Yesterday was surprisingly productive. 🙂
Once I had had my fill inside working on cleaning and decluttering, I went outside to dig.
Up this mess.
Have you ever smelled rotting cabbage before? Well if not it ranks right up there with the smell of old basketball shoes worn by teenage boys who don’t change their socks regularly. Holy cats! The smell is enough to knock you out.
So after removing all the slimy cabbage bits I hauled in a few wheelbarrows of topsoil from a nearby garden bed I dismantled. I was about halfway done when I heard my hottie of a UPS driver roll into the driveway.
My seed order. OH HAPPY DAY!!!
Not only did my online boyfriend Ryan send me all the seeds on my 2014 seed order, he also sent along a bunch of loot for me to share {I smell a giveaway coming}. How cool was that? 🙂
Check out all the heirloom tomatoes I’ll be growing.
Want to know which seed packet is my favorite? This pineapple pole tomato. I grew these a few years ago and let me tell you Bob, they are the best tomato on the planet in my humble opinion.
Oh, and I almost forgot. I’m also pretty stinkin’ excited to be growing Moroccan Spice Sweet Peas too! Don’t they look pretty?
Hurry up Spring, I want to start planting.
What are you most looking forward to growing this year?
Mavis wants to know.
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Georgia Fishel says
I’m starting relatively small for my first year gardening but I can’t wait to start planting the rest of my salsa ingredients and cucumbers for pickling. I’ve already got cilantro and green onions planted w/seed trays inside planted with jalapeno and bell peppers. I’ll be trying several varieties of heirloom tomatoes (Roma I hear is best for salsa) as well as onions and garlic (we eat a lot of onions and garlic as well as bell peppers). Trying to grow and make/can my own cucumbers/pickles will be fun as well.
Judy says
Hey Mavis that’s a while lot of seeds! Please do a giveaway! Love heirlooms and maybe I’ll win! Lol
Curious to why you didn’t pull up all that red cabbage before the big freeze! I love red cabbage!
Happy gardening!
Mavis Butterfield says
We did harvest some, but I think I got too busy inside and forgot about them. 🙁
Jessie says
I jumped on the Brandywine tomato bandwagon at last, so I am looking forward to tasting those, as well as a teeny little tomato plant called Minibel. I am also jumping into winter sowing, so I am really looking forward to seeing how well I can do – I have quite a few perennials I am praying will sprout and take off to fill in a totally empty brand new bed we made out by the road to be a buffer against marauding suburban deer and the dust passing cars kick up. …and Mavis, I am still stalking your blog…er…..looking forward to hearing about the light conditions in your garden and how you get everything to grow so well!
Mavis Butterfield says
Ha! I promised I don’t have a giant flood light set up in my backyard. 🙂
Vicki says
I haven’t had a decent garden in many years. I’m hoping this year to start over again (read: small) since I just moved in with my daughter and my grandsons. They don’t know where food comes from, and I want to teach them that. We’ll be growing some green beans, a pumpkin plant, maybe some squash if we have room in a very small yard that is home to a very large dog.
I agree with Judy – just wondering why you didn’t harvest all that cabbage.
Mavis Butterfield says
Lucy you, teaching kids how to garden is the best.
Andrea In SLC says
I can’t wait to start gardening either. REALLY hoping our tomatoes do well since we got absolutely nothing last year. And I have to figure out a way to keep our Golden Retriever puppy away from my plants! The little turkey thought it would be fun last year to eat the pickling cukes, watermelon, and pumpkin plants. Sigh. Good thing he’s adorable!
chelsea says
i want to try starting tomato seeds indoors this year. when do you start yours? i live in the northwest too
Mavis Butterfield says
Around March 1st.
Lisa says
You won’t need to buy seeds for years! You won’t be using nearly the entire packs of those, and they will keep for up to 5 years. I get seeds from Territorial, and they show how long seed life is. I am using the same seeds I bought 3 years ago. Good seeds cost more to begin with (although I did pick up some from The Dollar Store recently for .25!) but they last.
That’s a lot of seeds for your downsized garden! I am growing fewer things, in the same space. Fewer tomatoes, more beans. The unseasonal cold and snow killed a lot of perennials in containers, so I have those spaces to use now for peppers and tomatoes. Cucs do great in containers too, just turn a tomato cage upside down for a trellis.
Tammy says
What do you do with the sweet peas? Are they just decorative or can you eat the blossoms?
Jessie says
Sweet peas are Lathyrus odoratus, and all parts of the plant are poisonous. Despite the fact that the seed pods look similar, they are not the same as the varieties of peas we eat, Pisum sativum. Don’t eat your sweet pea vines! Just enjoy the smell! 🙂
Erika says
We’ve moved to a new house, so I’m planning on some new raised bed gardens this spring. Going to try Square Foot Gardening and see how that works for us (hubby got me the book for Christmas and I’ve been reading through it and making plans this week!). I’ve made a good list of the fruits and veggies that my family actually eats and I’m going to focus on growing just those varieties. I’m also excited to try more vertical gardening to fit in more of the vining plants that take up space.
Heidi P says
Hi Mavis,
I’m curious about how you set up your rain barrel. I love the idea but have always been confused on how to get the H2O in and then out. Could you post about your rain barrel?
Love your seed stash. So impressive 🙂
Kathy says
I’m lookin forward to Roma tomatoes. They are the best for sauce and salsa. Just hope my sister feels the same way as she’s the one who has all room for the garden! Where I’m at, it has to be container gardening being in an apartment. So I’m also looking forward to trying my hand and herbs again…basil, parsley, dill and rosemary. Had basil a few years ago and it did well but gave the plant to someone over winter and didn’t get it back,
Cecily says
Okay I must be weird. I like the smell of the local cabbage field after the leftovers start to decompose! 😉
The Smallest Acre says
Hi Mavis, I started my seeds in my hoop house a few days ago. I’m a girl who can’t resist Black Krim tomatoes. The most unique thing we’ll be growing this year is…tobacco, for the flowers. I’d like to see how it holds up against deer, too. Otherwise, it’s the usual stuff and trying to expand fruit production.
Barbee says
What are you doing w/ all those seeds?
I thought you said you were cutting back and reducing the number of beds.
Ok, just kidding. I suffer from the exact same addiction.
My problem this year is the (planned) new house and move. I, too, am dismantling my raised beds. All of them. 🙁
Because we’ll be moving, I hesitate to do much planting. But I certainly plan on making up for last time when I get moved into my new 2+ acre lot!
Mavis Butterfield says
I’m totally jealous of your 2 acres!!!
Danika says
Since discovering your blog several weeks ago, I am ready to plant something!! This spring I will be planting my 4th annual vegetable garden. I generally plant traditional veggies- sweet corn, cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, cabbage, & onions. This years I am looking to add a few lettuces, peppers, and spinach. I have now added a green house to my wish list! 😉 Thanks for the inspiration, happy gardening!!
Mavis Butterfield says
I’m glad you are going to try some new stuff this year Danika. Last year I really enjoyed trying different lettuce varieties, endive especially.
Adeline says
Mavis…can you recommend books or blogs about using green houses? I moved into a house with a large greenhouse but don’t know where to start
Mavis Butterfield says
The Winter Harvest Handbook by Eliot Coleman was the first one {and the best} that I purchased when I first got my greenhouse. 🙂
Robin says
I think you’ll like those sweet peas. I’ve had different types for a few years now and love walking by them running my hand over them and getting a whiff of their lovely aroma. I harvested my first peas of 2014 yesterday. We grow alot of the same variety of tomatoes. Happy gardening!
Mavis Butterfield says
You stinker! Peas already? 😉
Danielle O says
Ryan loves us! He really really loves us!
Mavis Butterfield says
He does Danielle, he does. 🙂
Lynn says
I am embarking upon my first garden!! I am TOO excited!! I know I need to start out small, but in my mind it just keeps growing and growing! 🙂 I’m gonna try several tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, bush beans, lettuce, carrots, squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe, basil, cilantro, sunflowers, marigolds. I’m gonna build raised beds – maybe out of cinder blocks – and plant the flowers in the holes. Feel free to give any and ALL advice!! I live in Oklahoma – HOT summers! I enjoy your blog! Thanks so much!
Mavis Butterfield says
Thanks Lynn!! 🙂
stacie m. says
I am jealous! I have never had very good luck starting tomatoes from seed, I usually buy them at our mom & pop garden place (where my dad trades them rabbit poop for seedlings, seriously haha!). Any tips?
bridget says
Can you tell me where you purchases your greenhouse with what looks like sliding doors. Thank you
Mavis Butterfield says
I purchased my greenhouse locally at The Glass Gardener in Tacoma, Washington. It is a Magnum Glass Greenhouse. 10×14
Ellen in Clackamas says
Mavis,
what do you have in the troughs in the green house? Surely they can’t be filled to the top with dirt? I use empty milk jubs in the bottom of some of my pots to fill them up then a layer of landscape cloth then the dirt. Do you do something similar?
Mavis Butterfield says
Yep, empty milk jugs. 🙂