Port Potager

The last step of planning out the garden is the seed inventory. Each year we go through our seed box to see what is still viable (and what we like) to make a shopping list. If a variety didn't do well the year before, or if it's unavailable, we try something new. Having  last year's seed inventory  handy definitely makes it easier to get the seed shopping done. I pull that up on the laptop while I cross-reference the planting plan to make the new list: Here's what we're going with for 2015, quadrant-by quadrant: The Patio Quadrant Strawberries: Sparkle (new), Tribute, Honeoye, Seascape (existing) Cabbage: Storage #4 and Red Express Broccoli: Arcadia and Diplomat (one was superior, but due to poor record keeping I have no idea which, so we'll try both again) Pickling cucumbers: Northern Pickling The Swingset Quadrant Peas: Penelope Carrots: Scarlet Nantes, Danvers Half Long, Romance Leeks: Lancelot and King Richard (ditto on the poor...

O frabjous day! The seeds arrived today! And not a moment too soon — we need to get those leeks and onions started this weekend. Here's the record of the varieties (all from Johnny's Selected Seeds , as you can see) that we'll be trying out this year: The Swingset Quadrant Bell Peppers: Ace Potatoes: Kennebec, Red Pontiac, French Fingerling, Russian Banana, Magic Molly Okra: Clemson Spineless Leeks: King Richard and Lancelot Cabbage: Storage #4 and Red Express Roma Tomatoes: Amish Paste and Paisano Cherry Tomatoes: Sungold (from a plant) Tomatillos The Patio Quadrant Strawberries: Tribute, Honeoye, Seascape (from plants) Beets: Detroit Red and Chioggia Guardsmark Peas: Penelope Carrots: Laguna, Cordoba and Napoli Vine Tomatoes: Rose, Moskvich, Ukrainian Yellow Pumpkin: New England Pie and Long Pie Pole Beans: Cherokee Trail of Tears The Driveway Quadrant Winter Squash: Butternut JWS6823 Brussels Sprouts: Catskill ...

Yesterday Punxsutawny Phil did not see his shadow. While I have no love for groundhogs , I'm certainly a fan of the early spring forecast. Whether warmer weather is six weeks out or not, this weekend — the halfway point between solstice and equinox — is the time to start our first seeds indoors: And here they are, all lined up on the new shelves in the window. We have one full flat of leeks (144), one full flat of red onions, and one full flat of yellow onions (also 144 each). There's also a half flat of 24 additional leeks and 48 additional red onions. That's a lot, but we are just about out of onions from last season, so we need a good deal more to get through a winter until onions are available again in early summer. We have enough leeks to get us through until early spring, but we planned for more next season because they do so well in the extreme cold. Also, it's important to remember that not every seed planted will develop into a mature plant — there a...