What did you do in the garden today?

[BReeder!]

Storing seeds. If they're in the packets, tape them shut if they're opened. I have mine in a plastic bin on a shelf in the mudroom. It has to be mouse proof. It's chilly out there too.

Seeds from my own plants are in small envelopes, marked with what it is, and what year it was grown. Make sure they are DRY before you seal them up, or they can rot or mold.

Really long term, you can store them in the freezer. In fact, there are thousands (millions, maybe) of open pollinated (non-hybrid) varieties of seeds being store in Norway, I believe, in a very cold, secure location. Leave them in their container to bring them back up to temp to avoid condensation on the seeds.

I'm thinking an airtight bin in the freezer with ziploc type freezer bags inside full of seeds. This way I should be able to thaw the bags of seeds I want at a given point in time without having to thaw the entire seed storage to prevent condensation.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[chickengr]

In years past, Memorial Day weekend and the three days before were when I "put in" the garden plants. That way I had 6 days, and didn't put my coworkers through hell by being gone the week after.

Now that I'm retired, I can plant as the weather and temps dictate. But it's still usually the end of May for tomatoes and peppers. I'm excited about the uber short season tomatoes varieties I'm going to try this year.

I have a loooong growing season but I am looking for short season varieties too. to plant twice a year

 

[chickengr]

Oh I’m just saying it’s the opposite here. I understand the reasoning for both and not advocating either. I am happy I live in AZ though.

if we collect rain water then water our plants - what is the problem? water goes back to nature. planting trees should be encoureged, they help retaining water. I saw a youtube video how a guy in india within 3 years transformed a desert into a forest.

 

[chickengr]

I found a bunch of leftover seeds from last year. They were tucked away in the junk drawer. Oops!
While they were not stored in ideal conditions I'm sure, I'll have to see if they sprout. Some of them are the same type of seed I purchased for this year. I could've saved a little money. Oh well, too late now.

Any ideas for storing old seeds?
I was thinking paper envelopes in a tin can or small wooden box. Would little plastic bags be better to prevent them from drying out or getting access to moisture? I want to start storing my own open-pollenated heirloom seeds too, so I'll need a solution that can old a bunch of seeds in a small space. Can I just keep them on a shelf in the garage (heating during the winter) or should I keep them in the refrigerator? I don't want seeds all over, so I need one space that will work for most.

keep your new seeds for the next year. tomato and pepper's seeds can be kept for at least 5 years, other mostly about 3 years.

 

[chickengr]

OMG they are the cutest things ever! Just as cute as when they were little yellow fluff-butts. DP now wants runners and the internet says 300 to 350 eggs a year. Now I want them too. Can that number be right?

unfortunately mine don't lay so many eggs. I guess around 200+ is what they lay.

 

[BReeder!]

I had to order a new pump for my pond. The last one shorted out and kept popping the GFI. One the new pump gets here I need to drain the pond and refill it with fresh water. Normally this would be just a Fall activity, but since the old pump stopped working properly the pond has gotten nasty.

All that said, I'm thinking about pumping the dirty water over the garden. It's adjacent to the pond. I used to do this when there were just fish in the pond. With my ducks having access to the pond it gets muckier and I'm dealing with a different firm of waste. The garden is pretty dormant right now also... but I'm don't want to over fertilize potentially and ruin the soil for Spring - especially with all the planning I'm doing. Any reason I shouldn't put the pond water on the garden?

 

[chickengr]

I had to order a new pump for my pond. The last one shorted out and kept popping the GFI. One the new pump gets here I need to drain the pond and refill it with fresh water. Normally this would be just a Fall activity, but since the old pump stopped working properly the pond has gotten nasty.

All that said, I'm thinking about pumping the dirty water over the garden. It's adjacent to the pond. I used to do this when there were just fish in the pond. With my ducks having access to the pond it gets muckier and I'm dealing with a different firm of waste. The garden is pretty dormant right now also... but I'm don't want to over fertilize potentially and ruin the soil for Spring - especially with all the planning I'm doing. Any reason I shouldn't put the pond water on the garden?

I don't think your garden would be over fertilized. the only problem would be microbs, bacteria, etc. if you had leaf vegetables in your garden. that is my opinion, I am not an expert.

 

[igorsMistress]

if we collect rain water then water our plants - what is the problem? water goes back to nature. planting trees should be encoureged, they help retaining water. I saw a youtube video how a guy in india within 3 years transformed a desert into a forest.

And the water ends up in the water table anyway, just not all at once. I can only speak to one state other than AZ. The southern half of california is a desert, however the state and residents didn’t treat it that way for a long time. The state was very proud of their aqueduct, put out a film about their wondrous project and how folks could have lawns front and back, but you’d see people watering the sidewalks as well as the lawns, they had water gardens and tropicals and all this luxurious green; and the use of chemicals to keep it green and weed free was shameful. Now though, they’re up a creek without a paddle so to speak. Of course the state knows best and doesn’t allow rain collection because of their reasons. I collected rain water when I lived there. My folks did too, in trash cans that we’d then use to water the garden. It was free water that fell from the sky and it wasn’t a thing back then.

 

[igorsMistress]

unfortunately mine don't lay so many eggs. I guess around 200+ is what they lay.

Thank you for this. I was thinking 180 to 225 but wasn’t sure if this was right.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

I have a loooong growing season but I am looking for short season varieties too. to plant twice a year

I have a long growing season too and I still plant a lot of short season varieties. It’s very hot and humid where we are so we get a lot of disease problems and short season varieties help guarantee we get some kind of crop. We managed to get blight in soil that hadn’t been worked in over 20 years!