Seeds

[loosegoose]

Got some of my seeds from Gurney's today. Can't wait til spring.

[CrowWingBasser]

Good for you!! The great thing about seed catalogs is they get our juices flowing and give us hope that winter will eventually end. I live in Bemidji and our conversation with fellow gardeners this time of the year revolves around seed catalogs - orders placed - and the new seeds we may want to try this coming year.

[pushbutton]

I remember the good old days before the internet when I would look forward to walking the 1/4 mile up hill both ways to the mailbox to see if a new catalog had come…..Farmers, Jungs, Gurney, Territorial, Pine Tree, Jonnys, Stokes…the list goes on. The preliminary order always had about 10 times the amount of seed I could use in two years, and would have to whittle down a lot. Would also sometimes get that "it's going to be an early spring feeling" and start planting a few maters and peppers in late January….not feeling it this year though

[Down Deep]

I was at my local seed and feed store today. Bought several packages of green beans, carrots, wild flowers, herbs, etc. Only problem now is that the garden has nearly 4 feet of snow on top of it. I hope it melts fast this year. Last year the Duluth area had 53 inches of snow in April and cold temps all of May. It was real push preparing and planting everything last season. My tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage and other set plants just sat there for 4 or 5 weeks and didn't grow an inch. I was beginning to think there was something wrong with them. Finally in late June the temps when up and the plants took off. About the only thing in the garden that liked the cool weather were the Strawberries.

[Dotch]

I hear ya. The frost didn't go out of the ground until mid-April and we had 15" of snow on May 2nd. We still have a lot of seed that we didn't plant last year simply because the weather conditions wouldn't allow it. We focused on cool season things and did a lot of radish, peas and lettuce type stuff into early September. Wonderful results, but I really missed the squash, melons, pumpkins and other stuff that likes heat. We had good string beans and nice tomatoes later in the season but they didn't keep long without spoiling. Still need to replenish the radish, lettuce, peas, and bean seed supply. Like yours, the garden is buried under several feet of new drifts now after the recent blizzard. No hurry.

[SkunkedAgain]

For some reason I just got a Gurney's catalog in the mail last week. As I thumbed through it, I saw a lot of stuff saying "hybrid" and "xxx resistant" and you name it. I'm not a granola fanatic or against GMO foods, but have never bought seeds before and don't want to plant stuff that's already filled with chemicals. I can tend the garden and deal with critters without any help.

Are there any good places to get seeds that are relatively straight forward or are most of them going to come modified/sprayed?

[pushbutton]

Johnny's, Territorial, and Pinetree are my favorites. All will have numerous non treated organic and open pollinated/heirloom/non hybrid "granola" selections if you wish…..that are geared for northern climates as well. Keep in mind hybrid and resistant strains are not usually any type of genetical engineering. They simply have been crossed/hybridized because they show resistance to common bacterial, viral, and fungal diseases that can affect many of the standard, non hybridized, open pollinated strains. You can't use them to gather seeds from to plant the next year, but if you believe the world is not going to end, you can just buy some more for a few bucks

[delcecchi]

For some reason I just got a Gurney's catalog in the mail last week. As I thumbed through it, I saw a lot of stuff saying "hybrid" and "xxx resistant" and you name it. I'm not a granola fanatic or against GMO foods, but have never bought seeds before and don't want to plant stuff that's already filled with chemicals. I can tend the garden and deal with critters without any help.

Are there any good places to get seeds that are relatively straight forward or are most of them going to come modified/sprayed?

Hybrid only means it is from the crossing of two different varieties. Nothing GM or sprayed about it. Likewise the resistance is achieved by breeding the plants and selecting ones that resist the disease.

Do yourself a favor and buy the newer hybrid, disease resistant varieties, at least until you have experience and can handle the more disease prone types.

[SkunkedAgain]

I am very inexperienced so I appreciate the advice. I've had a black gardening thumb for the past few decades until I started growing garlic. Now I'm trying to branch out a little, so all of your insight is helpful.

Thanks

[KEN W]

I am very inexperienced so I appreciate the advice. I've had a black gardening thumb for the past few decades until I started growing garlic. Now I'm trying to branch out a little, so all of your insight is helpful.

Thanks

Any questions you have.....just ask.

[Dotch]

Ya, if we don't know we'll make something up. Seriously, there are a lot of experienced gardeners here, each with their own unique geography and niche so to speak. Much wisdom knowledge to be gained. People are willing to park their egos at the door and that helps make it easy to moderate.

[delcecchi]

Also, the extension web site at http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/

has a lot of good information, is free, and they aren't trying to sell you anything.

[Jameson]

Anyone planting any seeds indoors soon? Last year I started tomatoes on March 1st and they were very large by planting time. Think I'll wait a couple more weeks.

[pushbutton]

Usually plant starter seeds right around syrup tapping time....looks to be a few weeks more than a few weeks away at this point. When I was younger always was trying to beat ma nature's mater planting clock with cold frames and such, earlier in may, but now seem to need that extra memorial day Monday off just to get the job done.....don't seem to move as fast anymore, plus it is usually warmer out

[KEN W]

I always start tomatoes,broccoli,cauliflower,lettuce,cabbage,kohlrabi,peppers about April 1.Otherwise as you noted,they get to big.Now,I am on the northern edge of zone 4.

Melons are started May 1.

[flipper]

At the risk of having the guys in white coats with the big butterfly nets come after me, I have to admit that I started 24 pepper plants about a week ago. I had to do it.

[eurolarva]

I start pepper plants and onions now. The pepper plants need to be warm to germinate. I built a piece of plywood with string lights I got from Menards and had much better success with them. I have a few potted tomato plants and herbs I start now as well. Get a head start on the cherry potted tomatos so I can start eating my own earlier. My basil also can be harvested indoors under the grow lights. Got to pass time away. March and April are always the most boring times of the year. Doing the indoor seeds is like a hobby and helps pass time.

If those tomato plants get to leggy you cut all the leaves off the bottoms and build a trench when you plant them in the garden. It will make for a better root system and help get them started better

[CANOPY SAM]

Absolutely nothing wrong with starting your peppers now. They are pretty slow germinators, and initially very slow growers. I'll typically start mine in March if I'm not just planning to buy plants at the nursery.

Honestly, I can't even get jacked up about gardening yet. It was -27 F here this morning, and we haven't seen one single day above 32 degrees since early November last year!

Weather man said next week is supposed to be colder, and snowier then average, and Farmer's Almanac is calling for cold and snow all the way thru March this year.

I still think you guys are short-changing yourselves on the slower growing plants though. I don't put anything in until the first week of June every year, we can't, and we still get fantastic squash, pumpkins, tendersweet carrots, and pretty much everything you guys are worried about not getting mature fruit from due to late plantings.

They'll make it guys. Trust me. Just give em' a little extra water when they need it, and a little more till and TLC.

I get behind the advice of everyone on this forum Ken. There are some super smart gardeners here! Great place to get real concrete intell on your gardening questions.

I really gotta figure out how to load pics on this silly HSOforum. My wife took some beautiful pics of our berry plants last year. Seeing those huge bushes just covered with fat raspberries, strawberries, apples, etc., at least might give us a shred of hope that spring will eventually arrive!

[KEN W]

Canapy Sam.....I don't put out anything that can be frost damaged until the end of May....around Memorial Day.But I do put out the Cole crops and lettuce a week or so earlier.Depends on the weekly forecast.

6 to 8 weeks before you want to put them out is a good method.

[delcecchi]

To load pics, Click on the little brown rectangle with blue arrow, fifth box from the left. Click the browse button in the popup. find the picture, click on it, click open, then add picture. Repeat until you are done, then click "done adding pictures". finish your post and submit.

Very easy.

The above is done from the posting/edit post/reply screen

[dairyman]

yeah---the wife and I were talking this morning about seed. Attached is a picture of some habenaro's we grew last year. We had a ton of the "HOT" little buggers

[flipper]

Do you always pick them green or was this the harvest just before the hard freeze?

[dairyman]

It was just before the freeze

[KEN W]

Those little babies are scorching hot.That many would last me a lifetime.

[dairyman]

Yeah---it all started when my son-in-law said there wasn't a pepper I could grow that was too hot for him to eat. I personally don't eat them and pretty much give them away to friends who can.