round zuchinni all from WCS. Hoping to save some seed this coming season, but worried about the neighbours' gardens cross-pollinating.
Tomatoes:
Lee Williams Cherry
Black Cherry
Gardeners's Delight
Sunshine Yellow
Ildi (currant type)
Cuidad Victoria
Black Plum
Amish Paste
Principe Borghese
Re: Um, seeds?
Date: 2008-02-12 02:53 am (UTC)I'd love some viola seeds if you have spare.
Those beans would be very welcome, aren't the dragon's tongue pretty? I'd love to try the Ildi, Amish Paste, Principe Borghese, maybe a black cherry, and of course Black Plum. Do you want anything off my list?
Tell me if Gardener's Delight cracks as badly for you as it did for me.
Re: Um, seeds?
Date: 2008-02-13 12:54 am (UTC)Re: Um, seeds?
Date: 2008-02-13 01:00 am (UTC)Tomatillos would rock.
Remind me closer to the day, I for sure want you to have them but I've such an awful memory.
It's just Poha, from Stellar seeds.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-12 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-12 08:04 pm (UTC)