Category Archives: Garden

Choosing Seeds

This is not the first year we’ve planted a family garden. We already have 3 raised beds in place but will add some additional planting areas to increase the amount of food we’ll have available throughout the year.

At some point last year, I decided to store the seeds in a better place. Unfortunately, we haven’t found them since. Because we were getting a lower yield from the older seed, we planned to order some fresh seeds anyway. Looks like we’ll be starting fresh.

The garden was so overrun by weeds you can't even make out the lettuce.

The garden was so overrun by weeds you can’t even make out the lettuce.

In the past, we’ve order from various online seed companies and purchased seed locally. Our goal is to plant organic seeds when possible. In reality, some food varieties aren’t available as organic seed. Because of previous inconveniences with an online company we used, I decided to search the internet for a new seed company. You might notice some companies charge a premium for organic seed or sell in quantities too large for backyard garden. There’s no sense having a bunch of seed go to waste. I settled on Southern Exposure Seed Exchange because of their price and commitment to sustainable seed. Switching seed companies was a calculated risk because any delays or issues at this time of year would delay planting and could prevent spring crops from producing before the summer heat overcomes them.

Based on previous seasons and the kinds of foods our family has been eating, we decided which foods we were going to plant this season. We’ve discovered a few plants that grow better in our soil with our sun exposure. We didn’t end up ordering everything because of space and seed availability. We chose not only food but some other beneficial plants and herbs. This is what I just ordered:

Foods:

  • Edamame Soybean (Moon Cake)
  • Snap Bean, Bush (Contender)
  • Snap Bean, Pole (Kentucky Wonder)
  • Snap Pea (Sugar Snap)
  • Broccoli (Calabrese)
  • Carrot (Scarlet Nantes)
  • Sweet Corn (Silver Queen Hybrid) [Not Organic]
  • Pepper, Frying (Melrose)
  • Tomato, Paste (Roma, Virginia Select)
  • Tomato, Cherry (Matt’s Wild Cherry)
  • Yellow Crookneck Squash
  • Zucchini (Black Beauty)
  • Pumpkin (Connecticut Field)
  • Bibb Lettuce (Captain) [Not Organic]
  • Onion (Granax)

Flowers:

  • French Marigold (Spanish Brocade) [Not Organic]
  • Sunflower (Selma Suns)
  • Sunflower (Cucumber-Leaf)

Herbs:

  • Parsley (Dark Green Italian Plain Leaf)
  • Basil (Sweet Genovese)
  • Oregano (Greek)