The seeds are here!
This year, rather than start a bunch of plants inside, we are going to plant some seeds right into the garden beds, and buy baby plants for the others. We just didn't quite get around to starting the seeds inside.
We ordered our seeds from a really neat place,
Seed Savers Exchange, which is not only a "non-profit organization dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds," but is also located in my college-home-town of Decorah, Iowa. I had the opportunity to visit Seed Savers as a student, but didn't realize how "radical" a place it was at the time. It is the largest non-government seed bank in North America, and it ships seeds to seed vaults in Norway and Colorado to help preserve and safeguard thousands of varieties. With the biodiversity of crops decreasing at an alarming rate, the work that Seed Savers does is becoming more and more important, and more and more appreciated. It was even the chosen charity of several chefs on Top Chef Masters last season. So we are excited to support them, and try out some fancy new type of (all organic) produce, like purple "green" beans and Seed Savers' own lettuce mix.
I will include our order this year for our own records (besides the names are fun):
Bean: Purple Pod Pole
Bean: Kentucky Wonder Pole
Beet: Chioggia
Carrot: Dragon
Carrot: Paris Market
Cucumber: Double Yield
Cucumber: A and C Pickling
Flower: Violet Queen
Flower: Tip Top Nasturtium
Flower: Sunflower Taiyo
Herb: Chives
Herb: Thai Basil
Kale: Dwarf Blue Curled
Kale: Red Russian
Lettuce: SSE Lettuce Mix
Pea: Amish Snap
Spinach: America
Swiss Chard: Five Color Silverbeet
We ordered one package of each, except for the Nasturtiums, of which we ordered two.
