Saturday, January 17, 2009

It's True!

I was reading an older post from this blog and found myself reminiscing. It's definitely true, it's a miracle when something wonderful comes up in the garden (especially when you're able to enjoy it). For years we had the most unusual and yet incredibly delicious squash that would just seem to appear each year. It was one of those plants we took for granted because it was highly prolific and ALWAYS returned! It grew in the garden for so many years I can't recall not having it. It was typically so productive we would just pull it out after about 8 months (even though it was still producing squash). It was a yellow squash with a green bottom. That was the only squash we were able to give away readily without friends and neighbors asking us to stop. One of our Persian neighbors would always accept as many as we'd provide as he said they were very common in his country (even though I'd never seen them in the states) and his family loved them.

Unfortunately, we rearranged the garden one year and suddenly we realized our squash was no more. That was about 4 years ago. Now, of course, we miss that squash and as a seed saver I could kick myself in the shin for not saving the seed (always assuming it would just materialize).

So, when I happened upon this post about the squash (and its incredible abundance) I couldn't help but think (and long) for that incredible squash that produced enough for several dozen families for months on end...

It is true, they produce a gargantuan quantity - just don't take them for granted as you might find yourself without them one day and then you'll be sorry.

Monday, January 12, 2009

It seems veggies and flowers won over fruit and herbs in the garden with 60% polling a preference for flowers and vegetables and vs. 40% for fruit and herbs.

Thanks for taking the time to vote! Please make sure to vote in the next poll as well!

Friday, January 2, 2009

January: White Stock Seed for SASE

Since it's the beginning of the year I figured we could start with some lovely, old-fashioned garden flowers. We grew so much of this stock in 2008 and placed the plants in so many different areas of the garden, our neighbors would comment how fragrant the garden was and they hadn't even made it up the driveway.

White Stock is a great addition to any garden for its incredible fragrance and beauty. This variety produced massive plants, much larger than anticipated. The bed was mulched with organic material which may have resulted in the enthusiastic growth. Leaves were a grayish-green-blue with an overcast of white. The leaves are heavier than dwarf stock and have a bit of a grainy texture. The flowers bloomed into single, creamy-white, flowers which grew to approximately 2 ½ feet. Some came through as 'doubles' but the majority are single flowers - still highly fragrant. They made an excellent bouquet as a filler or alone. Flowers produced over a long period of time. Fragrance is intense and delightfully sweet. This is another one I strongly recommend.

It's noted Thomas Jefferson grew White Stock in his garden at Montecello.

We are making small packets of this seed available to the first 20 people only. We'll post here when the packets are completely gone. The quantity of seed and packets are limited so please send in your SASE immediately upon contact.

For rules on the SASE distribution, please review this post.