garden seeds

Post by **thegawd** » Mon Nov 28, 2016 7:16 pm

I turned fresh grass into a beautiful garden! I got smart after a while and started raking out the grass before planting, I just wish I did that to the entire garden. the parts I didnt rake were a pain but everywhere else was no worse than than the old original garden. the main garden was 2500 sq ft, the potato garden was 750 sq ft. we didn't mulch anything but we definitely will next year!!! where our gardens are was a dairy cow pasture once upon a time, it is incredibly fertile and such dark perfect soil, now the fields all around are all clay.

argosgirl · Post by **argosgirl** » Mon Nov 28, 2016 7:36 pm

I buy my seeds from Hawthorn Farm in Palmerston. First bought from them because they're fairly local, but the quality and customer service keep me as a customer. They're organic & non-gmo. I had amazing germination rates last year and am growing their lettuce and kale in the house for the winter. They don't have every variety I want so I also pick up some seeds from a few of the other companies mentioned here.

Flat Rock Farm · Post by **Flat Rock Farm** » Mon Nov 28, 2016 7:44 pm

Bayvistafarm wrote:QR_BBPOST Yup... right next door to me.. Dam's.... and they have a beautiful catalogue and free!! And, yup, come visit if you go to visit the store... but they ship as well.

http://www.damseeds.ca/productcart/pc/home.asp

On the picture where their sign is.... you can see the trees in the distance, that is our laneway!!

Every seed packet I have ever purchased there has grown wonderfully!! Even the melons. Wonder what happened with yours?

Agree with BVF. Willam Dam seeds, great place to get seeds and a decent variety. Germination is great, always satisfied

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Mon Nov 28, 2016 8:20 pm

Bayvistafarm wrote:QR_BBPOST Dam's....
Every seed packet I have ever purchased there has grown wonderfully!! Even the melons. Wonder what happened with yours?

No idea, I planted all the long-season stuff at the same time...everything else came up so well I thought I'd died and gone to seed company heaven. I thought maybe just that the soil wasn't warm enough (23° in my house) and they'd gotten fungus...but I planted new seeds in the exact same soil, same temp. and they came up great *shrugs* I chalked it up to those melons hating me... I've tried growing melons half a dozen times and never got a one that was eating size...but finally did GREAT this year: I just had to plant them twice LOL.

WLLady wrote:QR_BBPOST

.most places have very similar cultivers so i'll hunt through what i want and buy the one that is the least cost per seed (because packages have different numbers of seeds depending on the company). Unfortunately the one company i have been less than impressed by is OSC (ontario seed company). i find their germination rates are horrid-could be me, or my dirt, or their seed, not sure but it never works well for me....

It's not just you, I've had trouble with OSC seed as well. I think it's an age/storage conditions issue but who knows... I keep trying them because they always seem to have something I want at a great price, but then I'm lucky to get 50% germination, so not such a great price after all LOL. I contacted them about it at one point, thinking if there was a bad batch they might want to know about it, and got zero response to go along with the carrots and celery seeds I got that year :-\ This year it was carrots and lettuce because I didn't learn my lesson!

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Mon Nov 28, 2016 8:23 pm

By the way, I love you guys! Not even winter yet, and you're already talking about spring! Seeds and catalogues and soil and growing things...my kind of people :-D

Nickyn · Post by **Nickyn** » Mon Nov 28, 2016 10:07 pm

I like William Dam seeds too. They are just a half an hour drive for me, so it's fun to go by their store. Their test gardens are supposed to be great in the summer, but I have never made it.

Yes, save your seeds - and join the exchange next year!

I would recommend growing some millet for the hens. Mind love it. Bonus s that it looks really cool - I grow a bright purple 15' variety! Pic is of the millet with squash climbing concrete reinforcing wire and some bee attractor cosmos!

Bayvistafarm · Post by **Bayvistafarm** » Tue Nov 29, 2016 8:38 am

When I opened up a new garden, I took a big sheet of black plastic from the silage pit and I lay it on the ground/sod NOW. Actually I did it the late summer before. The heat from the sun bakes the ground and literally when you lift that plastic, if its been on long enough its bare dirt underneath.

I only till a row I want to sow. Then mulch either side of it with straw. Straw that has been put outside (bales) the summer before, and left all summer/winter until next spring and they have been completely broken down. Laying down fresh straw is a nightmare with growing wheat/grains.... and if it was a weedy field... well...

The next season, I work in the straw that has been between rows... and plant that the next spring. I also sprinkle on some nitrogen to help complete the breakdown, and manure too (which also has straw). Then plant that row, and mulch what grew that last year.

You can also, after you till your row for the next planting season, sprinkle on some clean oats... and let them grow. All you will need to do in the spring, is run a hoe deep down the middle... and plant your seeds without disturbing the dead oats, which depending on how long they have gotten the fall before, will also act as a mulch more or less. It also helps your soil stay in place with fall rains/run-off.

This way your garden soil will be absolute crumbs when you want to work it, or just hoe a row to plant. Its actually better not to disturb the soil's flora... and worms too. I have a rear tine tiller, and I use it very seldom.

With my peppers, I leave the spot with the mulch/straw or oats until the spring. I work the whole spot with the tiller. Then I cover it with black plastic with the holes already in place. Then just use a shovel to dig the hole deep, and plant. This way the ground is super warm for the peppers early. With the early planted peppers (in Feb), I am eating peppers by the end of June. (I also am lucky enough to have unlimited supply of small square bales of straw... so I enclose the whole entire patch with bales. Helps with the wind, and critters/dogs/stuff. Those bales will be the mulch between rows that spring, having all summer long and winter to rot down/grow.

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Tue Nov 29, 2016 11:17 am

Bayvistafarm wrote:QR_BBPOST This way your garden soil will be absolute crumbs when you want to work it, or just hoe a row to plant. Its actually better not to disturb the soil's flora... and worms too. I have a rear tine tiller, and I use it very seldom.

Like Bayvistafarm, we almost never turn the soil, the beneficial bacteria that live foot down in the soil will die on surface.
Since ours is a long established veg garden and we mulch everything, very little actual weeding is needed and I use potato fork to loosen any stubborn weeds and just pull them out.
Last years mulch will be next years food for the worms and they will thank you for it by providing the best growing medium ever.