Snowball Self-Blanching Cauliflower

Purchased from:  Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds for $2.50/200 seeds
Type: Cauliflower

I'll be honest- I have not had the greatest luck with Brassicas, despite the fact that they are supposed to be fairly easy to grow.  But someone else at Pea Pods did grow cauliflower last year, and would have had great luck had they not been out of town when it needed blanching.  I'm skeptical about the self-blanching claim that this cauliflower makes, but I will be going to the garden enough to cover the heads if needed.

There's really nothing else particularly special here; I considered growing a purple cauliflower or something similar but decided against it and instead picked a classic old variety.  I plan to do both a spring and a fall planting of these as well as the other "cool-weather" crops in the garden, since sometimes a fall or spring planting will work better than the other. 

curious about my impressions of Baker Creek?  click here for my original post!

Rich Sweetness 132 Melon

Purchased from:  Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds for $3.00/15 seeds
Type: Melon
Growth: Vine

If you are thinking at this point that I went a little melon crazy this year, you'd be right.  I am really excited about this one, too.  This is another one you're going to want to click the link for, because the melons for this are just gorgeous- orange with yellow stripes.  And small.  And supposedly pretty tasty, also.  Same deal with this as with the watermelons- I will start a few indoors and a few out, and we'll see what happens.  This is apparently a Russian heirloom, though, so I am optimistic that we'll have luck with it here in Montana.

I also kind of like this packet design, which I think may be something they use for a "generic" type, since the website indicates that Rich Sweetness 132 is a newer acquisition for them. 

curious about my impressions of Baker Creek?  click here for my original post!

Cool Gardens: Penn & Cord's Garden

Sometimes you just stumble on something awesome while you're browsing the great world wide web, and in this case, it's the website of Penn and Cord, a couple of Colorado residents with an amazing high-altitude homesteading/gardening setup that I am in awe of.

Before I dive into the nitty gritty, can I just say- these two seem like awesome people and I totally wish I lived near them so I could be their friend?  Seriously.  Apparently Cord is a master blacksmith, to add to the list of cool things.  They employ "bio-intensive gardening" techniques (not entirely unlike Square Foot Gardening, either) to get the most out of their space and limited water supply, and the website has some great pictures of how they've integrated their gardening space into their environment.

Penn's Blog has even more great info and pretty much makes me just insanely jealous of this awesome pair.

I don't really have much else to add, but you should definitely take some time to browse around and soak in the great pictures, information, and attitude of Penn and Cord.  They're definitely on my list of garden inspirations.  I may not be able to have something as awesome as they do right now, but someday!

2013 Preliminary Garden Planning

It may still be early, but since I'll be starting some seeds this week and I have just about all the seeds I need this year, I've been working on garden planning.  I have not sketched out the garden space we have here at home, but I did start on the two garden beds I'll be renting at Pea Pods this year.

Obviously this is a rough sketch.  Once I get it pretty much 'down' I will make a spreadsheet and printout which I'll then paste into my gardening journal/notebook.  I'm not doing strict Square Foot Gardening this year, because we have these great irrigation systems at the garden which roughly divide the length into thirds rather than fourths, and I found that doing the square foot layout was just too much of a pain to keep with the irrigation system.  Last year I did not bother with the irrigation, but this year I definitely want to use it, so I am dividing the garden up so I can use the irrigation apparatus as a partial divider.

At this point I still have a chunk on the top bed, which you can sort of see has no plants indicated in it.  I haven't decided what I'm going to do with that section yet.  I am considering putting a zucchini plant there, next to the other summer squash, but I may change my mind and decide to grow more types of peppers or something.  I'm not sure yet.  It's interesting to note that with this, even though I feel like I have SO many different things picked out to grow- I am still left with space after I've slotted everything I'm planting at the community garden for sure- which is most of my seeds!  It is amazing how much you can fit in a small space if you have the ability to intensively manage the crops.

You probably can't make out my handwriting, but the bottom bed is going to be my "early planting" bed.  I plan to get a floating row cover and start this one up in April sometime by planting all the cool-weather crops.  I should probably consult the local extension office (*makes note to self*) to find out when the general planting times are if you don't use any season extenders, and then just plant a couple weeks earlier than that.  I've tried to group everything that I can put in the ground fairly early in that one spot, though there are a couple other cool season crops in the top bed- namely ones that I won't need to cover (kale, cabbage) in the first place.  I hope that getting an early start means I'll have better luck this year with some things- like peas.

Cosmic Purple Carrot

Purchased from:  Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds for $3.00/300 seeds
Type: Carrot

Carrots are one of those vegetables that I could probably do an entire garden full of and still feel like I did not have enough.  I love them, and there are such wonderful colors available that it was really hard to narrow this down to just one that I wanted to grow- I may pick up a very basic variety later, but for now, this beauty is my number one choice.

These, unfortunately, are only purple-skinned, which is pretty standard for purple carrots.  I've yet to see a purple variety of carrot that is purple all the way through, though white, red, and yellow carrot varieties can indeed be colored the entire way through, as I found out several years ago when I grew a "rainbow mix" of carrots back in Rochester.

Speaking of the "rainbow mix," that is one thing I wish Baker Creek offered.  It would be so much less stressful to choose if I could just get a variety mix and roll the dice as to what I end up with! 

curious about my impressions of Baker Creek?  click here for my original post!

Golden Beet

Purchased from:  Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds for $2.50/250 seeds
Type: Beet

I'll be honest, I'm not really a fan of beets.  I keep trying them because tastes change and I may find a variety I like, but in general I find that they taste too much like, well, DIRT.  I picked this variety because it supposedly has both tasty greens and tasty roots.  I figure if I don't like the "Golden" beets any better than the red ones, I may enjoy the greens.  I'm all about new experiences.

Some of my family members enjoy beets, also, so again, no waste here!  In addition I actually do enjoy beet chips, so I'm hoping these work well for that.  It's interesting how many vegetables become palatable (or just tastier) when you dehydrate them into something crispy and wonderful.  Kale being the big one, but lots of other things as well.

One thing I have to say, also, is that Baker Creek has an insanely big selection of beets.  Seriously.  Some are considered better for feeding livestock, but still- it was a rough choice.  

curious about my impressions of Baker Creek?  click here for my original post!

Purple Top White Globe Turnip

Purchased from:  Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds  $1.50/600 seeds
Type: Turnip

If you don't click my link to the product page for any other veggie here, you should still click the link for this one.  The adorable photograph with the little girl is pretty much the entire reason I picked this variety.  I've never grown turnips, and my grandfather (my gardening inspiration- I'll have to talk about him someday) did not either.  At least, he didn't while I was helping him garden.  I'm not sure what to expect, but we'll see.  I'm sure that if no one in this house cares for the turnips that I'll be able to unload free produce on someone else, so I'm not worried about "waste."

This variety seems to be quite old- according to the description, pre-1880, which appeals to me.  I do think that "modern" varieties, hybrid or not, have a place in the world, but there is something fun about growing something from what I used to call "olden times" when I was a kid.  "Tried and True" can be better than "New and Improved" depending on the situation.

curious about my impressions of Baker Creek?  click here for my original post!