2016 Seed Order!

[rainbowgardener]

So I am putting in my first seed order today. It is a big one, because somehow in the moving process, my WHOLE collection of seeds disappeared, so I am starting from zero. So this is what I consider minimum, have to have, and I shopped the sale seeds, etc.:

Carrot, laguna hybrid
Celery, golden self blanching
Corn, silver queen
Corn, Xtra sweet tender
Pea, early frosty
Pea, super sugar snap
Pole Bean, Kentucky Blue
Kidney Bean, Dark Red
Butterbean, edamame soy
Broccoli, de Cicco
Lettuce, romaine, caesar salad blend
Lettuce, sweet repeat mix
Spinach, Bloomsdale
Kale, black magic
Swiss chard, bright lights
Pepper, King Arthur Bell
Pepper, Tiburon, mild hot
Squash, Waltham butternut
Squash, Acorn blend
Tomato, Ultimate Opener
Tomato, Cherokee Purple
Tomato, Beefmaster
Dill, Long Island Mammoth
Parsley, dark green
Anise Hyssop
Basil, Italian Large Leaf
Chives
Sage, Broadleaf
Savory, Summer
Thyme
Lemon balm
Coleus, wizard mix
Cosmos, sensation mix
Impatiens, salsa mix
Marigold, Bonanza
Nasturtium, Jewel Mix
Petunia, Blue storm
Petunia, sugar daddy
Salvia, Summer Red
Zinnia, OK mix

this is all from Jung seed, about the best prices I could find. Total with S&H and everything is $70, but that will be a LOT of plants from $70.

I will be doing another, much smaller, seed order later from a different catalog, with more herbs (fennel, lavender, chamomile), more natives (bee balm, yarrow).

I have some native perennials I brought with me. After I see what makes it, I may buy some more as plants from local native plant nursery. The non-native annual flowers are mostly for all the pots on the deck.

[TareqPhoto]

I ordered seeds and still ordering from eBay, I think they are the only place I can find many seeds and ship free, I live in UAE, cheap seeds and also free shipping, if that site you use can ship free to my country and cheap price then I will give it a try too, I have many seeds I want to order or waiting.

[j3707]

Nice. We really like the bright lights chard. I like all the flowers and herbs you've got mixed in there. How big of a space do you put toward corn?

[pepperhead212]

Sorry to hear about your loss of all your seeds, raknbow. Are there any you had, which you can't find and would really like to get back? Post them here, and I, and I'm sure many others, will see if we have them.

[rainbowgardener]

Nice. We really like the bright lights chard. I like all the flowers and herbs you've got mixed in there. How big of a space do you put toward corn?

I don't know yet. I just moved here a few months ago. I haven't grown corn in years, because I didn't have space for it before. I'm still building raised beds. I don't have this all planned out yet. If I get everything built that I have planned, I will have about 350 sq ft of raised beds, plus some patches elsewhere for potatoes and for perennials (asparagus, rhubarb, artichoke, strawberry), plus a whole ton of containers on my deck and flowers and shrubs all around the edges of the yard.

I think I will have at least two 4x8' beds done as three sisters (corn, beans, squash grown together), maybe more, see how it goes.

[applestar]

Sent you a PM, rainbowgardener

[j3707]

It'll be interesting to see how the three sisters does for you. I imagine the further south you go, the more productive they would be.

Since I haven't started any seeds yet, I'll piggyback on your post --- here's what I ordered:

Blacktail Mountain Watermelon
Bobcat Tomato
Bright Lights Swiss Chard
Fantastic Tomato
General Lee Cucumbers
Improved Dwarf Siberian Kale
Kentucky Blue Bean
Lyon Swiss Chard
Marketmore 97 Cucumbers
Minnesota Midget Melon
Oregon Spring Tomato
Raven Squash
Red Ruffled Kale
Sungold Tomato
Tasti-Lee Tomato
Umpqua Broccoli Organic


I'm a sucker for trying watermelon and cantaloupe. I have very little success with them, but one of these days! This year I will grow them in a large container, in full sun, near big rocks and pavement. I hope the extra heat will do the trick.

I hope to get some seeds started this week.

[Susan W]

RG, your list is impressive, in the standards. Now, your next challenge is natives! Perennials and natives are more challenging than the standard tomatoes and beans, etc. Some need stratified, chilled, some don't bloom for 1 yr, and some do make, some don't. A plus if you will, is they don't all need started in the winter and conflict with your veggies. My micro operation is 12 months, and take advantage of natural light and heat in warmer months. I get seeds from several sources, 12 months, and off the rack.

[rainbowgardener]

So I have this:

https://www.farmandfleet.com/products/68 ... cover.html

for my seed starting operation (still in the box so far). I'm hoping the cover will help hold in heat from the lights and heat mat, since it will be in my garage which isn't connected to the furnace, though I can add space heater (if I don't blow any fuses!). It is 47" W and 18" D. Why wouldn't they make it 48 by 20, it would work so much better with 10x20 trays!

Today I ordered this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/like/2711476045 ... ps&lpid=82

you can choose your size, mine is 11" x 48" fits two trays lengthwise. Unlike most of them it has heat elements all the way out to the edges. Being lengthwise, one shop light fixture should cover it for those two trays.

Once that arrives and my seeds that I am still waiting on (!), then all I will need is my potting mix ingredients and I will be in business!

[applestar]

Hadn't seen those kinds of heating mats before -- looks like a good deal.

Sounds like you are just about ready! Will you be using the same recipe for the potting mix as before? Did you find a good source of mushroom compost?

[rainbowgardener]

Mushroom compost is easy. The big box stores carry it, order on line, pick up at store, no shipping fees.

Coconut coir is easy. You can do it as above or just order it delivered to the house. Since it is very light, shipping isn't usually a big deal.

The rice hulls are the hardest part. I haven't found any place around here yet that carries them, either big box by order or home brew places. You can order them on line, but since they are cheap, the shipping ends up costing more than the item. I found one place that advertises $7.99 flat rate shipping. So I could buy one pound of rice hulls for $1.95 and pay $7.99 shipping or I could buy 10 pounds for $19.95 and still pay the same shipping. 10# would more than get me through the season.

So I might bite the bullet and do that. Or I might look around for other alternatives. Ground pumice? Styrofoam? Sand? Processed corncob is billed as another perlite alternative and seems good from a sustainability point of view, since it's a byproduct of growing corn. I think ground corn cob is sold as small animal bedding or as cat litter, so it's a possibility. But the cat litter is "clumping" which I wouldn't want, and I found this: “a corn-based cat litter could contain aflatoxins once it has come into contact with a moisture-rich environment (I.e. litter box)." Aflatoxins are poison. And if corn cat litter could develop those (from mold), maybe corn cob animal bedding could also, once in a moist potting mix? Horticultural charcoal? Might be a good alternative: "Horticultural charcoal soil conditioner is an additional item recommended by garden writers for custom mixing potting. Improves drainage and absorbs impurities. Soaks up soil impurities to make a more healthy environment for plants as a drainage base in all types of indoor container growing." The charcoal wouldn't break down as fast in the potting mix as rice hulls do (but it also wouldn't give you free rice plants as a bonus! )

Still thinking on this one....

[j3707]

RG, what is the objection to perlite?

[imafan26]

The seeds are probably packed somewhere. You may find it someday. At least you are cool enough, that when you do find the seeds some of them may still be good.

[rainbowgardener]

RG, what is the objection to perlite?

Perlite is a non-renewable resource, an industrial mineral that is obtained by open pit strip mining with enormous environmental destruction.

a perlite mine:


taken from https://www.cornerstonemineral.com/minproc.html a page by a company that actually produces perlite

Once the ore is obtained, it is crushed, sorted, transported, dried. After drying, secondary grinding takes place in a closed-circuit system using screens, air classifiers, hammer mills, and rod mills. Then it is shipped again to an expansion plant where it is pre - heated to 800 deg F. Then it is put in a furnace and heated to 1400 - 1800 F. https://www3.epa.gov/ttnchie1/ap42/ch11/final/c11s30.pdf

Of course fossil fuels are burned by all the heavy mining equipment, by the trucks that ship it hither and yon, and in huge amounts by the furnaces to pre-heat and heat.

I don't think this is an environmentally friendly or a sustainable practice. I have tried to develop a potting mix that is all based on agricultural by-products that are renewable, don't require any industrial processes, and that are produced anyway and I am just keeping them from being wasted, by using them.

I want my plant growing to work with Nature, not destroy it.

[imafan26]

I do commend Rainbow for her dedication using renewable products even going out of her way to find rice hulls.
I do use perlite. It is somewhat renewable since it is a product of volcanic activity, but it take a millenia to create a large quantity of it.
The good thing about it is that it does not break and is lightweight.
My alternative to perlite, when I can't find any is to use cinders, also a product of volcanic activity but it is a lot heavier and cannot be used in the garden as well for root vegetables like carrots.

Coir is a substitute for peat moss. Peat moss is renewable at 1/4 inch a year but it unsustainably harvested about 2 ft a year. The climate change has also caused the bogs to be drier so less is being produced. Coir is a substitute made from coconut husks. While it is renewable, coconut palms are becoming harder to find because of the invasion of alien pests and the very high incidence of theft of the coconuts. Coir has slightly different properties from peat moss, some people don't have a problem with it but it has not worked for me. It is hard to wet, like peat moss, but holds more water than peat moss when it is wet, this causes me issues with water logging. It dries out quicker than peat moss so balancing watering has been a problem since most of my plants like even moisture not soggy to super dry conditions. Coir also packs worse than peat moss so you have to add perlite or cinders to it as well for aeration and drainage.

Some companies that make potting soil, replaced the peat moss with compost. However, if more than 20% of compost was put in the mix, it killed most of the plants growing in it. Some compost added to planting mixes can work to reduce and extend the more valuable resource.

Coco hulls can also be used as a substitute for perlite but it is not widely available.

[rainbowgardener]

My point about the perlite (though I did say non-renewable in there, I guess that's partly a mistake) was more about the strip mining and all the fossil fuel resources used to mine it, transport it, and heat it to 1800 deg F to expand it into its puffed form.

Coconut coir has worked fine for me, though you certainly do have to work hard to wet it in the first place, when it comes in a highly compressed brick. Takes a lot of soaking and fluffing to get into usable form. But after that it seems fine.

I use the mushroom compost because it is lighter and fluffier than regular compost.

My rice hulls, coir, mushroom compost mix made a potting soil with good texture and drainage, etc., but it did seem to be less nutrient rich, compared to commercial potting soil with Miracle Gro, especially not enough N. I had to keep supplementing with other N sources.

I think I am going to try the horticultural charcoal this time, at least for the beginning batch.