Tomato Plant Stink and Mint Babies.

My seeds came in from The Cottage Gardener today, while I was out. Yay! The box was small enough to just fit into the mailbox. Squee!!

Green Man who minds my Tower Garden

They've got new packaging this year. It's pretty. And in colour. 

The Cottage Gardener new seed pack design.

It looks like the collection packs have new packaging, too. 

The Cottage Gardener Kitchen Garden Herb Collection.

Also, we got to the end of a head of lettuce I actually purchased. (The Tower Garden lettuce is ready now, though. We've been picking at it.) Anyway, popped the end into a plastic container and stuck it on the Tower, in front of the lights. This is only 2 days of growth! I'm assuming I will need to put some food in that container soon, though. 

Growing lettuce from old lettuce

Here's a full view of the Tower Garden. So, one of the lettuces I bought just WON'T go crispy. It stays soft and buttery. (A packet I bought last year from the grocery I think..or maybe Canadian Tire.) the Mesclun Mix around the sides and backs are doing okay though. 

The Tower Garden in my kitchen

and,  See those TINY TINY little guys? That is Mint. That I planted 2 months ago. And I pretty much gave up on them. Was going to put something else in the spot, and when I checked yesterday, (or the day before???) boom... babies. Mint babies.

Mint. Please be Mint.

A nice close up shot of the flower buds that the tomatoes finally have... I"m going to have to cut back some of the green on these guys soon. At this rate, I should have fresh tomatoes from the tower in... March or so. Heh. Handling these gives me the Tomato Plant Stink on my hands. hehe. 

Tomatoes finally have little flower buds.

Now that all my seeds are here, I'm going to have to see about getting some small containers for indoors, for the herbs that won;t fit in the Tower Garden right now...

The Seed List, Part 2

In addition to the seeds that are coming from The Cottage Gardener, These are the seeds I have left over from last year. There aren't very many in each packet:

• Scotia Tomato
• Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale
• Little Finger Carrot (I'm not sure what I'll do with these this year. Last year they didn't produce, mainly because it wasn't wet enough, for long enough for them. I've tried these in containers, with very little success. The first year I did them, they were awesome....)
• A few Spaghetti Winter Squash and Delicata Winter Squash
• Quadrato D'asti giallo Pepper (sweet pepper.)
• Dwarf Gray Sugar Pea
• Bulls Blood Beet
• Lots of Mesclun Mix and Lettuce for the Tower Garden 

I also seem to have

Midnight Madness Petunia

• some Morning Glory seeds saved from my own garden (although I'm not sure what kind they are colour wise...) 
• And I have some seeds that I've marked as "Midnight Madness Petunia".. they were purple, but they are from 2 years ago, and I'm not sure they will germinate. I have TONNES of them though, so I'll do a test on them soon. 
• Some miniature sunflower seeds. I seem to recall I was gifted them either in a swap or for exchange from some tomato seedlings one year. I cannot recall...
• an Envelope marked "2010 - Columbine" - I'm sure this is from Heather
• Goats Rue (I could never get this going)
• Chimney Bellflower (also could never get this going)
• Common Foxglove (also... never got it going...)
• German Speedwell (this I'm sure is the jerk that overtook my strawberry patch and choked it out. Jerk.)
• Strawberry Foxglove (never saw one..)
• Wood Betony
• "Wildflower mix"
• JUMBO morning glories

So, the deal with the flowers is... I grow Veggies. I have wonderful success with food. Flowers.. well, I guess I just don't give them the attention they deserve. I haven't bothered with any flower, aside from Morning Glories, in about 3 years. Maybe 4.

This year, I'm attempting flowers at the Beautiful Man's place. The plan is to germinate inside (instead of direct sowing) and hopefully have more luck... Not sure how many of those flowers will grow, as some of the seed is quite old. 

Anyway. I gotta go wash towels...

Bonsai!!!

So, I'm waiting for my seeds to come in. My Tower Garden is doing well, and we've been eating greens off of it regularly.

Today, though, I somehow slipped on the internet and ended up in Bonsai land. And now ofcourse, I'm envisioning things like THIS in my home:

Ofcourse, THAT tree is probably 5 years old. Or maybe 50. I don't know. Dammit, Jim, I'm a veggie grower, not an arbourist!

Anyway, I remembered that I've had a little bonsai kit on the bookshelf (came with a book, a teeny tiny pot, but the shears were missing. And there's no seeds, or planty dirt.) so I took the book off the shelf.

They've got little bonsai pots at the Thrift Store all the time. I bought some appropriate soil stuff. Now, to find seeds. I guess it all depends on what sort of little trees I want for my fairy bonsai homes.

I must consult the Oracle (aka Google) and figure that bit out....

L.

The Seed List, part 1, 2014.

So, here we go again!
The seeds I've ordered for this years garden:


Black-Seeded Simpson Lettuce (Looseleaf; Certified Organic) Pkt - 500 seeds
Black Tuscan Palm Tree Kale (Certified Organic) Pkt - 250 seeds
King of the North Sweet Pepper (Rare; Sustainably-Grown) Pkt - 30 seeds
Black Beauty Summer Squash (Certified Organic) Pkt - 20 seeds
Five-Colour Silverbeet Swiss Chard (Certified Organic) Pkt - 70 seeds
Druzba Tomato (Red; Certified Organic) Pkt - 30 seeds
Scotia Tomato (Rare; Certified Organic) Pkt - 30 seeds
Parris Island Cos Lettuce (Romaine; Certified Organic) Pkt - 500 seeds
Martino's Roma Tomato (Paste/Sauce; Red; Certified Organic) Pkt - 30 seeds
Chives, Common (Certified Organic) Pkt - 100 seeds
Golden Detroit Beet (Certified Organic) Trade Pack - 210 seeds
Bouquet Radish Mix (The Cottage Gardener's; Sustainably-Grown) Pkt - 300 seeds
Lavender, Old English (Lavandula angustifolia) Pkt - 50 seeds
Oregano, Greek (Origanum vulgare hirtum; Certified Organic) Pkt - 100 seeds
Parsley, Italian Dark Green (Petroselinum crispum; Certified Organic) Pkt - 100 seeds
Thyme, English (Thymus vulgaris; Certified Organic) Pkt - 70 seeds
Kitchen Garden Herb Collection (includes 30 packs each of Cilantro, Basil, Dill, Marjoram, Thyme.)

I have some seeds left over from last year, too. But they are WAY the shit across the kitchen, and I don't want to pick through them just now. 

I had considered beans, carrots, pumpkin, onion... but, for me, these things are so easily purchased locally for so CHEAP, that it doesn't really make sense for me to struggle with growing them. I have a limited amount of space, even though I'm pretty good at using it wisely. It's a bonus to live in an area with so many local farmers and growers.

Many of the greens and herbs are going to go into my tower garden inside, as soon as I get them. The Tower Garden is currently filled with growing lettuce and mesclun mix, plus a few tomato plants, and there's a basil plant in there too. But, soon it'll be time to eat what's there, and start new. Except for the tomato, ofcourse, which probably won't give me fruit until March.

I also want to get my hands on some flowers. Not necessarily for my garden space, as I tend to FAIL miserably with flowers here - but for my BOYFRAND. Or, my "Ol' Man"... hehehe. (Holy shit, I have an Ol' Man. You have no idea what a bizarre concept this is for me, after the last long year. I digress.) Anyway, my Ol' Man mentioned LAST spring that he wants a little garden in his wee little back patio area. So, I'm going to scrounge and beg flower seeds from my goodest friends. I do have quite a bit of seeds for morning glories, and I think some little purple things.. but I'm thinking Holly Hocks. All easy things to grow.

It's late. I have JOY tomorrow, and I'm not even close to ready for bed yet. I'm all high on seeds.