On Seeds...

Carol at May Dreams Gardens seems to be our meme machine.  Go Lady, Go!

She has asked the club of online gardeners what kind of seed buyers we are.  Many have seen fit to answer this query in full, but I am going to focus on one question:

            Do you buy more seeds than you could ever sow in one season?

Oh, my.  That would have to be yes.  And I don't mean I buy packages of tomatos and only sow some of the seeds. 

I mean that seed packaging and catalog pictures are like candy to my eye, and my eyes are always bigger than my garden can accomodate. 

For last year's vegetable garden - it's first, I have seeds that I bought in winter that never were planted. We didn't get the dirt we ordered into the beds until well past the days that you should get in spinach and lettuces.  So those I will be putting in this year.  After a year in storage, I can hope that some of them will sprout, maybe up to half.  Doesn't sound unreasonable.  Does it?

But what can I say about these others... A package of Ferry Morse seeds, bought on sale at a local home and garden show, way back in ...er... 1998.  Unopened.  Anybody got any idea if Maltese Cross has a long seed shelf life? 

Or better yet, a package of Nasturtium Gleam Mix from Pinetree Garden Seeds - packed for 1996.  I know that they don't hang around that long.

Sage from '96.  Parsley from '97.  Lobelias from '01 and '02. Every year has its sad representatives of potentiates that were never given a chance. 

And then there are the envelopes.  Letter envelopes that rattle with hand-me-down seeds, none dated.  A red dianthus?   How lovely.  Morning Glorys?  I bet those'll grow.  Marigolds, Balloonflower, Hollyhock, Nigella...  and one large envelope labelled with the full botanical:  Campanula cochlearifolia  -  That's an alpine, isn't it?  That seed might surprise me, maybe?  Maybe?

There are now little seeds dusted all over my desk, escapees from their various prisons. 

This year.  This year of the weird warm winter - where only now has the frost decended upon us and made us remember that spring needs winter to really be treasured.   This year I am going to be the seed queen.  I am going to get the starts set up and going.  I'm going to plan it all out so that it will be a variable production line of starts under lights and then in windows and on the sun porch and ...

You believe me, don't you?

I may actually get there.  I have a fresh packet of seed from the WinterSown.org folks, and the intention of starting a goodly amount of seed in this fashion.

And just yesterday the neighbor threw away some rubbermaid-type containers - big translucent boxes I am going to use for the cold frames for my wintersown experiments - those and the many, many containers I can never quite throw away... (Why do they have recycle numbers if noone around here will take them?  Very frustrating.) ...I have more than I need to get the wintersown seedlings set up just dandy. 

Some of the seeds I've saved off plants this year will wintersow just fine.  The snapdragons, the verbena bonariensis... I've got high hopes.

Comments

[Annie in Austin]

Oh, Jenn - this is too funny and too true! The only reason I no longer own a similar collection was that like MSStevens, I sprinkled them all over our former yard before moving from IL to TX.

Good luck with the recycled boxes!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

[Molly]

I have similar resolutions. No, really, this year I will get my seeds going earlier.

[Ki]

Yep, yep, yep, too many seeds especially ones in the refrigerator without names that have been in there forever. It would be interesting to see if the very old seeds were still viable. I intend to prepare a bed and broadcast all the seeds to see what comes up. Yeah, right. Good intentions but always seem to get too busy with other things in the Spring.

[Carol]

"spring needs winter to be really be treasured", how true!

Thanks for the seed post. I am pleasantly surprised by how many people have divulged their seedy side on their blogs in response to my questions.

And don't believe ANYONE who says they plant all their seeds and have none left over each year. That, I believe, is one thing all of us seed sowers have in common.

[Laura]

I love January and the arrival of the seed catalogs - so much hope for the coming season!

[kim (blackswamp_girl)]

I believe you Jenn! I really do. Right now, anyway. :)

(Annie and MSS Stevens, you two are TERRIBLE! LOL!)

[wan qing gong]

ONEKING SEED CO.LTD
No.96 Jia ,North Huanghe Street,Yuhong0
District,shenyang,liaoning.p.r. china
TEL:NO:+86-24-86523442 Fax;+86-24-86530902
E:MAIL: [email protected]
WEB-SITE:www.onekingseed.cn

Dear Sir or Madam,
We are Oneking Seed Co.,Ltd in China.
Our company is a professional vegetable seed company,we have done export business for many years, we do business with customers all over the world. For example,France,India,Pakistan,Brazil,Indonesia,ect. so we have much
experience in the trade.The above mentioned country choose our company as long-term business co-operator mainly because the following reasons:
Firstly:
we are proud to present our clients with abundant varieties and quality seeds.
Secondly:
depend upon excellent matural condition and strict seed production procedure,we can meet the serious requirement from our customers abroad.
Thirdly:
In every production season , Chinese quarantine and inspection bureau Liaoning branches send scholars and officials to inspect our seed Production field . Our seeds are free from diseases prohibited by other Countries and China.
Fourthly:
China is a developing country,our costs are compared with other countries are relatively low,so all our package are of nice colours,modern designs and good quality.they are selling very well in other countries.
Now we are expanding our business,if you are interested in our products, we will send you a copy of sample book illustrating our full-range products.We trust that many of the different kinds of products in our catalogue will be of interest to you,if your want to know more information, please visit our Web site,we would be please to serve you if you like them.
We are looking forward to hearing soon about what you need in this regard.
Yours sincerely,
Wanqing gong
E MAIL :[email protected]
WEB SITE : WWW.ONEKINGSEED.CN