Fresh Seeds For The 2021 Season

I ordered a wide variety of fresh, new organic non-GMO seeds online and they arrived in the mail last Thursday, just four days after my online purchase. I recall a year ago at this time, with uncertainty brewing over COvid-19, seeds were selling fast and most online retailers completely ran out of fresh vegetable seeds. This time around, I purchased early and was able to get my hands on over 30 packs of seeds. Even then, I noticed that many seeds were indeed already sold out so if you’re thinking of buying seeds, I recommend you do so as soon as possible. I totally expect this year to be a banner spring for online seed retailers. With so many people staying at home suffering from boredom and with food prices soaring (inflation? what inflation?), growing our own food makes perfect sense.

In the last 5 years or so, I’ve been practicing growing my own food and learning the ropes. It’s not easy and does require a lot of work, such as composting, mulching, regular watering, dealing with pests and insects, etc..

I’ve planted some veggies that survive winter and grow out again, year after year such as rhubarb, which is great as a jam on its own or mixed with strawberries and of course, strawberry rhubarb pie is just bursting with flavor. Rhubarb is known to survive up to two decades. I started with three plants and after about 3 years, I split them in two and now I have 6 plants growing healthy. That’s a trick I learned watching Youtube gardening videos. Simply dig them out of the ground and cut them in half with a shovel and replant them again. Sounds cruel I know but this method is tried and true.

Another great plant that keeps coming back is asparagus. There are different ways to start asparagus. You can start from seed or buy seedlings or start with mature plants. These can be found at your local greenhouse. Starting this plant requires a lot of patience as it takes up to three years before you can begin harvesting so as to allow the plants to take root. Make sure the soil is loose as the roots are known to grow more than a meter deep. I planted 6 seedlings two springs ago and last spring, four of them came back. I won’t be harvesting any sprouts this year so as to allow the plants to grow stronger. I’ll have to wait until next year to get my first harvest. The beauty of this plant is that once having taken hold, the plant will come back year after year, just like rhubarb for a good twenty years or more. Some asparagus plants have been known to survive for forty years. Now, that’s impressive.

I had also planted a couple of grafted fruit trees a couple years ago, including an apple tree grafted with different branches to produce six different types of apples and a plum tree also grafted to produce 6 different types of plums. In the first year, I was able to harvest at least 100 plums. The apple tree has yet to produce. I’m hoping this is the year for a bumper crop of apples.

Another plant that I’m planning on putting in the ground are grape plants and have them trained to grow along my fence. Grapes, like asparagus and rhubarb will continue to produce year after year. Imagine that, free food growing out of the ground in your own yard.

So now, you’re probably wondering what seeds I bought this year. I’ll be trying different plants this year so I can have a wide variety growing. I love salads so I expect one heck of a delicious salad on my table come July or so. I’ll be producing some videos as my garden adventure progresses and I’ll be posting them online for all to see and enjoy.

Here’s my list of brand new, organic seeds:

“Who Gets Kissed” Sweet Corn

Parsnip

Golden Globe Turnip

Ruby Streaks Mild Mustard

Gardener’s Delight Cherry Tomato

Ruby Red Swiss Chard

Early Mizuna (mild mustard)

Tokyo Bekana Asian Cabbage

‘Snowball’ Cauliflower

Druzba Tomato

Amish Paste Tomato

Prolific Straightneck Summer Squash

Dark Green Zucchini

Dyer’s Camomile

Sweet Marjoram

Genovese Basil

Little Gem Cos Lettuce

Celery ‘Tall Utah’

Blue Curled Scotch Kale

Sweet Basil ‘High Oil’

Polka Dot Bachelor Buttons

Burgess Buttercup Squash

Dark Red Detroit Beet

Jade Bush Bean

Spinach ‘ Giant Winter’

I also harvested seeds from plants I grew last year, including ruby leaf lettuce, Russian kale, basil, spinach, baby bok choy, cilantro, hot and mild peppers, tomatoes, currants, beans, bitter gourd and yellow crookneck squash.

The great thing about having such a wide variety of veggies and spices is that most can be grown in pots and not take up too much space. I’m retiring from full-time work at the end of April so I should be able to concentrate more time cultivating my garden. Wish me luck!

You’re welcome to follow me on my blog to keep tabs on how I’m progressing with my new permaculture garden.

Tips are welcome and appreciated. Thanks for visiting and here’s to a successful gardening season for everyone. Please share your knowledge if you have great gardening skills. I’d love to hear from you.