Archive for January 15, 2009
Seed Season
This nice piece in Alternet today reminded me of something important: just because it’s cold and miserable out doesn’t mean that it’s too soon to start planning my garden. And planning is half the fun. Or, almost half -say forty percent.
I’m getting my seeds from Seed Savers Exchange, as usual, but I’m also going to try out this place called Seeds of Change, because I’ve got a gift certificate. There’s also a handful of seeds that I saved from last year (and the year before), including some flowers that were in my yard this summer in Alaska, and some squash seeds that I dug out of my dinner before cooking it. But I still need to get seeds for most of the plants that I plan to grow in my new garden, so I’ve started a list and in a few days I’m going to hit the seed sites and order a bunch before they run out of the good stuff (and they do run out – a few years ago I just couldn’t get arugula and it was really upsetting).
Here’s my seed list so far:
-Herbs-
Dill
Oregano
Basil
Rosemary
Thyme
Cilantro
Lemon verbena
Lavender
Parsley
-Veggies-
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Pickling cucumbers
Carrots
Turnips/parsnips?
Hot peppers
Bell peppers
Lettuce
Arugula
Squash/pumpkin
String beans
Broccoli
Onion?
Green onion/chives
Potatoes
-Fruit-
Strawberries
-Flowers-
Sunflowers
Bulbs? Daffodils?
Mulchfest 2009
New York City has this great tradition, where the Sanitation and Parks Departments pick up all the tossed-out Christmas trees, bring them down to the park and grind them up into mulch. I had the great pleasure of volunteering at one of the parks where the mulching was taking place last week, and it was really something. As you can see in the photo below, they had this big industrial-strength chipper and within a few hours had turned well over a hundred trees into a huge, piney pile of mulch. I had the foresight to bring my car with me (cars are bad bad bad), and filled it up with bags of mulch that now exist in the form of a large, decomposing lump in my back yard. Come spring time (or as soon as the snow melts and it’s not unbearably cold outside) I’ll use the piney stuff to make paths between my garden plots – this year it’s too fresh to use on the plants themselves. Yay for mulch! And more on my garden coming soon…
