Talitha Purdy

Cottage Garden Discoveries

– Posted in: Plant info, Seeds and Seed Starting

One of the lovely things about gardening is that no matter how long (or short) you've been doing it, there's always so much more to learn and discover. Lately, I have been discovering "cottage gardening"--that serendipitous combination of flowers and vegetables and herbs, with the flowers being largely traditional and very fragrant. Last year was [...]

A Tale of Two Cities. . .I mean, Catalogs

– Posted in: Catalog review

So we got this new (meaning, we've never gotten this one before, the company's actually 9 years old) seed catalog in the mail the other day, and I've been elected to post about it. They're called Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, and you can find them on the internet here. They're all about rare, organic, old, [...]

Potatoes

– Posted in: Catalog review, Vegetables

As I'm beginning to get started on my seed order this year, I remember that I meant to post on potatoes. Last year, due to the fascinating varieties offered by Fedco, I ordered my potatoes from them instead of Johnny's. Most of you probably know that Fedco is divided into several distinct branches; the seeds [...]

Weather Whining II

– Posted in: Vegetables, Weather, What's up/blooming

Our nasty, hot sticky weather--high 90s for days and days on end, coupled with so much humidity the hill across the street was covered in a white haze--has finally broken. Quite dramatically. Now we've been getting days where the warmest it gets is into the low 60s. There was no transition at all; it is [...]

Notes

– Posted in: Plant info, Vegetables

My 'America' spinach has withstood my torments much better than the 'Olympia' spinach. I had trouble with the 'Olympia' dampening off, to begin with. (I did start them inside; more on that later.) The 'America' looks settled in, but the 'Olympia' looks like it's hanging by a thread. I actually wanted 'Tyee', but Fedco was [...]