While it is still early days yet here in the upper regions of North America, many of us (myself included) have begun the process of buying and planting seeds for the 2012 gardening season. There are 12 years of resources published on this website, many of which even I have trouble locating, so I’ve compiled a list here to make it easier for you.
Inspiration
- These Are a Few of My Favourite Peas
- Giant Cape Gooseberry
- Salad Greens: Direct sow these.
- Wild Eggplant: Just for the heck of it, I decided to grow one this year.
- Growing Beans: Buy now, but wait until after the last frost to direct sow outdoors.
- ‘Trionfo Violetto’: If you only have room for one pole bean, I’d suggest this one.
- ‘Spigarello’ Leaf Broccoli: A very productive and beautiful leafy green.
- Edible Flowers
- Delicious Nasturtiums
- Tomatoes to Grow in Containers (or anywhere else for that matter)
- Hot Pepper varieties that I grew in 2011.
- Italian Edibles
Seed Buying
- The Safe Seed Pledge
- Kitazawa Seeds Japanese seed company that sells interesting edibles.
Seed Starting
- Build a D.I.Y Lighting System
- Printable Seed-Starting Chart (This is a good place to begin)
- A Quick and Easy Germination Test
- Seed-Starting Instructions
- Toilet Roll Seed-Starter (Please note that I have altered this system and I no longer cut the slots or bother making a bottom. Though either works, really.)
- Make Your Own Seed-Starting Mix (scroll down the page)
Caring for Seedlings & Planting Out
Wow, what a great resource! First time here and a fan already!
Thanks a lot!
Where do you purchase Sunrise III seeds? Thanks for all the recommendations!
Oh wow, It’s been years since I grew that variety! I came upon a seedling one year at a sale by chance. Unfortunately, I have not seen it elsewhere since and I don’t have seeds.
I would recommend ‘Whippersnapper’ as I prefer it to ‘Sunrise 11’, but to be honest that’s not an easy to find variety either.
Very cool! One note about Kitazawa – they don’t ship to Canada. Made me kind of sad, as I’ve had trouble finding some asian varieties in Canada.
Thanks for the heads up. That’s too bad. I’ve never tried to order from them online. I picked my seeds up in San Francisco in Little Japan.
This is GREAT info! I shared it on Pinterest (with a link of course!) and people went crazy over it.
LOVE that photo! Makes me want to start my seeds pronto!
Awesome info. I just turned my soil; peas and green will be in the ground this weekend.
So excited!
Thank you! Do you by any chance still have your seed exchange? Also, when do you recommend adding fertilizer? Specifically for Silvery Fir Tree Tomato seedlings and just in general.
So in the spirit of seed starting and caring for seedlings, I have a question. I’m noticing a few of my tomato plants starting to turn yellow (bottom leaves, first set of true leaves). My Whippersnapper is about 5″ tall with about 3 sets of true leaves and I noticed that the green is starting to turn to yellow. This is the first time I started seeds indoors and everything was going well until about 1 week ago when I started to notice slowed down growth in all my plants. Am I over watering? I gave them a dash of sea kelp (a few granules on the surface of soil) a few weeks back; am I over feeding? Any help/tips would be much appreciated!