It’s time to start planning for what you’ll eat next year! For many who can’t grow all their own food that may mean simply taking stock of what pantry items you are going through so that you can make plans to buy from a local farmer and preserve as much of that as possible.
For others, however, that means planning for the spring/summer/fall garden. I belong to a rocking group of Seattle urban farmers and gardeners. We buy as many things in numbers as possible to get the best possible prices on chicken and goat feed and seeds. It’s also an invaluable chat group where you can take questions about which peach trees and grape vines to buy or what to do with sick chickens.
The last few weeks I’ve been organizing seed orders from many of the members and this week they all came! It’s total garden porn for me and I can’t keep my hands out of the boxes.
The first order I placed was with Uprising Organics, which is like a Seed Savers for the Pacific NW. I can’t say enough good things about the fine people running this company. They are committed to planetary stewardship and the preservation of heirloom seeds. They have 10 varieties from the ARK of taste which is impressive considering they are only a few years old.
And not only are they cool by virtue of profession but they just cool folks. When I explained to them that I wanted to save some of my seeds to design a starter garden as a giveaway they offered to send me some packets in contribution. When I got the box I couldn’t believe how many packets they had included – what a great garden package for one lucky reader! I’m even throwing in these cool new garden gloves that I saw and couldn’t resist.
These seeds were specially selected to do well in our short and cool Pacific NW summer but they should work equally well in any northern garden.
The seed list includes:
Super Lakota Tomato (missed the first time)
Siskiyou Sweet Heirloom Onion
Bulls Blood Heirloom Beet
Rainbow Carrot Mix
Marketmore 76 Cucumber
Spring Raab Rapini (Broccoli Raab)
Uprising Lettuce Mix
Blacktail Mountain Watermelon
Rainbow Swiss Chard
Flemish Antique Heirloom Poppy
Of course I had to plant my seeds right then.
To win this giveaway simply leave a comment on this post. Anyone commenting by midnight, February 14 will be eligible to win. On Monday I will do a random number generation using random.org and announce the winner.
Good luck!
Do you know of any good resources for Arizona? I love your blog!
Gosh Mel my good friend Sheri is in Tucson pondering that right now too. I wish I did! I’m sure there are. Anyone? If so please share. And thanks for your kind words!
Wonderful contribution of seeds! I will have to dig into them more and try and throw some business their way. While I am commenting on your blog post… please pass over me for the drawing… it would be much more meaningful to someone just getting underway with their garden.
I have plenty of seedling trays going and LOTS more that will be started on Saturday… I will imminently be up to my eyeballs in seedlings. I love it!
I LOVE your “garden porn” descriptive! I so get it
You are an inspiration and your blog is now one of my daily addictions. I’m crossing my fingers for the random drawing….like everyone else 
Cool organization! I always look at seed catalogs and drool…but I’m hesitant to order because I never know what varieties will fare well in these parts.
The garlic has been up for awhile, and I am anxious for spring to arrive!
Emily – are you close to Seattle? If so these should all do well. Territorial Seeds has a really big selection and theirs are all trialed in Cottage Grove OR. They have great customer service but do still carry some Seminis (Montsanto) seeds they are weeding out. We ordered everything we could from Uprising and then that big box is from Territorial. I’ve had great luck with everything I’ve gotten from them in my Seattle garden, although I get full sun exposure.
Jan – wishing you random luck!
KFG – you rock.
I always intend to start veggies from seed, but never have quite managed to actually do it. Winning these would be (I hope!) just the kick in the pants I need.
Oh my word Territorial still carries Monsanto? Do you have a list from them that indicates which ones???
Will check out Uprising Organics in the morning!
pick me pick me
Marisa, hoping to kick you :p
Celina, they do but it’s a really short list and they are actively working to replace them all. Just because Seminis is owned by Montsanto doesn’t mean those seeds are evil but Territorial is trying to find new farmers to get them from nonetheless. I actually bought two of these last spring before realizing. Here is the list (sorry about the formatting)
BN028 Romano Gold
BN045 Etna
BR091 Packman
CF188 Cheddar
CN203 Senica Horizon
CN207 Passion
CU294 Pearl
CU295 Cool Breeze
CU302 Orient Express
CU312 Babylon
EG332 Fairy Tale
EG333 Twinkle
EG334 Hansel
LT387 Esmeralda
LT388 Simpson Elite
LT400 Summertime
ML456 Fastbreak
ML463 Ambrosia
ON559 Candy
PP663 Northstar
PP673 Holy Mole
PP674 Gypsy
PP689 Big Bomb
PU727 Wyatt’s Wonder
SQ792 Butterstick
SQ797 Gold Rush
SQ804 Sungreen
SQ825 Early Butternut
SQ831 Bush Delicata (Conventional Only)
TM870 Celebrity
TM871 Big Beef
TM896 Viva Italia
TM924 Super Marzano
WA989 Yellow Doll
Love it! I’m looking forward to going to the SSCC Seed Swap (http://www.gleanit.org/seedswap.html) next weekend and trying to figure out what the heck I’m doing. I’m so impressed that you have seeds already started!
Oh this is a lovely giveaway! I’m in the PNW too, so this would just be fantastic to win! I have raised boxed beds with new dirt in them! Yay!
Jess – how cool is that? Thanks for linking in to it. I meant to start my seeds a few weeks ago but Valentine’s day is a good bar. Last year it was early March and I felt that was too late. I’m hoping this mild winter continues since I’m planning to sow all my greens directly outside as soon as the rain parts!
Heather, good luck! If you don’t get it now you know Uprising is a great source for seeds that thrive in the PNW. Can’t wait for you to fill your dirt with food!
I’m a sucker for seeds. What a great idea to have a group of you buying together.
Wow, what a generous company… as well as yourself!
I just got my seed order and I’m so excited for spring to arrive! I want to get my hands in the dirt again and make these nails dirty
Just checked out the list of Seminis seed – lots of PNW standbys in there. I’m was thinking of trying out Uprising seed next year – sure would be nice to try them out this year
Just wanted to plug another PNW seed company – Irish Eyes/Garden City seed in Ellensburg. They’re fighting the good fight too, and have culled all Montsanto/Seminis seed while purchasing from local seedsmen.
Wow! This is one of the best giveaways I’ve seen lately! It made me all giddy to read about it!
I *just* moved to a new place with gardening space, so I feel so lucky to be able to take local eating (which I already do) into my own backyard! Would love a head start with these seeds! How awesome.
Thanks for offering this giveaway to readers!
What an exciting assortment of heirlooms! I’d love to try some of these varieties in my p-patch.
Thanks!
Thanks for all the inspiration…you keep us learning and on our toes!
What a great offer! I’m going to follow your blog, too, as it sounds like it will help me! I’m in the greater Seattle area, and just put raised garden boxes in last year. I ordered from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and have been trying to guess which ones would grow well here. Whether or not I win, it’s good to know of a company more local!
I joined the coop a few months ago and this is the first time i’ve visited your blog. it is fantastic. i missed the seed order, but have gleaned lots of great information. thanks for putting the orders together and kudos for this great offer!
Wow, this is amazing! I would to do some gardening in our rental house in Shoreline. We’re just starting to eat natural foods, and myself and my housemate love to cook and garden. I just put in my request to join the Yahoo group, and I’m bookmarking this site.
Tuesday, I was going through the seeds I collected and traded the last time I tried my hand at gardening (with much success, in the perennial flower department until the woodchuck invasion, that is
) and I just don’t know what to do, Annette!
I have so many packages of beautiful seeds I collected from my winter sown beautiful tomatoes and perennials but they are four years old and, though I kept them dry and in the dark, I don’t know if they’ll sprout and I just don’t have the heart to throw them away, poor lil’ things. And even if they were still viable, I can’t used them all. Should’ve put them on Craig’s list back then. Sigh.
The Bulls Blood Heirloom Beet, Spring Raab Rapini , Rainbow Swiss Chard and
Flemish Antique Heirloom Poppy sound terrific.
I’m a big fan of Territorial, as well as Nichols in Albany, Oregon. I’m excited to check out Uprising!
I would love this!! We are trying to grow our own everythings this year!
I volunteer at the Seattle Tilth plant sales. There is a new sale for Early Spring Edible Sale on March 20 as well as the Plant Sale in May. The plant starts are organic and selected for the PNW climate. Just a reminder to this group in case your seedlings fail or you want to expand your garden.
Happy planting!
I would like to particpiate in the Seede Giveaweay. Thanks!
Did you really plant Tomatos and Watermelon already? I guess you are more optimistic about an early Summer than I am
That said, I planted spinach January 31 and today I finally saw some sprouts – hooray!
Lovely collection! I’ve been able to buy individual packets from Madison market co-op. Would love to have more!
Garden porn. I love it. Count me in for the seed drawing! They sound like a great bunch of plants.
I’m liking your blog, too. Good chance to take a look at it.
The Mom – we saved quite a bit by buying the larger packets (sometimes 1 oz or 1#) and then splitting the shippping. Even if you just get a few gardening friends together to order it’s totally worth it! It’s the same thing I’m doing in every area of my life now – trying to get enough friends together to buy wholesale quantities, even on things like artisan cheese and canned or smoked salmon at the farmer’s market. So cool!
Becky – funny you say that. I was just thinking this was the last time I’d see my nails clean until November.
Kristi – When I was going through my seeds I found a packet from them. I’ve no idea where I got it. Next year I should order from uprising & irish eyes. It’s so nice to support the right people.
Kristy – what an exciting time for you! I remember this time last year just sitting in the yard watching the sunlight and figuring out where to place everything. It was so exciting! It’s still exciting for it’s not quite the new chapter it is for you.
JV – are you in Seattle? I think it’s so cool that we have all these P patches around and have thought about getting one so that I really could grow more potatoes, onions & squash. It’s fun to look at what everyone else is doing. What is your favorite P Patch? I love the Magnussen Park one.
Anneke – I learn so much from everyone. I just love this community!
Knitmomma – it’s good to have someone do the trial and error for your area so you don’t have to. Very de-motivating to have a crop not work out, especially the first time you try something. enjoy your new beds!
Theresa – I think there is a seed sale that Jess mentioned above, comment #10. It was happening on Feb 20th. Maybe you could get some great new seeds to try there. It sounds very cool!
Hollie – have fun with your garden! It’s so nice to have someone you live with share the same hobbies. Makes the gardening and cooking chores fun.
Auburn, dont throw them away! The germination rate may not be as high but some will still germinate. You can start them in flats as I have and sew heavily then thin what does come up, picking the sturdiest starts to keep. The others just pinch off the leaves and the stalks will die. Also if you store them in a closed glass jar in the fridge they will last longer so if you aren’t going to use them soon you might want to do that. I’d forgotten about your darn woodchuck!
Stephanie – I’ve never heard of Nichols. I’ll have to check them out – thanks for the heads up!
B – good luck. It’s so exciting to feel the winds of change. The NAIS got shot down and everyone is growing their own food. It makes me snoopy dance.
Ronni – do you have a link to the sale items? I keep checking back for perennials but you have lots of great veggies on there! If my kids were not so ill-behaved I would be joining you. Perhaps next year! I’d love to learn more about Tilth. Would you be interested in doing a guest plug explaining what it is? I know they offer classes but is it a place you can just go hang out in the building and pick up literature? Or only when classes are held?
Tobin, I did start the tomatoes but no cucurbits yet. The tomatoes will hang out under my grow lights until mid April when I’ll move them out into a small plastic covered tunnel. I’ll also put black plastic down to cover and warm the soil. I reuse both plastic pieces from year to year normally but did chuck the black soil liner when I got blight last year so I need to replace it. I have peas coming up already!
Gina – are you buying the Uprising packets at Madison Market? That is so cool. They are trying to figure out which local stores to get in to so if anyone has suggestions for them let’s make a list!
Cat – thanks for stopping by! Your posts always make me chuckle and snort.
Annette: Great info on Uprising–I had no idea that was their mission/vision and doing their part to save the plants/planet. I’ll order more from them next year (and hope to win the extra seeds this year–I’ll share if i do!).
This will be my first year starting from seeds and I’m so excited to see their long necks peep out of the soil. Last year was our first in new raised beds.
Thanks again for all your efforts for the Farm Coop–I hope I can meet you and see your garden!
OK, I’ll use some of these old seeds and put the rest in the fridge, as you suggested. Hopefully, some of the heirloom tomato and herbs will sprout.
We have a good trap now and last year we managed to get rid of the resident menace and her litter of two. A very unpleasant task but it had to be done… Anyway, you have inspired me, so this year I will garden again and hope for the very best.
Won’t plant nearly as much as I did the last time (when I put all 978 seedlings in the ground, no joke, and 90% of them made it!) and I will plant only edibles (greens for the juicer!) and lots of herbs and chamomile
. So wish me luck!
Sheilah – how about Sunday? I’ll email the seed buyers. The garden doesn’t look like much right now but we are still managing to eat exlusively from it. It will be fun to meet you!
Auburn – I’m planting LOTS of kale for the juicer. You got me hooked on it. I made a cabbage carrot juice to go with dinner tonight. I need to stop drinking veggie juice so late because I’m up for hours! Don’t plant more than one chammomile because they come up like grass. I’ve spent hours weeding the gravel (they don’t need much!) I’m going to throw some over in the orchard and away from the veggie garden this spring. Then they can come up at will and compete with other perrenialo, useful or insect – attracting seeds I’ve ordered like borage, chickweed, purslane, sorrel, claytonia, strawberry spinach, arrugula, amaranth, orach and magentaspreen. These will feed both us and the chickens and reseed themselves. I’m giving new meaning to the landscape phrase “cottage”!
What a fantastic service to all of us working in various ways to lighten our impact on the planet. Thanks for all you do !
i’m commenting. i wanna win. thanks!
Anneke just pointed me towards your blog. I’m looking forward to meeting you at a WAPF meeting sometime–and will enjoy reading your blog as encouragement until then. We’ve got 8 new raised garden beds (the same size as our chicken tractor so the chickens can help us) to get seeds started for this year. We got everything almost ready to start the first seedlings a month ago, but have been sidetracked. Hopefully our seeds will meet the dirt this weekend too! (Renton Highlands)
Hi Annette,
Thanks for this giveaway. I’m on the urban farm listserve and love your posts. This is the first time I’ve visited your blog…and wow, I’m inspired! We put a garden in last year, but ready to do more. Just saw your homemade cleaner section and going to try some of your recipes.
Keep up the good fight!
Awesome! I would love to be entered! I am glad I found your blog. I hadn’t heard of Uprising before or the urban farm group. I need to check this out! I also am in Seattle, so city lot size, and am lucky enough to have great sun. I just planted peach, plum, apricot & pear trees. (And already have 3 apples, 1 asian pear, & kiwi). I can’t get enough. Resistance in the Garden!
I can’t believe I didn’t know about Uprising Organics! Looking forward to checking them out. Thanks a bunch for the info.
Susan – you are from Sustainable NE Seattle, right? Right back at you! I wish I had more time to volunteer my time! It’s so easy to do stuff like this at night but the real committment is getting out and doing stuff during normal hours!
Barrie – I’m so glad to see you here! Did you decide which farm to intern on?
Harmony – isn’t it so cool how chickens fit into the greater gardening plan? I am still working on my tractor (I meaning dh) which will fit inside the beds too. So smart!
Gretchen – thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think. So much cleaning can be done just using baking soda & vinegar which we all have already. It’s amazing the amount of suggestive control corporations have over us.
Meg – Thanks for stopping by! I love your blog too, found you through the urban gardening hub. I see you have a “helpful” young-un in the garden too. I hope you’ll be interested in doing a guest post about gardening with kids, maybe just a snippet and then jump to your blog but I’d love to feature you nonetheless!
Great website! I ordered my seeds from Seed Exchange and from Uprising Organics and can’t wait to plant them.
Any tips on easy, inexpensive raised bed building? I have one, but it cost way too much.
Cheers,
Michelle
My spring is a long way off, so this giveaway is well-timed for me. I always get too gung-ho and start planting things indoors well before I’ll be able to transplant them. Then, I end up with weak, leggy transplants that can’t handle the outdoor conditions. So, with two inches of fresh, fluffy snow this morning, I am holding off on starting my seeds and am crossing my fingers in hope of winning yours.
Michelle – I only used the wooden raised beds because I had no existing topsoil, just solid clay that had lawn on it for years and was really packed down. Also using the wood allowed me to bring in gravel which helps retain the sun’s heat here in Seattle. We need all the help we can get! I really love the permaculture style of gardening though where you simply hill up rows and put wood chips or mulch in between. It’s a little tougher to do that here where it rains so much since the top dirt frequently washes away along with your seeds. One inexpensive though – get those wooden stakes from Home Depot and drive them into the ground, using two side by side a few inches apart and continue around the perimeter of what would be your bed. Then find branches from windfallen trees and build a sort of fence by stacking the branches in between the two stakes. You can shore up any holes with organic hay or recycled burlap bags. This would be inexpensive, easy to change later and something you could do without tools. It would look very natural too – unlike mine.
Angela – That is smart. I’ve started mine indoors under grow lights and will transplant them outside in 6-8 weeks. We are having a very mild El Nino-like winter here in Seattle but I will also put black plastic down on the ground and use a simple grow tunnel over them at night until end of May. The challenge with the grow tunnel when it’s warmish and so wet here is the mildew we get.
I really need to get some grow lights! Do you start alot of things under them?
Great pics of your place!
Heather – right now I have all the tomatoes (only 10 this year, last year I had over 30), all the cabbage, brussel sprouts, celery & ceriac, basil, dill, cumin, fennel, broccoli but not rapini, cilantro and peppers started. The jump start can accommodate 72 small cell packs which is just about what I need for now. In about 4-6 weeks when the broccoli is getting too big I’ll begin hardening it off and remove from the lights so that I can transplant the tomatoes & peppers into bigger pots. In May I’ll start indoors the corn about 4 days and cucurbits indoors about 1-2 weeks before time to plant them in the ground. Everything else I’ll direct seed at the right time.
Mel – I should have thought of this before. I love this company http://www.groworganic.com and they are in California so not quite as arid as you but I’m willing to bet almost all they offer would work well for you. Also check out http://www.seedsofchange. They only have open pollinated seeds geared towards southern warmer climes.
Oh, I would love this!!
Good on you girl! I just realized I never subscribed to your blog before! Well, it’s done now, so I can’t miss your posts. =:-) Don’t know if you’ve covered this before, but you can use a combo of warm white and cool white flourescent tubes in cheap shop light fixtures instead of more expensive grow lights. Use more warm white bulbs than cool light bulbs. Use some small chains and hooks to jury rig the system and suspend the chains from the ceiling. That way you can easily raise and lower the lights as needed.
Stacy – I’ll be hosting a child’s garden giveaway hopefully next week so if you miss this one you might get that one!
Linda – good info. I did a seed starting post with pictures of the chains & hooks from the kitchen counter and this year I’ve switched to an old particle board bookcase I found in the garage. I did mention combo of warm & cool but I didn’t know you needed more warm. That makes sense. Do you have pictures of your setup? I’m looking for guest posters….
What a great (and green) giveaway. Appreciate the tip on Uprising.
I love your blog. I teach environmental policy and sustainability and recommend your blog to students.