Seed Sorting Weekend

[ddsack]

Bill, I admit I am a seed hoarder! I still have commercial envelopes of hybrid seeds I grew 20 years ago, didn't like and won't grow again! I guess I keep them around "just in case" - maybe someone else will have some sentimental curiosity and want them? Also, there are some nice varieties that I only grew one season and didn't like enough to grow again, but I may give them another chance someday. Mostly though, I just like the idea of my own seed archive so I can see where I've been in my growing journey.

[AlittleSalt]

Bill, the past four years have been so different weather-wise. 2013-14 were drought years 6 and 7. 2015 was the wettest year on record here with 73+ inches of rain. This year has been the year of RKN and things growing at odd times of the year. Tomorrow, December 6th - I'm going to turn under black eyed pea plants in our onion garden, I planted them back in October just to see what would happen. The pea seeds were stashed away in a drawer that were long forgotten. Most of them came up and never flowered. Turning them under tomorrow should add some nitrogen for the onions to be planted in mid-January.

With the last 4 years of oddball weather, and all the work I've put in trying to control the RKN - next year's garden is going to be just like starting over, but with experience. I did solarize during the hottest part of summer which did kill out all of the weeds except for five that are very deep rooted. Three months later, there are still no weeds growing. The Elbon cereal rye is growing here in December - the garden is green. It makes us feel good seeing rows of rye growing in rows a foot apart. It looks like every seed came up.

The Elbon cereal rye is supposed to lessen the RKN population. I sure hope it works.

What to plant in 2017? It's still all new to me in a way. I started gardening in 2010 during the drought of 7 years. Things have changed a lot since then for our garden.

[AlittleSalt]

Dee, that is a beautiful cat. We have an Orange Tabby male and a little tiny white cat that sort of looks like her Siamese father. We protect them almost as much as we do our children (When they were younger) and our young grandchildren now.