I've ordered my seeds.

I've ordered my seeds for the year...the gardening season has officially begun for me!!!   

So where did you order from?
What seeds did you order?

We just ordered also from Stokes in Ontario. About 26 different seeds, including some atlantic giant pumkins. Got some special soil waiting for them;) Piet

yay  spring planting planning time!
just ordered jerusalem artichokes, german irises (3 colors) pink clematis, and peonies (2 colors pale pink and red) as roots/ plants from [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  they arein dewinton near Calgary. 
never ordered from them before but always meant to

was thinking last night I would think about sorting out my garden plan and of course the first things I think of are tomatoes. I want to find some heirloom seeds for very fast growing plants with early harvest so we can actually have them ripen on the vine. Short growing season up here at 3300 feet. cold at night no matter what time of the year and hot hot mid/late summer. have greenhouse and hoop gardens. just need the seeds. always our tomatoes ripen after the snow has started falling because they had to come inside green or else lose them. Any tips from you peeps ordering seeds? ta :-)

Just finishing ordering from Richter's. My husband thinks I am cracked ordering a Fig. I blame Susan for showing off her oranges.
The lengthening days are definitely responsible for the gardening itch.

LOL...I was hoping somebody would ask...    

Oh...tomatoes...don't get me started on tomatoes Magdelan...   Ok...I have just the ticket for you.  I ordered a heritage determinate type called Prairie Fire from Abunnadh seeds in Alberta.  They don't have a printed catalogue, but they have a website.  You have to print off their order form and mail it to them with a cheque...yes...snail mail...  This type is the earliest heritage determinate I could find.  I ordered Stupice from them last year, and I was thrilled, but they are an indeterminate, which was fine for the heated green house, but I want a bunch that I can grow outside in the garden and harvest for canning as well.

I also ordered from T&T (the bulk of my order), Veseys (I have a soft spot for them, as visited their site last summer in PEI when wife and I got married), and Henry Fields, which I have never tried before.  They have an early Cauliflower I want to try, but the main draw was an early variety of heritage Zuccini.  
I grew a hybrid zuccini last year which was great, but I want to do heritage so I can save seeds.  Last year I saved seed from my tomato plants and my peas.

 

wow, thanks Farmer Bob. I will indeed get going with that. Very helpful.

Auntyevil, what oranges and who is Susan who can grow them here? Apart from the sea I miss citrus - fresh and not from California. Wish I could grow some. My aunty has a lemonade growing outside her living room, I recall it being loaded to the gills with fruit and so fresh and sweet. mmmm.

Sorry Magdelan, she is on a different site. She bought some plants from a Saskatchewan garden centre, and grows Meyer lemons and some kind of orange in her house.

I have ordered almost half of my seeds. Rare Exotic from Montreal and Gardens North from Nova Scotia. Ordered my seeds that have to have three months of cold. Will be ordering from prseeds (grains), Richters (herbs), and may try T&T.

I have ordered almost half of my seeds. Rare Exotic from Montreal and Gardens North from Nova Scotia. Ordered my seeds that have to have three months of cold. Will be ordering from prseeds (grains), Richters (herbs), and may try T&T.

I have ordered almost half of my seeds. Rare Exotic from Montreal and Gardens North from Nova Scotia. Ordered my seeds that have to have three months of cold. Will be ordering from prseeds (grains), Richters (herbs), and may try T&T.

have sent off my order. Very excited. tomatoes that can be harvested after 50 or so days! This is the link to where Farmerbob directed me:


[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Awesome! What kind of tomatoes did you get Magdelan?

love to share :-). I got Japanese Trifele Black, Stupice (45 days to harvest), Alisa Craig (45 days) and Old Brood (49 days). I was good about it, didn't even look at the other things they offer - still have too many seeds from the past to use before can buy more. Am just going to buy onion starts this year. I didn't get in on time. Maybe next year. Seems so odd to be planting seeds when there is snow covering the ground and this year, will take a time for the ground to defrost up here because it froze pretty good before the snow arrived. dog gone it! there is that life lesson again, learning patience a lot these days.

That's cool that you got some Stupice Madgelan. I was really happy with mine last year and kept some seeds. I"m going to start them in a couple of weeks. I just got my order from Abunadh on Wednesday, they took awhile. I hope you get yours in time for when you wanted to start them! Peppers and eggplant are doing great, and the celery just started to sprout.

yeah, I hope they arrive soon too. We had a little snow here this morning, as much as it was beautiful I really did not want to see it. Glad your other seedlings are going good. I am not sure what kind of garden we will have this year, maybe not as full on as last year, I have to work hard this summer. Looking forward to the seeds getting here though. might plant them straight in to the ground, see what happens.

Well, we got snow here yesterday as well, and of course we still had some. Big melt going on though. Enough to start us having some septic tank issues... Straight into the ground eh? Well, I don't think that I can get away with that for tomatoes here. I can do it with cabbages, and I'm going to try doing the other brassicas straight into the ground as well this year, such as broccoli and cauliflower. I wanted to try planting brussel sprout seeds into the ground last fall, but time got away from me. That will be my next experiment!

sorry to hear about your septic problems. we have had enough of those in our back story to last us several lifetimes. funny in hindsight but only in hindsight.

yeah, might try a few in the ground and also some seedlings if they get here fast enough, see which fares better. if the stupice grow as fast as they say then I'm hopeful.

I wanted to try the carrots out like you with the brussels but just missed the boat, so many things happening at that time of year, I was just glad to get the garlic in and the asparagus mulched.

good grief. another day with the chopping block. just hate this job, had two days break and back to it today - break was a bad idea cause the psych up is hard. Can only seem to get two done a day, hopefully this day will be different, going to try for three or four. hope you have a far nicer plan for your day :-)

Hi Magdelan,

2 a day? Not sure what you are referring to. 2 blocks of wood chopped? I spent a good part of my morning chopping wood...but I like it! I chop my week's worth of wood on the weekend. It's warm enough today that I have the chickens out and running around, they can find bare spots alongside the chicken house and are scratching away happily.

And...the Stupice do indeed mature as fast as advertised. I had tomatoes on the vine by late June last year.

Well, next chore is to trim horses feet this afternoon.

what kind of horses do you have? When I was a teenager (just a few days ago   ) I started to learn the art of hoof trimming, and even shoeing but my tutor went away and not long after I did too so it was over before I got anywhere near good at it. sad day.

two roosters. I can process two a day but today I'm going for more. Might even get four done. I am not loving the experience and consequently, neither is the family! I was swearing a lot but good news, today I just don't have it in me.  I will be so glad when it is all over. still don't know if I can eat any of them yet, I feel like the biggest whimp out there, and what a complainer! However, I am a stubborn person too (Irish + Latvian lineage - pretty damn scary combination right there) so refuse give it up and take them to a butcher, and I have this ideology that I should be able to take care of this myself, my project after all, and be a good caretaker of my "farm" and know where my food comes from and all that stuff. I don't cast any judgement on any one else's way of dealing with this situation (too many roosters) but for me this is my mind set and it's like, I made my bed and now I have to sleep in it sort of thing. I like chopping wood too :-).

Just came in for lunch and coffee, what do you know, had some of the tomato marmalade I made last autumn with some of my semi ripe toms. I think my husband and I are the only ones in the house who like it - I like it so much I sometimes eat it off the spoon! hoping to have a fabulous crop this year so can make a bunch of things with them.

So sorry! I was trimming my horse's hoof when it hit me what you were talking about...not wood at all! My bad! No...not much fun. I do my own roosters as well. I feel like you do...that it is my responsibility.

We have 3 horses. A quarter horse, an appaloosa, and a Fjord. I was just out trimming Vinnie's feet (quarter horse). I don't shoe our horses, but trim their feet once a month.

Tomato marmalade...I never thought of that. My wife made pickled green tomatoes, which I really enjoy!

no worries FBob, I was so self absorbed, you know . . . when you know what is all consuming in your life and simply expect that by osmosis or something, everyone else will instantly know as well. Not your bad at all, it was mine.

I love the look of those Fijord horses. beautiful colours and solid. I have a vulnerable spot for arabians but not the poodle types, I like the ones who could actually make it in the desert, that still have decent bone in their legs and maybe don't look so flashy but are just really good riding horses.

I made g. tom pickle too, and chutney but the family are all off those now - have over done it probably. Salsa is still a hit and we use stewed tomatoes a lot in many kinds of meals. The marmalade is pretty easy but I made it a bit liquid last time so will adjust next time. Once you get the hang of making jam using the pectin recipe's in the pectin box it is fairly easy. Just got to make sure the citrus rind you use (what ever it is, a blend of any) has softened enough. I always cut the pith out as much as I can (I believe it is responsible for the bitter taste) and then slice as finely as possible - all to personal preference. Then use tomato juice and pulp and skins too if you like to cook and soften the rinds, plenty of lemon juice and can bump up the pectin content by using tart apples as a base for the marmalade too. Nothing traditional about my method. unripe fruit are higher in pectin so guess that is practical. I botched a batch once so worked from my failure to work out what is better - can't really remember what I did wrong now so I'm always flying a bit blind when it comes to tomato marmalade.

One more neck to do and then I'm calling it a day.

I believe you have horses as well, right? Seem to remember you talking about riding last summer. Arabians sure are beautiful! I love the chunky solid look of the Fjords as well. Mine is trained to harness/pack/ride but she is retired now (28).

I had to ask my wife what chutney was. I've never had it. Jeanne made delicious zuccini relish. I'll never go back to store bought. Yep we are doing the salsa and canned tomato bit here as well. In fact we are having some of our homemade salsa for supper tonight.

Hope you can relax tonight...you deserve it!

no, no horses. did in the past but not since I have lived in Canada. Might have to change that one day. Your fjiord sounds lovely, I am feeling nostalgic for horses right now.

chutney is like a condiment to go with Indian type dishes, rice and curry plus chutney =    . well, in moderation of course and if well made. all depends on your taste I guess. often sweet/savory and good way to use fruit up, apple is often the base and you can put things like nuts in too if you wish, dried fruit. chutney is often nice with cheese. seem to remember having nice "ploughmans" lunches in my fav old pub in Sheer in England. Huge wedge of stilton cheese, nice crusty bread roll, maybe some coleslaw salad or other type plus chutney, oh my goodness, where's my passport, think I have to go there now! And of course your fav beer or bevvie. Being the lightweight I was then I'd always have a shandy. Oh, nice memory. Already relaxing from the turmoil of butchering. Going to get a nice bottle of wine and a dvd from the shop to help :-).