December 30, 2008

Wow, must have been a much bigger wind storm last night than I thought.  When I checked the garden today, not expecting anything, I found it in complete disarray.  Bed #2 had completely lost it's cover, and the cross brace on Bed #1 had fallen down.  In addition, since all the snow had melted from around the front openings the wind had opened them up to let any warm air escape. 

Of course the plants looked as bad in broad daylight as they did the other day at twilight.  I didn't take any more pictures because I had left my phone inside and wanted to get it fixed immediately.

You see, the reason I went out there in the first place was that for some unknown reason, my hose has been running for a few days.  That's right, my water bill is going to rival the national debt I'm certain.  Crap.  The reason for it is that I didn't turn off the spigot the last time I watered.  I never turn it off, I rely on the nozzle to keep it from running since the spigot is on the other side of the house.  Recall that I haven't completed bringing water to the garden, so dragging a hose around from the front yard to the back was the only practical solution.  I've lived with it ever since.  Well, somehow after I last watered, the water came on at the nozzle.  I know I left it off, but somehow it came on.  Apparently my wife heard something like water running over the last few days but dismissed it because I had her turn off the spigot when it froze.  Major oops.  Grrr.

In other news, I got an email from Territorial Seed Company today.  Last I had communicated with them, they had said they would send me the list of Seminis seeds they are selling for 2009 when they got it, but I should email them back in the new year if they forgot.  I had just thought about emailing them back in light of my post yesterday, and sure enough, I got the list.  Here it is:

BNO28      Romano Gold                                

BN042       Liana                                              OK533      Cajun Delight

BN045       Etna                                               ON542      Mercury

BN059       Helda                                             ON559      Candy

BR091       Packman                                        PP663        Northstar

CF188       Cheddar                                         PP673        Holy Mole

CN203      Seneca Horizon                              PP674        Gypsy

CN207      Passion                                           PP684        Senorita

CR266       Thumbelina                                     PP689        Big Bomb

CU294       Pearl                                              PU727       Wyatt’s Wonder

CU295       Cool Breeze                                   SQ792       Butterstick

CU302       Orient Express                                SQ797       Gold Rush

CU312       Babylon                                          SQ798       Portofino

EG325       Dusky                                            SQ804       Sungreen   

EG332       Fairy Tale                                       SQ825       Early Butternut

EG333       Twinkle                                          SQ827       Ambercup

EG334       Hansel                                            SQ831       Bush Delicata (Conv Only)

LT387        Esmeralda                                      TM870      Celebrity

LT388        Simpson Elite                                  TM871      Big Beef

LT400        Summertime                                   TM885      Yellow Pear

ML456      Fastbreak                                       TM896      Viva Italia

ML458      Pulsar                                             TM924      Super Marzano

ML459      Earlidew                                         TM938      Window Box Roma

ML463      Ambrosia                                       WA989      Yellow Doll

 

The good news is out of 51 varieties they are selling from Monsanto, only one was I planning on purchasing.  Unfortunately, there is no work around for Yellow Pear tomatoes.  Grrr.  What I don't understand though, is that I am certain I read that Monsanto owns Early Girl tomatoes and Red Sails lettuce, but it's not on their list.  So I pinged them back to ask if they did business with any other company owned by Monsanto, like American Seeds (where they appear to have stuck all their acquisitions).  They responded that they didn't do business with American Seeds.  I may ping them back one more time to ask two questions that they left unanswered.  1) Do they sell any other varieties owned directly or indirectly by Monsanto?  2) Who owns Early Girl and Red Sails?  I really like Red Sails look and taste, and Early Girl does so well here, even if it is a bit small.

I still need to get through the Territorial catalog and go through my seeds. It's huge for 2009.  I don't think I need much, but I will probably order a decent amount.  I also am seriously considering buying tomato seeds this year rather than plants.  I would need a light set-up, but that's ok.  I just need to figure something out.  It will probably be a single shelf system because it needs to be in the heated section of my house.  So it won't be anything like EG's redneck seed starter contraption, but it will work for my purposes.  Therein lies a post for another day.

Enjoy your garden!