Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Seed Stash Archaeology




I promised Bobbi that I would send her a complete inventory of my seed stash sometime tonight. My apologies to my Southern Gardening/Sock pal; I've only got 12 or 13 hours to get this done and I might not make it in time.

Some of these seeds are reaching the 12 year mark, which is going to mean that come next Spring I shall broadcast them at will in a part of the garden marked "Experimental: sign this waiver absolving us of all blame before entering." Thus too shall be the fate of all of the loose seeds that have managed to become parted from their original packaging and therefore are only vaguely identifiable to the untrained (i.e., ME) eye.

I'm not sure how to go about this; I'd dump everthing on the floor and put it all back in -- a tried and true method -- but not with all of those loose seeds. We may have vacuumed yesterday but there's enough residual topsoil in my dining room alone to germinate most plant life. I'd do it in true archaeological fashion, but I know for a fact that I have three different sorts of radish in there and it wouldn't be fair to list them in different places. So we'll do it in true BrownThumb tradition: haphazard and at full tilt.

Let's see. Hmmm.

Three mailers full of tomato seeds. Nope, not cool weather crops, but nice to know they're still here. I still have between 50 and 52 varieties and knowing my proclivities I'll have more than 60 come January. The tastiest we've had this season was something that was labeled as an orange oxheart, but I have my doubts. For one thing, it was this deep, brilliant red -- but then, it was a plant when I got it and the labels may very well have been swapped around. But darn, I wish I knew what it really was, they really were delicious. And probably will still be; that plant looks like it's starting to set again.

Amaranth all-sorts
Bean:
Anasazi bush bean
Christmas lima
Cannellini
Fava, Broad Windsor
Corn:
Black Aztec corn, definitely summer
Honey & Cream sweet corn
Seneca Chief Hybrid

Lettuce:
Super Gourmet Blend
Bolt resistant mix
Curly Cress, Peppergrass
Italian Dandelion
Sunflowers of all descriptions
Pumpkins:
Kakai
Valenciano
Baby Pam
Casper
Rouge Vif D'Etampes
(I love my Cinderella pumpkin...now, if I could only get them to grow!)
Jack Be Little
Baby Bear
Sarah's Batwings
(saved from pumpkin carving, goodness knows what they'll look like!)
Sorcerer
Wee-B-Little

Basil:
Genovese
Italian Large Leaf
Napoletano
Sweet

Greek Oregano
Sweet Marjoram
Common Summer Savory
Winter Savory
(Uncle Knicknack's summer clothes, Uncle Knicknack's winter clothes....Uncle Knicknack....)
Common Sage
Squash:
Acorn
Yellow Crookneck
Delicata
Hi-Beta Gold Hybrid

Cilantro
Radish:
French Breakfast
Icicle
Early Scarlet Globe
Cherry Belle
Cucumber, Boston Pickling
Carnation
Watermelon
Borage
Carrot:
Mokum
Royal Chantenay
Scarlet Nantes
Thumbelina
Yellowstone

Pea:
Mammoth Melting Sugar
Dwarf Gray Sugar
Snow Wind

Caraway
Thymus Vulgaris
Rosemary
Epazote
Brussels Sprouts
Broccoli
Dill
Asparagus
Catnip
Larkspur
Wildflower mix
Columbine
Snapdragon
Scarlet Sage
Sage
Kale, Winter Red
Spinach
California Poppy
-- Good Lord, plant food!
Onion, Copra
Agastache Urticifolia
Cabbage (!) January King
Lupine
Sweet pea
coneflower
Various peppers, hot and sweet
and goodness knows I might have an eggplant around here somewhere


This is, although exhausting, by no means an exhaustive list. I'm still finding seed packets in the darnedest of places, and I KNOW that I have a Himalayan Blue Poppy around here some place. Probably on my desk, under that stack of undisturbed bills.

2 comments:

Bobbisox said...

Nice sized stash; how were they stored?

Stephanie said...

Exactly how you see them. However the house got -- hot, cold, humid, dry -- that's how the seeds got, although they were never in a direct line from the swamp coooler.