Seed Inventory 2018, changes

My big three: Baker Creek, Pinetree & Seed Savers Exchange.  

Seed catalogs started arriving in the mail the week before Thanksgiving.  It's time to get a grip on what I already have here before I go crazy ordering a bunch of stuff that won't get planted.

Lying in bed pondering our options, dreaming big dreams.

Things are going to have to be scaled way back next summer because of some yet undisclosed major life changes happening here so I'm not sure it's a great idea to be buying anything extra at this point anyway.  There's going to be zero time to give to the garden from about mid-June to August (pretty much my whole season) and I'm not sure how to manage the space just yet so it doesn't go completely to hell.

Maybe a big part of the garden could be direct sown with cutting flowers or a wildflower mix, which would look nice. OR I could get a couple of hives over here and put in a bunch of buckwheat for buckwheat honey, that would be fun too.  And less work. The bees could go back to living in the chicken yard.  I wonder if the geese would bother them too much, the chickens and ducks have always just ignored hives. We'll see.

Here's what is in my seed drawer, along with some notes.  Anything highlighted is something that needs to be bought. 

Greens

Cooking greens: Orach, Tatsoi, Spinach, Fordhook Swiss Chard.  We loved having cooking greens last season and cooked them all kinds of ways, plus froze some.  Big win.

"Salad" type greens:  Lettuce mix, Mesclun mix, Forellenschluss, Yugoslavian Red Butterhead.  Fresh greens in stores here are terrible.  It's a great pleasure to have them growing in the garden.

Herbs

Purple basil, Genovese basil, chamomile, Anise Hyssop, Cilantro, Calendula

(Established in the garden: mint, sage, rosemary, thyme. Parsley will come back this year too)

Soft fruits

Alpine strawberry: Alexandria, Regina.  I have a beautiful bed of probably 30 plants already so I'm not sure I'll finish these packets.

Ground cherry. I would like to plant these this season.

Root crops

Radish, purple top turnip, parsnip, carrot mix.  Not sure what of these will actually get planted.

Potato: last year was awful and my yield was less that I planted. I'm tired of feeding mice. Order fingerling potato & figure out some method of growing them above ground.

Beans

Mix of green/yellow/purple bush beans for fresh eating.  Maybe buy some more of these for a fall crop.

Black eyed peas have been in the drawer awhile.  Probably time to admit they're not getting planted.

Lima: Dixie speckled Butterpea

Fava: Sweet Loraine, Extra precoce a grano violetto.  What a joy fava beans were to discover.

Dry beans: Hutterite soup

Peas

Sugar snap, Oregon sugar pod.

Tomato

Beefsteak, Pineapple, Plum lemon, Striped Roman, Brandy wine, Black krim, Indigo apple, Hillbilly potato leaf.  YES to lots of tomatoes.  If there isn't time to can them they can be tossed in the freezer whole.

Peppers  NONE buy transplants: Thai, Jalapeno, Bell type, King of the North.  These are worth the space and time.  ONE organic bell pepper costs $3.99 here in the dead of winter.  Like tomatoes, they can just be tossed in the freezer whole.

Summer Squash  NONE just buy a pack of transplants for zucchini.  We do love zucchini.

Winter Squash

Spaghetti, Jumbo pink banana, Jarrahdale, Thelma sanders, Long island cheese, Acorn, Sugar pie, butternut, Austrian butter.  They store well and there's no hurry to get them picked. 

Gourds/Pumpkins

Conneticut field, Birdhouse, mystery mix from Farm Aid

Other Veg

Broccoli Raab  there's not much in the packet but I think it will do

Carentan leek

Bruswick cabbage

Brussell sprouts

Eggplant Thai lavendar frog egg - probably won't plant these.

Cucumber

Flowers

Sunflower: Mammoth grey striped, mix

Zinnia - chartruse

Nasturtium mix

Cannas & Dahlias in the basement in storage

Whew, that's it.  Time to get the catalogs back out, take another look and make some choices.