Growing Tomatoes
4/24/2008
Go, Tomatoes go! If you're going to start tomato seeds indoors, I really can't recommend the APS-24 Self Watering seed trays enough.
This year I didn't buy any new tomato seeds and just used leftovers from previous years which I keep in a box in the garage. And look at the germination that I get with these trays. 23 out of 24 have sprouted and I still have hope for that last guy.
You may think these sprouts are pretty small for April and you're right. I like to plant outside when all possible chances of frost are gone and that usually means June 1st. Our last frost date is mid May but I give it an extra two weeks just to be safe. I don't trust myself to get my plants covered in case of a late frost so that's why I like to wait until my rhododendrons flower before I move my tomatoes outside. So according to that schedule, these tiny seedlings are right on track.
This year's tomato selection:
- San Marzano
- Black Krim
- Brandywine
- Brandy Boy
- Little Mama
- Big Mama
- Supersteak
- Mortgage Lifter
I usually get my first tomatoes (and first tomato sandwich) sometime around the end of July and that's fine with me. Good luck with your tomatoes this year.
Posted by Anthony 7:00 AM 6 comments
Labels: seeds, tomatoes, vegetable garden
Planting Peas
3/25/2008
Do you love to eat peas but don't live near a supermarket? Have you wished you could grow peas in your own garden but never tried because it was just too complicated?
Well wish no more because with the Planting Peas instructional video, you'll be planting peas in no time.
Posted by Anthony 7:35 PM 3 comments
Labels: seeds, vegetable garden, video
Doomsday Seed Vault
2/29/2008
Have you heard about the Doomsday Seed Vault? They're stockpiling seeds inside of a frozen mountain on a remote Norwegian island just in case the end of the world comes. They're also doing it to ensure biodiversity of the world's food crops but the end of the world scenario is much more attention grabbing.
Since New Jersey is pretty far away from the artic, I think I may start digging my own Doomsday Seed Vault. I've got a nice supply of seeds for one family but if I'm going to start the New Jersey Seeds of the Apocalypse Vault (my name is a little more catchy) I'm going to need a lot more seeds. Where are my seed catalogs?
Posted by Anthony 6:38 AM 4 comments
Labels: seeds
Seeds of Change New Plastic Seed Packages
2/21/2008
Kermit knew what he was talking about when he said that it's not easy being green. Sometimes the most environmentally friendly choice isn't always obvious. Everyday when I get a cup of coffee at my 9-5 job I'm reminded of this. We have Styrofoam cups at the office and you'd think that would be the worst environmental choice for a coffee cup that you could make, right? Well not always.
Making a Styrofoam cup consumes less resources than when you make a paper cup. And what about bringing in a ceramic mug and washing it everyday. Well according to this study, it would take about 1000 uses of a ceramic cup before it becomes more environmentally friendly than Styrofoam cups when you factor in the hot water used to wash it. And then there's all the variables that these types of studies don't take into account. What if I rinse out the ceramic mug and have a second cup of coffee without washing it. What if I rinse out the Styrofoam cup and do the same. How about if I make a few cups of coffee and put them in a thermos at my desk and then pour them into a ceramic mug with a picture of my kids on it. What if the picture of my kids was taken at a nuclear power plant. And why am I drinking so much coffee anyway?
These are the kinds of questions that people are asking about Seeds of Change new plastic seed packages. I've included a snapshot from their newsletter where they announce the reasons why they're switching to the new seed packages (click to enlarge). They're obviously a very green company and I'm sure they've done lots of research into what the best solution for them. 
The paper or plastic question isn't as cut and dry as you'd think anymore. My advice is to weigh your options and do what's best for you as well as what's best for the environment. And if I wind up making some of the wrong choices, well I'll make up for it by composting.
Posted by Anthony 6:56 AM 13 comments
Labels: environment, seeds
Starting Seeds
2/20/2008
I'm cutting way back on my seed orders this year. There I said it. No, I'm not quitting gardening or anything, but I have a bunch of seeds leftover from previous years and I decided to use them before I buy more seeds.
I order way too many seeds every year. In the winter it's easy to over estimate the amount of free time that I'll have to start all of these seeds and I just order away.
My usual order fills my basement with seedlings in late winter and I barely manage to start half of the seeds that I buy. So this year I figured I should check out my seed stockpile to see what I already have. And I found out that I already have everything that I need. Tomatoes, check, peppers, check, root crops, check, annuals, check, perennials, check. Why I even have 5 pounds of blue potatoes leftover from last year's harvest that are full of sprouting eyes. I don't need to buy anything.
Now, you're probably saying what about those new seeds from Seeds of Change that I've been blogging about lately. Well I bought them with a gift card that my sister gave me so they don't count.
And the best part of not buying new seeds this year is that I can spend the money on something that the whole family will enjoy. A few more hydrangeas for underneath the dogwood would be nice and some ornamental grass would look good around the pool and ...
Posted by Anthony 6:28 AM 4 comments
Labels: seeds
Old Seeds
2/19/2008
Yesterday, I said some good things about Seeds of Change and how they're using these cool new environmentally friendly seed packages. Well now today, I'm going to bad mouth them.
Take a look at this picture. One of these seed packages doesn't belong. I'm sure they're all great seeds and I'm going to enjoy eating the Spinach that I grow but come on. Don't send a shipment of those new fangled seed packs that have all of their cool features printed right there on the front of the pack and also send me this old leftover spinach in the same shipment.
Yeah, sure I know that they have to use up all of the old packages somehow but I just feel a little cheated. Maybe next time I order, I'll send them a really old dollar bill or something to get even.
Posted by Anthony 6:39 AM 0 comments
Labels: seeds
Environmentally Friendly Seed Packages
2/18/2008
Hey the other day when I posted about The Growing Challenge did you notice those funkey seed packages?
At first I thought to myself, what's with these plastic baggies? I couldn't imagine a company that was very into heirloom seeds and organic gardening sending out plastic seeds packages.
But then I read the fine print.
I like the part about being hermetically sealed and that the seeds will stay fresh for two years if unopened. Sometimes I'm guilty of ordering seeds and then not planting them due to lack of time. I may have stockpiled a seed package or two over the years. And it's nice to know that my stockpile will remain viable if all the seed companies start using seed packs like these.
Posted by Anthony 6:36 AM 4 comments
Labels: seeds
Aero Garden Videos
12/17/2007
After my Aero Garden post, I decided to hit the search engines and see what I could learn about this thing. Well I don't know how much I learned because it looks like two of the three videos that I found on YouTube are actually from the Aero Garden people. I guess that's what you have to do now a day to market a new product. And I still think the Aero Garden looks like a cool gadget.
Posted by Anthony 12:40 AM 14 comments
Labels: aero garden, lights, seeds, video
Aero Garden
Has anyone seen the Aero Garden? The ads call it the "World's First Indoor Smart Garden." For those of you who haven't seen it, it's an appliance that makes it easy to grow herbs and vegetables right on your kitchen counter. You take a grow pod that has seed in it and drop it into the Aero Garden where it's treated to a "near perfect rainforest growing environment." It has it own lights that are on a timer and it'll tell you when it needs more water or nutrients. These nutrients come in tablet form and you just drop them in. So it's really a hydroponic setup with no dirt involved what so ever. And the Aero Garden people claim that you'll get maximum growth from your plants in a lot less time.
Now, my fondness of compost should be apparent to my regular readers. Getting my hands full of dirt and working in my yard makes for a good day in my book. Not only do I make my own compost but I do my best to keep my yard totally organic. So you'd think that I'd be appalled at growing seeds without dirt in a bath of water and nutrients, right? Well I am, but I still totally want one.
I tried to hate this thing because the idea of growing plants without dirt sounds kind of test tube babyish to me but my love of gadgets won out on this issue. And the idea of having fresh salads and herbs right there in your kitchen, even in the winter sounds great too.
If anyone has any experience with the Aero Garden, I'd be really interested to hear from you. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. There's a good chance that I may find one under the Christmas Tree this year. It'll probably be marked, To: Anthony, From: Anthony but there's still a good chance that it'll be there.
Posted by Anthony 12:22 AM 4 comments
Labels: aero garden, lights, seeds, video
Thinning Tomato Seedlings
4/24/2007
With spring arriving almost instantly this year, I had better get my seeds ready to begin hardening off. That means it's time for me to decide which seedlings live and which seedlings are headed for the compost bin.
Thinning seedlings is never fun and it can actually be depressing.
Here lie the fallen. They gave their lives so that their brothers could someday become part of a delicious tomato sandwich. Yummy, a little olive oil, salt and pepper, some basil, mmmmm...
What was I talking about again?
Posted by Anthony 12:00 AM 10 comments
Labels: seeds, tomatoes, vegetable garden
Porterhouse Beefsteak Tomato Seedlings
4/20/2007
Vegetable Gardening can help you travel through time. Don't believe me? I'll prove it. As soon as I received my 2007 Burpee Catalog in the mail, I caught a glimpse of what was in store for me this summer. Just by looking at the Porterhouse Beefsteak Tomatoes that were right there on the cover, I knew that I would be eating them in the future.
The Burpee Catalog says:
Plump fruits from 2 to 4 lbs each - sure to beat any record in the neighborhood. The luscious flesh is deep red all the way through with just the right balance of meaty solids and succulent juice. Smooth texture and rich, old-fashioned flavor make this the greatest extra-large beefsteak we've ever bred.
But it seems like the future isn't written in stone. My germination rates were terrible for these porterhouse tomatoes. When I use my APS-24 Self Watering Seed Trays, I usually get close to 100% germination in each and every single tray. The 50% germination rate of these porterhouse tomatoes is just really poor.
Well, I'll just have to wait and see if they're worth it. I can be very forgiving if they taste good.
I wonder if Nostradamus was able to see the tomatoes of the future. Maybe he could have warned me about these Porterhouses.
Posted by Anthony 12:35 AM 6 comments
Labels: seeds, tomatoes, vegetable garden
More Asparagus
4/06/2007
When I bought that ugly looking asparagus the other day, it was a total impulse purchase. I was at Lowes and those bright and shiny packages called out to me.
If you like to garden, then I'm sure you know all about how hard it is to resist the cries of an unpurchased plant. Buy meee, buuuy meeee, Anthony you must bring us home with you.
Besides these asparagus, I was also called by a package of purple potatoes but they're already in the ground so they weren't available for photos.
Posted by Anthony 8:14 AM 6 comments
Labels: seeds, vegetable garden
Burpee Seeds Delivered
3/30/2007
Yes! Now give me some dirt!
Posted by Anthony 12:08 AM 7 comments
Burpee Order - 2007
2/21/2007
Unless someone posts some nasty comments about why I should avoid any of these seeds, I think I'm ready to finally place my Burpee order. It's a little flower heavy this year because my yard was destroyed by some renovations and I have a lot of empty space to fill.
My sister also got me a Gift Certificate for the Seeds Of Change catalog. I plan on getting mostly herbs and my favorite corn (True Gold) from them but I haven't finished deciding yet.
Porterhouse Beefsteak Tomato
Little Mamma Tomato
Tomato Early Girl
Tomato Tomande
Kentucky Wonder Pole Snap Bean
Burpee Golden Globe Turnip
Sweet Success Hybrid Cucumber
Bush Champion Cucumber
Parnsip Hollow Crown
Red Delicious Hybrid Pepper
Sunny Delight Squash
Summerlong Basil
Zowie Zinnia
Gaillardia Sundance Bicolor
Boy O'Boy Mix Marigolds
Burpee Hybrid Mix Zinnia
Blue Star Columbine
Quetzal Mix Columbine
Chinese Lantern
Gloriosa Daisy Double Gold
Gaillardia Amber Wheels
Lavender Lady
Alaska Shasta Daisy
Posted by Anthony 11:47 PM 6 comments
Labels: Burpee, flower, seeds, vegetable garden
Seed Starting - Lights
1/24/2007
I blame Carol at May Dreams Gardens for making me seed crazy so early in the season. She posted a bunch of seed starting questions that were a lot of fun for me to answer. But now I've been spending way too much time thinking about seeds. My January is usually spent leisurely browsing seed catalogs with a nice cup of hot chocolate and thinking about all the possibilities. This year all my catalogs are already worn out and I've got post-it notes stuck to most of the pages and an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of what I'm ordering and from who. What happened to the hot chocolate?
Since then, Carol has moved on to ask other questions, like what makes you a gardener but I'm still stuck on the seeds. Oh well, I may as well just go with it. Expect more seed related posts this week.
I recently mentioned how I'm a big fan of Gardeners Self-Watering Seed Trays. Now it's time to talk lighting for seed starting.
I'm envious of everyone with nice bright sunny window sills. My house has gigantic eaves that keep all of my southern facing windows in the shade. Sure it's great for keeping the AC bills low, but terrible for starting seeds. When I start my seeds, I am forced to go down to the basement. 
To grow things in a basement you need some artificial light. Luckily for me and my budget, starting seeds need a lot less light than growing plants completely inside. All of my seedlings go outside and grow in the real sun once the weather warms up. So there's no reason for me to invest in Metal Halide or HPS Lighting solutions. Regular 4 foot shop lights are just fine for my needs.
You could do a lot of research on what kinds of bulbs to buy for your shop lights. There's natural light, cool light, white light, grow lights, aquarium lights and they all have different amounts of green wavelengths and red wavelengths and etc, etc, etc. Here's what I did and I get great results. I bought at least one full spectrum light for each shop light. Done. Full spectrum lights only cost about $5 so they won't break the bank either.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have some more seed shopping to do.
Posted by Anthony 10:09 PM 9 comments
Seed Starting Supplies
1/10/2007
With seed catalogs coming in the mail almost everyday and all this talk about starting seeds, it must be time to get ready for some indoor gardening.
One of the most reliable seed starting tools that I use is the APS 24 from Gardeners.com. APS stands for accelerated propagation system. It should really stand for awesome perfect seedstarting because these self watering seed trays are really close to perfect. My germination rates are close to 100% no matter what I'm growing.
Just like other seed starting trays you fill up the squares with soil, seed starting mix or whatever you like to use to start seeds. But the self watering part is where these are different. The chambers sit on top of a mat that hangs down into the bottom reservoir. So as long as you keep the bottom filled with water, the capillary mat will suck the water up to the soil squares and keep them evenly moist. I only have to refill the water every few days and there's no more misting.
The 24 in the name is because it has 24 two inch growing chambers. There's also an APS-6, APS-12 and an APS-40 in case you want bigger or smaller growing chambers.
I'm sure there's better ways to start seeds but these trays have worked well for me.
Buy The APS 24 Seedstarter
Posted by Anthony 9:06 PM 8 comments
Labels: seeds
Seedy Blogs
1/07/2007
I've really enjoyed answering the seed questions posted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Even more fun was seeing how many other people answered too. With a blog search of May Dreams Gardens I was able to find some great blogs out there that I would have never come across. Here are some of my new favorites.
I was impressed by Tracy of Outside and her computer aided seed starting setup. :)
Kim of A Study in Contrasts has gotten me curious about something called Winter sowing. She goes into more detail on the topic here - Winter Soltice Winter Sowing
Annie is austin from The Transplantable Rose not only answered the seedy questions but also told an interesting tale of her history with seeds.
Colleen from In The Garden Online is a fellow basement gardener. I look forward to comparing our lighting in future posts.
OldRoses at A Gardening Year had an off year and only planted "68 different kinds of flowers and herbs last year." Seed companies must love her.
Posted by Anthony 10:34 AM 4 comments
Starting Seeds
1/03/2007
Carol of May Dreams Gardens recently put up a great post called Seed Buying - Method Or Madness. In this post she rhetorically asks her readers what kind of seed buyer they are. Here are my answers.
Do you carefully read all of the seed catalogs sent to you and then browse the Internet to compare and contrast all the options, then decide which seeds to buy?
Yes - I go through each and every catalog that I get in the mail, page by page and pour over all the vegetable, flower and shrub descriptions. I keep track of zone information, plant height, days to maturity, sunlight requirements and I even have an Excel Spreadsheet to help sort it all out. 
Do you buy seeds from 'bricks and mortar' stores and get whatever appeals to you as you are browsing?
Yes - Although I'm more of an impulse bulb shopper than an impulse seed shopper. $5.00 Elephant Ear Bulbs? What a bargain! I'll take six.
Do you buy vegetable seeds in bulk where they scoop them out of seed bins, weigh them and put them in hand-marked envelopes?
No - They have places like this? Give me an address and I'm there.
Do you know what stratification and scarification are? Have you done either or both with seeds?
Sure I know what they are and usually rub some of my larger seeds with sandpaper. Sorry to say though that as a Dad of two young ones, my fridge is too full of juice boxes and Gogurts to fit any seed packets. On the other hand, I have bought pre-chilled bulbs. There I go with the bulbs again. Sorry this is supposed to be about seeds. 
Do you order seeds from more than one seed company to save on shipping or buy from whoever has the seeds you want, even if it means paying nearly the same for shipping as you do for the actual seeds?
This year, I'll try to limit myself to 2 or 3 seed companies but in the past (when I was making more money) I would actually get the seeds shipped rush delivery. Nobody wants their seeds sitting around in a hot shipping company.
Do you buy more seeds than you could ever sow in one season?
Well in January it's completely within the realm of possibility for me to give all those seeds the attention that they need to turn into great looking healthy starts. But by June the seeds must multiply or something because I somehow have extra seed packets that I have to hide from my wife. Oh yes honey, I used everything I bought. I should probably buy even more next year.
Do you only buy seeds to direct sow into the garden or do you end up with flats of seedlings in any window of the house with decent light?
Five words for you. Fluorescent Indoor Seed Starting Rack. Nuff said.
I'm going to skip over the rest of her questions because I got the Seeds of Change catalog in the mail today and it's sitting on my counter all by itself. I'm a big fan of their True Gold Corn. Plus this post is getting pretty long. Thanks for the great post Carol.
Posted by Anthony 10:27 PM 7 comments
Labels: seeds, vegetable garden
Basil Seedlings
6/23/2006
I just started this new batch of basil. The first batch is about six inches tall and seriously in need a of some thinning. Thinning basil seedlings is never as sad as other seedlings because you know the victims are going to a better place. Your belly!
Since my family loves pesto so much, I try to plant a few batches during the growing season so we always have a steady supply.
Posted by Anthony 10:27 AM 0 comments
Labels: seeds, vegetable garden
Thinning Seedlings
5/18/2006
Thinning Seedlings is one of the most depressing garden chores that I do. These poor little guys have to be sacrificed so that their brothers can thrive.
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the marigold seedling.
Posted by Anthony 11:45 AM 2 comments
Labels: seeds
