It is that glorious time of year. Spring is on its way. The ground is starting to thaw. Seed catalogs have been arriving in the mail for weeks. We ordered our seeds back in January. We have been talking about the garden since we finished up last year. Probably even before then.
I am so excited for the garden. We are expanding our garden quite a bit this year. (I am just praying the “seventeen year cicadas” aren’t going to ruin it all.) In the picture above, you can see where I have drawn our three garden beds. The smaller rectangular raised bed was the only garden bed that we had last year. Scott built the 4X4 raised bed in the fall for our garlic to be planted in. We are working on another bigger bed. We may actually expand it more than what we have in mind right now, but we will see what we need. We had to pivot our mindset when re-starting our flock.
Where We Buy Our Seeds:
We have a few places that we like to order our seeds from. Some have major shipping delays because of the influx of orders this year. I highly recommend ordering ASAP so that you can get started on time.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds This is where we ordered most of our seeds from this year. I love that they have so many heirloom varieties to choose from. They currently don’t have any delays in shipping. Something fun about this company is they send a free packet of seeds with your order, which is a fun way to try new things. Shipping is also free with your order.
Johnny’s Select Seeds You can get free shipping on orders over $200. They are currently accepting home garden orders, so jump on it!
Seed Savers Exchange This is another place with loads of organic and heirloom seeds. I’ve received free seed packets from them with previous orders in the past. They are currently accepting orders, but limiting the number they accept each day, so keep your eyes out.
True Leaf Market This was our first year ordering with them, but shipping was fast. They also had a lot in stock. I’m thinking about ordering microgreens and/or sprouts from them later this year.
Territorial Seed Company Be sure to check their shipping update page to know how things will ship for you.
Annie’s Heirloom Seeds You can get free shipping on orders over $50. They are substituting seeds if something in your order goes out of stock. Be sure to note if you don’t want substitutions.
What we are planting:
This is my favorite part of it all! We are all truly so excited for this season–the kids included. We are trying to plant things that we can store long term through the fall and winter months and things that I am able to water bath can. A pressure canner is at the top of our wish list so that we can safely can veggies and meats. I am so thankful that I was sent a water bath canner a few years ago to try and review. It has been fun to learn how to preserve foods. There is something so incredibly satisfying about pulling a jar of home-canned food off the shelf to eat. Now, on to our long list of what we are planning to grow this year.
Veggies–
Scarlet Nantes Carrots– my plan is to plant a lot of carrots this year. They take a long time to mature. This particular variety is a good storage variety.
Yellow Sweet Spanish Onions– these are my favorite, and also a good storage variety.
Chocolate Pear Tomato– I know nothing about these, but I was curious to try them.
Amish Paste Tomato– These will be perfect for sauce. I hope to can many of these!
Tam Jalapeno Pepper– I love jalapeno poppers, and we plan to make salsa as well.
Parris Island Lettuce– this was one of our free seeds from Baker Creek.
Russian Red Kale– Another free variety from Baker Creek.
De Jours Radish– I love how quickly these mature. Yummy as a snack and to go on top of salads.
Chinese Pink Celery– Everyone (but me) loves celery in this family. I’m excited to try another variety.
Flat of Italy Onion– This is another variety that I just wanted to try.
Merlo Nero Spinach– This is supposed to be a slow bolting variety, which is good for our temperature fluctuations.
Utah Tall Celery– We grew this last year, and it was so flavorful. The greens on top were beautiful also.
Musquee De Provence Squash– these are beautiful pumpkins, but are also great storage squash.
Cornfield Pumpkin Squash– just for pumpkins in the fall!
Fruits:
I hope that our strawberry and blueberry bushes grow again this year, so we will see on those.
Beni Kodima Watermelon– This variety is a personal sized watermelon. We have found that we don’t eat a full melon before it goes bad, so we are excited to try these.
Rhubarb– We will plant this in the fall. I ordered these seeds to plant last year, but we couldn’t decide where we would put it.
Herbs:
Genovese Basil
Wild Thyme
Slo-Bolt cilantro
Broad leaf sage
Oregano– growing again from last year hopefully
Garlic Chives–also growing again from last year
*I will purchase rosemary plants because I’ve never had success with starting it from seed.
We will have around 90 head of garlic to pull up when they mature this spring, too!
Beans:
Dragon Tongue Beans (to dry)
Climbing French Green Beans
Hutterite Soup Beans (free variety from Seed Savers)
Black Turtle Beans (to dry)
Flowers:
Lavender
Paradiso Mix Echinacea
Hopi Black Dye Sunflower
Autumn Beauty Sunflower
Evening Sun Sunflower
Cover Crop— We have winter rye to plant in our gardens after the main growing season is over. This will help put nitrogen back in our soil and prevent soil erosion during the winter months. I’ve tried to learn about soil health. The healthier our soil, the healthier our plants and food will be.
Of course, these plans could always change. We hope to grow more and more each year as we learn preservation methods. I’ve been slowly buying canning jars and/or lids whenever I find them in the stores. If you didn’t know, there is a major shortage happening on canning equipment. If you are a canner, buy when you see it all or you may miss out. It’s wild times.
I hope that it was warming up where you are! If you garden, what are you planting this year? The big girls want to have their own little garden space to grow flowers, so it will be fun to see what they choose.