Soggy Creek Seed Co. Review

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Yan at Soggy Creek Seed Co. They are starting up a new seed business and he offered me a sample of their seeds. Quoting their website, Soggy Creek Seed Co. sells heirloom seeds and other wonderful things from the gardens of Piebird. Piebird is their vegetarian bed & breakfast in Nipissing Village, Ontario, Canada. A look through their pages will present the reader with many lovely photos and lots of good information.

They have taken a rather fun approach to renaming the heirloom seed with stories to go along. Below is a copy of the front and back of the seeds I received. It is nice to see another take on the rather mundane pack of seed. Check 'Em Out:

Winter Harvest Monday

Today I wrapped up my bean sprouting venture. It took 6 days to get to this point and they taste great. More about them later this week.

Outside today I harvested the last of the green onions. Their leek like appearance comes from a combination of deep planting and having to peel the outer leaves due to cold damage. I also brought in the last of the 'Little Gem' romaine. Next winter I am planning to plant a lot more of this romaine, it is really hardy.

If you would like to see what everyone else is harvesting stop by Daphne's Dandelions for the full list.

Planting by the Moon

I tried out some moon planting tonight for the first time. My recently seeded onions had pretty lack luster germination so I needed to seed some more. After seeing the large wolf moon last January I decided to looking into planting by the moon.

With my limited reading so far I found out my planned planting date of Feb 1st would have been a poor idea as that is a barren time. Feb 6-7th is a better time to plant roots crops during the new moon phase. If you are looking to read up more on moon planting Granny just did an informative post and the Farmers Almanac also has good information.

Tonight I seeded a cell pack each of Utah Sweet Spanish onion and Amish Bottle onion. This time I planted 12 seeds per cell. I hope they germinate well so I can grow 4 plants per cell in order to have enough plant stock. If these do not germinate well I am going to have to plant sets again this year. Onions seem to be the one veggie that always cause me problems, from poor germination to weak growth to small bulbs.

A Beautiful but Cold Day

Today was a very nice sunny February Day. We had a high pressure system push down from the north which gave use lots of blue sky's but also really cold temperatures. Here are a few photos I took today:

Male Mallard, Taken on the Grand River in Caledonia, ON


Male & Female Bufflehead, Taken on the Grand River in Caledonia, ON


Barn, Taken in Six Nations Reserve

Fourth Time's A Charm

I have been trying to grow a Brugmansia sanguinea seemingly for ever. My first attempt was probably 7 years ago from Thompson & Morgan seed. The seed grew great but it turn out to be the white Brugmansia candida. After complaining I received replacement seed which then also grew out to be the white version. I then lost interest. Last year I decided to try again and order some seed from ebay. Of the 5 seeds only one sprouted and it then abruptly damped off. Clearly I like punishment so I order seed again this year from druid_moons on ebay.

Again I receive 5 seeds but this time they have done really well. I ended up with three viable seeds and now have two healthy seedlings growing. The third one I accidentally cooked to death by placing it to close to the metal halide bulb. In the next few weeks it will be apparent if the seed is true. Brugmansia sanguinea have toothed fuzzy leaves so identifications will be pretty easy now that I know what to look for.

Above is a photo of the flower that I borrowed from google image. It is quite a striking plant. I hope this will be the year it grows true and I will be extactic if I end up with two healthy plants.