Thursday 24 March 2011

Seed journal entry

A slice through an oak tree

I'm having a bit of trouble with the little Ixus 330 camera. It's eight, maybe nine years old and has served me well but the rechargeable battery is nearly defunct and will only hold a charge for 20 minutes or so and the memory cards have become corrupted, a card that should hold 64 shots is only managing to take 4 at the moment. I can replace the battery, just need to source it and I'm sure I can reformat the card with the right tools. Unfortunately I'm not clever enought at Linux to get to the bottom of the problem via this little netbook. However, my big computer is on its way so something will probably get sorted in a day or two. And with it, my Nikon camera, so maybe I won't need to fettle the Ixus after all. I think I will though, it's not dead until it's dead and it's been a fantastic tool.

Then all I have to solve is Flickr oversharpening everything I send it.

Anyway, the point of this entry is to record the seeds I sowed today. I was very good and sorted the entire mess of seed storage, re-organising as I went. It should be much easier to approach now.

In the heated propagator went 9 sorts of tomatoes; Salt Spring Sunrise, my favourite outside bush tomato and then in much smaller quantities Longkeeper and Beefsteak from the Heritage Seed library although they're not listed online. Some home saved seed from plants I've grown and from the market, Coeur de boeuf, Noir de Crimée and something enigmatically described as Black which I think is actually Purple Ukraine but could be anything. Latah and Tondo di Manduria, both trials for outdoor bush tomatoes which haven't usurped Salt Spring but do have some merits. Finally, a few Gezahnte Bührer-Keel. Last year I had a few fruit but the plants suffered in the open air and didn't show their best. This year, hoping the greenhouse will be assembled in time, conditions should be much better for them.

I also started some basil, tomatillos, Hungarian hot wax peppers (rather late), purslane and too many other things to remember right now! Outside in modules I planted various annual flower seeds, sweet peas, poppies, nasturtiums, things like that. I could have sowed direct but the bed isn't ready yet, victim of the time I've spent on the vegetables.

Oh, and the lawn mowing season has started although I nearly trashed the lawnmower almost immediately, still that's a story for another day.

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