Posted on 02/03/2010 2:39:18 AM PST by Daisyjane69
DES MOINES, Iowa - Dreaming of biting into a garden-fresh cucumber sandwich this summer? Better order your seeds now.
A poor growing season last year and increased orders from Europe could make it difficult for home gardeners to get seeds for the most popular cucumber variety and some vegetables this spring. Farmers, who usually grow different varieties than home gardeners, aren't likely to be affected.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
There were many varieties not available last spring if you waited till March or April. Most gardeners in my area order now to get the types they want; and we don’t plant in the ground until late may.
I’m also ordering extra this year to start my own ‘seed bank’.
I save seeds from various veggies I grow every year. I have about 50 tomato seedlings from the fruits I grew last year. Cucumber seeds will be planted in about two weeks for the spring / summer crop.
I love Baker’s Creek! They have a fun selection of unique seeds and they are all heirloom. I already ordered some, even though it’s way to early for me to even be thinking about it yet. Sand Hill Preservation is also really great. They are a family farm, so they are not quite as fast to get things to you, but they are more inexpensive. Also, for those that may not know, if you put your previous year’s seed in the freezer, (sealed well in ziploc bags to keep out moisture), you can keep your seeds for years. I do that with my heirloom seed and seed I’ve saved myself, in case there ever is a seed shortage.
Yeah, there's some pretty good deer food in the mix.
After hearing the ads I thought it would mostly be corn, tomatoes, carrots, all kinds of legumes, etc. Most of the stuff is for salads and has limited nutritional value.
Baker Creek was getting hit so hard with internet orders over the past few weeks that their system kept crashing...
LOL...deer food...that’s about it!
Bull hockey!
No problem here just recieved my (small) order.
Literally thousands of varieties - including some heirlooms and other hard to find.
We have always been happy with their service and prices.
.
I ordered online in Dec and recieved all that I ordered, 13 varieties. I have watched Lowes each visit and they are still well stocked, so far.
Seed prices for the home gardner have practially doubled the last 3 years. Even last year, ‘there was a seed shortage’. I’ve noticed certain seed catalogs are offering less and less straight varities.
I’ve had no trouble getting the seeds I want, but have paid a lot more for some of them. The ones I bought last year on sale in the fall and kept in the refrigerator are already sprouting in my sunroom flats.
I’m still waiting on a couple orders (cooks garden, parks), but everything else, with a couple exceptions, has shipped (baker creek, jungs, burpee, gurneys, pinetree, thompson & morgan). Jungs was out of peanuts and Baker Creek was out of Lady Godiva Pumpkins. I’d love to grow my own (naked) pumpkin seeds for flour. Finally got peanuts from Gurneys.
If anybody knows where I can get Lady Godiva pumpkin seeds, lemme know!
I’m hoping to have a fairly large garden this year. Weather cooperating, of course.
Lowe’s and WalMart have plenty of seeds locally.
I live in the North and further, have a poor micro climate for any long season varieties.
I plant my heirlooms in containers so that I can place them where the sun is brighter and longest and take them in to put under lights, if necessary due to late or early frosts. But, for the garden, I bless the hybrids engineered to produce in short seasons and set fruit in cool temperatures. Heirlooms just cannot produce in my garden. Also, several of the heirlooms are more susceptible to blights and blossom end rot than are the hybrids. If I want an heirloom tomato, I have to buy it from someone blessed with a better micro climate. Also, many of the heirlooms are poor keepers, so it is better to just buy what I will use quickly.
There is a place for all sorts of plants, IMO. My garden will be smaller this year, as I have sauce and dried tomatoes from last year that look like they will last through next winter. I will put up enough this year to get through to September 2011.
As to the thread topic, the Farm and Fleet had a huge variety and quantities of veggie seed for 2010, some of it OP, back in December. I think this MSNBC meme, which is being propagated throughout the media, is hype. People love to be scared.
I bought an heirloom tomato at the supermarket. It yielded hundreds of seeds. I dried them and cannot wait to try them out.
My only concern is the harsh environment where I live; it can get really hot and muggy.
I got my order in early and one of the seeds I really wanted was available because of a crop failure in NY. And not too far from us either.
I’ve learned the hard way not to wait because it’s first come, first served.
I ordered all open pollinated seeds so I could save some this year.
Territorial Seed Company sells a lot of non-hybridized seeds and clearly mark which ones they are. I try to buy those first and foremost, although, for my sauce tomatoes, I did get the Heinz variety. I tried them one year and loved them. I had a great crop and the sauce is excellent.
Make that *UNavailable*....
Sometimes it’s fun to let things cross and see what you get. Friend of mine planted 3 or 4 varieties of squash (c. moschata) in ‘04. She saved seeds from each one and planted out all the F1 hybrids the next year. She’s done that every year since and is IIRC on F6 or so crosses by now LOL. Her kids like playing ‘identify the parent’ with the resulting squash. They’re all winter squashes but some of them are very interesting and pretty. She calls them her ‘box of chocolates’ squashes. She never knows exactly what she’ll get but they’re all going to be tasty! I’m planning on starting my own experiment with 4 varieties of c. moschata this year.
It’s really hot and muggy here in the Summer as well. Our choices are, 1). start them VERY early, like right now and set them in the garden VERY early and protect with frost cloth and hope we don’t have a late *very* cold and wet spring. 2). start them in early June and plant them out for a fall garden sometime in the middle of July.
The only tomatoes I got last year were from plan 2. Plan 1 failed because we had a very cold and wet spring followed by an almost immediate transition to 95+ and no rain for 6w. You can imagine how my tomatoes just LOVED that!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.