What did you do in the garden today?

[BReeder!]

Y'all. I have taken my seed buying obsession to the next level. I started pre-ordering bulk seeds last year and I'm just about ready to launch my website offering packets of a lot of the same varieties from the same growers that Territorial Seeds, Baker Creek, Johnny's etc. offers seed from. I'm still trying to flesh out my inventory a bit and I'm so nervous! I was hoping this might pay my way through this semester of school, at least, but honestly I've bought way more than tuition cost on seeds so far and I'm scared to death that I won't even recoup my investment.

Anyway, that's why I have 75 varieties of tomatoes. Guess I should fess up. Also, I just roped my dad into helping me with the business, and that's strangely exciting.

What are the top five species of seeds that you buy? I wish I could get some of everything and my personal tendency is to "go weird" but dad thinks I should offer normal "staple" type varieties, too.

What would you do?

Love my new logo, but I feel like it should have a chicken, version, too.
View attachment 2491526

Anyway I post this here because that's what I did for the garden today—bought more seeds. I want to propagate and save seed from as many as possible this year to reduce what I have to purchase for next year... if it proves to be a viable thing to do, at least.

Top species of seed I buy... not sure I have a top 5 but some favorites are straight eight cucumber, a pickling variety of cucumber (boston pickling cucumber this year and last) mortgage lifter tomato, rutgers tomato, san marzano tamato (my first year with them but I've always wanted), jalapeno pepper, habanero pepper.

It helps if you tell a brief story about each species. What makes it special? What's your experience with it? What's the history behind it?

Best of luck! Post your website when it's up and running.

 

[WthrLady]

I would offer some staples, but those are a dime a dozen, but those are your draw in purchases. But you have to make yourself unique, so if you brand yourself to offer the hard to find, rarities, oddities for what I will call the experimental growers and the "i'll try it once-ers", and the "I'm going to impress my friends with my cool finds" group, then you're good. But you have to market yourself like mad, and don't be afraid to do it. You're up against the BigBoys, the cheap box stores, and the established seed distributors; if you don't put yourself out there, no one else will.

Find someone in the family with a cricut machine and make a large decal for your back car window. Make a Twitter/Facebook/ Etsy account and get to talking up a storm. Leave cards/printed ads with your dentist, butcher, baker, candle stick maker......whomever. Ask other local small businesses to show a flyer or card. Think outside the box and work it!
Make a package deal that people can opt for. Nice spring cards from shop with bundle of 3 packs of seeds that people can gift. "2021 -send the gift of hope Springs eternal" kind of thing.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

We go through SO much garlic in this house. It's ridiculous really. Vampires should never be a problem.

OMG I just realized I forgot to tell you all a funny from this last week.

OK so Sunday night, I'm laying in bed not sleeping, feeling like I've been hit by a train, and just as I'm about to fall asleep, the great horned own lands on the roof and starts to hoot her brains out. Country problems, am I right?! It's akin to the neighbor's dog barking at 2am in suburbia.
OK, so she hoots a few times, then I hear a thud. Then she hoots, and I hear another thud, and another, then God awful screeching, more thuds, and then quiet. She hoots and I hear another thud, a scream, and a LOUD thud, and then again it's quiet.

Oh ya, and DH is asleep the whole time. I'm laying there on my back, eyes as big as saucers. I honestly would not have been more surprised had aliens ripped the roof off the bedroom end of the house. It was that wild sounding.

So I go down the hall and step out onto the deck. (Going out onto the deck from the bedroom, would have woken up the hound, who is in no way stealthy.) So I look on the roof. Yup, she's up there, and she's picked up some carryout for dinner. I think it was a possum, but it sure wasn't happy to have been invited to dinner. LOL.

My heavens. The noises. At least she picked up after herself.

OMG that's wild! We have an owl somewhere around in the piney woods behind the house. I think it may have picked up a stray chicken or two when one gets left out at night, but lawd! Never it had a picnic on the roof that I know of!

 

[BReeder!]

I've been busy updating the garden design.

I've added the mini orchard, two more raised beds for strawberries and herbs, decided to put the rhubarb in the pollinator flower border, and integrated three sisters in the squash/pumpkin area.

For the three sisters I have:
Sister 1 - butternut squash, winter luxury pumpkin and sugar pumpkin
Sister 2 - I should be able to get scarlet runner beans locally
Sister 3 - I'm struggling to figure out a good variety of corn. I could just grow the "Bodacious Sweet Corn" I'll be planting in a row. It will likely be sturdy enough, but the ears will likely go to waste as I will not be able to get in to them without damaging growing squash and pumpkins. I need a corn that is tall and sturdy and can be left on the stalk to dry while the beans, squash and pumpkins finish growing. I was thinking of getting hominy, but haven't found it. Popcorn is too short typically. I'm not too interested in ornamental varieties. I want to grow something we'll eat. Any suggestions?

 

[BReeder!]

We go through SO much garlic in this house. It's ridiculous really. Vampires should never be a problem.

OMG I just realized I forgot to tell you all a funny from this last week.

OK so Sunday night, I'm laying in bed not sleeping, feeling like I've been hit by a train, and just as I'm about to fall asleep, the great horned own lands on the roof and starts to hoot her brains out. Country problems, am I right?! It's akin to the neighbor's dog barking at 2am in suburbia.
OK, so she hoots a few times, then I hear a thud. Then she hoots, and I hear another thud, and another, then God awful screeching, more thuds, and then quiet. She hoots and I hear another thud, a scream, and a LOUD thud, and then again it's quiet.

Oh ya, and DH is asleep the whole time. I'm laying there on my back, eyes as big as saucers. I honestly would not have been more surprised had aliens ripped the roof off the bedroom end of the house. It was that wild sounding.

So I go down the hall and step out onto the deck. (Going out onto the deck from the bedroom, would have woken up the hound, who is in no way stealthy.) So I look on the roof. Yup, she's up there, and she's picked up some carryout for dinner. I think it was a possum, but it sure wasn't happy to have been invited to dinner. LOL.

My heavens. The noises. At least she picked up after herself.

At least your local owl is on opossum duty. I hear owls, but I never see them. The hawks likely get their fill on rabbits, which are EVERYWHERE around here. The opossums seem to come and go as they please. One recently made a meal out of one of our ducks. I was tempted to make a meal out of the opossum in return when I caught it today.

This trap is 32x15x10. The opossum is laying down and curled. It was the size of a house cat. I've seen bigger, but not in my yard.

 

[oldhen2345]

At least your local owl is on opossum duty. I hear owls, but I never see them. The hawks likely get their fill on rabbits, which are EVERYWHERE around here. The opossums seem to come and go as they please. One recently made a meal out of one of our ducks. I was tempted to make a meal out of the opossum in return when I caught it today.

This trap is 32x15x10. The opossum is laying down and curled. It was the size of a house cat. I've seen bigger, but not in my yard.
View attachment 2491595

UGH I hate possums.I periodically get them on the back patio or in the crepe myrtle tree by the fence. So far they haven't found the chickens.

 

[chickengr]

Leave a car in at the mainland get small skiff like 14 to 16 feet ..Lived for years Juneau Alaska float of fly .. We opted for 56 ft retired tug our skiff was 24 ft Bayliner skagit sedan

I drive only whatever has wheels

 

[Artichoke Lover]

We go through SO much garlic in this house. It's ridiculous really. Vampires should never be a problem.

OMG I just realized I forgot to tell you all a funny from this last week.

OK so Sunday night, I'm laying in bed not sleeping, feeling like I've been hit by a train, and just as I'm about to fall asleep, the great horned own lands on the roof and starts to hoot her brains out. Country problems, am I right?! It's akin to the neighbor's dog barking at 2am in suburbia.
OK, so she hoots a few times, then I hear a thud. Then she hoots, and I hear another thud, and another, then God awful screeching, more thuds, and then quiet. She hoots and I hear another thud, a scream, and a LOUD thud, and then again it's quiet.

Oh ya, and DH is asleep the whole time. I'm laying there on my back, eyes as big as saucers. I honestly would not have been more surprised had aliens ripped the roof off the bedroom end of the house. It was that wild sounding.

So I go down the hall and step out onto the deck. (Going out onto the deck from the bedroom, would have woken up the hound, who is in no way stealthy.) So I look on the roof. Yup, she's up there, and she's picked up some carryout for dinner. I think it was a possum, but it sure wasn't happy to have been invited to dinner. LOL.

My heavens. The noises. At least she picked up after herself.

That would have scared me to death! I spent the first 10 years of my life in a neighborhood be for my parents moved to the country. I’ve gotten used to everything but the creatures.
I remember fighting with my dad when I was a kid cause I didn’t want to walk with him to get the cards off the game cameras. I was scared of we’d see a wild animal. My Dad promised me we wouldn’t see anything. We didn’t make it off the porch. There was 7 raccoons in oak tree in the back yard!
Your story reminds me of back this summer for context this is one of the darkest nights I’ve ever seen. Literally couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. My mom and I had the back door open and suddenly we hear the most unearthly screaming noise from about 20ft out in the woods! Lasted maybe 15-30sec. Never did find out just what caused it best we can figure was a raccoon fight. It was enough to scare my mom to and she’s probably spent 30-40 years of her life in the country. My dad was next door and never heard a thing even though he was outside.

 

[chickengr]

I've been busy updating the garden design.

View attachment 2491593

I've added the mini orchard, two more raised beds for strawberries and herbs, decided to put the rhubarb in the pollinator flower border, and integrated three sisters in the squash/pumpkin area.

For the three sisters I have:
Sister 1 - butternut squash, winter luxury pumpkin and sugar pumpkin
Sister 2 - I should be able to get scarlet runner beans locally
Sister 3 - I'm struggling to figure out a good variety of corn. I could just grow the "Bodacious Sweet Corn" I'll be planting in a row. It will likely be sturdy enough, but the ears will likely go to waste as I will not be able to get in to them without damaging growing squash and pumpkins. I need a corn that is tall and sturdy and can be left on the stalk to dry while the beans, squash and pumpkins finish growing. I was thinking of getting hominy, but haven't found it. Popcorn is too short typically. I'm not too interested in ornamental varieties. I want to grow something we'll eat. Any suggestions?

would you eat purple corn? maiz morado is tall. I haven't eaten it but I know a person that grows and eats it.

only 2 bean seeds/corn - that is what I have heard. any idea if that is correct?

if you want to keep seeds from pumpkins and squash do not plant them together. once my mother got huge pumpkins with red parts from some ornamental variety

 

[jerryse]

would you eat purple corn? maiz morado is tall. I haven't eaten it but I know a person that grows and eats it.

only 2 bean seeds/corn - that is what I have heard. any idea if that is correct?

if you want to keep seeds from pumpkins and squash do not plant them together. once my mother got huge pumpkins with red parts from some ornamental variety

Actually if you know the group or species you can grow one each of the 4 groups and get pure seed . C. Pepo is the most common . There is something called a pumpkin in each group .