Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Seed Booty

Hoooo-rah! Having just moved into a bigger apartment with a large balcony (100+ sq ft), I've been having dreams of container gardening. So last Saturday, I attended Seedy Saturday, Toronto's annual community seed exchange event. It was the perfect place to grab seeds if you're looking for rare, organic, heirloom and/or local seeds, and talk 1-on-1 with growing experts. It was held at the Wychwood Barns, a restored TTC (public transit) repair barn which now serves as a community and art space.

The event had a great turn-out; though a little breathing room and some more face time with seed sellers would have been nice. I went armed with a short list of seeds:

3 herbs - mint, coriander, basil
4 vegetables - kale, swiss chard, beets, hot peppers
1 edible flower - nasturtium

But seed mania got the best of me, and I ended up with 6 more seeds, including 5 donated by a container-gardener friend. So now I have seeds for mustard greens, cherry tomatoes, arugula and bell peppers too. Grand total: 15. Yikes.

I spent the rest of my seedy day peeping into thrift shops looking for planters (none yet), reading 2 gardening books from the library ("You Grow Girl" and "The Moosewood Restaurant Kitchen Garden", both really good references for beginners), and setting up a comprehensive gardening schedule and balcony layout based on sunlight requirements and companion planting. I've transformed into a garden geek, when did that happen. If it so tickles your fancy, you can check out my gardening schedule and layout, I welcome any and all comments!

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p0083wFSfTpO5XF7yYFvtAQ

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

maybe you should try something like this - http://www.cleanairgardening.com/stackable-self-watering.html

Minda said...

That stackable planter is brilliant. Though might not work so well with some of the larger plants, like beets. But I like this site --- thanks Troy! I've been having trouble sourcing organic potting and seed starter mix. Wonder if they will ship to Canada...