I have seeds

 

  

I have lots of seeds.  It is a bit of a problem in that I know many of them are old and I will never use them all.  But it feels like having envelopes full of potential.. and sometimes boxes full.  I don't have the time now to be out in the garden - or maybe I just don't have the ambition I did when Esme was younger.  Maybe I'm not as hopeful and plant less each year.  But I dug through my boxes today (signs that it is finally getting warmer again) and made my 'this year' list (in my head) and decided what things I need to go acquire and what things are ready to be thrown out.  

I planted two tiny flats of tomatoes and peppers - six each, in the greenhouse corner and we'll just see if they make a go of it at all.  I'm showing restraint at the moment but I know I'll end up with the four or five flats of each and begin weeding them down to survivors.  The seeds I planted today were the last dregs from packages I just didn't want to throw away wholesale.

I'm setting my priorities.   I will be planting some beans this year,  several varieties.  I love having the sunflowers.  And there is so much corn still in the packages - but I won't plant the corn with as much hope of eating it but only for 'scientific' purposes.

So I want this year:

pole beans and Provider bush beans

peas

Sunflowers

some sort of corn?

cucumbers (I eat these)

a tomato and a pepper that produce (have to plant a few of each to make sure)

dill and basil

morning glories

nasturtiums

marigolds

zinnias

And I might take a chance against the bugs again this year and plant a summer squash

I made a bag of 'free for all' bean varieties (and a few gourd seeds and peas in there) that I will just toss out around the garden and see what if anything they do.  They don't have any identification and are old.. so .. let nature do what it wants with them.

I remember that one year I planted butternut squashes down in the valley and they actually produced tiny little squashes but not really big enough to eat.  That was hope and optimism!  It was interesting seeing them clinging to life trying to grow amid the jungle of other plants.  There was this one that I planted partially in a hollow under the end of dead log and it was the best of them all - it had some shelter away from the mass of sun-loving weeds and lots of fertilizer from the decaying wood and I would go fill up the hollow with some water when I could from my watering can.

 Top : Bosnian beans which I have grown out every other year or so since I was sent nine of them in a package.  Middle Left: Good Mother Stallard beans.  They have never produced for me, but I've been stingy with them and only planted ten or so at a time..  I might just have to put the whole package in the ground and try to see what happens.  Middle Right : Hyacinth beans (with the white stripes) are the progeny of a plant a friend at work gave me years ago.  Bottom: 'Turkey Craw?' beans I've often just called white climbers.  They appeared out of nowhere (probably a stray bean in a package I was given) and have been prolific enough I have this many left over from several years.