Starting over.

Howdy cats n' kittens!

As you know, the 'organic' potting soil I bought to start my seedling project sucked ass & I'm having to start again.  A friend who works at a marijuana dispensary is going to give me a bag of soil that sells for $16 a bag to try.  He guarantees my plants will thrive & I believe him.  Since pot growers pay top dollar for seed, they probably know better than anyone what works & what doesn't.  No, I'm not going to grow pot.  I'm legal to do so in CA, but where there's pot growing there's trouble & I don't need any trouble.

One of the snail flower vines finally sprouted.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the others.

The melons are sprouting.  Orangelo watermelon, golden midget, Sakata's sweet, Old Time Tennessee & Burrell's Jumbo are all making an appearance.  They won't be ready to sell for another few weeks, though.


The tomatoes are struggling.  My Gold Medal all died in the crappy soil.  It's a little early for them yet anyway.  They'd be further along if I had a cold frame & better dirt.  Live and learn.


The pole beans are doing the best of all the seedlings.  The purple pole beans & the blue lake pole beans are already 6" high.  Not all of them germinated though, so these ones will be kept for breeding.


One of the rare Pink Feathers Morning Glories sprouted.  I'm really excited about it.  Can't wait to see what they look like in real life.  I'm hoping they'll stop traffic & bring in customers.  


My new honeybees have settled in. I put on the full beekeeper getup for the first time & took a peak inside the hive to make sure they're doing okay. Lots of eggs, nectar, honey & comb.  They're doing better than expected.  I won't remove any honey until the end of next year's bee season, though.


Peace!

Seedlings are Coming Along. Exciting new varieties & old favorites. All grown organically.

The snails, lack of greenhouse, lack of experience, & poor potting soil have made for a rough start. I have decided to delay the first plant sale until May.  I'll have a better selection & more robust seedlings to offer.  I'd like to have everything available by my first sale, but it looks like certain varieties will be available sporadically this season.  A lot of what I'm doing this season is "field trials" & building up seed stock. 

Most of the seedlings are heirlooms grown from organic, un-treated, open-pollinated, non-GMO seed.  All are grown without chemicals.  Composting, precision watering, solar power, biocontrol (using beneficials for pest control), and maintaining pollinator habitat are examples of how I strive to keep my operation as eco-friendly as I can. 

Here is a list of all the plants I hope to offer.  The seeds have been sown, and some have sprouted.  Some haven't and may not.  Some are being offered as seedlings only. Some will be available as seeds only (or both). Some will be available as fresh produce when plants yield more than I can handle.  Some will be available as dried herbs.  Some won't be ready until 2012 (but ask if you're interested in them).  Another list with photos, growing instructions & other info is in the works.  I'm happy to email the catalog in progress.

Bananas:

Blood Banana (ornamental)

Pink Banana (edible/ornamental)

Beans:

Blue Lake Pole Bean

Ruby Moon Hyacinth Bean

Purple Peacock Pole Bean

Sunset Runner Pole Bean

Yellow Pole Wax Bean

 

Romanesco Broccoli

Purple Brussels Sprout

Carrots:

Cosmic Purple Carrot

Gold Mine Carrot

Little Finger Carrot

Corn: 

Japonica Striped Maize (corn)

Oaxacan Green Dent Corn

Tom Thumb Corn

Purple Cauliflower

Spacemaster Cucumber

Pingtung Long Eggplant

Early Purple Vienna Kohlrabi

Melons:

Banana Melon

Burrell's Jumbo Melon 

Golden Midget Melon

Moon & Stars Watermelon

Old Time Tennessee Melon 

Orangelo Watermelon 

Rich Sweetness 132 Melon

Sakata's Sweet Melon

Tigger Melon

 

Yellow Borettana Onion (aka: Cipollini) 

Peppers:

Anaheim Chili (mild)

Ancho Gigantea/Poblano Chili (mild)

Lemon Drop Pepper (hot)

Tequila Sunrise Pepper (mild)

Corne di Toro Rosso Pepper (sweet)

Tolli's Sweet Italian Pepper

Yolo Wonder Pepper (sweet)

Golden California Wonder Pepper (sweet)

Orange Sun Pepper (sweet)

Purple Beauty Pepper (sweet)

Yellow Wonder Wild Strawberry

Yellow Summer Squash

White Scallop Summer Squash

Purple Tomatillo

tomatoes:

Ananas Noire Tomato

Black Elephant Tomato

Brandywine Tomato (Red)

Copia Tomato

Costoluto Genovese Tomato

Coyote Tomato

Gold Medal Tomato

Hawaiian Currant Tomato 

Hillbilly Potato Leaf Tomato

Huan U Tomato

Iraqi Tomato from Basra
Ilini Gold Tomato

Isis Candy Tomato

Peacevine Cherry Tomato

Pierce's Pride Tomato

Purple Russian Tomato

Speckled Roman Tomato

HERBS/GREENS

Italian Arugula 

Rustic Arugula 

Bee Balm

Borage

Catnip 

Huacatay

Hyssop

Purple Dark Opal Basil

Purple Petra Basil

Sweet Green Basil

Black Pepper Vine (2011=field trials. May be available in 2012)

Cardamon Ginger (2011=field trials. May be available in 2012)

Garlic Chives

Cilantro 

Lemon Grass

Patchouli (2011=field trials. May be available in 2012)

Sweet Mace (aka: Mexican Tarragon)

FLOWERS

Aquilegia 'Double Pleat Blackberry'

Bee's Friend 

Bishop's Children Dahlia

Calico Flower (vine)

Color Fountains Cleome

Diablo Cosmos 

Four O'Clocks (hot pink)

Glory Lily (vine)

Munstead Lavender

Pink Baby's Breath

White Baby's Breath

Black Peony Poppy

Mailbox Mix Morning Glory

Pink Feathers Morning Glory 

Scarlet O'hara Morning Glory

Tall Purpea Morning Glory

Pride of Gibraltar

Tropical Fruit Moss Rose

Saltwater Taffy Swirls Sweet Pea 

Scarlet Runner Bean

Sensitive Plant

Snail Flower Vine

Mexican Torch Sunflower (orange/red)

Mexican Torch Sunflower (yellow)

Green Envy Zinnia

Nobody reads my blog.

I was encouraged to start this blog because I send too many emails to people about what's going on in the world.  I've had success on Twitter & Facebook, but no one reads my blog. 

Growing organic, heirloom/rare seedlings in my backyard has proven much more difficult than I had anticipated.  Dirt + seed + water = plant?  Sometimes.  Some of the more exotic plants haven't germinated yet & I fear the seeds are duds. Driving rain killed my Sensitive Plants. Too much rain killed the eggplant & tomato seedlings. Snails ate at least 30% of what sprouted despite attempts to stop them.  I even found a plant dug out & eaten by squirrels.  Last year, it was armies of earwigs. 

What hasn't been drowned or eaten by varmints is almost ready for my first sale.  I'm aiming for April 23rd, a week after I get my bees & a day before Easter.  Be there or be square!

- Nanda -