Seed Orders For 2017 Outdoor Garden ... Part 2

This is part 2 of the post: Seed Orders For 2017 Outdoor Garden ... Part 1

I bought these seeds from Park Seed  Park Seed  during a sale and free shipping! They are Zinnias, Rudbeckia, Marigolds, Basil, Cilantro, Tomatoes, Coleus, Cosmos, Radish.

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Cilantro will be used to make pesto. cilantro pesto recipe

Basil will be used to make basil pesto. basil pesto recipe

Nasturtium will be used near the vegetables because they deter some pests and is a great tasting edible flower. Nasturtium .

Marigold will also be used because it looks good and deters some pests and attacks pollinators.
marigolds

Cosmos will be used to attract pollinators

Coleus will be used in shady areas. 

Seed Orders For 2017 Outdoor Garden ... Part 1

I try to order seeds early to make sure I have them. I put my seed inventory into a few categories:

1. Old seeds
2. Seed saved seeds
3. New seeds

I make sure I have plenty of seeds of the plants I want to grow. I tend to start them earlier than I should to make sure I have enough plants. I try to use up the old seeds and then use the seed saved seeds. I also grow about 50% more plants than what I need. There is nothing worse than a possible blank spot in the garden. Or not having enough of your favorite plants. It is better to have seeds left over than missing plants at planting time. 

I bought these seeds from Johnnys  Johnny's Selected Seeds   during a sale. They are Zinnias, Rudbeckia, Coneflower, Lettuce mix, Kale, Collared Greens, Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Broccoli, Cherry Tomato

The flowers are annuals. The collard greens, cherry tomatoes, lettuce mix, lettuce, swiss chard, kale will keep producing new harvests. 

I will use succession planting to supplement the broccoli and lettuce growth. 

As you can see from previous posts, I use a lot of zinnias and rudbeckia in the flower garden. They attract bees, blooms last a long time, and the plants can handle the local climate.  

Seedling Status 4/26/16

The process I use to start all plants from seed is basically the same. Go to the links below to see the sequence. I get good results from this process and have been using it for 10 years.

To see seedling status on 3/14/16 go here: Seedling Status 3/14/16 

To see how I start zinnias from the beginning go here: Seed Saving And Starting Zinnias 

To see how I start lettuce from the beginning go here: Seed Starting Bibb Butter Crunch Lettuce 

I also water the plants very sparingly every day. Remember to water the soil, not the plant. Cuts down on potential for spreading disease.

Full trays of the same thing are labeled with one name tag until they are transplanted into bigger peat pots. Then each plant is given a unique tag with its name and start date. You may have to shift things around in the trays and not labeling each one will cause planting errors.

I keep the lights on 12 hours a day using an automatic timer.

All seedlings shown were started on 3/14/16

Collard Greens and Kale left, balance Zinnias

Zinnias left, Nasturtiums in the back, Coleus foreground

Mixed tray left, Zinnias left rear, Cilantro front, Marigold in rear

Mostly Zinnias, few Nasturtiums in rear 

Zinnias with 2 Marigolds in the center

Tomatoes, Rudbeckia in tray

Marigolds on left, Calendula rear right, some Kale and Nasturtium

Seedling Update - Tomatoes - 04-14-2013

A continuation of previous posts.

Tomatoes

More to follow tomorrow !!!!

Mortgage Lifter Tomato - Picture Of The Day 12/26/2012

Mortgage Lifter tomato. My signature "fruit" in the garden. All meat on the inside. Perfect for sandwiches and salads. A meal in itself.

What I Grow Part 2

This is a continuation of a previous post.

Yukon Gold potatoes:

Two pound beefsteak tomatoes:

Broccoli:

Cilantro to make pesto:

Black currants to make jam:

Basil to make pesto and tomato sauce:

Strawberries:

What I Grow Part 1

 I decided to post some photos of the different produce (not the total quantity of each) I grow.  Here we go:

San Marzano tomatoes to make tomato sauce:

Small Watermelon:

Peppers:

Beans:

Squash:

Hybrid Or Heirloom Plants - A Case Study In Resistance To Tomato Blight

I grow heirloom plants and I try to seed save as much as possible. One summer helped solidify my view  on the subject.

A few years ago, the summer was especially wet and overcast. I planted my heirloom tomatoes in early June. I did notice they were about 2 weeks behind the typical growing schedule. The weather continued the same way. I don't go to garden centers or any garden clubs.  I started to hear at the supermarket check-outs snippets about tomatoes going bad but thought nothing of it. Finally in July  one of my neighbors asked if my tomatoes are dead. I said they are fine. She gave me a strange look like they didn't believe me. I walk my dog regularly and decided to try to find neighbor's tomatoes and look at their condition.  All of the tomatoes I saw were covered with a black mold and looked dead. I got on the Internet and found out there was a terrible tomato infestation caused by centrally grown hybrid plants getting infected and spreading the tomato blight disease to the entire area.

Here is a link to learn about the disease:
http://www.longislandhort.cornell.edu/vegpath/photos/lateblight_tomato.htm
(Thanks to Cornell Co-Op Extension)

I immediately went out into the yard and inspected the tomatoes. Some had a few symptoms but all were growing and producing fruit. The garden centers destroyed their plants. Local officials were recommending  destruction of in-ground tomatoes to destroy the disease. I kept plugging along. I kept physical contact with the plant to a minimum and made sure I watered the soil and not the plant.  I stayed away from other tomato plants in general.

The end of year production was down but all of my plants survived. This made me a believer in heirloom plants. They clearly had superior resistance to the tomato blight.