I am finally done! I realized that if I waited for "me time" my seed order would never get off to a start, so I just let things in the house go to hell and did it anyways. They'll live. It took me several days, since I try to research more and be smarter about this every year. Not sure if it's working...In the interest of my New Year's resolution about paying attention to the finances and where the money is going in the suburban homestead, I have listed my expenditures for this year's order. You may say "Wow, she did great!" or "Holy crap!", but I will say that the amount is significantly less than last year. This is due in part to saving seeds and storing old seeds properly, but much of it is honestly looking at what I can handle and past experiences. I am sure that I still went a little overboard, but a little progress is better than none! Most are heirloom varieties, and this year I am doing annual flowers for the first time selected from the lists of "The Beekeeper Guy" that visited our class during MG training. Many can be directly seeded outdoors, so that's a bonus.
Here is is for 2010:
Roninger Potato Farm - $21.00
Red LaSoda
Red Pontiac
Rose Finn Fingerlings
*may interest southern gardeners, they will ship in time for our early March potato planting dates - most places cannot)
Bountiful Gardens - 3.95
Soybean Innoculant
Fedco Seeds - 28.17
Dragon Langerie Bush Wax Bean
Beer Friend Edamame
Fish Hot Pepper
Paul Robeson Tomato
Gigante dItalia Parsley
Lemon Balm
Carpet of Snow Alyssum - flowers
Flashback Calendula - flowers
Osaka Flowering Kale- ornamental
Red Peacock Flowering Kale - ornamental
Tashkent Marigold - flowers
Persian Carpet Zinnia - flowers
Bells of Ireland - flowers
Jobs Tears - flowers
Panorama Red Bee Balm - flowers
Burgundy Gaillardia - flowers
Burpee 51.75
(I know, I know..., but they were selected for certain traits I wanted)
Early Sunglow Hybrid Corn - short stalks
Heatwave Lettuce - this blend performs all summer without bolting here
Sugar Baby Bush Watermelon - 3 ft vines!
4th of July Hybrid Tomato
Orange Wellington Tomato (the first hybrids I have grown)
Be Sweet Soybean - huge yields
Pesto Perpetuo Basil - variegated, patent pending, only avail as expensive plants for 3 yrs now!
Verbena Bonariensis - flowers
Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co. 39.95
Purple of Romagna Artichoke
Golden Wax Bush Bean
Cosmic Purple Carrot
Parisian Pickling Cucumber
Japanese Climbing Cucumber
Mexican Mint Marigold - flowers
Craig's Grande Jalapeno
Val d'Orges Lettuce
Quadrato D'asti Rosso Pepper
Sweet Yellow Stuffing Pepper
Hollow Crown Parsnip
Vorlon Tomato
Red Zebra Tomato
Red Malabar Spinach (for those of you in hot areas where it's hard to grow spinach, check out this link... it climbs, won't bolt, tastes just like spinach, widely available)
So there it is! The 2010 Honesty Total = $144.82.
I still have other heirloom tomatoes, herbs, etc that I saved from last year that will be planted as well, saving a ton of money there. New vegetables making their debut in my garden are: Watermelon, Parsnip, Artichoke and Corn. There are many more companies I am becoming interested in and have requested catalogs from (especially our VA based Southern Exposure Seed Exchange), but haven't arrived yet so they lost out on this year's business, but I am sure to branch out and investigate them the next time I order.
Woohoo! You are gonna have a kick a$$ garden come spring.
ReplyDeleteFeels good doesn't it Erin?
ReplyDelete(I will doing a post on medicinal herbs, Fedco has a great selection....seems as though I thought I was done, but no.)
Would you be willing to part with a few of those edamame (sp.?) seeds? I would love to try them. Name your price, I seem to have one of everything. Maybe some heirloom soup beans from SSE? Tomatoes? Herbs? I have citrus flavored varieties. :)
Of course I will send you some Kelly! When I get my all my stuff in I will do a post and we can swap emails and addresses - this goes for any of you! It's always fun to try new things this way. Good thing we all don't live nearby, we would have to open a Seed Vault and get an accountant and such :)
ReplyDeleteGood for you! What a job to have done. I've been home sick today so have been studying my catalogues. I'm ready to place my order for my apple trees, probably tonight- so I wanted to see what else I wanted from them so I don't have to pay extra shipping. There may be some things I don't end up getting this year since it is the only thing I want from a particular company and it's not worth paying the extra shipping charges. I'm probably going to post my herb wish list soon.
ReplyDeleteJudy
WOW! Your list is long than mine! Will your hubby be around this summer to help you tend to all of these veggies?
ReplyDeleteWell done getting this completed. It's definitely difficult getting errands done with kids running around.
Judy, hope you feel better soon! Fruit trees will be soooo nice to have! Thomas, no... hubby is leaving in March for 8 months so I am on my own save for the help of 2 small children and 2 dogs???!!! LOL... don't advertise it if you are driving down south for any reason or you will see me on the freeway ready to intercept you for help! Should be an interesting year for sure!
ReplyDeleteI would love to do some seed swapping too! Tell me when and I'll put up a post on what I have.
ReplyDeleteAwesome job here, must take some time to mull over your choices, what fun for me, thanks for the tomato link, i did mine in October to make sure i got what i wanted this year too - peace
ReplyDeletenow if only they would eat what we grow!
I was trying to hold off on my seed order until I get back home, as I have a gift certificate from my daughter waiting for me. Couldn't do it, so I ordered most of my seeds this week. Mine came in at $30, including shipping. I still have a few left to buy, but not much. I didn't order anything fancy, and the seed company I use only charges $2 for s & h. I'll still have to get my seed potatoes (local seed, under $2 a pound) and sweet onion plants (about $2 for a huge bunch). My main expense will be for compost, as I'll have to get a pickup load from the nursery this year. My gift certificate will be used for potting mix and vermiculite, and maybe some new large pots.
ReplyDelete