Monday, March 16, 2009

Clean Slate Seed Cleanout!

I've planted or set aside (or both) portions of saved seeds from last year and the year before. I've been to several seed swaps and shared out even more. Now, with a bunch of seed left, I've got the radical idea to raise a little 'seed money' (get it!) for a new business and sell the rest of my goodies online.

Naturally, I want to give other garden bloggers first dibs! All seeds grown by yours truly, $1/pack plus postage (you choose the postage); I can take Paypal, or you can mail me a couple of bucks. :-)

I've got several packs of a pink/red spicy sweetpea mix that I saved from last summer. They kept up thru the heat and reseeded so vigorously that I didn't need to plant them again! 24 seeds per pack.

Also a few packs of now 4th-generation Blue Celeste sweetpeas. Light, sweet fragrance, great climbers and reseeders. Not as heat tolerant as the pink ones, but still routinely last thru June & July.

Just a couple of packs of Nasturtiums. These are, um, like 10th generation at this point of a six-pack of Alaska jumbo nasturtiums I got in 2003. They self-seed enthusiastically, and both ramble and climb. Mostly yellow flowered, with some orange and occasional deep reds. Lovely for winter and spring salads! A dozen seeds in each pack, and if they fail you, I have oodles more.

A small handful of Cosmos fun-- a mix of Sonata, Picotee (edged), and Seashell types, about 30 seeds per pack. Small birds love to get the seeds before you can, but if you bag a few flowers with a square of nylon stocking, you can save the seeds. :-)

Several packs of a really nice versatile pea that is mostly Cascadia with a little Alaska thrown in. Use it early for a snap pea, stays sweet and delicious through plump-up. When you can see the peas through the pod, the flavor has moved inside and you can use it as a shell pea (if you've had the discipline not to eat all of them earlier). Go on vacation and miss the final round of harvest-- no problem. They dry on the vine and turn into a nice soup pea. I love these and have been planting and saving them for a couple of years now. 24 peas in each pack pod, for a spring and fall planting. Vines will go 5 - 6 foot plus if you start them climbing right away.

One pack of nice yellow Italian style pole beans, black-seeded. I don't recall the exact cultivar, though it likely started out as Renee's Seeds tri-color. I've been saving these for ages. A dozen seeds, enough to get ya going.

Lumpy Sweetie, a pepper hybrid that I've developed, though far from stabilized. The parents are a generic pimiento type sweet pepper and Topepo Rosso, but I know some other things have snuck in there. Thick-walled and sweet, and fairly prolific. Give 'em a try, they're not pretty but they are really tasty and fruity. Two dozen seeds per pack.

Early Cilantro, another umpteenth generation saver, that naturalizes prolifically here. This variety is *not* particularly bolt-resistant, but it starts coming up in early to mid February and gives you fresh green happiness just when you need it most. :-)

Drop me a note if you'd like to adopt a pack or two of any of these and help turn my overflow stack into the next round of seeds. I'll try add some pictures to this post later, lunch hour is nearly over!

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5 Comments:

Blogger Molly said...

Hi there, first of all, thanks so much for this blog! This is my first year growing vegetables and you've been helpful and inspiring. I'm hoping to try a three sisters set up this summer; would your yellow pole beans work well there, do you think? I have a terraced plot in a community garden that gets sun all day. Thanks!

6:23 PM PDT  
Blogger Strata Chalup said...

Hi jammie, glad that you are enjoying the blog. Yellow pole beans would do really well in a sunny location. If you have so much sun that you need to shade crops like peppers that sunburn, beans make great shade-- just put some stakes with string between them, or some other kind of trellis, in your garden bed so that the fiercest sun in mid-afternoon goes thru the bean leaves.

cheers,
Strata

7:09 PM PDT  
Blogger Sarah said...

Oooh, I can't resist proven local varieties.

If you have them left, I'd like to try one packet each of: both sweetpeas, nasturtiums, eating pea, pole bean, and cilantro.
Thanks!
-Sarah

8:32 AM PDT  
Blogger Strata Chalup said...

Hi TheMama, sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Yep, I can get those seeds to ya. And judging by the amount of rain I hear outside, it's good weather for planting. :-)

I have a paypal button on www.virtual.net that you can use, and be sure to include your address so I know where to send the seeds.

12:40 AM PDT  
Blogger Michelle said...

I love your site so much and it really tickles me that you are local. I would like to contact you on how I can some seeds and/or starters from you.

Best,
Michelle
mcc741@gmail.com

1:00 PM PDT  

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