Solstice is passed, spring is in the air and the sap is rising in all gardeners in the southern hemisphere. The last few days in Sydney have been clear blue skied and 20 degrees Celsius. Just perfect weather!
The fact that Suburban Tomato is raising her tomato seed raising has got me moving. If Liz can start raising seeds in Melbourne now, then heck, I should have started weeks ago in Sydney! So today I started raising the following.
Tomatoes- brown berry - a brownish cherry tomato
- broad ripple yellow currant - you get the idea
- sugar lump - a bright red squat-shaped cherry
- zebra mix - a mix of black, green and red zebra striped tomatoes - medium sized
We have BIG fruit fly problems in Sydney and so the smaller varieties are essential.
Other things
- Padron chillies
- Garlic chives
- Beetroot - Dark Red
- Fennel - Florence
The beetroot and fennel have gone directly into the soil. Is it too early for them?
All these new seeds were added to some seeds I had started raising a while ago.
All these new seeds were added to some seeds I had started raising a while ago.
- Red bok choy ( which is looking very cute in its pale blue punnet)
- Spring onions
- Heirloom lettuce mix (Australian Yellowleaf, Rouge d'hiver, Flame, Goldrush, Forellenschuss - I think that's a lovely freckly one)
And there are plenty more seeds in the seed box just waiting to go into the ground. I can almost hear them telling me, 'plant me, plant me!'
Do you have a little box like this where you keep your seeds and other paraphernalia? Paddle pop sticks to label the seeds ('paddle pop sticks' - that's probably Australian... you know what I mean...), screw top watering thingies, labels from plants?
I love my seed box. It's an old shoe box decorated with cut-outs of seed packets and seed catalogues.
How do you keep your seeds?
Oh dear, I'm feeling panic set in.
ReplyDeleteThis year I plan to grow a couple of new paste varieties for preserving whole. Those, Grosse Lisse and Pink Brandywine. Still to choose the cherry varieties, but might grow some of your yellow currant ones.
Better get the exclusion bags ready...
Oh don't panic... I have probably started to early and too confidently. Note today's weather? Much cooler!
DeleteIf I could only plant one of the cherries I planted last year it would be the brown berries, but the yellow ones are good too!
A friend gave me a fabulous old biscuit tin that I keep my seeds in - absolutely love it. To be fair most of my seeds are in my laundry which defies the outside temperatures nicely. Having said that I've got a few in a cold frame outside (not tomatoes but beetroot & lettuce etc) and they all germinated really quickly.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of an old biscuit tin!
DeleteOh, look at those little bok choi! I've got some of the same sort myself all the way here in deepest Suffolk, England. My tomatoes are currently romping away up their allocated strings, having survived an awful summer (thus far, no doubt more to come), slugs and a series of unexpected late frosts. Good luck with yours! The varities of tomato and lettuce sound tasty.
ReplyDeleteHi Chelsea, I have looked at your site to see your red bok choi to see what mine might look like when they grow up. They are pretty aren't they? Also love your deep red poppies!
DeleteI loved reading your blog, as its exactly the same thought process I'm going through now and have been planning to blog about; looking over my seed collection and planning what to plant for the coming season. My seeds are in two boxes which were from some wine glasses I bought - the boxes have partitions for 6 sections, and so I have an Autumn to Winter box, and a Spring to Summer box, and each partitioned area is a month. It kinda helps me sow successionally, as when I plant something I then move any leftover seeds to the next month.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your seed box organisation - just fantastic! I have also thought of getting one of those little mini card file boxes, filing the seeds under their initial. But then I thought that was a bit too like a work kind of thing and eschewed it...
DeleteThanks! It seems to work, just one of those ideas you stumble across by sheer luck. I had actually tried the mini card file, with alphabetised seeds, but that didn't last at all! Much too annoying to figure out what it is time to sow and then find it in the box... after the effort I couldn't be bothered! But I like how you keep the paddle pop sticks togeather with the seeds - I'm always having to search for them so I think I will adopt that trick.
DeleteThanks so much for this entry. I was sorting through my seeds today, wondering if it was too early to sow seed for the spring and summer but you have inspired me to do so and now I just need to order up from diggers. I have given up growing full sized toms...i only do cherries or smaller varieties now. I love winter but I love the warmer months for gardening.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I had all my seeds incredibly disorganised in various brown paper bags and today moved them into a huge glass tupperware container...very uninteresting but extremely practical.