Seed Inventory, part 2

Ten Apple Farm’s seed storage vault (aka the downstairs bathroom)

OK, picking up where we left off, and finishing the seed inventory of last year’s leftovers.

Beans & Peas: Kentucky Wonder Pole and Romano Bush beans, both did great last year. Plus some Scarlet Runner beans that we got at the Swap. For peas we’ve got some John Scheepers’ Sugar Ann Snap peas, and a bunch of loose peas in a jar — no idea what these are, but we’ll throw ’em in the ground and wait and see!

Nightshades: Just a few leftover seeds from the Ai Qwa Long Purple Eggplant that we put in too late last year, so we’ll try again, along with some other varieties we’re going to order and try out. Also a small handful of a Tomato Cherry Rainbox mix, that’s provided us with some really delicious small and medium small tomatoes. My favorite has been the Miribelle, a large yellow, almost apricot-like cherry tomato. More tomatoes in the new order for sure.

Winter Squashes: We picked up a lot of different packets at the FEDCO booth at Common Ground this year. I think it was the time of year, and the displays of pumpkins and squashes that inspired us. Jack Be Little Pumpkin, Big Max Pumpkin, Blue Hubbard, Sunshine Winter Squash, and last but not least, Uncle David’s Dakota Dessert Squash. Should be a bountiful squash harvest this fall!

Cukes and odds & ends: A Scheepers Pickling Cuke, FEDCO’s de Bourbonne Cornichon Pickling Cuke, that one we’re going to really try to cultivate this year — we only made about 4 jars of cornichon last year, and we are savoring every last one. We’ve also got some celery and fennel from Hart’s. Not sure where we picked those up, but the fennel did quite well. We’ve also got some Belgian Endive seeds that we had planned to grow and blanche in the basement over the winter, but never got around to it. Maybe this year.

Herbs: The basics, parsley, thyme, chives, cilantro, dill, basil. We seem to get dill and cilantro that re-seed itself each year in the garden, but we’ll start some more just to be safe. Plus we’ll see how the perennial herbs we planted last year wintered over: oregano, sage, sorrel, and winter savory.

Well, that’s it for the surplus. Now comes the real fun, sitting down with the catalogs and making our wish list of new and exciting seeds for 2011.