Random Rumblings and Ruminations

The problem with writing a garden blog is that when you're rained in, which is the ideal time to write - you have nothing to write about!  Thankfully the rain started AFTER my weekly landscaping visit to the county, but when it came time to spend an hour in my own - rain rain rain!.  I'm not sure how this will effect the blueberry harvest tomorrow. Rain is anathema to harvesting, and might see a late start or a cancellation all together.  Too much rain, too much water in the ripe berries and they explode. So fingers crossed on this one.

I can't complain really - there are some things I'd like to get done, but more water for those Summer squash, tomatoes, and the like isn't a bad thing. Still there are garden related things you can do indoors as well:

Seed Sorting, and Seeds In General.

I've sorted through my seeds and loosely organized them into the ones that you can plant in June/August.  These will be the Autumn garden (as in harvested in Autumn) plants.  Looking over the seeds I've come to the conclusion that I REALLY need a better system for this.  I've tried several but for some reason it gets pushed down so low on the totem pole that I just don't get around to it.... until it's time to plant, and then it's sort-sort-sort, plan-plan-plan.... to be forgotten till the next season.

My original 'system' was a small box. I buy seeds, I throw the packets into the box.  Done.. go through the box and look at what I feel like planting.   Of course what happened was all the things I like were 'next season' so I'd put them back in the box them um and ah about what to do till I all but missed my planting windows, and utterly forget to plant what I like when the time came.
This time around I decided to get 'organized' - yeah air quotes on that because although I bought 2 little check folders and sorted them into herbs and veg, it pretty much amounted to the same system. I always think 'oh yeah I'll remember to plant this...' and of course we know how that goes. So, a new system is in order. For buying and for organizing.

Seed Varieties

First is a matter of buying seeds and varieties.  I'm trying to get better - but old habits die hard. When buying seeds I usually have either a general idea of what I want, or have a looksee at what's for sale.  Most stores sell seeds at the times they are good to plant, so you can get a good idea of what your upcoming garden can have.. it's almost too easy.  Unfortunately I tend to just see that big label 'Lettuce' 'Garden Beans' 'Tomatoes' and a glance at the picture to see what it might look like - which isn't always accurate.
My lettuce situation early this season for example.  Looking through my seeds I came across the empty packet I used in Autumn - I'd specifically put it aside so I could remember what I'd bought (as I said - I'm TRYING to get better, but success still eludes me).   They were Salad Bowl Lettuce - a nice compact and crisp lettuce for growing in cooler temps.  I'd replaced them with 'LETTUCE' - but further examination showed they were Black Seeded Simpsons - a leaf lettuce that you harvest leaves off of, and grows more upwardly. It has sweet delicate leaves, that although lovely tasting, will get hammered by rain and fried by sun.
Different varieties can have different plant times (I know - Captain Obvious strikes again huh?) adding to my general confusion when I buy replacement seeds and have no luck.
Under a new system I'm going to try and actively force myself to buy several different varieties of any veg type.  Make notes of varieties I enjoy more than others, and try and extend my planting options - and giving me a margin of error.

Organization

I'm getting better, but I think my organization method at the moment is flawed.  I'm organizing by types and by plants.  Which seems like the obvious way to do it, but I run into problems with planting times and doubly so when a plant can be grown in 2 or more seasons.  Pulling everything out and sorting each season sort of helps - but it's time I'd rather spend elsewhere, and work I'd rather front-load.  One solution is to keep folders for each season (or general planting months as defined by hardiness zones - that little map on the back of a seed packet).
This would work well for most plants, but what about ones that have 2 plantings? A Spring and Autumn for instance?  A possible solution is to double down and buy 2 packs of those seeds, and keep them filed separate.

Documenting

 Lucky for me I'm doing that here.  I can look back and see what I did and where, I think I'll have to start putting some more info in my posts about exactly what I planted, that way I could always refer here to refresh my memory.


In the end I need a better way of keeping, storing, and retrieving the information. The geek in me thinks this might be a job for some kind of database - or perhaps a 'Big Manly Garden' android app, so the info would be there on hand when I'm out and about with my Kindle.

Hmmm - well the call came in, 10am blueberry harvest - so I'm going to start thinking about getting some rest - all these problems and possible solutions will still be here when I get home tomorrow night :)

Cheers.