Monday, February 6, 2012

Ordering Seeds and Cool Weather Crops Week 2


I have been planning my summer garden the past few weeks. I took stock of all my seeds that have been stashed in canning jars in the fridge to see what needed to be ordered. I have plenty of seeds still for tomatoes, peppers and eggplant and I still have enough pickles put up from last year that I won't need to plant any cucumbers this year. One thing I was out of was my favorite zucchini seeds, the Clairmore.


Here they are just starting out in last year's garden. They are the first zucchini to set on and the last to give it up come the fall, they are thin skinned and almost buttery in taste and texture. I LOVE them!! I had a problem though, the company I usually get the seeds from didn't have any!! I searched on the internet and finally found some in a combo pack with Golden Dawn and Raven zucchini from Renee's Garden. I ordered three packages. ;-)

I also ordered some Athena cantaloupe seeds and a Tricolor Snap Bush Bean mixture from John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds. The Tricolor Bean package contains Jade Green, Purple Queen and Gold Rush, that ought to be fun! This morning, I ordered some Kakai Pumpkin seeds from Johnny's Selected Seeds. This is what they say about them:

Striped fruits, delicious "pumpkin nuts."
Eye-catching, medium-small, avg. 5-8 lb., black-striped pumpkins. After displaying the pumpkins next fall, you can scoop out the large, dark green, completely hull-less seeds, which are absolutely delicious roasted. Kakai is a variety of the Austrian type that yields the valuable green pumpkin seed oil that some European studies show promotes prostate health. Semi-bush, short-vine plants. Avg. yield: 2-3 fruits/plant.

Kakai
Photo from Johnny's Selected Seeds website

I have read so many wonderful things about these pumpkins that I want to give them a try and they sound perfect for my smallish garden!

The cool weather crops are coming along nicely. The collard greens for the chickens have sprouted, as have the broccoli and snow peas.

Snow Peas

The radishes are starting to get their "true" leaves this week.


 That's it from here this week! I'm linking up with Heidi and The Country Garden Showcase at My Simple Country Living. :)

20 comments:

  1. You are making me soooo jealous Candy. It will be a long while before I see any green pushing up through the ground.

    It won't be long though -- I'll just have to watch your garden grow in the meantime. :)

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  2. Nancy,
    I feel so fortunate to be able to grow a garden pretty much year round! :)

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  3. Looks great. Congratulations. :)

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  4. In the 20's here at night= no gardening yet, sigh...

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  5. Nancy,
    It's down into the 30s here at night, the only reason things are growing is because I have them covered with plastic! ;-)

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  6. I grew Kakai pumpkins for the first time last summer and can't say enough good about them. The plants are compact bushes so you can space them much closer together than normal pumpkins. The flesh is sweet and has a true pumpkin flavor (it has a slight green tint though, so not quite as pretty as the orange flesh of pie pumpkins). And lots of hulless seeds that are fabulous raw or roasted. Will definitely be growing them again this year.

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  7. I need to start getting ready for summer. I never heard of Kakai Pumpkin seeds. I'll have to look them up on the net.

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  8. Candy,
    Another GREAT gardening post. Thanks so much for sharing it on The Country Garden Showcase. I hope you know that I really enjoy reading your blog posts. I have just awarded you the “VERSATILE BLOGGER AWARD”. Congratulations! You deserve it! Please go to my blog to pick it up. Heidi

    http://mysimplecountryliving.blogspot.com/2012/02/versatile-blogger-awardees.html

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  9. All those pictures of GREEN THINGS!! I can't wait for Spring! Thanks for the photos.

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  10. I am so jealous of your green things.

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  11. Oh the wonders of living in the Southwest, gardening in Feb. Those pumpkins are really interesting, hull-less seeds?

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  12. I can't wait to get my garden going. It's still winter here and will be down to 9 degrees this coming weekend.

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  13. Kateri,
    I'm looking forward to growing them, I hope they do well here!

    Michelle,
    They sound wonderful!

    Heidi,
    WOW! Thanks for the award! I'll have to go pick it up! :)

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  14. Carolyn Renee,
    I love seeing things grow!

    Teresa,
    I just hope we don't get a really bad cold spell!

    Sharon,
    Yep, no hulls at all! :)

    Kristina,
    Nine degrees is WAAAY too cold for me!

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  15. Looks nice! Can't wait to plant our garden. But first we need to get through Maple Syrup season, which is almost here!!!!

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  16. SweetLand Farm
    Dang, I love maple syrup! Hope you do some posts! :)

    Kathy,
    Thanks, you too!

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  17. This is giving me more of a fever to get more do! This may be the longest growing season yet!

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  18. Clint,
    There is so much that can be grown in the cooler weather with just row covers! :)

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