I am getting this post out about a month earlier this year! I hope I can encourage you in your gardening and seed selecting, but I don’t have all the answers. I continue to enjoy trying things and seeking to grow more each year. Our kids are eating more as they get bigger and so the amount I hope to preserve goes up as well.

I was excited to open our box of seeds this weekend and get each one out. The packages are lovely, as is the seed catalog itself. Each thing I mention here, unless otherwise noted, comes from Berlin Seed in Ohio.

The Process

In selecting what seeds I want to grow, I devoured the seed catalog many times, circling the things I liked the sound of. In general, I have grown things from several different seed companies and have landed on Berlin Seed as my ‘go-to’. But, I still get things from other sources, especially local greenhouses.

After deciding what I liked, I got out my seed boxes to see what I still had on hand. Some things I wanted to use again (be careful of reusing hybrid seeds a second year as their germination rate goes down) and some things I wanted to replace. Some seeds I wanted to plant again but needed more of. And some things I get new each year either way.

The Seeds

So, I will give you a list of the seeds I decided to go with first followed by what I still had on hand.

• Beans- for green beans, I am planting bush variety ‘Contender’- for shell beans, I am planting the variety ‘Navy’
• Peas- I freeze shell peas– variety ‘Dual’
• Corn- I don’t plan to plant popcorn or dent corn this summer, but I will plant sweet corn– variety ‘Incredible’

• Herbs- dill variety ‘Bouquet’; comfrey; burdock

• Tomatoes- I had actually marked to order Oxheart Pink, but they were replacing that variety with ‘Hungarian Heart’, a large paste style tomato

• Flowers- gomphrena variety ‘QIS All Mix’; marigold variety ‘Super Hero Harmony’, strawflower variety ‘Apricot Peach’

• Brassicas- cauliflower variety ‘Cheddar’; cabbage variety ‘Red Express’; broccoli variety ‘Imperial’
• Squash- summer variety ‘Summer Mix’; butternut variety ‘Waltham Butternut’

On Hand

• Beans- pole beans/shell beans variety ‘Cherokee Trail of Tears’; shell beans varieties ‘October beans’, ‘Jacob’s Cattle’, and ‘Black Turtle’
• Carrots- varieties ‘Danvers 126’ and ‘Chantenay Red Core’
• Cucumbers- variety ‘Little Leaf Pickling Cucumber H19’ High Mowing Organic Seeds
• Flowers- varieties ‘Zinnia’ from seeds saved; Nasturtium ‘Bloody Mary’; Sunflower ‘All Sorts Blend’; Wildflowers ‘Beneficial Insectary Blend’; Marigold ‘Bonanza Flame’
• Herbs- Oregano ‘Greek’; Savory ‘Summer’; Cumin; Basil ‘Nufar Basil’ and ‘Sacred Basil’ High Mowing Organic Seeds (Several herbs I planted last year were perennials and I am excited to see how many of them come back this spring… I’ll keep you posted.)
• Lettuce- ‘Butterhead, Buttercrunch’ True Leaf Market
• Peas- shell pea ‘Green Arrow’
• Pepper- ‘Sweet Banana’ Mountain Valley Seed Co.; bell ‘Big Red’
• Spinach- ‘Bloomsdale LS’
• Tomato- beefsteak ‘Cherokee Purple’
• Watermelon-?? ‘Moon and Stars’

On Order

Some of our crops we order by plants and they are shipped when you can plant them in your zone/area. As I have mentioned, we are considered Zone 5. However, recently I have seen us listed as Zone 6a. Either way, I will still proceed as if we were Zone 5. A little safer for me with the colder winters. Here is what we ordered that will come a bit later:

• Horseradish
• Onion- ‘Patterson’
• Potato- ‘Kennebec A’ and ‘Red Pontiac’
• Sweet Potato- ‘Vardaman’

Soil Care

Finally, I would like to update you on what we learned and ordered for amending our garden soil. In the fall, I ordered a soil sample from Berlin Seed. It was quick and easy, but I didn’t get my results until calling for them. I wonder if I lost their ‘results’ email somehow.

What we found was that the soil pH was good, right at 7.0. It could stand to go a bit lower without hurting anything. The phosphorus was very high as was the potassium. To remedy this, I ordered Gypsum pellets and Soil Sulfur pellets. This will help bring the calcium number up and balance the K and Ph. We have a good amount of organic matter! I hope to apply the pellets as soon as I can this spring, probably about a week apart, and till them in along with the green manure cover crop I planted in the fall.

So, what does your seed list look like? I hope my list helps to kick start your planning! My next step: drawing up our garden plan.