I went a little crazy ordering seeds and seedlings. Have I mentioned that moderation just isn’t my thing? I keep meaning to do ‘just a little’ of something but so far in all my years haven’t managed to pull it off. Granted, I went with way less than I would have liked to and I think that counts for something. Maybe common sense is not long to follow. I hope (if that is the case) that it comes in small doses because I am greatly reliant on my abject refusal to believe in the impossible. It’s a lifestyle.
So- what we have on the way this year… 50 Manitoba maples, 100 choke cherry bushes, and 75 hawthorns- courtesy of the Agroforestry Development Centre. We had hoped for some Siberian crab apple trees and red osier dogwood but they were out of stock, so they’re on the list for next year. Still, that’s a lot of digging for this year.
From the Cottage Gardener, we have received seeds for mule team and Czech select tomatoes, fordhook giant Swiss chard, spaghetti squash, potimarron winter squash, common chives, Greek oregano, purple coneflower, Roman chamomile, dark Italian parsley, anise hyssop, borage, cilantro, feverfew, lemon balm, milk thistle, white sage, and Oriental poppies.
From Salt Spring Seeds we ordered, and received, quinoa, yarrow, evening primrose, purple amaranth, tomatillos, and sweet rocket (aka dame’s violet). And from PR Seeds we ordered onion, carrot, leek, quinoa, soy bean, and amaranth. We placed the order some time back and I am starting to get a little concerned having heard nothing yet. I’ll give it until next week and then ring dude who runs the place. We also ordered goji berry seeds from a place in Saskatoon and I’m quite excited to see how those turn out.
In addition to those, we have nasturtium, Swiss chard and red onion seeds harvested last year, as well as partial packages of beets, dill, bush beans, turnips, lupine, and lettuce. Ah, and I hope to separate out some of my rhubarb this year. And see if I can’t get those fern seeds that I harvested in Oregon started… Yep, so- quite the plan considering that I have to build most of the gardens that will house these wonderful plants. Of course, this in advance of starting the build on our earthbag domes with the intention of finishing this year. It’s alright though- I’ve been working out in preparation. (I shit you not.)
It’s been really interesting, planning the garden this year. I played around with companion planting last year, and with soil building and raised gardens, and it was pretty successful given the very limited amount of time I had to dedicate to it. By successful, I mean that we got a lot of meals out of it. And some decent seeds saved. This year will push the envelope a little further, with a concentration on plants that not only do well in our environment and with our soil type, but serve multiple purposes (as most of our herbs do, and even our trees and bushes). And we’re trying something a little different with shapes and contours. Some of it we’ve read about, some we’re just going to try and see what happens.
I can’t wait to get started- it should be a lot of fun! And plenty o’ work. There’ll be whining later, I’m sure. 
still a ways off of planting anything but my bum in the ground
That word comes up with regularity, most recently in the adapted “Everything in moderation… including moderation.” But it seems playing around with cliché too much eventually makes the statement redundant.
N.B. re. Siberian crab apple trees. It may be for the best that you won’t be receiving them; we understand they’re highly susceptible to fireblight and possibly other fungal diseases. They are of a hardy species otherwise and so can be great as root stock, but if you will be growing other apple species, especially heritage varieties, these will generally be better off without the Siberian crab nearby as a bit of a liability.
Look out, soil!
We’d gone with Siberian crab because they’re free. I LOVE free! Did you guys experiment much with apple trees when you were in Alberta? What did you go with?
At the time, in Edmonton, we fit in a pair of apple trees (Norland, Harcourt), and other fruiting trees in pairs. I certainly love free as well (and am also a happy PFRA customer), but thought I should mention the thing about fireblight. On this property in Manitoba, we have a crab and an eating apple to start with (both unidentified varieties), and will be putting in about a dozen fruiting trees this year, in guilds as part of a new food forest.
Screw moderation and go for it!
I wish we could spread the garden work out over the year. We sit here twiddling our thumbs in March knowing the overwhelming amount of garden work is still weeks away.
Slowly working my way through your blog today btw and really liking it so far.
I heard our forecast and they’re saying a late and very cold spring is in order. We may be looking at April before we can get outside and we still have a few feet of snow to melt. Oh my. Getting a little stir crazy here.
Hey I love your blog!
Check mine out: http://alysearthbaghome.blogspot.com/
Start building in April.
Looking through your site I saw what you said about low e glass. Never heard that and am buying windows right not. Could you tell me more about it?
Alyssa
Glass with a low-E coating reduces heat transfer through windows. It’s intended to reduce heat loss during the colder months, and heat gain during the warmer months. That’s great for traditional homes but not for homes that rely on solar gain. All of our south facing windows are regular glass to allow the sun to naturally heat our home. (The windows are set far enough in that the home is protected from high summer sun, but benefits from the low winter sun.) We have two small bedroom windows (one on the west and one on the north) that are low E because they require protection, and aren’t situated to benefit from solar gain. I’m not sure what the situation is in your area, but in Canada it is now difficult to get anything but low E except by special request.
Best of luck with your building! I’m excited for you.
re. “except by special request” …or by salvaging. We’ve found pretty much every nearby homestead has a stash of old windows they have never been sure what to do with. We educate them about donating windows to us. haha
Thanx!
I’ve been reading about it today and it’s been dizzying…amazed it escaped my radar before. Apparently there’s high solar gain low e glass…I’ll check out how everything meshes with prices though. Thanks again!