Seed Picks for Spring 2013

Sean brought home the new FEDCO SEEDS CATALOG a few days ago to create a very happy and excited wife. I love looking forward, planning and lists. I love LISTS. Immediately, we sat down and started reading through the pages to decide which kinds of seeds we would purchase for this year's gardens. With over 150 pages to look through, it was difficult to narrow our choices. Once we stepped back to evaluate the landscape a little, picking which varieties we would grow this season became easier.

Our goal is to eventually maintain our own comprehensive seed bank, for several reasons. First, the seeds we harvest will become acclimated to our particular growing climate over time, leading to a better yield for us. Secondly, it will save us money. It may only be a small expense each year, but every expense eats into any profit we hope to someday realize. And, by selecting and saving seeds from plants which boast the qualities most desirable to us (flavor, fruit yield, disease resistance, etc.), we will have more control over the genetics of the plants we choose to grow.

To do this right, we feel that it is important to mainly purchase seeds that meet these criteria:
1. Heritage Variety: are open- pollinated vegetables varieties that have been grown for 50 years or longer
2. Open-Pollinated: seeds not labeled hybrid, F1, F2, etc. These seeds grow true-to-type.
3. Certified Organic: certified by a USDA approved agency which can be proven with an audit trail.
4. Locally Grown: seeds offered by gardens and farms grown in our climate and geographic area.

It is still strange to think that in this day and age, you can grow your own food in your own backyard, and STILL be eating food that has been genetically engineered. And, you can plant seeds which you yourself have saved, and still not realize a harvest because the seeds planted were sterile. With those thoughts in mind, I appreciate that FEDCO "does not knowingly carry genetically engineered seeds" in their catalog. Not every seed variety listed for sale, is certified organic, though. So, it took us a few hours to narrow our selections for this year's gardens.

We decided to purchase 31 varieties. All of them, except the scarlet runner and the multi-colored pole bean mix met all of our requirements. These two varieties were not certified organic. They were labeled ECO which indicated that they were "grown without pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers in gardens and on farms which maintain an active soil-building program" but had not been through the certification process. That sounds like us. We won't have the money to spend to be certified this year, but we plan to use organic growing practices and we will label our foods "Naturally Grown".

I am excited about this year's garden effort. We hope that we will have enough produce to eat, freeze, and store to feed ourselves through until next year. Additionally, we will be offering fruits and veggies for sale at our farm stand for our neighbor's tables. And, hope of all hopes, it would be just spectacular to produce enough to sell Five CSA Shares beginning in June and running through October.

So, what will we have to offer?

2013 Seed Selections

 

Yellow Sweet Corn
Ashworth

Beans
Bush Green Beans
Pole Beans
Multicolored Pole Bean Mix*
Scarlet Runner*
Red Kidney

Peas
Sugarsnap

Watermelon
Blacktail Mountain

Cucumbers
Little Leaf Pickling
Marketmore Slicing

Pumpkin
Young's Beauty

Carrots
Nantes Fancy

Radishes
Plum Purple

Scallions
Evergreen Hardy White

Onion
New York Early

Lettuce
Freedom Lettuce Mix

Kale
Red Russian

Spinach
Tyee

Beets
Early Wonder Tail Top

Broccoli
Solstice

Peppers
King of the North
Purple Beauty
Tangerine Pimento
Carmen

Hot Peppers
Czech Black
Hidalgo Serrano

Tomatoes
Soldaki (Table)
Peacevine (Cherry)
Heinz (Paste)
Amish Paste (Paste)
Hog Heart (Paste)

We already have planted 60 cloves of organic Red Russian garlic. We grow herbs like; dill, basil, sage, thyme, chives, and rosemary all year long indoors. We will offer either cut bunches of herbs or potted herbs as soon as we open this spring. And, through partnerships with local orchards and growers, we may also have available strawberries, blueberries, grapes (grown right here), and apples!

What about you?
Do you grow a garden?
Have you ever purchased a CSA Share from a local farm?

Thanks for stopping in for a visit today!
Sonja ♥

This post also linked to: Hearth Soul Hop. Check them out for some great recipes and growing tips.