Thursday Thirteen - February 8, 2024

 Thursday Thirteen 

Have thirteen things to share?  Photos?  A list?  Complaints?  Favorite foods?  Link your own thirteen things, it's easy!  

These are thirteen of the edible seeds I'm planting this year. 

1 - My favorite snap pea, Cascadia.  I've not grown them from Pinetree before. 

2 - Pole beans aren't something I usually grow, but why not?

3 - My favorite bush beans, Dragon Tongue.  Again, I've not tried Pinetree's before.  Baker Creek does very well.

4 - Eggplant because it's a beautiful plant with beautiful flowers and fruit.  I do not like it eat it though, I'll leave that to neighbors!

5 - My favorite squash, used as a pumpkin, the winter squash, Galeux d'Eysines.  Not newly packaged for 2024, but seeds are viable for years.  

6 - Cilantro.  I read that cilantro is a love or hate herb.  Some say it tastes like soap.  I say it tastes like... well, it tastes like fresh.  The definition of fresh.

7 - My favorite cucumber, Lemon.  The seeds were scarce last year (which was fine, as I didn't do well with a garden last year because I had COVID at planting time), and no plants to be found.

8 - A totally new to me tomato.  I start these seeds on a heat mat on my kitchen counter mid-March along with the eggplant. 

9 - My existing parsley may be back, it's a biennial and self-seeds, but just in case, I'm growing more.   My favorite is the flat-leaf Italian. 

10 - Lavender because it's easy to grow, and it's lavender.  Who can't always use more lavender in the garden? Or in containers?   I've grown these Dollar Tree seeds in past years and they've done very well.  They bloom the first year, and overwinter just fine.  

11 - Another big success are the Dollar Tree thyme seeds.  

12 - More bush beans, a kind I've not tried before.  I bought these last year and didn't get around to planting them. 

13 - Same with these peas.   I don't expect they'll rival Cascadia!  

Not part of the thirteen are these three packets of old seeds I rescued from the Goodwill Bins.   They are more for fun than anything, especially the squash.  I do not eat summer squash!  While I have a "Chia Pet" around somewhere (Homer Simpson's head!), chia can be grown like any other herb.  It's a mint family annual with lovely purple flower spikes.

As you can see, I get my seeds from various sellers.  Seed companies, eBay sellers, the Dollar Tree, and nearly free in the Bins.  The 25¢ seeds from the Dollar Tree grow as well as those costing many times more.  They are fewer in the packets, but when it comes to vegetables and herbs I don't need more than a few plants.  You see the Dollar Tree packets are labeled always GMO free.  Well, you couldn't buy GMO seeds if you tried.  That labeling (and the other companies advertise it too) is for worried customers who fear if it doesn't say "NON-GMO," it will be.  Only large scale farming operations can buy GMO seeds, and there are few, none most backyard (or front yard) gardeners would want. 

https://www.fda.gov/food/agricultural-biotechnology/gmo-crops-animal-food-and-beyond

Oh, the WS you see written on some packages?  That means I can wintersow them.  I just haven't.