Put in my seed orders - how about you all?

[Deberosa]

Just completed them tonight. Not too bad this year either since I got many of my seeds half price at the end of last year.

I got lots of cover crop seeds - buckwheat, spelt, mamoth clover and annual alfalfa. I have several different areas in mind for those for this year to build the soil and produce some livestock feed.

I got my favorite burgundy bush green beans. Then greens, carrots, beets, parsnips and turnips. I figure they will make great tops for the cows/and hopefully pigs. I also found some mangel seeds so I am going to try some of those for cattle/pig feed. Also got pumpkin seeds (Howden) and some patty pan squash since we like those.

I got 10 russian comfree starts from a place in Oregon because I have one little used area that could grow a very nice crop of comfrey long term.

ALready had ordered my tomatoes and thornless blackberries. I think that might be all for this year, but you never know. ;-)

Soon it will be time to start the tomatoe seeds - YEAH!

So what are you all getting, trying this year?


Now if only the temps would start to rise instead of fall!!

[pinetreefarm]

Is the burgundy bean, the one that turns purple? Our seed catalogs don't offer it at all. Why do you like them in particular?

We have just stayed with our tried and true green bean for zone 3. It gets a little boring but is a good producer.

Pine

[Deberosa]

The Burgundy bean grows as a deep purple string bean and when blanched it turns green. I discovered them accidentally because I don't really care for string beans but Kurt wanted some and he wanted a fancy color. ::)

But they are delicious! Still eating frozen beans here. Plus they seem to thrive in the cool damp summers. They also grow on bushes so I don't have to do alot of trellis work to grow lots of them.

They have become my bean of choice. THis year I am going to try succession planting instead of doing them all at once.

[pinetreefarm]

I have looked through our seed catalogs and do not find the burgundy bean. Can you direct me to your website or catalog?

Since I am zone 3 our last frost date is May 30 and first frost date can be 10-1 to 10-15. I have used succession planting on beans because I have caps we made for the raised beds. However the length of day later in the season does affect the yield.

It would be fun to plant something different. I feel a rut coming on...means I had better do something different and live wildly so please let me know and I will pursue this variety.

Pine

[Deberosa]

It's called Royal Burgundy. I got mine through www.fedcoseeds.com but others have the same seed. Johnny's has it too.

[FirestarterKY]

I have all my seeds already, got them in the fall of last year.
This year I'm trying tobacco.
Wish me luck!
There's an old tobacco farmer a little town over, I'm going to ask for his assistance, because I dont want to risk it.
He oders his tobacco in starts, but I'll bet he remembers the old time tobacco beds.
At least I'm counting on it.
My Neice gave me a bunch of pretty vining sweet potatoe plant seeds, I'll grow them around the ch coop.
I'm fairly new to big gardening.
About 4 years now I think, this whole way of life even.
I'm going to try the bucket gourds again this year...last years drought made them come out small..hopefully this year will be better.
I love gourds.
I'm watching a large flock of turkey as I type, need to get gueneas (sp?) this year to take care of the tick population the turkey bring.
I enjoy reading here.
Sucession planting, for beans works well with me. I'm in KY and I'm finding the beans prefer the cooler times, not mid summer.
Y'all have a good one!

Karen

[humbug]

I got my first seed order off. It was quite large due to the fact that I am trying my hand at market gardening this year. I will be starting my lettuces, spinach and onions inside this week. They will go out into the four raised covered beds I have in March. I have never planted this early but decided to give it a try by laying black plastic on the soil and then covering the raised beds. I have four 100 square foot beds. I am hoping to put about 1/3 an acre in market garden. I can't handle any more than that. I will plant mostly through black plastic and later in the summer cover the black plastic with mulch. This will help regulate the temperature and conserve water.

[Deberosa]

Hi Humbug

Good luck with the market garden!

I got floating row cover this year - PineTree seeds had the best deal I could find and they had the clips to hold it to lengths of half inch irrigation hose. I got a large roll of weed cloth from www.farmtek.com 4 years ago and it has worked great for the soil. I move it around every year and it lets the rain through. I cut squares in it for hills of squash and also use solid pieces of it for killing grass before starting new gardens. It's worked great for me to warm up the soil a bit. I am also trying rolls of black paper for planting stuff like tomatoes and peppers - then it just mulches in for the next year.
Market gardeners around here use that paper and the floating row covers.

Where did you get your seeds?

[bookwormom]

I hope your market gardening venture is very successfull humbug.
my seedorder arrived last week. I ordered from seedsavers and from pinetree. I got their floating row cover last year, too and tried it on the strawberries to ward off the big Easter frost we had. well, the drought did them in. Beans, cucumbers, some corn I am planning to get from the Amish. I have never had any luck with gourds. twice I have planted bushel gourds, I plan to give it another shot this season.

[humbug]

I ordered my seeds from Haazards Greehouse. They have bulk seeds for gardeners. There is no minimum order. The seeds came incredibly fast. They were out of a couple of seeds that I ordered. This is my first year of ordering from them. I hope their germination is high. I will keep you updated.

[BrendaSue]

This year I am wanting to have a good size garden but am leary, last year I did container, just some tomatoes, bell peppers, sweet peppers, tried potatoes but they bombed....

I know I am doing tomatoes, onions, beans, squash, okra not sure what else yet. I am going to invest in a food saver and see how much closer I can get to not having to go to the grocery stores so much. lol...

I would be very interested in growing food for my pig, right now she is strictly on leftovers and her feed, her pen isnt big enough I am thinking, and she has no grass whatsoever. During the summer just throwing grass in to her, she loved it. But guess that won't be this year, was trying to think of what kind of grass that maybe I should grow for my zebu's and donkey's, we have a small field I am thinking about trying to grow in and moving them around, they are eating everything in site lol...

What else is easy to grow that I could know I would be successful with? lol I hate failure....

I need to get my seeds ordered, start them inside, just reading and wanting and not doing as of yet.

[Deberosa]

This year I am wanting to have a good size garden but am leary, last year I did container, just some tomatoes, bell peppers, sweet peppers, tried potatoes but they bombed....

I know I am doing tomatoes, onions, beans, squash, okra not sure what else yet. *I am going to invest in a food saver and see how much closer I can get to not having to go to the grocery stores so much. lol...

I would be very interested in growing food for my pig, right now she is strictly on leftovers and her feed, her pen isnt big enough I am thinking, and she has no grass whatsoever. During the summer just throwing grass in to her, she loved it. *But guess that won't be this year, was trying to think of what kind of grass that maybe I should grow for my zebu's and donkey's, we have a small field I am thinking about trying to grow in and moving them around, they are eating everything in site lol...

What else is easy to grow that I could know I would be successful with? lol *I hate failure....

I need to get my seeds ordered, start them inside, just reading and wanting and not doing as of yet.

I am trying several things for feed. One is Mangel beets, see my other post on that. I also just got my cover crop seeds that will also be fodder and mulch, etc. Alfalfa, buckwheat (grows really fast), spelt, and giant red clover because it gets really big. I imagine all can be feed. I also plan on planting long rows of carrots and regular beets for treats for the animals and for me. The last thing I am planting is comfrey - it's a perenial and should spread all over one area I have and not only is it medicinal as a compress on infections, but its a great livestock feed - the donkeys and chickens should love it. Not sure about pigs. Also - for lots of volume pumpkins and zucinni are great for livestock feed from what I hear. I have fed my chickens zucinni and they did clean up the pumpkins. I am hoping to feed extra pumpkins to the pigs this year.

[gardenfay]

BrendaSue
i totally agree with Deberosa about things to grow for pigs, chickens, etc.
i would like to say also, that in the meantime and if some things don't grow like planned, etc. think of other food sources for your pig.
for 5 years; i picked up the scraps from the grocery store in our little town of 250 for my laying hens. i know this is hard to believe; but there were days i would get 50 to 100 pounds or more of stuff. other days there would be two apples with brown spots.
But think about it - lettuce, cabbage, pumpkins, tomatoes, apples, grapes. other stuff they didn't eat like onions and potatoes; sometimes i took to the dump; sometimes i planted.
anyway, there are other places, senior citizens centers; school cafeterias; that might be more willing for you to get their scraps every day than busy restaurants.
always be very careful of toothpicks in the scraps; but there is a wealth of free food out there if a person lives close enough and has time to get it.