June 2014, Part II

Wow, 2 posts in 2 days!

I love Fedco Seeds.  I've also ordered quite often from Baker Creek, but Fedco has better prices, a much larger selection & FREE SHIPPING.

I ordered 2 sweet pea varieties & a new larkspur, Carmine.  It was their last year to carry Carmine, and I'm really glad I ordered  them.  They are double flowered, a rich pink & so pretty.  I planted them with a mixture of blue, purple, lavender & pink larkspur that I already had.

Here are the sweet peas.  The first one is America.  Fedco's description is very accurate, except I would call the color bright pink:  "An antique striated variety, arresting both to eyes and nostrils. Each blossom contains subtle variations of bright reds with creamy white streakings. Heavily perfumed. Looks lovely next to Cupani. First offered in 1896 by Morse-Vaughan. Vines grow to 3'."

Per Fedco:  "Oldest and among the most fragrant of all sweet peas. Celebrated its 300th birthday in 1998 amidst a surge of renewed interest. Named for the Sicilian monk who found these bicolors growing wild, Cupani combines deep maroon-purple upper petals with deep violet-blue lower petals. Grow Cupani for enticing intoxicating aroma. 5' vines."  Mine were planted against a fence with poppies.  The poppies grew about 6' tall & the sweet peas didn't get enough sun to do well, but the blooms are still very pretty & fragrance is outstanding & are a "keeper".   

If you are interested in non-GMO, open pollinated, heritage varieties you need to check Fedco.  Their catalog is printed in black & white, but you can always Google if you aren't familiar with something.  Their catalog is really interesting and they give lots of plant history and vintage line drawings.

I don't get any compensation or discount from Fedco, I just really like them a lot.

Are you ready for Spring?

I am SO looking forward to springtime.  I've been a big fan of Baker Creek for several years, but I discovered Fedco last year.  I have already placed one order with Fedco Seeds, but am working on another.  I love ordering from them - they have free shipping.  Their catalog is no frills, simple black and white, but it is full of information and the comments are so much fun to read and the Fireside Chats from F. D. Roosevelt really apply to this present day and  time.

Some of my favorites from Fedco are their Deluxe Lettuce Mix and Freedom Lettuce Mix,  Both of these lettuce mixes are chock full of wonderful varieties - Romaines, reds, red splotched, light and dark green, deer tongue, butter heads - just an amazing variety.  I planted some late lettuce in the Fall and made a hoop bed cover from light weight PVC pipe and covered it with a piece of heavy plastic drop cloth, leaving the ends partially open so things could breathe and I have harvested some wonderful salads.

Bright Lights Chard is another of my favorites.  For some reason I had never tried Swiss Chard before last year.  I assumed it would be something like turnip greens or kale, which I definitely do not care for.  In a seed exchange I received some Bright Lights and went ahead and planted them.  I am SO glad I did!  The bright colors of yellow, green, red and purple would make it pretty enough to grow alone, but the flavor was amazing.  I love spinach but have no luck growing it, and the flavor of the chard was very similar to spinach.  It is also a cut-and-come-again variety that has been growing all winter uncovered.

So what did I order the first time?
Golden Gopher Muskmelon
Ministro slicing cuke
Saffron sumer squash
Jaune du Doubs carrot - old heirloom with absolutely wonderful flavor
Deluxe lettuce mix
Freedom lettuce mix
Bright lights chard
Galine Eggplant
Boldog Hungarian Pepper
Odessa market sweet pepper
Opalka paste tomato - heirloom, huge sausage shape, very sweet, few seeds
Ventura celery
Red broom corn,
Danish flag poppy.

My tummy is growling already!

Happy gardening.