Challenges: Ugh. Well, at least I started the day with water.
Big Day! The yard is mulched, the dahlia tubers dug up. I spread the equivalent of about twenty-five bags of leaves throughout the garden and especially in a section of new garden ground to be broken next spring. I fell and hurt my ^$%^*& knee, and my ankle and my arm about two hours after wrapping up the hard core garden work. Fortuitous timing, if the universe was determined to exact some hobbling payment. But my eyes and fingers work, so the inventory and ordering is complete.
The spring of 2020 scarred me. I already have a poverty mindset when it comes to purchasing items that may run out. Spring of 2020, having multiple seed companies unable/unwilling to allow customers to communicate with them at all by any method (Pinetree Seeds), which means no cancelling an order, not knowing when you were getting your seeds, then you get your seeds weeks AFTER you gave up and purchased leftovers elsewhere. [insert expletive] In June!!! OR, perhaps home growers were told a couple of weeks before your potatoes were going to be SHIPPED, that their orders were out of stock? Ever tried to buy seed potatoes in APRIL during a PANDEMIC? Yeah, no (High Mowing Seeds). Finding the potatoes I wanted was not happening, so I went with different types from a local farmer’s market shop who had a couple pounds of seed potatoes left over. I was one of the lucky ones. Hashtag Blessed.
So this year, I bought my potatoes today. Four different types instead of two, so if Johnny’s or Renee’s cancels my order, I hopefully have a back-up. I have the rareseeds catalogue coming, yet there are a few items I want that are not common to most seed vendors, therefore I grabbed those now so have a better chance of actually receiving the seeds. Most of the time, if the item listing doesn’t say Out Of Stock, you should be fine, but 2020 showed me otherwise.
Have a few favorite youtube gardeners I watch. If I get a sense our palates are similar (we like the same tomatoes or level of heat in a pepper), I will make note of their recommendations.
James Prigioni recommends, and cut open and ate on video – a Sugar Cube cantaloupe. Picked up one very expensive packet at Johnny’s seeds. I hope their employees are paid well, as I want to know those prices are supporting employees and not just an owner.
Sharon’s Home Garden recommended the Jasper tomato. Also picked that up at Johnny’s seeds.
Mark’s Garden Life. He does one of the most detailed tomato taste tests I have seen online. He also does a garden tour like James Prigioni and I do, excitedly and like we are sharing the secrets of life when we talk about our veggies. Thanks to Mark, I hit Renaissance farms for an unadmittable number of tomato seeds. Mark recc’d Virginia Sweets, Ananas Noire and Oaxacan Jewel.
I am excited to try my new veggie varieties next year!
Grateful For:
-Found a peanut!!! Shelled, in my garden, where I planted them! I thought I didn’t get any, but I got at least one! Peanuts, up north! Yeah I’m excited.
-Getting hurt AFTER all the labor intensive outdoor work is complete
-A calm is beginning to settle in the household. Peace, grateful for it always.
Godspeed Y’all.
This content was previously written to ensure this was a true series, and to share insights.
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Resources:
https://youtu.be/0AgJpvjrzMw Mark’s Garden Life
https://youtu.be/m2D9b1JbBOU Sharon’s Home and Garden
https://youtu.be/Zop98i1TiNI James Prigioni
https://www.reneesgarden.com/ Seeds of many different vegetables
https://renaissancefarms.org/ Renaissance Farms – Tomatoes mostly, best reputable source for hard to find types.
https://www.johnnyseeds.com/ Seeds of many different vegetables
The End