Organizing and Ordering Seeds

For weeks now I have been saying that I need to order seeds for the garden. And putting it off is a bad thing because all the seeds you want will surely be sold out if you wait too long. I know this from experience. So I don't know why I've been procrastinating.

But I'm finally getting it done, thanks in part to some motivation from Tackle it Tuesday. The first step was to sort through the seeds from the past three years.


I threw away any seeds that were too old or basically gone. The kids had fun looking through the discarded seeds, then using them for a little art project.


Here are the seed packets to keep, and plans for the garden. I can't take credit for the super-organized garden plans - my husband put those together.


Here's what I kept for this year's garden:
Okra - Clemson Spineless
Green onion - white lisbon bunching
Lettuce - Summerlong gourmet mix, lollo rossa
Watermelon - Bush sugar baby
Summer squash - early prolific straightneck
Cherry tomato - Super sweet 100 hybrid
Bell pepper - California wonder
Cabbage - Ferry's round dutch
Cucumber - Tasty green hybrid
Onion - walla walla
Kohlrabi - early white vienna
Carrot - Little finger
Swiss Chard - Neon lights mix
Kale - white russian
Spinach - Teton
Beet - Detroit dark red
Sweet pepper - italian relleno

This year I'm ordering the other seeds that I need from Seed Savers Exchange, a supplier of heirloom seeds. Here's what I'm getting:

Green beans - lazy housewife (love that name!)
Beet - Burpee's golden (I really wanted to try gold beets)
Bell pepper - King of the North
Broccoli - De Cicco
Carrots - Dragon (a purple variety; I think the kids will love them!)
Cauliflower - Early snowball
Cucumbers - Japanese climbing
Eggplant - Florida high bush
Lettuce - Slobolt, Bronze Arrowhead
Pea - Blue podded shelling (I'm looking forward to some colorful blossoms with these)
Radish - french breakfast
Tomato - Brandywine, Moonglow
Zucchini - Black beauty

That should keep us busy planting, I'd say! Not to mention figuring out exactly where to put everything. Oh, and I almost forgot, we are going to get some blueberry bushes, too! We haven't decided exactly what yet. Also in the plans are some raspberries and asparagus, but we're not sure if we'll get those this year or next.

So, there you have it. Another step in planning for the garden. Bring on Spring!