Who out there starts their garden from seed? As a follow-up to that question, who out there collects their own seed from their garden flowers and vegetables (or even trees)? Well, if you've left your house or homestead then I'm sure you've seen all the flowers, vegetables, and trees/shrubs at your local nursery or box store! Beautiful, green leafed, colorful blooming plants BEGGING for your attention and flooding your mind with garden and patio ideas as you shrug off the idea that our economy is in the shitter and the mentality of "who cares what this will cost me as long as I have some pretty porch hanging flowers and/or my dream vegetable garden" has entered.
Well, I won't lie, I'm with ya! To be honest, I could do daily field trips to my local nursery or to Lowe's plant center to save a plant or craft a new garden idea, but I just can't. Like everything else, the cost is just outrageous and it adds up! I personally find calm when my environment has lots of plants. But for me, the indoors have to be cottage style house plants like myrtle topiaries, ivy, trailing little leafed plants, succulents, etc. and for my outdoors I crave the cottage gardens, a deluxe herb garden, and veggies I know Bill and I will enjoy throughout summer and fall. And the more plants, the merrier! Just a side note, the more water features and arbors, the happier Anna is!
As a magazine, online, and Pinterest educated gardener..., my experience with gardening has always been personal. I never really shared ideas with anyone other than my husband mainly from fear of failure. But together, he and I have learned so much over the last 30+ years including what constitutes as our "jobs" as gardeners when it comes to 'strengths and weaknesses' we each bring to the table. As much as I hate admitting it, mainly because I think it's unfair to him, he has the hardest task...the LABOR. He's the man that makes my visual garden dreams come true. He builds everything! And he digs EVERYTHING... AND DIGS, AND DIGS SOME MORE. He weeds, gets stabbed by thorns, gets poison ivy, climbs trees, removes stumps, mows, mulches, plants...and what do I do? I grow babies! And scroll through Pinterest!
Like I said, we know each other's strengths and weaknesses! Seriously though, come January, my mind is hard at work mentally designing our yard and gardens, searching out resources, & listing plants I want to grow. It's also perfect timing to divide and/or transplant indoor plants while the weather is still cool and keeping me in the house. Come February, March, and April, I begin growing babies! Time has taught me what needs to be started when.
With that being said, seed starting was something I've always enjoyed doing. I learned how much cheaper it was to start my own seeds versus buying established plants come May. However, what I didn't always have was space, knowledge of timing, and seed information knowledge. Space has come in phases. Starting seed trays didn't always take up space and I didn't always grow as much as I do today, but as they grew and the seedlings needed to be transplanted, that meant more containers and more space needed. I've gotten real crafty about space over the years, including housing a small greenhouse on wheels in my home, wheeling it to sunny windows and keeping it zipped to create humidity. Ironically, I've lived (and currently live) in areas where it wasn't permitted to have a greenhouse in the yard. But, about 6 years ago we found a great walk in greenhouse that had a plastic removable covering. Bill screwed it to our deck (we have a large deck) which kept it from being in "our yard" yet still giving us a greenhouse! In the cool months I run a little heater to it so it's warm when necessary. It's been such a blessing to have the space! (And more space inside for me to get more indoor plants ;)
Timing of seed starting has been something I had to learn. I know the rule of thumb is to check what frost zone you live in to start your garden, but I'm going to be honest...it's not the zone for me, it's the weather pattern that I believe is the most important. I may be out of "frost danger", but I'm in an area that has tornado watches and warnings from March to September, sometimes longer. That means heavy rains, angry winds, and hail. Don't get me started about the hundreds of dollars we lost to rotted dahlia tubers because of rain or the time we had to go buy store bought plants because all my babies were massacred from hail...I've just learned to watch the weather temps and patterns. Some years we plant on Mother's Day, some years we wait until the end of May to early June. My seed babies are safe in the greenhouse...climbing the metal frame like my green beans have been doing this year!
Now, seed knowledge was something I had to research out a little bit. Of course I don't mind doing that because like all great parents, we try to give our babies the best from day one. I'm accustomed to researching each plant I grow whether it's a flower/vegetable/shrub/tree but wasn't sure about what seeds I should actually be buying. All the seed packets said different things and I knew buying ORGANIC was what had to be best, but what were the differences? So to make it easy for you, I created a chart so you'll know the differences when you decide to start your garden (flower or vegetable) by seed. It's easy to go online and get the definition of each type, but I started to get confused if one type could be the other type, can I pick seeds from one plant and get the same plant, etc. Yes, I'm a big seed collector because that saves us more money!
So what are the different seed types? Well, here's a quick synopsis. We have Organic Seeds, Heirloom Seeds, Non-GMO seeds, Hybrid plants, and GMO seeds....my rule of thumb? When in doubt go organic! But what are the differences between the seed types? Below is a TO THE POINT description of each type and below that is the chart I created to simplify it for you.
Organic Seeds: produced naturally through pest free plants & without pesticides or other chemicals. They're stronger & more disease resilient. They are non-GMO
Heirloom Seeds: like the name suggests, they are past down for generations, varieties existing for more than 50 years. They are open pollinated. They have a tendency to produce higher yields.
GMO seeds: Genetically Modified Seeds, created in a lab (bioengineered) Gene traits are extracted from seeds and injected into new seeds creating desired plant seeds. Being artificially made makes them more expensive to buy.
Non-GMO, no bioengineered modifications
Hybrid: seeds are formed when pollination happens from two genetically different plants of the same species. For example: a banana pepper crosses with a red sweet pepper...may give you a red banana pepper. They are normally cross-pollinated by hand, and for desirable genetics of the plants.
(This info wast gathered online from allthatgrows.in)
Just because one seed is considered Non-GMO doesn't mean it can't be organic ...that's where there can be some confusion so that's why I made the chart below. Hope this helps when you go to buy seeds. This chart is also helpful if you seed collect!
Something else I've learned to do that I find EXTREMELY important as a seed grower is to have a journal or reference book. Over the years as I've done my research, I have taken notes in a handy dandy albeit now beaten up notebook. I refer to it every year because I grow so many different plants. Some seeds need to be stratified, some need to be direct sowed...just so much! I've also learned that instructions on the back of the seed envelopes are just guidelines and as you grow as a gardener, you will learn what works best for you and your garden based on your skill and environment! So last year, because my poor notebook was starting to see better days, I created and published my very first book EVER and it's a journal style reference book. It's beautiful! And this year I created the exact same book but with a different cover. By the way, the cover of both books are pics from our gardens! Both books/journals are identical on the inside, giving you pages to complete. They are self-guided meaning I have created boxes of information for you to check off ✔ based on everything I have found useful when starting seeds. And there are additional boxes for you to take notes, add photos, or do a drawing! The book contains 50 pages for a total of 50 plants (each plant gets a front and back page!) The pages are black and white so you can color code/highlight the boxes or be as creative as you like. Both books can be purchased on Amazon HERE or HERE! You can also access them via my SHOP AMAZON link at the top of my webpage and click Garden. I have a lot of other garden items and tools we use listed there as well, including the black garden arbor.
And for the Garden Witch like myself, there's this one!
Come May, it's transition time. Some babies are ready for their permanent home in the garden and some are still trying to enjoy the warmth of their greenhouse. Our deck quite literally turns into a miniature version of Lowe's nursery! However, with the table, chairs, and string lights on in the evening there is such an aesthetically pleasing and zen environment created, that I refuse to turn on the A/C! My back door with the magnet screen stays open from the minute I hit the kitchen in the morning to the minute we go to bed. The house has 14 of the 20 windows open to allow cross breezes, the sounds of song birds, and the scent of honeysuckle, fresh cut grass, and "allergies" as some would like to say, to flow through...it's my HEAVEN! Then summer is here in its full rage, throwing humidity and bugs at Bill while he's out there and I watch from a window in the A/C. But when harvest season starts, it's my time to do some hard work. Salsa and Pear Butter don't make itself. And this year I am hoping to learn Pressure Canning! (I've always been so afraid!)
So cheers to May days and enjoy your days of seed sowing and planting! You never know what nature will bring!
Comments