My Grandma Jensen gave Jeff a gift certificate to our favorite seed company, Seed Savers, for his birthday, bless her heart! We had so much fun going through Seed Savers Catalog together and exploring all the possibilities for this year’s garden (we’d been excitedely looking through Seed Savers, planning our next garden since the middle of winter!) 🙂
And before we know it, it’s planting time!
We ordered seeds from Seed Savers & had many seeds that we saved ourselves from last year. Then we headed out to the garden & got busy!Our two little greenhouses are completely full now and we have some trays inside by the woodstove.
Here’s what we’ve planted so far:
–Cucumbers (Snow Fancy Pickling, Straight Eight) so we will have some regular size cucumbers to eat fresh and some for making our homemade pickles we love so much!
–Flowers (Yarrow, Night Phlox, Purple Coneflower aka Echinacea, Star of the Veld, California Poppy, Zinnia) we love flowers in the garden, they bring so much color & beauty. We have lots of flowers that come back every year & delight us (Dahlias, Calendula, Peony, Rhododendron, Trilliums, Bleeding Hearts, Fuschias, Forget me nots, Lupins, Snapdragons, Hollyhocks, Honeysuckle, St. John’s Wort, Lilacs, Columbines, Astillbes, Primroses, Roses, Gladiolas, Irises, Daffodils, Tulips, Candy Tuft, Alliums, Camelias, Clematis, Water Irises, Forsithias, Nasturtiums, Geraniums…can you tell we like flowers?) 🙂
–Squash (Summer Crookneck, Thelma Sander’s Sweet Potato, Australian Butter, Potimarron, Waltham Butternut, Lady Godiva, Wood’s Prolific Bush Scallop, Black Beauty Zucchini) we love to eat squash throughout the summer & store a bunch for the winter, the winter squashes keep so well in the pantry.
–Cauliflower (Purple Cape, Early Dawn) excited to try the purple kind for the first time this year!
–Broccoli (from seeds we saved from last year. The germination rate is incredible, they take a lot of thinning.)
–Tomatoes (Mexico Midget, Brandywine/Sudduth’s, Cherry- an unknown varitey I’ve been saving seeds from each year because it’s so delicious) I’m already imagining the incredible taste of those cherry tomatoes! Looking forward to trying some new kinds this year I’ve never tasted before.
–Herbs (Sweet Marjoram, Golden Marguerite- a type of Chamomile, Triple Curled Parsley, Sweet Genovese Basil, Cinnamon Basil, Florence Fennel, Hyssop, Russian Tarragon, Thyme, Green Culinary Sage, Cilantro, Chives) we want to expand our herb garden this year. the herbs we already have in our garden are: several kinds of Mint including Pineapple Mint, Lemonbalm, Lavender, Rosemary, some Chives, and Oregeno. We are looking forward to all these new additions!
–Lettuce (many different kinds) we can never grow too much lettuce! love to eat fresh salad greens every day!
–Kale (Lacinato, Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch) have lots of Red Russian coming up from last year, wanted to try some new kinds. We love Kale & eat a lot of it. It grows for most of the year in our garden & we can enjoy it before anything else is ready in the garden. Lots of vitamins too!
–Peppers (Santa Fe Grande, Fish, Jalepenos- a variety my grandmother saved for us, Joe’s Long Cayenne) We love peppers, we like our food Spicy!
–Kohl Rabi (Purple Vienna) Tried Kohl Rabi for the first time last year, now I’m hooked! It’s delicious!
–Melons (Golden Midget Watermelon) Jeff loves watermelons so much, but usually they never finish in time. This variety is supposed to be faster & good for Northern climates! Yay!
–Peas
So many things are coming up on their own already in the garden. Kale, Chives, Chard, Strawberries, Mustard greens, Watercress, Sorrel..
We still have lots more seeds to plant!
–Flowers– Sweet Peas (so fragrant & beautiful!), Sunflowers (lots of different kinds..we Love sunflowers & like to plant a lot), Empress of India Nasturtium (beautiful & edible flowers look gorgeous in salads!),
–Root Crops -Chioggia Beet (looks like a bullseye, can’t wait to try them), Purple Top White Globe Turnip, Radishes (icicle & regular), Carrots (rainbow colored ones & purple) , Detroit Dark Red Beets, and Rutabagas (American Purple Top.)
We planted a Nettles patch at our place this Spring and harvested enough Nettles to last us throughout the winter, until we can pick again next Spring. It will be nice to have our own little patch here eventually.
We have a lot of Blueberry starts planted in the garden that are looking beautiful. Once we tear down the old greenhouse, we are going to plant a Blueberry patch there!
Okay, I’m making myself hungry talking about all this food, gotta go get a snack! 🙂
Happy Planting~!
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