https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6LJ8aL6cdI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZqScKgvX0Q
Here is a quick tour of my garden this early summer (not super quick, but my version of quick relative to the hours I could have spent). It is not what I’d like it to be, but it’s pretty tidy and growing well, much better actually than the last two years. We are in year two of a pretty bad drought, but I think the ever flowing spring is going to trickle on through this one too. So, I am undaunted. Of course many of the things touched on in these videos will be revisited in future videos and blog posts.
Well, giving away onion bulbs was fun last year (or whenever that was) and I’m happy to think of all those onions dividing away out there to be shared out to friends and neighbors, so I decided to give away some seeds this month. Not the best timing, but I know you guys aren't fleeting gardeners for the most part. I save seed pretty regularly. I don’t save everything every year. Not at all. But every year I’m saving some seed or another. I can only plant so much, so I end up giving most of them away at the Farmer’s Market and at the local Scion Exchange. I had to give up the Farmer’s Market for now, and all bets are off on whether I make it to the Scion Exchange. I thought, what better people to give seeds to than blog subscribers! I feel kind of bad that I haven’t done it earlier!
I have been gardening and intentionally testing varieties for long enough to have amassed some favorites that are standard fare. I don’t spend much time poring over seed catalogs anymore, just to be tempted into trying new varietiesthat are unlikely to be any better than what I already grow. Once in a while I’ll pick a vegetable type and gather multiple varieties of it to do some loose trials, but I haven’t done that too much for a while and it usually results in little more than a light wallet and a confirmation that what I grow already is pretty good. No doubt there are better varieties out there, but finding them takes some effort and money. So, most of these are varieties that have stood the test of time. Your mileage may vary due to climate, taste or what have you, but they work well for me. Each packet will have 10 seed varieties and one I’itoi onion bulb. There are 14 packets altogether, so when those are gone, they’re gone. And again, this offer is for subscribers.
IN THE PACKAGE ARE:
Bulgarian Giant Leek
Touchon Carrot
Ruby Streaks Mustard
Bronze Beauty Lettuce
Italian Parsley (generic)
Zapotec Tomato
Paul Robeson Tomato
Green Zebra Tomato
Aunt Ruby’s Green Giant Tomato (aka german giant etc...)
Fortex Pole Bean
You can read about all of these seed varieties and then some in my Turkeysong Seed Varieties post.
They are mostly sample sized packets, enough to make a small trial, but more in some cases. If you like them, you can ferret out seeds, or save some seed. Lettuce is easy to save seed from and a great way to get over any seed saving fear that might be holding you back. Just let your best two heads, or even just one, grow out and go to seed. Be sure not to save the first ones to bolt though as that's a trait we all want discouraged in our lettuce. Isolation for lettuce to prevent cross pollination is very close, I think it’s only 25 feet apart. don’t quote me on that, but lets just say I never wake up in a panic thinking my seed letti are too close to each other. Save seed from one lettuce plant and you can stoke all your neigh Tomatoes rarely cross, so just squish some seeds of any tomato onto a paper towel and let them dry, that’s all it takes. I know right? Why haven't you been doing that for years? Well, maybe you have, good for you then.
The Bulgarian giant seed is probably 4 or 5 generations in to selecting for large diameter, tall, uniform, self blanching leeks. The gene pool is fairly small, but it doesn’t seem to affect them negatively so far. I have some seed straight from Bulgaria that I’ll be working back into that gene pool. There does seem to be some improvement over the generations I’ve saved. These leek seeds are also now listed on my Etsy page, so if you miss out on this deal, you can still pick some up there if you have leek envy. I’itoi onions are in my Ebay store now and the potato onions and shallots are usually listed around September 1st, though that could happen a little earlier this year, due to weather. I’m planning to sell some multiplier collections this year, which will include several multiplier onions as a sort of starter kit. I’m pretty excited to do that, because it allows someone to get started testing multiple varieties for less. Multiplier onions should be considered an investment, not like buying seed that runs out. Even two multiplier onions don’t take long to turn into many. I’ll probably give away a few of these multiplier onions starter kits in the fall. Only the I’itoi are ready right now.
This time around I’m going to make you work for it. COME OVER AND DO SOME WEEDING FOR ME! Just kidding. I wish! No, I thought that I would make you leave a comment that is useful to all of us. Leave a comment telling us your favorite vegetable varieties and why you like them, the more the merrier, but at least a couple. Don’t be afraid to use as much space as you need to, but you don't have to write a novel or anything, just whatever you have to say about them. And don't worry if they're hybrids or something modern and not snooty heirlooms.
Email me using the contact link and then leave that comment. Be sure to give me your address. And you have to pay shipping, because I am headin’ for broke faster than toddler with a stack of china. Shipping is about 2.50 all the way across the country, so lets just round that up to 3.00 to make sure I’m covered with all the fees and stuff. Paypal works for me, but you can send cash if it doesn’t work for you. If you are in a country other than the U.S., let me know and I’ll figure out postage as needed. As soon as they are all spoken for, I’ll post a comment saying so, so look for that. Of course, we’d all still love to hear your vegetable seed recommendations.
Thanks, to all of you for reading and good luck! They won’t last long!
P.s. it would be super duper awesome to hear your experiences with these seeds in the comments even years from now. This page will be here for a while I hope, so that feedback would be valuable to net surfing gardeners everywhere.
