Tomato Seeding

I'm not really sure how soon I should plant tomato seeds, but Saturday seemed like a good enough day to try it. The seeds I had ordered from Seed Savers Exchange arrived a week ago. I planted 24 seeds of each of the three varieties: Italian Heirloom, Hungarian Heart, and John Baer. The number 24 isn't magic, I just had 9 8-packs of peat pots and three cookie sheets to put them on.



I haven't a clue how each of these varieties will actually do. They are all heirloom indeterminate. I don't think I will have room for 72 plants. I plan on giving some away. All may not sprout. I just feel it's just time to get started. That's all I know.

Rhubarb

I need rhubarb. It is a basic food group. The plants we had from twenty years ago when we first moved to North Carolina succombed several years ago. They had survived our move from Clemmons to Oak Ridge, staying 6-months as bare roots in the place we leased in between. But, they finally died out. My sister said they need to be replanted every so often. I think I just had them in a place they ultimately didn't like.

So, I looked around today. I had four paper catalogs (Gurneys, Burpee, Henry Fields, and Johnny's Seeds). I wondered if I could get a better price online. Here is the essence of what I found:

Wallace-Woodstock
Canada Red - Zone 3-8. A fine Canadian variety, has natural sweetness that allows you to use less sugar to make pies, sauces, and other baked goods. The earliest produce in the Spring, this variety produces long, juicy stalks that are cherry red clear through. Cooks up strawberry red color. This is a must for every garden.

Victoria - Zone 3-8. This is a very productive strain for home gardeners and commercial growers, producing large tender stalks of excellent quality. Not as red as Canada Red, but more vigorous and productive. Shows strong resistance to root rot and is a btter choice for growing in heavier soils.
Price: 1-2 $ 7.00 Ea., 3 for $ 19.00, 6 for $ 36.00, 12 for $ 65.00

Holland Bulb Farms
Victoria Rhubarb Plant. What says late summer better than rhubarb pie? Plump, fiber-free stalks with rich red inside color and a sweet only mildly tart flavor make this rhubarb a customer favorite! This is the ultimate rhubarb plant as it is disease resistant and cold hardy. Stalks should be allowed to grow two full seasons before harvesting. $5.48

Garden Harvest
Victoria is one of the earliest maturing varieties and has a flavor a little more wine-like and a little less tart than the Glaskins variety. The stalks are typically 10-12 inches long and the color graduates from scarlet at the base to light green at the top. Absolutely wonderful for pies and cobblers!
Price: $7.00

I went with Holland Bulb Farms. I turns out that, unlike the others, Holland had 3 plants per package, which made it by far the least expensive. Sometimes cheap isn't good. The plants may be very small, for instance. I can be patient. I just need rhubarb.

Getting Going 2011

It has taken me a bit of mental energy to get myself started this year. I think the winter has been so cold that it has discouraged me somehow. Things in the winter garden just didn't amount to anything. The bees all died. The greenhouse is missing panes. But I've realized you need to move forward.

This week I went to the Guilford County Beekeepers Association meeting. I haven't been able to go for some time because of family history duties. I decided to get a new package at least for the hive in Clarence's yard. Larry Tate is selling, so they are going to be local bees, which is a plus. The meeting had an extra benefit. I talked to Jackie Wiggers to see about getting the feral hives. She suggested I talk to Tom Sawyer who has done extractions before. I called him. There is nothing scheduled yet, but I am at least moving forward. I went by Clarence's this morning with Doug Shaw and cleaned the dead bees out of that hive. There is a place ready for either the package or the feral colony.

I also ordered seeds from Seed Savers Exchange. I looked for some of the varieties that I had planted in the past, purchased from local stores. They didn't have the exact varieties, like Rutgers tomatoes, that I was looking for, but I decided to take what I could. Here is what I have ordered.

Bean, Provider OG, Packet 50 seeds
Bean, Empress , Packet 50 seeds
Cucumber, Parade OG, Packet 25 seeds
Cucumber, Japanese Climbing OG, Packet 25 seeds
Pepper, Tollies Sweet OG, Packet 25 seeds
Pepper, Bull Nose Bell , Packet 50 seeds
Tomato, Italian Heirloom , Packet 50 seeds
Tomato, John Baer OG, Packet 25 seeds
Tomato, Hungarian Heart , Packet 50 seeds
Bean, Fin de Bagnol OG, Packet 50 seeds (back ordered)

I still need to order rhubarb and sweet potatoes. But it is a start.

I think the challenge here is a philosophical one. It is getting started when you don't have all the motivation in the world. I still have a pretty deep commitment that the garden and bees are things that need to be done. I continue to sense a challenge to long-term survival and the only way to deal with it I know of is to prepare in every way I can. There is no imminent threat. But, unless you prepare when the threat is far away, you can't respond when it arrives.

I was reminded how quickly things can change this week. I walked out the front door to start my daily walk with the dogs. A package had arrived and was sitting on the door step. I tried to step around it, felt my ankle give way and ended up on my back. It all happened so fast. There was truly no way to prepare. I recovered, went on the walk with a weakened ankle (that recovered as I walked because I have sprained it so many times that I guess more real damage wasn't done). But it was how quickly it happened that caught my attention.

The world can changing rapidly. Tunisia a couple of weeks ago. Eqypt this week. Centuries ago it was the Mongols charging through China and the Middle East and the black plague sweeping through Europe. Decades ago it was Germany and Japan. Best to be prepared. Best to know when to leave and have something to take with you when you go.