Just In Time For Christmas

 

My package of seeds from the Annual Canadian Autumn Seed Exchange arrived right before Christmas.  Perfect timing!  The host of the seed exchange, Nicky North, is very organized and somehow always manages to grant several items from each participant's wish list as well as sending unique surprises.  From my wishlist this year, I received Lemon Bergamot, edible Chrysanthemum, Kalibos cabbage, Scarlet kale, and a few tomato varieties.  In the "surprise" department were sorghum, Pigeon peas, and several varieties of corn, including Floriani and Painted Mountain (both flint, both beautiful).

 

In addition to receiving the ACASE seeds, a generous soul in a seed-trading group online offered to send me some Mémé de Beauce tomato seeds.  A bit about this variety (description from Terre Promise): 

 

In 1995, a carpenter found a bag of about 200 seeds in the attic of an abandoned house, where no one had lived for several years already, in Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce. The neighbors claimed that this house hadn’t had any garden in well over 60 years. Mrs. Gérard Parent, to whom they were given, tried to get them to grow; only three germinated. From those three initial plants originate all the current Mémé de Beauce plants found in Quebec.

 

The following are varieties received from this year's ACASE exchange:

 

Flowers 

Bachelor Buttons – “Chocolate” and “Tall Mix” 

Calendula – Festiva Gitana 

Chrysanthemum – Edible Shungiku 

Sunflower – "Little Becka/Elegance" and "Teddy Bear" 

Verbascum – "Milkshake" 

Zinnia - orange

 

Shungiku Chrysanthemum - West Coast Seeds

 

Herbs

Feverfew

Lemon Bergamot

 

Miscellaneous

Cowpea – Blue Goose

Garlic – Georgian Fire

Pigeon Pea

Sorghum – Broomcorn (Technically edible, but apparently better used as an ornamental or a pollen barrier between crops.)

 

Georgian Fire garlic - Garlic Brothers

 

VEGETABLES

Beans 

The Prince (bush)

Velour (bush)

Blue Lake (snap/pole)

 

Cabbage 

Earliana (green) 

Kalibos (red)

 

Kalibos cabbage - BC Eco Seed Co-op

 

Cauliflower

Snowball

 

Corn

Butter and Sugar

Early Sunglow

Floriani (flint)

Painted Mountain (primarily flint)

 

Floriani fint corn - Great Lakes Staple Seeds

 

Greens/Leafy

Kale – "Scarlet" and "Red Russian"

Orach – Purple Leaf

 

Squash  

Hubbard

Pink Hubbard

Table King Acorn

 

Tomatoes

Azoycka

Big Mama (hybrid/red paste)

Blush

Cherokee Purple

Dad’s Sunset

Delicious Beefsteak

Dwarf Champion

Dwarf Golden Heart

Green Giant

Green Pineapple

Lemon Drop

Lucky Tiger

 

Lucky Tiger - Baker Creek Seeds

Pantano Romanesco

Pink Passion (dwarf)

San Marzano

Savignac/Dufresne (Canadian heirloom)

 

Savignac/Dufresne - Ark of Taste

Sicilian Saucer

Speckled Roman

Sungold (orange cherry, hybrid)

Sunrise Bumblebee

White Wonder

Yellow Canary

 

16 Days to Go

   I looked at the clock around 8:00am and was surprised by the time, as it was still quite dark.  We're in the time of year when you can be puttering around the house and have no sense of whether it's 4:00AM or 8:00AM.  It's disorienting if you have to be on a schedule, and can be cozy if you don't.  I went outside just before 9:00am to take this (fuzzy) picture.  R. literally has the days counted down until December 21st, when the daylight will start to increase again.  I am not minding the short days as much this year.  Perhaps, compared to everything else there is to be stressed and fatigued by lately, darkness in the morning is barely registering.

   The weather for the last week has been unseasonably mild, with most overnight temps above zero, and daytime temps between 2 and 8 degrees.  It was 6 degrees out at 9:00AM this morning.

 

   On November 22nd, I decided to try my hand at growing micro tomatoes.  I planted 4 Orange Hat seeds and 5 Tiny Tim.  This picture was taken this morning. 

 

   In recent weeks, I've done three tomato seed trades with people online.  It's a benign and relatively inexpensive vice!  The new varieties I received are:

Dwarf Payette

Dwarf Red Viper

Mary Reynold's

Kozula 24

Neves Azorean Red

Mrs. Bot's Italian Giant

Hubert's Pink 

   Someone also sent some Dwarf Purple Heart, which I was grateful for, as I only have a few seeds of that variety in my stash.

   Later this month, my package from the Annual Canadian Autumn Seed Exchange will arrive.  Looking forward to that!  It is always fun to see what comes back.  Some of my favourite varieties of flowers and vegetables to grow are ones I discovered through this exchange.