Tomorrow the balance of the garden will go in. As I was sorting through my seeds, planning where each crop would go, I realized that I most likely would forget which bean was which and what use they provided. For instance, I am trying a new one called Black Valentine, a good bean for canning or it can be dried. Also, Venture, another new one that claims most of the beans come on all at once. All are open pollinated so if we like them, seed will be saved. Then there is Bountiful.. in 1898 Abel Steele won a $25 prize for naming this new variety. It is touted to have heavy crops of excellent quality. This is the year of experimenting, seed saving and prepping for future years.
So, I snipped pics and descriptions of all the seeds I ordered this spring....it was actually quite fun. Reminiscences of my "paper doll" days with the Sears and Robuck catalog...
On the tomato page there are descriptions of San Marzano, Amish Paste and Speckled Roman, great sauce tomatoes, all open pollinated as well.
I cut and pasted info on previous victories, such as the Jaune Flamme tomatoes that we planted last year. The plants in the garden are from saved seeds. This wonderful tomato was perfect to roast and freeze for pizzas or make a sauce in the dead of winter.
My "vegetable dolls" are now all categorized and cataloged. A few more are left to track down from catalogs recycled but hopefully this will be a step towards a more organized and productive garden.
Kelly, I absolutely LOVE your notebook. I hope you don't mind if I steal this idea. I have a three ring binder that I try and keep records of what we plant and how is does, but snipping and glueing sounds a lot easier than trying to type everything out. Plus this will be a great idea for me to keep up with new varieties that I see that I want to try.
ReplyDeleteSteal away Roslyn! And have fun doing it. ;o)
ReplyDeleteHow far do you plant your different types of beans and tomatoes from each other to save seed? I'm juggling garden space this year because I have several (okay- 6 or 7) different heirloom tomatoes I'm planting this year and I'm just learning about seed saving. I enjoy reading your blog when I get a chance to pop in.
ReplyDeleteWe have the two different gardens and I am trying to separate between the two. I seemed to remember 40 feet apart minimum. Last year we did not have that kind of space so I just did the best I could, I saved some tomato seeds and I will let you know how true they come back. Some things we just have one variety of so that makes it a lot easier!
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