First sowings 2021

[Vanisle_BC]

I got some rhubarb seed (Glaston's Perpetual) from overseas, just in time for new year. Presoaked 7 seeds to test viability: 100%. Couldn't bear to discard such enthusiastic life, so they're in soil cubes at the living room window and already poking up. While I was at it I put some Valmaine seed in soil blocks too. If those grow well I may try hardening them off into a cold frame (which isn't built yet ). I want to get the rhubarb planted out in spring but don't know how far I can bring it on, in the house.

[TomatoNut95]

I plan to get my peppers planted next week indoors in egg cartons.
Also coleus, saliva, dwarf tomatoes and cress.

[Vanisle_BC]

I plan to get my peppers planted next week indoors in egg cartons.
Also coleus, saliva, dwarf tomatoes and cress.

You're planting saliva?

[Vanisle_BC]

My poor rhubarb starts, sitting by a window but not close enough, are pining for the light, with just a tiny pair of leaves on long skinny stems barely strong enough to hold themselves up. I'll move them under lights in the slightly-heated workshop although I didn't want to start using that yet. They may not survive - too bad but they are just the result of a germination test and as usual I hadn't the heart to throw them away.

A few Valmaine lettuce sown at the same time are showing the first signs of emerging.

Meantime I'm waiting for a seed order from Baker Creek. Their website has been down for a few days but is supposed to come back up this evening. It will soon be time for seed starting in earnest

[imafan26]

I planted Koba green onions, Tigress zucchini (only 1), Summer Dance cucumber (4), cilantro, garden chives, and romaine lettuce. I have more to plant, but I have to restrain myself and space things out a bit more otherwise, they will all need to be harvested at the same time and I will have to find ways to preserve, give away or eat it all before it is too late.

Although they are not seeds, I have pepper seedling from Thai peppers I planted that need to be potted up and other pepper seedlings, mostly super chilies that are popping up as volunteers that need to be pulled or transplanted out.

[!potatoes!]

not really a 2021 sowing, but my first 2021 germination! seeds from some of my tea plants that came ripe in november/december and were immediately sown in a pot indoors are starting to come up! four so far...I think there were 13 or 14 seeds originally, some felt more developed / heavier than others.

[Vanisle_BC]

Rehabilitating Rhubarb: Before & After ....

Well actually After and Before because the forum insists on that order, and the image codes don't appear in the compose view so I can't change it.

Don't know why the code sometimes shows and sometimes not. - ??

[Gary350]

Your plants are looking good. My grandparents had Rhubarb in Illinois same plants for 24 years it did very well but I can not grow it in TN humidity is too high and weather is too hot. I did a lot of research on Rhubarb and finally go 5 of my 15 plants to grow for 3 years. Rhubarb is usually allowed to grow large roots & large plants the first year then harvested the second year. You need bell jars with lids to grow Rhubarb the second. If you grow plants in the dark second year they are blood red, very sweet, very good flavor, and not much acid that typically makes them have that very strong sour taste. Plants need plenty of P&K so they grow large roots the first year then N for long stalks the second year. You will probably get 5 to 7 nice stalks the first year then maybe as many as 15 to 20 stalks the second year. Good general purpose fertilizer 15-15-15 is good the first year.

YES you have to upload photos in reverse order so they are in the correct order after you click, Submit.

[TomatoNut95]

I plan to get my peppers planted next week indoors in egg cartons.
Also coleus, saliva, dwarf tomatoes and cress.

You're planting saliva?

Plan on it. Why? Is it a scary plant?

[Vanisle_BC]

Hi Gary; a couple of things;

You certainly don't have to cover & force rhubarb although some people/producers do. I've never done that so I can't comment on flavor effect. My seedlings are to be the start of a new bed as my old one is in decline. I do have chunks of root dug from it, 'resting' in tubs but I butchered them so much I doubt they'll sprout or even survive for replanting.

As for posting my 2 pictures, I believe I tried attaching them in both 'forward & reverse' order but the forum arranged them is own way, regardless.

@ webmaster - It really puzzles me that sometimes when I add pictures, the coding shows up in the compose box, so I can highlight & drag each of them wherever I want, but sometimes, as in this case, they don't appear in the compose box at all, although they do show up, unmovable, in the post. Can you shed light on this?

[Gary350]

Hi Gary; a couple of things;

You certainly don't have to cover & force rhubarb although some people/producers do. I've never done that so I can't comment on flavor effect. My seedlings are to be the start of a new bed as my old one is in decline. I do have chunks of root dug from it, 'resting' in tubs but I butchered them so much I doubt they'll sprout or even survive for replanting.

As for posting my 2 pictures, I believe I tried attaching them in both 'forward & reverse' order but the forum arranged them is own way, regardless.

@ webmaster - It really puzzles me that sometimes when I add pictures, the coding shows up in the compose box, so I can highlight & drag each of them wherever I want, but sometimes, as in this case, they don't appear in the compose box at all, although they do show up, unmovable, in the post. Can you shed light on this?

Compose box what is that? I have been told several times to drag picture to put them in the order I want but I never have an option to do that or I'm to stupid to figure it out? I learn to upload in reverse order but if 1 pic gets skipped over I delete all pictures to add it.

[Vanisle_BC]

"Compose box" is just my phrase for the blue(?) 'window' where you type your message before previewing it or submitting it - and where the addresses of attached images sometimes display (so you can drag them around within the message) but sometimes don't.

I have trouble with web page designs where it seems people are continually 'fixing' things that 'ain't broke' - sometimes just to show off how complex (sometimes near unusable) they can make things. If I'm looking for information I don't need/want animated graphics or obstructive 'entertainment'. Remember Einstein - "Things should be made as simple as possible but not simpler"

End of rant, for now . I suppose it's off topic; should be in a different section.

[applestar]

This may or may not address what you are talking about — but if you scroll down below where you type in the text, there are a couple of tabs — ‘options’ and the other one being ‘attachment’. And that’s where your attached images are listed and you can add captions if you prefer which I think may help to search for the image later? I don’t use it so I’m not sure.

There should be a Box ‘Place in Line’ — if you click that the code for adding the attached picture is inserted in the text ... typically where you left the cursor. You can reposition this img code bracketed code string wherever you want. I’ve done it this way for several forum software versions from way back so I can’t tell how the attachment process works doing it the other way... I just keep looking for the way to ALLOW me to do it this way in the new versions.....

FWIW — if you full-screen an attached image, the browser address contains the full file Link of the image, and you can use that between img code brackets in another post to add the the same picture.

vvv like this vvv (pic by VanIsle_BC — I won’t use quotes codes like I normally would so you can see what it looks like without)


...and I was going to say — intuitively, it should be possible to bury rhubarb seedlings deeper without any problems considering how they grow, even though they’re not like tomato seedlings that would grow roots along the hypocotyl stem.

[Vanisle_BC]

Thanks Applestar. Most recently, when I clicked 'place inline' the image code did appear in my compose box, where I could drag it around. I think on previous occasions when the attached-image code did not display, it was because I had not clicked to place inline, yet the image did show up in the finished post. ?? Not sure if that's how it really happened.

Not a huge deal but a bit frustrating at times. Depends how the rest of the day is going .

[Gary350]

I'm blind or its my computer, I can not find anything that says, place inline.

[Vanisle_BC]

It looks like this. I don't think it comes up until after you click 'attach files' (edit: 'add files')
and select the image from your machine.

[Vanisle_BC]

Gary, on that screenshot, you have to click on the bit that says Place Inline.

[Gary350]

It looks like this. I don't think it comes up until after you click 'attach files' (edit: 'add files')
and select the image from your machine.

OK I see, the black color box will only appear after I click (attachment) then click, (add files) then double click the (Photo). After attaching 1 photo I click (add file) to add another photo. After I attach, 1, 2, 4, 5, 3 there is no way to move 3 between 2 & 4. No way to attach 3 between 2 & 4. I tried to click & drag pics but photos will not move to different location. If I delete 4 & 5 then I can attach 3, 4, 5 to get 1,2,3,4,5 order. Sometimes I forget to attach pics in reverse order all other forums attach in 1,2,3,4,5 order with 1 always at the top. But here 1,2,3,4,5 puts 5 at the top. I need to remember pictures upload backwards.

[Vanisle_BC]

This is difficult to describe (or remember!). Once you see all your photo files listed one above the other in that long box you have to click on the 'place inline' part for each one individually. After that you should see the reference codes, like 'img ... name of file ... /img' for each one. That's back in the blue window where you're typing your message. You can highlight & drag them around there, within what you've typed, then move to preview or submit. Don't like the preview? Come back to the blue window & drag-drop some more.

(img and /img will have square brackets round them but the forum won't let me show that in my message).

I've never tried dragging & dropping the actual images. Maybe that's what you're talking about but I've never tried it. I always do the 'attachment' thing and browse in my folders to select the filenames I want to add.

Hope this is clear - Haha, probably not but we can keep trying PM me if you like.

[Gary350]

This is difficult to describe (or remember!). Once you see all your photo files listed one above the other in that long box you have to click on the 'place inline' part for each one individually. After that you should see the reference codes, like 'img ... name of file ... /img' for each one. That's back in the blue window where you're typing your message. You can highlight & drag them around there, within what you've typed, then move to preview or submit. Don't like the preview? Come back to the blue window & drag-drop some more.

(img and /img will have square brackets round them but the forum won't let me show that in my message).

I've never tried dragging & dropping the actual images. Maybe that's what you're talking about but I've never tried it. I always do the 'attachment' thing and browse in my folders to select the filenames I want to add.

Hope this is clear - Haha, probably not but we can keep trying PM me if you like.

Vanisle_BC it is interesting you said your last frost is mid May, we have relatives in Cadillac Michigan their last frost is about June 6. How can that be I think your far north of them?

[Vanisle_BC]

Vanisle_BC it is interesting you said your last frost is mid May, we have relatives in Cadillac Michigan their last frost is about June 6. How can that be I think your far north of them?

Well, they're Americans - probably just out of step with the rest of us - just kidding, mostly, but having fun with it.

The real answer to your question is - I can't explain it and I'm sure it's complex.

Where I used to live in Britain we were on the same latitude as frigid Moscow - about 56N, but we had a mild, temperate climate.

One winter I worked in St John, New Brunswick with some other lads from 'home'. One day with several feet of snow, a temp of -30C and a horrible blustery wind, one of them said 'How far north of home are we, really?' The joke is that St John is about 45N - a full 9 degrees SOUTH of his temperate home (and 4 degrees south of your 49th 'border').

-30C = -(30*9/5) + 32 = abt -22F. Took me while to write that right (?) but Zero C is 32 F and a degree C is 1.8 degrees F. And I checked the conversion online anyway

[Gary350]

Vanisle_BC it is interesting you said your last frost is mid May, we have relatives in Cadillac Michigan their last frost is about June 6. How can that be I think your far north of them?

Well, they're Americans - probably just out of step with the rest of us - just kidding, mostly, but having fun with it.

The real answer to your question is - I can't explain it and I'm sure it's complex.

Where I used to live in Britain we were on the same latitude as frigid Moscow - about 56N, but we had a mild, temperate climate.

One winter I worked in St John, New Brunswick with some other lads from 'home'. One day with several feet of snow, a temp of -30C and a horrible blustery wind, one of them said 'How far north of home are we, really?' The joke is that St John is about 45N - a full 9 degrees SOUTH of his temperate home (and 4 degrees south of your 49th 'border').

-30C = -(30*9/5) + 32 = abt -22F. Took me while to write that right (?) but Zero C is 32 F and a degree C is 1.8 degrees F. And I checked the conversion online anyway

I understand weather a little bit from college. The ocean does not change temperature easy so it acts like a heater for coastal land it creates a zone near the coast where the temperature does not change much caller the temperate zone. Sudden inland weather changes do not effect the coast area much. Britain is an island surrounded by water, coastal area temperature will not change quick when cold weather blows in from Moscow but inland temperature will change easier.

Cadillac Michigan is about 55 miles east of the great lakes they may be too far inland to get much of the temperate zone from the great lakes. I'm not sure which way their prevailing wind comes from.

How close do you live to the great lakes or ocean. Your weather could be controlled by water if you live close enough to a large body of water.

The jet stream also controls weather, here it TN we have warmer weather than people 250 miles south of us. The jet stream from Alaska sometimes blows across Alabama they get 10 inches of snow and we get no snow. Alabama has worse winter weather than us most of the winter. Central Alabama is far enough from the ocean their weather is not controlled by the temperate zone when prevailing wind blows south east across Alabama from Alaska.

Jet scream is crazy look at this link.

https://www.google.com/search?source=un ... 80&bih=907

[Vanisle_BC]

Gary I think you answered your own question. Latitude is a poor predictor of climate.

I'm on Vancouver island, about 280 miles long, just off the Pacific coast of N America. I'll attach a bit of map. See where the red 4 is? That's the location of Desolation Sound. It's called that (in English only) because the weather there was dismal the day Captain Vancouver 'discovered' it. But in fact "It has 'the warmest salt water north of Mexico (27°C/82°F)"

We're about a thousand miles north of Mexico.

That claim of 82F might be the tourist board pushing it somewhat, but I've swum in that water and it is warm.

Screenshot-6.png (147.76 KiB) Viewed 3011 times

Have you solved the problem with attaching photos?

(Edit) Just had to add this one. No, it's not my boat
Prideaux Haven in Desolation Sound, 2007.

[Gary350]

Gary I think you answered your own question. Latitude is a poor predictor of climate.

I'm on Vancouver island, about 280 miles long, just off the Pacific coast of N America. I'll attach a bit of map. See where the red 4 is? That's the location of Desolation Sound. It's called that (in English only) because the weather there was dismal the day Captain Vancouver 'discovered' it. But in fact "It has 'the warmest salt water north of Mexico (27°C/82°F)"

We're about a thousand miles north of Mexico.

That claim of 82F might be the tourist board pushing it somewhat, but I've swum in that water and it is warm.

Screenshot-6.png

Have you solved the problem with attaching photos?

(Edit) Just had to add this one. No, it's not my boat
Prideaux Haven in Desolation Sound, 2007.

DuskPrideauxHavenReduced.jpg

Yes it appears your in a temperate zone with all that water in your area. I never liked water very much, I did own a ski boat once, we have lots of lakes near us but I have not been to any of them in 35 years. I don't like to fish either but might if I could catch good white fish that taste as good as white ocean fish. I use to water ski but snow skiing was always much more fun. Now we are retired and go camping a lot we have been camping water edge at the lake about 5 times. I have friends in Seattle area they say their winters are very mild with 200 days of rain average per year compared to Illinois where they moved away from. TN has 250 days of average rain per year, June, July, Aug, Sept are dry as desert.

[applestar]

@VanIsle_BC, That looks like a famously whale watching area — is it an “everyday” Sighting for you?

I haven’t had the opportunity — I get seasick — but ages ago when visiting Alaska (Homer area), I did ride on a “wildlife watching” boat (they don’t go out as far as whale watching or fishing boats) and had great fun watching sea otters while DH went out fishing and came back with a couple of good sized (door mat-size+) Pacific halibut. He was disappointed not to get the multi-hundred pounder but one of the fellow fishermen did so he did get to see the action when one was caught .

Whales and dolphins are being sighted more often and closer — even up in bays and rivers — along the NJ shoreline this past year.

...sorry this is gettin WAY off-topic...

... I’m going to start sowing broccoli, etc. very soon...

[pepperhead212]

Still way too early to plant anything for transplanting, but I did do a few testings of old seeds, plus I planted some new (for me) basil - sweet chen, which are another smallish variety, good for container planting, which is why I'm trying them. Every one of those seeds sprouted (what I expect, for new seeds, but you never know!) in the petri dish, on some damp PTs, and I planted some 5 year old tomatillo seeds, to see if I'd need to order new ones. Turned out, that 9 of the 10 sprouted, in less than 3 days! I also planted some leaf celery seeds, which are for the hydroponics, and 3 of 5 sprouted, so far. And another few seeds for serrata basil, for the hydroponics, which are old, but a couple sprouted. I'll have to isolate one of those plants, to sqve seeds for - they've seemed to have been dropped from the catalogs that had them.

[imafan26]

I haven't technically planted but I am rooting an avocado and a Molokai sweet potato. I have two sprouts finally coming off the sweet potato, still waiting on the avocado.

[Vanisle_BC]

@Pepperhead: Baker Creek's web site is back up & my seed order from them is in process. It includes Mammoth Spanish pepper which I'm anxious to try, and Anaheim that I had difficulty finding this year without unacceptable shipping charges. Other seeds I had to find from suppliers I don't know, were Maestro peas and Glaskin's Perpetual rhubarb, from California and from England. For germination tests I now use toilet paper instead of paper towel: I usually end up trying to grow-on the successful germinations and it's easier to deal with the flimsier paper and avoid damaging the little roots. Fortuitously I'd installed a bidet on our toilet right before the pandemic started so we've no TP shortage .

@applestar, it's never too late to go off topic! You can always slip in a little bit of on-topic and you're good to go. Oddly enough I'm close to Orca habitat and have never seen one outside of a zoo (decades ago). But my DIL has a magnificent photo of one in full arcing flight. It leapt out of the water very close to their boat. My own boating is confined to passenger status - very cheap - but I wasn't with them when this happened. My son has taken us to many remote, gorgeous anchorages. I'm in bear & cougar country but haven't seen those either except the occasional bear crossing the road. That's despite the fact that a neighbor scared away a bear trying to make off with a pig! We used to live 500 miles North of here & see moose strolling through our subdivision. Such ungainly creatures!

[imafan26]

I did not know the Baker site was down. I ordered my seeds in December. However, I am still getting seed catalogs and I am being tempted a lot to order more. So far I have Baker, Territorial, High Mowing, and Kitazawa catalogs. But, I also have a lot of seeds taking up space in my refrigerator too. It will be raining for the next three or four days. It is actually a good time to plant as things will sprout very fast. It all depends on if it will be a typical rainy season. I can only plant the mildew and disease resistant varieties in that case.

[Vanisle_BC]

@imafan, At least one of the suppliers you list, though very reputable, is now far too expensive for me, what with premium pricing, significant shipping charges, and $CAD exchange rates - PLUS a new $15 surcharge on Canadian orders - WHAT????

I would only order in those conditions if a) they had seed I can't get somewhere else but really, really, really absolutely NEED, and b) they can provide every seed I want in the same shipment - which of course they can't.

Additionally if I try to log in on my old existing account I'm told it's too old and I have to open a new one. Good luck with that, friends. How customer-dismissive can you get?

Thank goodness I can save my own open pollinated seed. I'll be doing even more of that in future. Oh hang on; 2021 - it IS the future.

[Gary350]

@imafan, At least one of the suppliers you list, though very reputable, is now far too expensive for me, what with premium pricing, significant shipping charges, and $CAD exchange rates - PLUS a new $15 surcharge on Canadian orders - WHAT????

I would only order in those conditions if a) they had seed I can't get somewhere else but really, really, really absolutely NEED, and b) they can provide every seed I want in the same shipment - which of course they can't.

Additionally if I try to log in on my old existing account I'm told it's too old and I have to open a new one. Good luck with that, friends. How customer-dismissive can you get?

Thank goodness I can save my own open pollinated seed. I'll be doing even more of that in future. Oh hang on; 2021 - it IS the future.

Check Ebay for low cost seeds, look for Canada sellers. I seldom pay more than $2.50 free shipping for seeds. I bought, Napa 300 seeds $2.10. Boc Chow 300 seeds $2.25. Spanish onions 200 seeds $2.15. Walla Walla Onions 300 seeds $2.99. I get the rest of my seeds at Farm supply store, 1/2 long carrots 1000 seed $4. Corn 1/2 lb seeds, $6. Beans 1/2 lb seeds $4. Seed potatoes $1 lb for 20 lbs. That is all the seeds I will buy this year. Tomatoes & peppers plants come in 4 packs $2.49 each at the Garden Store I will probably buy 12 packs of 8 different variety plants. Also Dixon Dale online onion plants bundle of 50 plants $2.50 each I want 6 bundles of onions.

[Vanisle_BC]

Gary, I can buy seeds at those sorts of price right off the local store racks and I regularly do. If they don't have the particular varieties I want, I mail order from named suppliers.

Sadly my favourite, small but dependable regional supplier (when you phoned you could talk to the OWNER) got bought out & went upscale big-business; fat glossy catalog, hiked prices and very few variety names I actually recognise. I suspect the marketing dept (non gardeners of course, probably 'business' or 'marketing' graduates) renamed them all to make them sound more attractive to people who don't know any better than they do. Or they dropped all the old reliable strains, but why?

Anyway I'm getting all my mail-order seed this year from 4 places with modest shipping rates. Two had varieties I couldn't find elsewhere at a decent price and one actually ships cross-border for free: You probably know which one.

Happy garden planning, everyone, for 2021.

[imafan26]

I got some seeds from Amazon once that I could not find anywhere else. I did not know the seeds were coming from China. The dept of Ag confiscated it because they did not have a phyto certificate. But, because it was from Amazon, my account was credited. So, I really don't want to go there for seeds.

Kitazawa is not cheap unless I buy at least 20 packets or buy in bulk. I would have to find people to split the package to do that. The minimum size of the bulk box has increased and so have the prices but there was only one other site that carried specialty Asian seeds and it is gone now. Kitazawa also grows seed varieties that do well in Hawaii. If I can find seeds somewhere else, I will get it from there instead. Baker does have komatsuna and I still have Koba green onion seeds from the UH seed lab, and bok choy can be gotten from a lot of places and there are many varieties to choose from.

I really like Thompson and Morgan seeds, but besides the shipping costs, my bank also charges me for currency exchanges. I used to get seeds from Park seed, but I stopped years ago, when they started tacking on an additional $20 charge to any order even if it was for one packet of seeds to ship to Hawaii. Jackson and Perkins charged me an extra $5 per rose to remove dirt from bare root roses.

Much of what is sold in stores are either from Burpee or Ferry Morse. I can buy directly from Ferry Morse catalog and get the same standard varieties that won't be subject to exposure by being kept outside in the sun and rain. Burpee does not send a lot of seeds that I like, but they occasionally will. Burpee is very over priced and I only get seeds from them that I cannot find anywhere else.

Even shopping in catalogs, I have to be careful. Catalogs have key words I need to look for like, disease resistant (especially to viruses, mildews, and bacteria) , heat resistant, "tender annual", "does well in the south". I also have to look for country of origin where the seeds are grown or where the plants originally came from. Since most of the seeds I get are hybrids, I can't save them. The ones that are open pollinated, I do save. A lot of the seeds in the catalogs look very tempting, but only a few are suitable. Take the tomatoes. I tried to grow some of Applestar's favorite tomatoes, but most of them did miserably. Mainly because they were bred to be short season and cold tolerant. I need tomatoes to be heat and disease resistant, they don't have to be early since tomatoes are technically perennial here, disease is what will kill them.

Catalog seeds usually cost me more than seeds I can get locally. But, I will get a better selection of varieties than what is available on the seed racks. Seed racks are marketed to retailers as a collection. All seeds will not necessarily do well here. There are a lot of seeds on the racks that I know are hard to grow or will not last long even if they germinate in my climate. I can get some seeds locally. They are not cheap considering the seed counts are low, but the amount of seeds are usually adequate for small gardens. Bulk seed from the supplier is cheaper, but it does need to be ordered in advance and I would have a minimum buy of 1/4 lb of it.

There are some plants that cannot be gotten from seeds anyway. For that, I do have to get the plant. Some things like eggplant, I only need one or two of, not twenty. The local supplier does provide different varieties of things like eggplant that suit local tastes. We don't get a lot of Black Beauty, we have Diamond, Pintungg long (filipino eggplant), thai, and green eggplant. Most places don't know what to do with so much eggplant, but so many ethnic people here use eggplant a lot and they can be particular in what qualities they want. I prefer the green eggplant with the tender skin and pintungg long which is a finger sized small purple eggplant. Green eggplants will last on the bush longer than purple eggplant before they become hard, seedy, and bitter. Pintungg eggplant is small so you don't have to cut it up more than in half to cook it. Eggplant will brown and get bitter the more surface area is exposed. Black Beauty is not that common, for that reason. A few people do like it for making eggplant parmesan, but it is not desirable for stewing.

Today I transplanted the Tigress zucchini into an 18 gallon container. I also planted red beard green onions (from Kitazawa), garden chives , Koba green onions (from UH seed lab), cilantro, and grand rapids lettuce. These are all planted in community pots, so I will have to see what shakes out and divide them later. Some of the seeds I planted earlier have sprouted. I am going to take advantage of the next three days of rain to speed the germination of the seeds. I will lose less seedlings this way than by hand watering.

I have a lot of peppers that have volunteered. I will have to see what survives the rain and transplant them out. Most of them are over due.

[TomatoNut95]

I plan to get my peppers planted next week indoors in egg cartons.
Also coleus, saliva, dwarf tomatoes and cress.

You're planting saliva?

I just realized my stupidity here also my phone doesn't have auto-correct. SALVIA. I didn't plant slobber.

[Vanisle_BC]

No problem and it's not stupid. I have fat/uncoordinated fingers and make quite funny typos. Plus sometimes my spell 'checker' makes silly mistakes of its own. If I put a hyphen in uncoordinated it comes up with some pretty weird stuff.

I got a giggle at 'planting saliva' when you had voiced concerns about people maybe sneezing on things.

[Gary350]

Getting smarter every day. I ordered every seed catalog you mentioned. Which tomatoes are heat and disease resistant, I need some of those? Are egg plants in the squash family? Plant squash near ant hills ants eat bug eggs before they hatch.

Vanisle_BC I have the same problem, my fingers hurt it is hard to type & auto makes things sound stupid. Letters have worn off my key board it is almost impossible to type with 1 finger & not type every letter wrong.

Seed packs at local stores are $2.99 for 25 to 50 seeds. Ebay often has, 200. 300, 500, 1000, seeds for $2.50 free postage & no sales tax. Walmart has 99¢ seed packs but seeds do not always germinate. Organic seed packs are $5.00 for 25 seeds. I don't care how toxic poison none organic seeds are, plants & vegetables will be organic when grown in my garden.

[Vanisle_BC]

I'm just a gardener. Apart from peas I don't think there's any crop where I could use seed by the hundreds; unless I was hoping to freeze it for use over many future years.

Premium companies have high prices but some will print the tested germination rate of the seed batch, right on the package along with the date. Seed with low germination is likely quite old and liable to produce plants with low vigor. But some species & varieties give low germination rates no matter what.

There are some companies in the more moderate price range that say their seed is all organic & non-GMO.

[imafan26]

I do have to give up things to get the resistance I need. I cannot plant anymore brandywines or sweet basil because of viruses namely TYLC virus and basil downy mildew. I can plant tulsi which is immune.

These are my disease resistant picks

Soarer, Summer Dance, Diva - good resistance to powdery mildew. Soarer and Summer Dance do well against Downy mildew as well. All are fairly heat tolerant but won't handle 90 degrees for long. All of them are parthenocarpic so they do not need pollination so are suitable for hoop house or bagging the fruit. Soarer and Summer Dance are Japanese type cucumbers which are preferred to American cucumbers. Diva is parthenocarpic so the seeds are small if they don't get pollinated and all are not bitter. They also for the most part are CMV resistant.

Tomatoes : TYLCV resistance Charger and Camaro. They both are slicers in the 6 oz range. Most of the TYLCV tomatoes are determinate. Also very disease resistant to mildews and bacterial spot. Handled the rain really well. They are not particularly heat resistant past 85 degrees. At 90 degrees they will drop fruit unless you can grow them where they can get relief from the midday sun and midday misting. Sweet pea currant is disease, heat and TYLCV resistant. They are tiny, but very sweet. I want to try TYCOON which is also supposed to be heat as well as disease resistant. Getting seeds has been the problem. Sakata also has Red Snapper and Grand Marshall, but those seeds are usually only reserved for growers. Champion II is TYLCV resistant, but so tasteless, and I am not that picky about tomatoes. For the most part I do have to give up flavor for disease resistance. Charger and Camaro are not even close to brandywine. They are more like a market tomato, but they are o.k. They taste better if I cut the water a week before they are ready to be harvested, then they have a better taste.

Heat resistant tomatoes without TYLCV resistance. Brandywine (requires weekly fungicides and had to be kept off the ground in pots, since I did not know if it is resistant to nematodes. Surprisingly heat resistant. I did not have the pollen clumping problem at all. Not a productive plant for its' size and the birds ate most of the profits. ), Arkansas Traveler, Big Beef, New Big Dwarf, Heatwave II, Florida 91,Creole, Sweet Millions, Pruden's Purple, Sweet 100, Red cherry, Juliet, Fourth of July, Gardener's Delight, Porter Pink, Solar Fire, Heat Master, Sun Chaser, Super Sioux, Quarter Century (aka Matchless), 1884, most of the black tomatoes also do well in the heat, Mountain Merit, Mountain Pride, and Mountain Rouge.

I think I read somewhere that seed companies have to have a minimum 80% germination rate. But you are right, I went through about $30 worth of Bhut Jolokia seeds when they first came out at $1 a seed, before I figured out how to get them to germinate. Ghost peppers don't make a lot of seed per pod. I still haven't figured out how to get fatali to germinate and after many attempts and down to my last seeds, I finally got a tepin plant to survive, so at least now I can save seeds from that one.

When we had sales at the garden, there was a place for the extra seeds to go. Now, I have cut the seeds I usually order because I don't know when the garden will be able to reopen to the public again or if it will this year. In the meantime, there are a few plants that I can give away or trade with friends and most of the seeds will keep for at least 5 years. I can save seeds from a lot of plants except for the hybrids. Some of those may be propagated by cuttings, but I have not had luck doing that with annuals. They seem to know when their time is up. I have a couple of people who I can split a packet of seeds with since I really don't need 20 eggplant even over 5 years. One eggplant can live up to 8 years. Usually, I only need one or maybe two eggplant and I keep them for about 2 years before I replace them. I can get seeds or cuttings from those plants. I bought 4 ounces of Koba onions a couple of years ago. My sister is getting better. I usually had to make her a new pot of green onions every three months, she was so good at killing them. I have just planted more Koba onions, but I still have Ishikura and Tokyo long onions that are over two years old and still going strong. I just cut the tops and they keep growing back.

Zucchini - Parthenon ( parthenocarpic) no problem with pollination or getting female flowers in the heat. Bonus, it has good mildew resistance as well. I am going to try Dunja and Cavilli later. I am growing Tigress now.

Peppers- Bell peppers are my bane, they don't last because of disease. These have been the best for disease resistance, although production of some of them could be better. Chinese Giant, Emerald Giant, Kaala (disease resistant but it is a mini pepper), The Right Stuff (so far looks good after 2 plantings), Monster,X3R Red Knight, Yolo Wonder, Aristotle, Crusader, Yellow Sunsation, Heritage VR, Intruder, King Arthur.

I get better production of sweet peppers from the bullhorn types Carmen, Cubanelle, Corno di toro, NuMex varieties and Fushimi Sweet. Hot peppers get bacterial spot but are easier to grow and more productive and some of them will live for a few years.

Finding seeds for some of these can be a challenge, but I plant what I can get.

I was able to get seeds of Ajvarski peppers and they have good reviews so I may try them out this year.

Squash- Actually the only squash worth planting here are Waltham's butternut, upo or calabash gourds, Chinese winter melon, and the kabocha type squash. They love the heat and are very productive. They just take up way too much space and need a strong trellis or fence. Chayote (will only fruit well in the upper elevations where I am (600 ft) and higher. It fruits in the cooler months. Shoots are edible), bitter melon is a weed in my yard.

Beans - Poamoho pole beans, Greencrop bush, Emerite bush beans, Tendergreen, yard long beans, and wing beans. Tropical beans have better disease resistance. They rarely have problems with rust. The string beans will get bacterial, and fungal diseases more often and show virus more often than the tropical beans. Poamoho has the best disease resistance to rust.
For the most part we prefer the flat podded beans. I actually like Italian beans but I have not planted them for years.

[Gary350]

I'm just a gardener. Apart from peas I don't think there's any crop where I could use seed by the hundreds; unless I was hoping to freeze it for use over many future years.

Premium companies have high prices but some will print the tested germination rate of the seed batch, right on the package along with the date. Seed with low germination is likely quite old and liable to produce plants with low vigor. But some species & varieties give low germination rates no matter what.

There are some companies in the more moderate price range that say their seed is all organic & non-GMO.

When I plant 1000 carrot seeds in a 3' x 10' bed several months later I have about 100 short 1/2 long carrots several are shorter than half long. What we end up with is about = to 2 large size bags of grocery store carrots. If I buy a 25 seed pack I would end up with 2 home grown carrots. Maybe I could baby 25 carrots much easier than 1000 carrots and get a better crop than only 2 carrots. My garden is big, I have to take short cuts or it will be more work than I can do. Chickweed is a nightmare in TN and bugs last year were 30 times worse than I have ever seen. I sometimes wonder if certain plants attract bugs then once bugs are here they take over the whole garden. Last year cucumbers were a bug magnet. Corn, beans, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, seldom have bugs.

[imafan26]

I do get some seed off the rack, but the local seed supplier seeds are more expensive than the catalog for the $. The Ferry Morse and Burpee seeds, American seeds (avail around May-June at Home Depot) are cheaper, but only a few of those seeds and varieties have the disease resistance to do well here. A lot of the corn varieties on the rack are not resistant to maize mosaic virus, the beans are not resistant to rust or nematodes and the beans are round. Things like delphineums, Bells of Ireland, most of the poppies, and other cold weather seeds are hard to grow here. I can grow dahlias from seeds and get them to flower, but the tubers will never wake up again unless they are put in the refrigerator to over winter. It does not mention that anywhere on the seed packet or in most descriptions. Not to mention that the wild flower mixes in particular are really weedy and that it is not good to have those kinds of plants spread around to conservation areas.