New seeds and old books.

More seeds came in yesterday.  The ones from Specialty Perennials.  I was happy that i got my seeds in 9 days,  from what i was told at Gardenweb, he often takes much longer to deliver. I was content with the idea of having to wait a few weeks or months.

I also found my copy of Crockett's Victory Garden.  I have been looking for it everywhere for the last few months, i try to re-read it every year that i expect to have a garden.  So anyway, i am glad i found it. I was worried it was lost or destroyed.

Here are the seeds i got (i just happened to use the aforementioned book since it was conveniently near) :

And i flipped the packets over to show the quantities, which are a little hard  to see...

Some of these seeds will need cold stratification, so i hope to get them going soon.  The packet containing the paeonia  anomala seeds is full of mold, which i assume must be somewhat normal since it was packaged separately in its own baggie.  I know some seeds have to be kept in their mush until planted out, i expect these are like that.

I have too much stuff to do today that won't get done.

But its nice outside. Almost 60 degrees before noon  already.

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Ok, got some seeds planted.

Leonotis leonurus- Specialty Perennials
Monarda didyma- panorama shades, Specialty Perennials
Rudbeckia hirta- autumn colors, Specialty Perennials
Scabiosa caucasica- house hybrids,  Specialty Perennials

Gaillardia- Arizona sun, Park Seed
Stinging Nettle-  Richters
Siberian Motherwort- Richters
Pleurisy Root- butterfly weed, Richters
Roseroot- Richters
Red Knight, sweet pepper, Totally Tomatoes
Chiltepin, hot pepper, Totally Tomatoes


The things in the greenhouses are looking fine.  The Imperial Star artichoke seeds have sprouted one more seedling, so i may get 2 plants out of the remaining 5 seeds i had.  I hope so, in Johnny's seeds blog, they had mentioned the other day that they successfully overwintered some Imperial Star artichokes under hoops. This is  encouraging since i hope to do that myself this year.

41 degrees in the greenhouse this morning. i have been trying to think of something non electrical to warm things up out there, but i can't.  Other than bricks heated in the oven. But i'm not going to do that because i don't want the oven running all day and the bricks would be too hot. The water bottles are probably my only real option.

I got my ship notification from Specialty Perennials this morning. I expect my seeds should arrive sometime next week. I can't wait to get the Leonotis leonurus started. I like orange and yellow flowers the best and the leonotis have such an interesting shape and the color is cheerful.  It looks a bit weedy, but i like it anyway. Hubby got me a couple more bags of seed starting mix. The Miracle Grow brand, not the Jiffy.  The MG is heavy compared to the Jiffy, but the Jiffy stuff made me mad being so water resistant.

I got my Richters order in today, so i will have some more things to start growing.  Some need a month or more of stratification so it would be smart to start those as soon as i can.

I posted to the gardenweb orchard section about my apple trees, i hope i can get some help!
What i would really like is if someone would put my pictures into a photo editing program and make marks where i should cut. I really need advice about the big one that has the bent trunk.

My dad was going to bring a few loads of loam from a local place today, but we decided that there wouldn't be much point in buying it when we might be able to wait another week or so and use the stuff that he's been composting.  If i buy it, it will only cost about $100, but why pay it if i don't have to.  The manure cost about $40 in gas.  My dad will need 4 loads for himself, so we are glad that the stuff itself is free.
Dragging in loam now won't speed anything up, and the wet weather we are getting isn't expected to be drenching, just dreary and chilly.  My parents will be leaving for their vacation in a bit as well, so this can  be done when they get back.


Another thing i have to do is research Bokashi composting...  the indoor worm farm is doing great, but i like to think about different things and try them.

So i will be updating my seed stash list today and my Gardenweb trade list if i get the time to do it.