It won't stop snowing on my SPRING! Wow, the weather has been uncommonly crappy. Snow, snow, rain, snow, su . . . nope, snow, rain . . . and on it goes.
But I'm not daunted. I
will have a beautiful garden this year! But it has really gotten me thinking even
more seriously about the whole diversity issue, and making sure I have a variety of plants so that at least some of them will do well in these days of erratic weather. If summer doesn't come - and I've been told that it may not - I need to be prepared. But there are lots of things that grow well in cooler weather, so I'll be stocking up on seeds for those - lettuces, kale, broccoli, parsley, cilantro, peas, potatoes, carrots, mustards. Yep, I'll be just fine.
Last week was the grower's meeting at the Cortes Natural Food Co-op. I really enjoy those meetings. It's great to meet the other
local growers, and always heartening to hear about their difficulties and successes, and learn what they're doing. Everyone is very open and happy to share their knowledge. I really am grateful to live where I do.
I'll attach the information that they give us at the meeting. They are so awesome to put this information together for the growers. It shows us what is already being grown, what they have to order off-island for, and so we can plan our gardens around what is needed at the co-op. They are very open with their information. And they're all just so . . . nice.
I am going to concentrate on broccoli, lettuce,
tomatoes and sweet peppers this year. Next year, when I hopefully have a bigger
greenhouse, I'll be concentrating on getting earlier produce, and really go for the peppers and and cucumbers in summer, and lettuces and greens in the winter, along with early and late tomatoes and zucchini. I'll also be growing everything else, and all of our own veggies will come from the garden, so there will be a great diversity of things growing. And I can never have enough broccoli.
I didn't get many seeds saved last year, as I didn't really grow a wide variety of things, but I have some tomato seeds from two varieties, some radish and lettuce seeds, many herb seeds, and I'll let some of the overwintered kale go to seed this year, so I'll have that for next year. This year I'll concentrate more on seed saving, as I would eventually like to not have to order seeds every spring. Unless I see something that I simply MUST try. (Any orange and yellow open-pollinated tomato seeds are always on my list!)
So! Most of the seeds on my list this year are from Salt Spring Seeds, some from Linnaea Farm (local
permaculture farm of awesomeness), and some from West Coast Seeds.
List of seeds
Amish Snap Peas - Linnaea Farm
Carouby
de Mausanne Snow
Pea SSS
Ruckle - white kidney bean SSS
Gramma Walter Dry Pole Bean Linnaea Farm
Green Romaines:
Valmaine (SSS)
Bunyard’s Matchless (SSS)
Craquerelle du Midi (SSS)
Linnaea Leeks (winter)
Bleu de Solaise Leek (winter) SSS
Kind Richard Leeks (summer) SSS
He Shi Ko Bunching Onion SSS
Kincho Scallions SSS
Golden Treasure Sweet Pepper (yellow) SSS
Italian Sweet (red) SSS
Joe’s Long Cayenne SSS
Marketmore 76 cucumber SSS
Telegraph Improved cucumber TSC
Taxi tomato - saved seed from last year (WCS) yellow
Jaune Flamme tomato (SSS) orange
Stupice tomato (SSS) red
Waltham broccoli (SSS)
Nutri-Bud broccoli (SSS)
Di Cicco broccoli (WCS)
Toscano Kale SSS
Laurel’s Frilly Kale SSS
Slo-bolt Cilantro SSS
Summer Savory WCS
Winter Savory WCS
Parsley Darki SSS
Parsley Survivor SSS
Lovage
Conquistador Celery
Paris Gold Celery
Gold Nugget Winter Squash SSS
Kakai Edible-seed Pumpkin SSS
Minnesota Midget Melon SSS
Carolina
Organic potatoes WCS
Sieglinde Organic potatoes WCS
Goldrush Organic potatoes WCS
Imperial Star Organic artichoke WCS
Some of these seeds will be grown out and harvested just for seed. Most are to test out different varieties to see how they grow here the way I garden. I'm looking for specific traits, so some of these may or may not make into next year's garden. For instance, I'm looking for lettuces that are both heat tolerant, as well as good at growing in the winter here. And I'm looking for broccoli varieties that I can grow spring, summer and late fall. I'm sure I'll find some more seeds that I just have to have. I'll find
somewhere to put them . . .
~
And that's it for now. I think I'm going to put some peas in the ground, even if we're likely to get more snow. It's not supposed to get very cold again, so maybe they'll be fine. I just have to get
something in the ground. You know how it is.
Oh, and here is the information they give us at the grower's meeting. Take a look if you're interested. The first part is what is grown locally, the second part is what they order off-island. So, I can look at this and see what sells the most, what is already being grown, and where there is room for more. Pretty cool, hey?