Friday’s Seedy Post

One more seedy post awaits you this week…but only if you intend on planting seed garlic, seed potatoes and onion sets in your 2014 produce garden. Now is the time to think ‘ORDER’.

But let’s get right to ordering basics plus a few of our favorite picks. One quick thought – always order a mix. Let’s start with onions first.

Onions: Cover a gamut with sweet and red. Make sure you include some good storing onions, too. Any of the reputable seed suppliers offer a variety pack. Walla Walla is one of our top picks for a sweet onion while Copra is a great storing onion lasting into the winter.

Potatoes: Repeat of above. Grow a few choice varieties and when ordering, unless you have a lot of acreage to cover, consider splitting your order with a garden friend. A couple different varieties we like are Yukon gold and when it comes to fingerlings, we enjoy Dark Red Norland and the dynamite Fingerling, Russian Banana. 

Garlic is a bit more of a specialty so track down people who grow the unusual or test out some heirloom varieties. A standard seed supplier won’t offer many of these so a little research and experimenting is a requirement. Here’s why. With so much diversity in flavor and taste, it’s all in how you plan to use it and what your taste buds like. Garlic comes in strong (good for cooking) to sweet. You might prefer a mild and nutty flavor and like the potatoes and onions, some garlic stores better than others. Strong varieties are best suited for cooking. Sweet can be mild and is great for fresh garlic dishes. One that you can order from a standard seed supplier is the German Stiffneck. This strong garlic also stores well plus it’s an unforgettable name. A Garlic rule of thumb: Seed garlic is expensive so once your garlic is ready for picking, always save at least a 1/3 of what you grow. You can supply your own for the following year. 

So that’s the seedy Friday post but a little feedback couldn’t hurt. Share your own choices of onion, potato and garlic delights.Now to the #dailyquote by Edward Steichen, an American photographer. “I knew, of course, that trees and plants had roots, stems, bark, branches and foliage that reached up toward the light. But I was coming to realize that the real magician was light itself.” If you didn’t catch the link on Facebook or Twitter last evening, you must check out these amazing photographs of a child and his farm. Captured by the mom and shared in beautiful photographer’s light. 

©All Images by Ann Bilowz 

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