Hi! Johnny L. Dose here with another contribution to The Garden Dreamer.
Just a few words on seed selection today. First, seeds are not viable forever. If they are more than two or three years old, toss ‘em in the compost pile or on top of a worm tub. Maybe some will sprout that you can use. Me, I prefer to get new seeds. You should be using up your old orders anyway and not overbuying…. um…..like me.
Second, now is the time to shop for seeds. Parks Seed has a beautiful catalog. I like looking at all the pictures and descriptions. Seeds are packed for airtightness. Gurney’ s has a good selection and combo packs that can make it simple to plan the garden. Also, they’re not pricy. Pinetree, also has good varieties and some hard-to-find seeds, e.g. Winter Savory (herb).
Third, as hinted above, now is the time to plan the garden. What are you going to do that’s new? What are you going to drop? What are you going to keep as standard crops? Sometimes, it’s fun to get out graph paper and draw some plots out. It’s also fun to do a kids jigsaw puzzle, finger paint, and burn crayons in the garage.
Fourth, there are many Off-Season Activities (OSAs), e.g. trade shows, Ag Extension seminars, soil sampling and testing, liming, equipment maintenance, winter garden, 2021 harvest data, expenses to review, and benefits to report. Soul enrichment is a benefit.
So, there is actually some planting that can be done in January, e.g. indoor seeds flats or float beds. Crops like onions, strawberries and herbs like Rosemary and Winter Savory are slow to get going; therefore, could be started now.
Last, if you have a Winter garden, hoop house, or cold frame, then you already have a
List O’ Shizz to address. The main point is that the garden season doesn’t begin or end with last or first frost dates. There’s plenty of planning, compiling, building, fixing that can get done and all without mosquitoes, flies ,or COVID masks {region and IQ dependent}.
In closing with comments on fingerlings (new potatoes only not so round), now is the time to get your order in. I like Ronniger Potato farms https://www.ronnigersorganics.com/ . The French fingerlings tend to sell out. Now, you can do Yukon gold potatoes, but then you also buy a five pound bag for $5.59. Fingerlings are worth the trouble. They can be very tasty, and are in my opinion, worth growing. At least get on the website and goof out on all the different kinds of potatoes that you can grow. Just like all the different kinds of popcorn you can grow.
Now is also a good time to go online and look for a Vegetable Planner for your area. This information is essentially a calendar of when to germinate, days until harvest, etc.
Anyway, feel free to ask me any questions about my experiences with seeds.
I’ll stop now and save some material for my next post.
All the Best,
Johnny L. Dose
The Garden Dreamer 