Friday Favorite: Renee’s Garden Seeds
If you’ve been reading here for a while you know how much I like Renee’s Garden Seeds. Not only does Renee do lots of wonderful things to encourage gardening (like donating seeds to school gardens), her seeds are specifically chosen for the small home gardener.
One of my favorite things about Renee’s is that you can get individual packets of seeds that contain several different varieties of vegetables. This is such a money saver for the home gardener, not to mention it limits the amount of seed you have to store from year to year. You can find a wide variety of options with multiple varieties in each packet. I’ve grown her multi-packs of: beans, zucchini, beets, broccoli, lettuce, radishes, scallions, and carrots.
I’m in the process of figuring out just which items I’m going to be ordering from Renee’s, I’m thinking radishes and beets for sure. The ‘Catalina’ spinach is also a favorite of mine.
Do you like to grow multiple varieties of each type of vegetable?
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Waiting….
We have a pair of cedar Adirondack chairs that we put in the garden during the summer months. We sit in them often, enjoying supper, drinks, or just a bit of rest. The cats use them frequently as well, in fact, I think more than we do! Usually, they are put away in the garage in the fall, this year we neglected to move them.
The other day I noticed them in the snow, at that point it had just snowed so there was snow on the arms and along all the flat areas. They looked like they were just waiting for someone to sit down.
I’m kind of glad that we didn’t take them in. Every time I come home, I see them sitting there in the snow waiting, waiting for the snow to melt, spring to come, and the weather to warm. Waiting to be used once again.
Do have seating areas in the garden?
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New Houseplants
Even though I have plans of “not buying any new plants this year” I break that each and every year. This year I lasted until mid-February until I saw this cyclamen at a local store. I thought it would be the perfect addition to the house to add some color. Growing up, my mom had the house filled with houseplant, typically ones that bloomed with big, colorful blossoms.
I also got an African violet with beautiful leaves. It had one slightly wilted flower, which was stunning. That made it into the my cart as well, I’ll post photos when the bud opens up. I’ve always wanted to add cyclamens to the outdoor garden, I’ve just never gotten around to it. Will this year be the year? If not I have one in the house to enjoy!
Are you a houseplant person? What’s your favorite houseplant? Does it bloom?
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Patience, Patience…
This time of year it can be difficult to keep excitement in check for the coming gardening season. The seed orders start arriving, the days are longer, the sun shines brighter and warmer, and things are starting to look like spring. It’s easy to get overexcited and start seeds way too early, I’m guilty of this as much as any gardener! It’s really best to wait and transplant things at the correct time. When held too long, plants get bigger and have more transplant shock, thus it actually sets them back and there’s nothing to be gained by starting them early.
Here in Maine, we’re lucky to have MOFGA (the Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association). They have a wonderfully handy chart for seed starting and transplanting times. (here’s a link to their website where you can copy and print out a copy)
I have this printed out and hanging right by my seed starting area. I’ve noted in different starting dates for things I like to start earlier or later and I’ve added things to the chart that they don’t list (like basil). This would be an easy reference to copy and amend for your specific planting dates and climate. For example, I find that starting celery earlier than their given time works better for me. I also start onions a bit earlier (in the next week or two) as I like them to be a bit bigger at transplant because otherwise, I have issues with the robins pulling them up. This coming week I will be starting my early onions, which are ‘Purplette’ from Johnny’s Seeds.
Have you ever started seeds too early?
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Friday Favorite: Nutscene Twine
I’ve used just about every type of garden twine out there and Nutscene is definitely my personal favorite. It’s not cheap, but it’s worth the extra amount for a variety of reasons. For one, I find it last throughout a long season and often through the winter as well, which makes it nice for tying up perennial vines. The dispensing tin makes it so much easier to use, no dropping it and having it unravel and wrap itself around a few plants or under a rose bush. I’m a fan of the green color since it is much less visible in the garden, something that of particular importance to me since I sell photos of my garden.
For the past few years I’ve used a few other types of twine, thankfully Mr Chiots got me a can of Nutscene for Christmas. I’m happy once again to have a stock of my favorite twine. This size will last me a few years. If you haven’t tried it before give it a try, if you have a gardener in your life, consider this when you need a gift for them. You can also purchase refills for the tin in case you don’t need a new one, it’s cheaper that way as well.
Do you have any great garden supplies to recommend?
