Let's Get Planting!

It's that time of year. The days are slowly getting longer, the sun is peaking out a wee bit more and I feel the bloom of spring just itching to burst forth from the soil *grin*.

I know, it's barely the middle of February and we could get snow and frozen temperatures at any minute but I can't help myself but want to will spring to come now. So to fill the time until it finally does appear I pulled out my box of seed packets to see what I had, what is needed and to sort out all of my tomato seeds because it's time to get planting :)

Our growing season is wet, cool and rather short so anything I can do to help things speed along a little quicker before it's time to get things in the ground outdoors is always welcome. Last summer you probably remember that Hubby built me a little greenhouse and it will be perfect for growing an early crop of tomatoes in. So I pulled out what I had left of my little jiffy seven peat pots and soaked them in some nice hot water to puff them up for planting.

I planted Bonny Best, Italian Paste, German Red Strawberry, Polish Paste, and Rocket so far but I also need to start some Black Krim which is a wonderful meaty heirloom variety that we love for sandwiches.

You can find some of them in my favorite seed catalogues like West Coast Seeds, Seeds of Victoria, Salt Spring Seeds and of course all of the wonderful ones I find every year at the various Seedy Saturdays (click for listings) scattered over the island :)

With my little seeds tucked away in a nice dark spot itching to sprout they will be all ready to harden off in the greenhouse nice and early so we can make the most of this summer. I can't wait!

Hugs,
Rosina

Waiting

I find it very amusing that barely 2 months ago I was really looking forward to putting my garden to bed for the winter and not thinking about weeding, watering or what I wanted to can any more. Yet here I am standing out in the field looking at the frozen mounds of plowed earth, turned and waiting for the spring thaw and making mental notes on what I want to do this year to improve my garden!

The seed catalogues have been showing up one by one and I now have a Stokes, West Coast Seed & Johnny's Seed catalogue to peruse during these darker winter days. West coast seeds is my favorite as they have non GMO, heirloom and organic seeds and my list of seeds that I want to purchase is growing larger every day *grin*. I was teasing Hubby that I better start my own personal lay-away plan just so that when I do finally make my order it won't break the bank!

I would love to build a small glass greenhouse for tomatoes this spring on our front patio. It is crazy hot out there in the summer so we never actually sit there and the space would make a fantastic hot house. Maybe I'll have to put my son's new miniature doll house building skills to use and see if he can make a full sized building for me this time :)

So many plans. Thank goodness it's only January....

But wait! Now that I think of it I really don't have a ton of time! The tomato seeds need to be started in February if I want to see red tomatoes before the next fall frost. I better start planting the greenhouse bug in some ears sooner rather than later *grin*.

Hugs,
Rosina

PS. I've got Day 2 of my Project 365 posted HERE :)

Gardening Catalogues

We just had to stop and take a photo the other day when we went down island of this great Inukshuk atop the big rock in Campbell River :) Someone was definitely bitten by the spirit of the Olympics *grin*.

Gone is that beautiful blue sky that was in the above photo and it's raining again but I've been cheering myself up with thoughts of planting my garden! I've been ordering from West Coast Seeds out of Delta, BC for quite a few years now and I've got my new 2010 catalogue dog eared already with my new favorites and old faithfuls :)



All of their seeds are untreated & GMO free and there are some new certified organic seeds as well. Quick note though, it appears when you do a quick glance through the first pages that all of their seeds would be organic with all the certified organic stamps and write up flashed but only seeds listings that specifically say they are organic actually are. I was really hoping that all of the seeds were now organic but some is better than none!

If you're in Europe, specifically England I just received a fabulous seed catalogue from a company called Sarah Raven's Kitchen & Garden and it is just chocked full of organic seeds!! So many interesting and very different vegetables to choose from.



I was particularly interested in the organic bean seeds that they have. We live in a colder climate and there is a cool climate pole bean named Borlotti Lingua de Fuocco that can be planted in April which is nearly 2 months ahead of when we can plant our usual bean seeds and another broad bean named Super Aquadulce that can be sown in February or September for a fall/winter crop. Sadly though it appears that they don't ship outside the European union so I guess my crazy winter bean dreams will have to be put on hold LOL.

Do you have a favorite seed company that sells organic seeds in Canada or ships to Canada that you could share?

~ Rosina