The moment all five of our readers have been waiting for…
*drum roll please*
Alyssa's 2021 Must Have Garden Seed List
… but first a quick recap.
We’re the kind of crazy that plans to double the garden and start seeds for the first time ever… at the same time. I like to think I have an advantage with successful gardeners on both sides of my DNA and my garden master grandmother a quick text message away.
Additionally, we’re being gifted a greenhouse she is retiring to house our baby plants once we reach the point where the cold Kansas weather won’t try to derail our 2021 season.
If you missed it, I shared in my last post our full layout. (I did forget to add the two apple trees we’re planting in March, but I’m sure those will be a whole other story saved for another day.)
We did a bulk of our seed shopping in October and November… because I didn’t want to hit another seed shortage like what happened in spring 2020. We did find some seeds on sale at the end of the season at Tractor Supply, but the rest came from MIGardener, Burpee, Gurney’s, & Park Seed. I will say, I was a little nervous to order from Gurney’s. They had several not so great reviews, but I think a lot of the complaints stemmed from the slowness of shipping and any starter plants being dead upon arrival last year. They had a great coupon, so I went ahead with my order.
TOMATOES
- Cherokee Purple | Saved from last year!
- Cherokee Green | Saved from last year!
- Yellow Pear | unmarked brand from Tractor Supply
- 4th of July
- Green Tamatillo
- Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherries
- Giant Belgium tomato
- Champagne Bubble Tomatoes
- Black Krim
- Sweet Heart Grape | Our neighbor loved these & I’m planning on starting a plant or two for her.
- Better Boy
- San Marzano
- Heirloom Rainbow Blend | Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Dixie Golden Giant, Black from Tula, Brandywine Red, Big Rainbow, and Cherokee Purple
- Big Rainbow Tomato
- Brad’s Atomic Grape Tomato
HERBS
- Cilantro
- Garlic Chives
- Basil Burpee
- Dill**
- Italian large leaf basil
- Chives – Planted
- Thyme – Planted
- Oregno – Planted
- Mint – Planted
VEGGIES
- Random variety of lettuces
- Jalepenos | Saved from last year
- Triple Delight Hybrid Sweet Pepper
- Mini Sweet Bell Peppers | This one is a maybe… I’m currently testing the germination on seeds I saved from a pack from Sprouts. They said they’re grown in CA, so I’m hoping it will work.
- Marketmore Cucumbers | A random pack from last year
- Early Pride Cucumbers
- Sweet Corn on Deck
- Clemson Spineless Okra
- Star of David Okra | Saved from last year
- Hill Country Red Okra
- Luffa Gourd
- Kentucky Pole Beans
- Blue Lake Bush Beans
- Cucamelons – Cucumber, Mexican Sour Gherkin
- Waltham Butternut Winter Squash
- Smooth Criminal Squash
- Spineless Beauty Zucchini
- Spaghetti Winter Squash
- Sugar Pie Pumpkins
- Broad London Leeks | unbranded pack from Tractor Supply
- Cherry Radish | unbranded pack from Tractor Supply
- Purple Viking Potato
- Yukon Gold Potato
- Tendersweet Carrot Seed
Garden Planning Layout | UPDATE
We made a quick trip to visit my mom, sister & grandparents over the weekend. I made sure to grab my printed copy of my garden map to ask for the approval of the experts. Ha! I’m glad I did! 1. I wasn’t planning on starting my peppers soon enough. 2. I am reorganizing my cucumber and Okra bed to contain a full arch. 3. Turns out fennel is an enemy to pretty much every other plant. I don’t feel like figuring out a new set-up for it to be grown independently, so we’ll save the seeds for next year.
The cucumber arch will now go north and south on the west side of one of the beds. We picked up three 16′ cattle panels from Tractor Supply and eight more T posts. The panels came to $22-ish a piece. We’re using two in the tomato bed, spaced about 8 inches apart so each row of tomatoes has its own trellis system. Jess from Roots and Refuge is where we learned about this set-up. We did a similar thing last year, but it was last minute and everything had already been planted.
Did you know...
It is totally possible to carry 16′ cattle panels in a short-bed truck… or really any truck… without needing to use a trailer or cut them down.
On a whim, I decided to Google the idea and found this video. All it takes is a quick pop and push.
Granted, we loaded three at once, so it was less pop and more of a Jared lifting when I pushed. Then we tied it down with some ratchet straps and headed on our way!
