Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Good advice / Retail / Urban Farming Winter Garden Dreaming -- It's Not Too Early
Posted by Nicki Wood on Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 9:27 AM
Daffodil alert! Well, daffodil foliage anyway, has managed to pry open the frozen soil and point up a green middle finger at the last of the winter.
And not a day too soon -- has there been as unrelenting a winter as the long freeze of '10? Only garden catalogs made February bearable. Time to plan the urban vegetable Square Foot Garden.
Johnny's Selected Seeds has fascinating heirloom varieties that are so tempting. Costata Romano zucchini -- the catalog says it has a nutty taste and is good for eating raw. The zukes are ribbed and sage-gray color, and the bushes yield half as much as contemporary varieties -- better tasting zucchini and less of them is just what the garden needs.
Last year's vertically grown winter squash choice (pictured at right) was whatever the garden store stocked, and it was fine. This year, though, the Cha Cha kabocha squash has too irresistible a name, so it's under consideration.
Gardens of Babylon in Farmers Market carries the organically produced Seeds of Change. We picked out a Plum Purple radish for early sowing and an heirloom pumpkin for growing vertically. Babylon's shelves are stocked with onion, garlic and potato, as well as rhubarb, strawberry plants and asparagus crowns.
Matt, the all-around guy at Gardens of Babylon, says the trickle of customers will be picking up volume soon. "Anytime the temperature hits 45 or above," people start thinking about being outside.
What garden dreams are underneath the fertile soil of your imagination?
Comments (9)
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Here is a larger list of resources. Some of them are quite local.
Heirloom Tomato, Pepper, and Basil/herbs right here in Dickson, Tennessee: http://www.mariseeds.com/
Seeds of Change, while heirloom, are owned by M&M Mars. A potential conflict of interest for some folks. Just sayin'...
Do not forget All Seasons for seeds as well.
I myself will be ordering ounces of seed from Johnnys. If we cannot harvest 10 pounds of fernleaf dill this year I will be disappointed. They also have the best Cilantro - slow bolting. Already have our organic garlic in the ground since October - we expect a 50 pound harvest... Just enough.
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I'd love to say that since I'm at home with Baby Eats, I'll have a wonderful garden this year. But I know that all of a sudden, it will be June and I've done nothing. But I want some of that cilantro at the very least!
Is it too late to start seeds for summer squash, melons and tomatoes?
Look at all those tomato and pepper types in that mariseeds catalog -- thanks for the link, Urbane. Some of the green-when-ripe tomatoes could definitely win the ugliest tomato contest. And that Everett's Rusty Oxheart tri-color tomato is off the chain. Great resource for heirloom varieties.
I agree, this winter has been relentless. Can't recall the last winter it was this cold and miserable.
Usually the first week of April is when I start buying my seedlings. I might reach for some seeds and start early though.
Also, the Herb Society sale should be coming up soon, go ahead and get your battle gear dusted off.
The whole thing about the Seeds of Change thingy has more to do with how major corporate entities are just swallowing up the organic producers - seed, foods, raw ingredients. And as is always the case, sooner or later corporate wisdom, if you can call it that, will either cause compromise of the original mission of that organic entity or worse, just get deleted. "Cost saving".....
And at the most ominous end of the batshit crazy paranoia spectrum? Monsanto succeeds in acquiring all of these entities, patents all seed DNA strings, and creates a monopoly of seeds based on the ownership of this intellectual property. Sort of like the RIAA of food. You get caught harvesting seeds? You get sued.
One could also argue that such buyouts ensure a small company's survival and growth. I guess I'm naive enough to take a co-founder of SOC's presence as Director of Plant Science for Mars to mean they found enough shared vision beyond cash and sales to continue the pursuits and the relationship.
Clued In, I agree with your point, but for a different reason. The big companies aren't trying to take over the world, just make sure they've got a piece of the market that is poised for growth. On the other hand, I've got just enough Monsanto paranoia to save seeds from open pollinated varieties, just in case...
