Last year we managed to meet most of our vegetable garden goals. We added bees in the spring, and in the summer months we finally built our retaining wall, which facilitated the construction of the greenhouse in the garden.
This year, with a greenhouse, we're able to keep the potting soil out of the kitchen!
This year we’re hoping to put the greenhouse to good use, in between a myriad of other construction projects, including building a barn, another retaining wall, and getting the last of the raised vegetable garden beds built.
The challenge this year will be weaving seed starting, and planting, in between the other projects, and our daily chores, but hopefully, with careful planning and organization, we’ll be able to keep the garden on track.
As we had amazing weather through most of December and January, we spent most of that time outside, doing vole abatement, replanting fruit trees, and brush clearing. That meant that seed ordering was delayed a little longer than usual.
A few of our favorite catalogs
However, to make up for 2 months without rain in winter, this last week we received over 7 inches of rain! This drove us inside, and gave us time to plan the garden for this year, and get the last of our seeds ordered.
It was time to dig through the seed stores, to see what stock we had on hand
I tried not to order any seed this year. For 2012, rather than bringing in lots of new varieties, we expected we’d just focus on using our existing seed stores, as we’re now at the point where we can focus primarily on those varieties that have proven themselves in our gardens.
It looks like we have plenty of seed, but there was room for a few new additions
Despite the seed drawers brimming over with seed packets, we did decide to make a few additions this year, but we’ll also be sowing a lot of our previous favorites.
New to the garden this year, artichokes, eggplant, and gourds! In between the raindrops this last weekend we managed to transplant out the first of our artichoke seedlings.
Artichoke Violetta di Romagna
Here’s our seed list for 2012:
Artichokes: Violetta di Romagna, Green Globe
Asian Greens: Red Komatsuna, Mei Qing Choi, Mizuna (Green and Purple), Tatsoi
Beans (Bush): Maxibel, Roc D’Or, Purple Queen
Scarlet runner beans are attractive to hummingbirds, and bees
Beans (Pole): Scarlet Runner, Spanish Musica, True Red Cranberry
Beets: Bull’s Blood, Chioggia, and Golden
Broccoli: Calabrese
Carrots: Danvers, Scarlet Nantes
Chard: Golden, Fordhook Giant, Rhubarb Red
Cucumber: Delikatesse, Japanese Climbing
Eggplant: Listada De Gandia
Garlic: California Early White
If our birdhouse gourds do well, we hope to make a few bird houses for the feathered inhabitants of the farm
Gourd: Birdhouse
Kale: Red Russian, Lacinato
Leeks: Blue Solaise, and Giant Musselburgh
Lettuce: Merveille des Quatre Saisons, Mascara, Red, and Green, Oak Leaf
Onion: Candy (storage)
Parsnip: Javelin
Peas: Oregon Sugar Pod II, Progress #9
Peppers: Quadrato D’asti Rosso Pepper, Tolli’s Sweet Italian; Bulgarian Carrot, Jalapeño (Traveler Strain), and Villancho
Potatoes: German Butterball, Russian Banana, and Purple Majesty
Our watermelon radish seeds arrived the same day as the current issue of Sunset magazine, which has a feature article on them this month!
Radish: Cherry Belle, Chinese Red Meat (aka Watermelon), and French Breakfast
Sorrel: Red-Veined
Spinach: Bloomsdale, Monstreux de Viroflay spinach
Squash (Summer): Black Beauty, and Cocozelle Zucchini
Greek Sweet Red looks like a butternut, but has a more intense color, and flavor
Squash (Winter): Boston Marrow, Galeux d’Esyines, Greek Sweet Red, Marina di Chiogga, Musquee de Provence, Pink Banana, Potimarron, and Waltham Butternut
Tomatillo: Verde
This year we’re decreasing the variety of tomatoes we’re growing while we embark on an experiment with grafting tomatoes. The last two years we’ve had erratic summer weather, with temperatures significantly cooler than normal. The tomatoes not only produced lower than normal yields of fruits, but they also were more prone to disease. As tomatoes are a tremendous investment of time and resources, being seeded in mid-February for a summer harvest, we’d like to attempt to improve the season’s harvest, both in yield, and duration, through grafting. We’ll get more into the mechanics of tomato grafting in future posts, but we’re hoping to avoid another disappointing harvest, like last year’s.
Overall the 2011 heirloom tomato harvest was disappointing. We're hoping grafting will produce healthier plants, and increase yield
Tomatoes: Argentina, Beam’s Yellow Pear, Black Cherry, Black Pear, German Orange Strawberry (sport from saved seed), Golden King of Siberia, Pineapple, Russian Persimmon, Salisaw Cafe, San Marzano (Lungo 2), Stupice.
In addition to all these vegetables, the herb garden will be well stocked too. Anticipating a better tomato crop this year, we’ll have plenty of Genovese basil ‘nufar’.
Honey bee on fennel
Rosemary, sage, lemon thyme, and oregano will be in abundance, delighting the bees, in addition to parsley, dill, chervil, chocolate mint, fennel, and lemon verbena. New to the herb garden this season, sweet mace, and cumin!
Needless to say, both the greenhouse, and gardens will be very busy this spring.
The propagation bench is already getting crowded, with lots of native annual and perennial seedlings!
The greenhouse is already full of native plant seedlings, including Globe Gilia (Gilia capitata), Coast Buckwheat (Eriogonum latifolium), California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum), and Golden Yarrow (Eriophyllum confertiflorum).
In a few months, the bees will be lining up to visit these Globe Gilias when they're in bloom
These will soon have to move over though, to make way for our tomatoes and peppers.
Also new to the seed order this year, and perhaps the seed we’re most excited to plant, is this…
In anticipation of our soon-to-be-arriving goats, this season we're planting a dairy pasture mix on the meadow.
But before the goats arrive, we have some seed sowing to do! More about the goats soon though, I promise!
And I thought I had a lot of seed….can;t wait to hear about the tomatoes…it is always hit or miss for me with disease and low harvest…last year was bad…hopefully we will have a nice yield of many varieties…then we will check them to see what we like the best for future crops…
We certainly have a few favorite tomatoes that have consistently (last year excepted) performed well for us. Last year was so all around disappointing though, that it’s worth giving grafting a go. I’m hoping the grafts take, as we’ve never tried this before!
I am quite interested in the red runner beans. You have quite an aggressive plan for a garden. We, too, are looking to starting seeds. Our tomatoes the first year here did not thrive–heck, they died. Each year, too, we say we will just rely on our existing seed supply, but the Mr. went to the nursery today and came home with a handful of packets. Our tomatoes last year were pretty ugly, as well. Many complained about troubled tomatoes. I will keep watching to see how well your green house produces.
The scarlet runner beans bring a great tall splash of color to the garden. They’re not my favorite eating-wise, but everything else seems to enjoy them, so we have fun planting them. I agree, it seemed like it was a dismal year for many people last year on the tomato-front. Crossing my fingers we all have a better harvest this year!
My, are you organized and ready for next year. Glad you are getting the needed rain. Seems to fit “When it rains, it pours.” 7 inches must help tremendously.
The 7 inches of rain was definitely needed. The only trouble is, it tripped a mudslide above our road. I’m hoping we’ll dry out a little now before the next round. I think that was just a little too much all at once 😉
Clare,
Quite a big list of seeds. Looks like that greenhouse will be a busy place for the next few months. I didn’t see lavender on your list is it too wet there for lavender? The bee club had a speaker from a lavender farm, she told us two staggered rows of lavender is a great deer repellant and deer will not got near it.
You know, I didn’t even think to list the lavender, which is silly, as we do grow the culinary Lavender ‘Provence’. You’re right, the deer don’t touch it! As such, we don’t plant it in the garden, which is why I didn’t think about it, as it’s one of the very few plants, along with rosemary, and thyme, that we can plant outside of the deer fence without it getting eaten! I think we’re up to about a dozen lavender plants now, but I’m plotting and scheming to add a little more outside the fence 😉
I like all the variety you are adding. I want to add some other varieties to my regular planting seeds. I have been perusing the seed catalogs…I see many possibilities…
The only trouble with adding more, is knowing where to stop! 😉
Love your seed cupboard…so sweet. We had a cool wet summer last year so this year I am trying a few new Tomato varieties. Auroro which is a Siberian bush variety and is said to do well in cool conditions. Also got Arctic Circle which was bred in Canada so should do ok too. Got these from Irish Seed Savers.
Thanks, I had to hunt for a while, but it’s old antique library card catalog. I had difficult time finding one that wasn’t too big. This one is just big enough, but small enough to fit on my desk. The seed packets fit in there quite nicely too, and best of all, it lets the seeds breathe, so moisture doesn’t get trapped.
We usually plant a few Russian/Siberian tomatoes, in addition to some heat loving varieties. That way if we get an exceptionally hot, or cold summer, we’re usually covered. Last summer was an exception though! 😯
Wow, that’s quite a few projects going on! I am so impressed with your drawers full of seeds – it looks like such a treasure trove! I am very interested to hear about your grafting. And congratulations on the goats!
It is a bit of a treasure trove. It’s fun to dig through and find varieties of seeds I’d forgotten I have, but also a little frustrating sometimes when I can’t find something I’m looking for. I’m trying to get a bit better organized though 😉 Hope to have more on the grafting soon, it’s almost time to start sowing seeds, although first, I need to construct a healing chamber for the grafted plants…
You grow a great variety of things, and they all seem so interesting. I’m trying to downsize this year, as last year’s garden was too big for us to properly tend. Good luck with all your seeds! Glad to hear you got some rain!
We so needed the rain! Although I’m grateful it stopped for a while. We’ve downsized the number of varieties of things like squash and tomatoes this year, but we’ve also decided to add more planting beds 😉
What an adventure! A new greenhouse and new seedlings to come up,…I bet the winter will fly by for you. I simply must get my deer fence up. And I will keep notes on some of your veggies to try.
We’re so busy at the moment that my calendar is booked through the start of spring! As far as I’m concerned, winter is almost over, at least in as much as I feel I have a LOT to get done before spring!
I’m excited for your plans! I’m especially interested to see how the tomato grafting works for you. I’m amazed by your seed collection. I like the storage drawers you have for the packets, and I totally understand the desire for new seeds even though you’re bursting with seeds. Looking forward to following your progress.
I’m crossing my fingers on the grafting. I plan to plant a few extra root stock seeds, and probably a few extra heirlooms too. I’m sure there’ll be a few grafting casualties as we learn how to do this! 😛
Clare, I love the little red runner bean flower – I have never grown beans before – I think I need to try them.
Thanks for the advice about attracting new birds – I got some new visitors 🙂
Even if you’re not a fan of eating beans, some of the varieties are beautiful as ornamental plants. We actually don’t eat the runner beans, but grow them just to give some height to that part of the garden, and keep our hummingbirds happy. The purple queen variety of bush beans we grow have some lovely violet blooms too. I think the ornamental value of these plans is often overlooked.
I am looking forward to reading about your goats! Your life seems very rich, full of down-to-earth experiences and creative endeavors. Hard work in the soil, wonderful meals from the fruit of your labor – if everyone lived such a rewarding lifestyle, the world would be blessed and a far more peaceful place!
I totally agree with you!
Hard work in the soil…that was sooooo true this last week as we moved more than 250 cubic feet of saturated soil to set up the goat barn foundation! My back took three days to recover 😉 I’m lucky to live here, and I know that, and I love every minute of it!
It’s exciting just reading through your post of what you plan to sow. I wish we had the space to grow so many varieties of things. I hope this is a better year for tomatoes, we had terrible luck the last two years.
I LOVE your seed storage!
I think we both were hit with the unseasonably cool summer temperatures the last two years. I keep hoping for a “normal” year, but I’m not sure what that is these days. Instead I’m trying to get better about planning for either eventuality. The way we’re going this winter, next summer we’ll be mired in drought! 😯
It’s so hard not to order new seeds! I’ve been going through catalogues and trying to keep my list small this year but inevitably there’s something that tempts me. Curious to hear about grafting tomatoes. I’ve never heard of this practice before.
I only heard of tomato grafting a few years ago. Part of the reason why heirlooms aren’t produced on the same scale as grocery store varieties is they’re more disease prone. If grafting to healthy root stock means a better yield of heirlooms though, I’m certainly game to try it! 🙂
Hi Clare,
Seeds???!!! I really am getting behind in the gardening stakes at the moment!
Good luck with yours, and I hope the vole numbers are kept down this year 🙂
The good news is that this morning we had a red-shouldered hawk perched on the arbor above last summer’s squash patch. We’ve cleared it completely, except for a few artichoke transplants. I’m hoping he was perched there because he’s been finding, and CATCHING, voles!
Clare, I’ve been eating a lot of those German butterball potatoes recently; a great choice! (Greek sweet red squash also looks intriguing.)
I don’t know if you’ve seen the Versatile Blogger award going around (or perhaps have already been so honored). Anyway, I’ve named you as one of my “versatile bloggers.” You can learn more here: http://jeansgarden.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/versatility/
No Pressure on this; I am not offended at all if people choose to ignore these awards. -Jean
German Butterball did fabulously well for us last year, and I love both the flavor, and the texture of those little golden orbs…but I am a bit of a spud fiend 😛
Thank you so much for bestowing us with the Versatile Blogger Award. We’ve certainly drifted from just being a gardening blog, but I do enjoy writing about everything that goes on here. I’ll be happy to participate, but it might be a week or two before I can comply, as I’m up to my ears in goat preparations! As such, blogging in general is a struggle at the moment!
I love your seed storage.. it is brilliant. It surely beats mine which is that mini-drawer directly into the sink front that only is about 1 inch tall after it is closed… yeah, I have all of mine stuff in that.
Until I found this nifty set of drawers, I actually stored mine in a plastic box that was designed for photo storage. Inside the box there were 10 individual little boxes, and they fit the seeds perfectly. That box just didn’t look as good in the office 😉 I’ll probably still use the plastic ones in the greenhouse though, to help keep things organized out there.
Hi Clare! Just popped by to say ‘hi’ and that I’m coveting all the wonderful vegetables you can grow on your farm! Also – my very favorite beans of all time are the Spanish Musica – great choice! And nice gourd birdhouse, too!! I have one in my garden, but I bought it from a craft fair and they drilled the hole way too big so no birds feel safe going inside. Oh well – it still looks cute. Yours looks perfect!!
Wow Clare, you are amazing! I enjoyed reading your seed growing list. I love scarlet runner beans. That bit of red draws the hummingbirds in their brief migration through here. Love your greenhouse!
FWIW, I’ve had great success with growing the birdhouse gourds in the past, and birds really seem to take to them. Our beloved Eastern Bluebirds readily nested in them, as did several other cavity nesting songbirds.
I hope the Viroflay spinach does as well for you as it is doing here. With our mild winter, it has been going strong since late last fall.
And let me say what a lovely seed storage cabinet you have! Looks like it is antique and made of beautiful oak.
Oh man. Can this be like Willy Wonka-vision where I just reach through my monitor and grab my own amazing greenhouse and beautiful seed-storage cabinet?