Seed order this Thursday ...

I'm pretty excited to meet some gardeners this Thursday from the Sustainable Ballard community. These folks have been gardening and ordering seeds together for years so I will get to see their own collections of seed from their plants. I will have nothing to contribute there but will bring the pea seed from Aslan's How CSA. I will be that new kid but oh well. Territorial differentiates their seed by conventional from certified organic/biodynamic (the latter of which they have few). This is different from Abundant Life who separates all three (and labels the conventional seed "sustainably grown"). I wonder why Territorial lumps the two categories together? They would certainly have a market for the biodynamic standing on it's own. Not how they roll I guess. Maybe next year they'll get it. Also unfortunate that they have virtually no organic varieties of herbs and flowers. At this rate I won't be growing too many herbs this year. Boo. So when my turn comes to order I'll be asking for:

Apiaceae: Perfection fennel
Chenopodiaceae: Bull's Blood beet,
Brassicaceae: Purple Peacock broccoli (broccoli/kale cross!), White Russian kale, Sylvetta Wild arugula
Asteraceae: Flashy Trout's Back lettuce, Continuity lettuce, Red Velvet lettuce
Amaranthaceae: Brightest Brilliant Rainbow quinoa, Galilee spinach
Lamiaceae: Sweet basil
Solanaceae: Healthy sweet pepper, Hot Claw hot pepper, Beaverlodge tomato, Early Cherry tomato, Cherokee Purple heirloom tomato

By the way I just looked up "spinach" on wiki and according to that page spinach is no longer in the cheno family with beets, but in with the amaranths. Times are always changing.

Biodynamic inspiration

One neat thing about Abundant Life Seeds are their handful of certified biodynamic seed varieties. I haven't looked into the biodynamic certification process but my understanding is it's as complex as certification can get. As a gardening system biodynamics is one of the most rigid, precise, and rule-bound. I wonder how closely the certification follows the science itself. I just checked out https://www.biodynamics.com/ and am interested to bring this philosophy into the North Beach garden this year. But I don't want to mess around so must obtain resources quickly. I will experiment with the biodynamic-certified seeds, and do my best to grow these plants under the right conditions. Then compare them to the non-biodynamic plants/conditions. Why not? That farm in Battle Ground I mentioned was doing similar quests and were more legit because they had their own cows. Oh well. I will still have some fun. I will order these seeds Thursday:

Apiaceae: Nantaise Narome carrot
Chenopodiaceae: Rote Kugel beet
Fabaceae: Ura pole bean, Major bush bean, Blauseh Okker pea
Lamiaceae: Summer Savory

One thing I'm unsure about is if I will grow them in the same bed as the nonbiodynamic plants. I think that would complicate "the experiment".

Also here is an interesting article published in the Seattle Times from 1993 (I was 7 years old then)

Also! There is a biodynamic farm on Bainbridge Island, Tani Creek Farm... I am keeping my eye on this place

More seed catalogues ... and facebook friends

Although I didn't check the mail all week... nevermind that... I was happy to receive 2 more catalogues today from Abundant Life Seeds and One Green World, also a newsletter from Burnt Ridge Nursery. See, waiting brings happiness. Although for the seed ordering (coming up this Thursday!) we are going via Territorial. I don't really need to order additional seed beyond that. These catalogues are just fun and games, and really I just need to get some seed in the ground. Today I "liked" half a dozen urban agriculture groups on Facebook so that I can start following them. Some of their websites are listed below! So many amazing groups I could become involved with if I just got organized and clear enough. Right now I am listening to the Weird Weeds on grooveshark. I like this youtube video linked here for you, particularly of the dog walking about at 1:00!

UW Student Farm - Go figure I wouldn't have been a part of this when I was a student there

Alleycat Acres - They're doing a bike ride fundraiser Streets & Beets Mar 3. Totally signing up. I would really like to get to know the urban farms under their banner.

Beacon Food Forest - This project is in Jefferson Park and is legitimized by the city. Sweet.

Also, Urban Farm Hub has many more organizations listed on their fabulous website.

If the weather's warming

Someone posted on the bioregional list-serve a link to a map of the U.S. depicting changes in hardiness zones. Which you click play you watch the progression 1990-2006 raising heat. It's not dramatic and gives you that feel people can adapt. The message also included a reference to Albert Bates. He is a permaculture activist, laywer and author. His most recent book (which I will look for - I haven't read it) Biochar Solution is about living carbon-negative lives. I wonder if growing food is considered carbon-negative. Maybe experimenting with growing warmer weather crops  is part of that. There are many farmers doing that right now, I imagine. One farm in Battleground, WA was trying to grow olive trees when I interned there briefly in winter 2008. (Why was I there only in the winter? I liked that part of the state, and it's close to Portland. I enjoyed traveling there on intercounty transit.) There are five farms for sale in Battle Ground, WA.

The Maritime Northwest Garden Guide

The other post I mentioned this guide and how I went to the website to purchase it, but didn't. Today in my boss' office, trying to communicate with my insurance regarding a dental appointment, I saw three copies just sitting there. Like a gift from the gods not quite a gift. Where did these come from? I'm sure they're not my boss' and I'm sure they're not for me. But I borrowed one to look over this morning just to get me moving for Jan/Feb and before the Food/Garden Guild meeting Feb. 6. I was only going to sow straight outdoors but then my friend said I could sow indoors with her growing lamps. Nice!

Sow Indoors
Alliaceae - onion
Asteraceae - chamomile
Brassicaceae - broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower
Solanaceae - pepper, tomato


Sow Outdoors (late Feb)
Apiaceae - fennel
Brassicaceae - arugula
Fabaceae - pea


Sow in cloche (late Feb)
Chenopodiaceae - beet, spinach
Apiaceae - cilantro
Brassicaceae - arugula, cress, pac choi, chinese cabbage, mustard
Asteraceae - lettuce

Not sure how much space I have to grow the larger Brassica plants. Also I will sow the leftover poppy seed in the staircasing beds along with wildflower mix I will purchase. Basically it's the beginning of February so I will spend the next couple of weeks getting supplies lined up. More seed starting flats, seed starting mix and cloches. Also need to clean up the cascading beds.

Also here are more seed companies I didn't know about before!~

Horizon Herbs (Williams, OR) - seeds of medicine!!!

West Coast Seeds (Delta, BC) - I wanna visit BC!

Yay!

Another garden blog suggests:

If you are considering growing some food in your yard but don't want to go overboard, but do want to save some money on your groceries, consider these top money-saving food crops:

Cilantro
Arugula
Salad Mix
Chives
Dill
Lettuce

Go figure they are all herbs or lettuce. So if you don't like salads you probably don't care these are profitable plants. But consider that cilantro seeds the great spice coriander, and that the flowers of chives and dill are beautiful. Also lettuce is the grossest produce you can find at the food bank, and in greatest need of fresh harvest. Arugula happens to be my favorite green, for what it's worth.

I need help

So last night at the Sustainable Ballard monthly gathering the icebreaker was: What is a green new years resolution? I said I want to meet more gardeners. This morning I was chatting with a friend about bulk seed ordering and mentioned Titlth's Maritime Northwest Garden Guide, which I once owned but gave away. I went to their website, thinking I might purchase another copy. Everytime I go to their website I think about the numerous internships they offer. If I need to meet more gardeners than I need to get involved with one of the strongest gardening organizations in Seattle. How cool would that be to score an internship? So I am going to try. The application for Garden Steward Intern is February 10. The 6 month internship ends Aug 31. Of course I can handle 12-24 hr commitment per week if I am only working 24 hours a week. We'll see what happens.