Tag Archives: vegetable seeds

Ye Olde Garden

GMO Seeds in a Non-GMO Seed Catalog

While I am not a big consumer of tomatoes, I do find oddly colored produce interesting enough to try growing. I’m attracted to the ornamental value of edibles. The purple tomato variety mentioned in the article would have been something I would definitely have tried to grow. It is dismaying to learn, as a Baker Creek customer, that the company made this terrible error.

Read more about this story at the NPR article: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/04/28/1244374630/gmo-purple-tomato-seeds-baker-creek-controversy

Ye Olde Garden

Warm Winter Bolt and Plantings

Here’s another loop Texas weather has thrown our way.

Royal Tenderette Broccoli budding

My spinach seedlings have also begun to show buds. I snipped those off and, as seen on my IG feed, put out the rest of the leafy green starts, plus some bunching onions.

I also decided to plant out the nasturtium starts into the backyard garden beds. These are the Alaska, Jewel Mix and Black Velvet nasturtiums that I started indoors back in November.. I’m not sure what caused them start yellowing (too much light and fertilizer perhaps), but I can always start a new batch when January comes around.

With wet cold weather forecasted for the end of the year, I’m not sure if these young starts will make it outdoors. However, I’m just happy to get at least one salad harvest from current plantings.

Ye Olde Garden

Winter Veggie Garden Update

There are more veggies scattered throughout the backyard!

I had to find a home for the leftover brussel sprouts and broccoli starts that I purchased from Burpee in October. The cinderblock planters and grow bag where we relocated the lorapetalum seemed ideal.

It’s been nearly a month since these veggies were planted, and they appear to be faring well in their new homes. Although the broccoli and brussel starts nearest the fence line appear to need more sun.

I also random-sowed some fenugreek seed in a pocket next to the unfinished water feature. This spot gets full sun throughout the day. The fenugreek seedlings seem to handle the cold winter nights pretty well.

I still plan to perform much-needed maintenance on the foundation garden beds, but I’ve tasked DH with repairing the border stones before I can resume work on them. I have a pile of compost that needs to be laid, and weeding needs to be performed on the shade bed.

Ye Olde Garden

Stock Tank Vegetable Garden Update

Here’s a quick look at how the stock tank vegetable gardens are doing.

I still need to get around to planting my romaine lettuce starts currently sitting in the garage. According to one source, lettuce transplants should have 4 to 6 mature leaves and a well-developed root system before planting out. I’m not sure if temperatures will allow them to survive outdoors, now that we are ranging between mid-30s in the evenings, and 40s-50s during daytime.

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Ye Olde Garden

More Seeds Please!

I made a few more seed purchases from Baker Creek and Amazon! I can’t wait to get these started. Watercress, baby bok choy, Chinese broccoli are Asian greens that I’ve been wanting to try my hand at. Hopefully, these will do well in my stock tank garden.

On a separate note, I do need to replenish my supply of basil seeds, because it seems my current inventory isn’t passing the towel germination test. Alas, I already retried starting them in another batch of soil blocks but it looks like I’ve struck out.

  • No germination in sight
  • Over 5 years old basil seed

Wishlist: Pesto Perpetuo and African blue basil, both of which are vegetatively propagated. Unfortunately, I had a Pesto Perpetuo that I acquired this year but neglected to take care of. I will have to wait again next year to get a new starter plant.