New seeds for 2013

So Friday afternoon I called and spoke with the owner of our local garden store, to see when she would be around for Little M and I to drop by and pick up some seeds. As luck would have it, she was available the very next day, and Little M and I already had plans in town and would be driving right by her store. Saturday rolled around and we stopped in and picked up all the seeds on our needed list, as well as a few on the potential list.

Here is what we picked up:

Walla Walla Onion
Cipollini Onion
Dark Green Zucchini
Arugula
Romain Lettuce
Carrot Mix
Basil
Yellow Pepper

The only brand of seeds this store carries is Irish Eyes Garden Seeds, a relatively local (aka eastern WA) seed company. I was crazy happy with the seeds we got of theirs last year - our Walla Walla onions that we harvested last fall are just nearing the end of their lifespan, at about the same time as we are running out of them, and we really haven't started eating the more storage-type Cipollini onions. We did get a bumper crop though, and the onions are actually the one plant that I feel we nailed the right number to plant to harvest enough to get us through the winter & it looks promising to keep us in onions until the next crop is ready.

Other seeds we purchased from them last year included a packet of mixed hot pepper seeds. The peppers were great, although getting a hot mix resulted in Little M learning her first lesson of - no, don't eat that, its hot.... no.... okay lets run up and guzzle some milk there little one...We had one plant of what I think were long slim cayenne peppers (which Little M learned not to sample), and two plants that I think were both hungarian hot wax peppers, which were really great in stir fries for a bit of extra kick (although leaving them to grow too big equaled a bit too much kick on one occasion!). Although we don't have room in the main garden to grow the hot pepper mix again this year, since pepper seed lasts several years, and we still have lots of the hot mix packet left, I'm going to start a bunch and plan room for them in the new area. I want to see if there are any other types in the mix than the 2 we had last year. After all, if they don't make it over there, they are just extras!

We also got a couple of other packets of seeds from them last year - sacred basil (which my husband hated the smell of, which is why we're trying a different basil variety this year!), a lettuce blend that we really liked and will grow again this year, cilantro which we loved and let some go to seed and will grow those seeds this year, and kale.

As I look back at our 2012 seed list, I'm not really adding any new plants, just changing the variety in some cases, and changing the quantities - mostly in an upwards direction. We're hoping to use the new garden space for some of the less important (to us) food - the dry beans that we don't use too much and the peppers that my husband isn't too fond of, as well as adding extra plants of some of the food we want to grow more of that we think might do ok over there right away - including raspberries and perhaps green beans.

Little M and I started our seeds the other night, but I'm still waiting on the camera & my laptop to talk nicely to each other to show you the photos! I guess that post will have to wait until Monday :) Happy Weekend Folks!