Heirloom Seeds

I just came across this fantastically extensive list of heirloom seed suppliers. It's the time to start planning! Have a peek!
http://www.off-grid.info/food-independence/heirloom-seed-suppliers.html

Friend Visits and Seed-Saving

 My friend Catherine came over today to visit and we pitted cherries and seed-saved while chatting.  I feel so connected to human history–working away while chatting and singing...  Ah folk life...  While we didn't sing, I'm sure that if some of my singing friends were around, we would!  Haha

 Arugula seeds in their pod–so cool!!

The seeds I have saved so far (from left to right) arugula, radish, mystery... (kale?), mystery 2 (arugula?). I know I was drying arugula and kale but am unsure which is which!  Labelling while drying is helpful! Your brain won't always remember...

Saving Seed

 I've hung up some kale and arugula gone to seed in my kitchen to save the seed. I've read that you need to allow it to "cure" wherein the seeds become dry enough to store.  You can see the difference between the arugula on the right which was hung today and the kale on the left (and below) which was hung a week or two ago (I forget how long ago now...) In any case, once everything is dry, I'm going to take them out of their pods and store them for later in the season or for upcoming years!  It's incredibly exciting and empowering! I'm starting to understand how violating not allowing farmers to keep seeds is, even from just doing it a little bit. It's a cost, it's a livelihood, it's native, or at least can be slowly acclimatized to your location.  So many important things.

Great Seed Saving Article

I came across this great article about why seed saving is important.  It's a task I'm planning on undertaking to whatever extent I can this year. The more I learn about the way our seed structures work, the more I realize how important seed saving is.  I've already started with some kale, arugula and radish.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/how-farmers-are-saving-seeds-and-building-a-canadian-collection/article13098425/

Seed Companies

I just discovered recently that Monsanto keeps trying to patent more of our food! Have a read here:
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/the-four-steps-required-to-keep-monsanto-out-of-your-garden/
and sign the petition here!
http://www.avaaz.org/en/monsanto_vs_mother_earth_loc/?pv=28

In buying my seeds, I will now check in on these forums and make sure I ask to make sure none of the seeds came from Seminis. I lucked out and most of my previous purchases are safe. The rest came from knowledgeable organic farmers so I'm assuming those are safe as well:

Moral of the story, keep your eyes open!  Don't buy those mystery dollar store or Canadian Tire brands without checking where they come from first!

First seeds planted outdoors!

Today was an exciting day: the first of my seeds got planted outdoors!
Heirloom Organic Romaine Lettuce
Organic Ruby Red Swiss Chard
Pak Choi
Organic Russian Red Kale
Organic Bloomsdale Spinach
I was going to plant more but ran out of time...  Tomorrow maybe?

Seeing as all my cold hardy veg are nitrogen hungry, I mixed in a bit of extra coffee grounds into the soil before I planted my seeds.

For speed of planting, I used a tool that I don't know the name of that I got from my parents house to make narrow troughs to lay the seeds in.
I spaced the rows according to the directions on the seed packets or information that I found online and recovered with the displaced soil.

After I finished and lightly watered the ground where I planted, I covered the plot with a floating row cover (with rocks on the corners) to keep the soil warm on the still cool nights:

So soothed :)

Plot Planning: Genus Separation

In planing my crazy plot, one larger than I've ever planned before, the first step I needed to take was to split up all the seeds I acquired into families, or genus.  The ones I seem to have acquired are:

Perennial Herbs:
Sorrel
Sage
Lemonbalm
Feverfew
Korean Mint
Thyme
Marjoram
Oregano (cutting from my mum)
Echinacea (to buy seedling)
Lavender (to buy seedling)
Rosemary (from last year)

Annual Herbs:
Parsley
Cilantro
Dill (saved seeds!)
Basil (to buy seedling)

Perennial Plants:
Rhubarb (to transplant from my grandma's house in April)
Raspberry (to transplant from my mum's house in April)
Wild Ginger (to buy plugs from Richter's Herbs in April)

Nightshades/Solanum:
Tomato (chitting potatoes as we speak)
Potato
Caynne Pepper (to buy seedling)

Alliums:
Garlic
Leeks
Onion (upstairs roommate has sets)
Chives (cutting from my mum)

Beta Vulgaris:
Beet
Swiss Chard

Beans and Peas:
so many kinds!!!

Curcubita:
Summer squash
Winter Squash
Zucchini
Cucumber

Cruciferous Veg/Brassicas:
Baby Brassica Salad Mix
Kale
Broccoli
Bok Choy
Arugala
Watercress (perennial)
Radish

Lettuce:
Romaine

Annual Flowers (to attract the polinators!)
Sunflower
Zinnia
Calendula
Poppy
Morning Glory

And my major experiments:

Amaranth (for the grain)
Callaloo (for the greens)
Okra

HOLY GARDEN!

The reason I started with this was to ensure "crop rotation" for the future.  Basically this just means, don't plant one family in the same place you planted it last year.  Each family sucks up specific nutrients from the soil so, in order not to have to use pesticides, Organic farmers use crop rotation to keep their soil happy and healthy.  

I also did this to make it easier to plan my plot.  I'm going to be experimenting with companion planting this year but keeping families together allows for ease of watering (ie-lettuces like to be sprayed on, roots and fruits like a deep water with no water on the leaves) 

This year will be a grand experiment in having a massive kitchen garden. I'm more interested in variety then monocropping my whole plot and my friends keep dumping seeds on me, which seems to be supporting that plan! Step 2 soon!