From the category archives:

Seeds and Seed Starting

Using spreadsheets in garden planning: Part 2

January 17, 2007

In part 1 we logged into Google Spreadsheets and got things set up. Now let’s get this thing to do some work for us.
Creating the Formula
We’re going to teach this worksheet to multiply the price of a plant by the number of plants we want to give us the total price. The end result will [...]

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Using spreadsheets in garden planning: Part 1

January 16, 2007

I mentioned in a recent post that I use a spreadsheet to plan my garden purchases. Others have mentioned using a spreadsheet to track their seed sowing. But that doesn’t help you much if you don’t know a spreadsheet from a tablecloth, so let’s start right there: a spreadsheet is a computer program that arranges [...]

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Seed info

January 9, 2007

Spring-like warmth and an absence of snow have conspired to create irresistible conditions for working outside in the garden. But not much beyond a little cleaning, mulching, and pruning can be done, as the soil is soaked and soggy and, as tempting as it is, it’s much too early to sow seeds outside. I’m channeling [...]

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Gardening catalog deals and deadlines for 2007

January 5, 2007

Have you ever gotten ready to order from a mail order seed or plant merchant, only to discover if you’d ordered a few days sooner you could have gotten a discount or a freebie? I have. It’s more than annoying–it makes me feel like I’m losing my penny-pinching touch. So I decided that this year [...]

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What kind of a seed buyer are you?

January 2, 2007

Carol at May Dreams Gardens wrote a series of thought-provoking questions on the gardener’s relationship to seeds. I decided to answer in my own blog, and I hope you do, too. More intriguing and less silly than all those memes going around.
Do you carefully read all of the seed catalogs sent to you and then [...]

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Johnny Loves Me!

December 1, 2006

I mean, Johnny’s loves me. I happened to be looking at tomatoes online tonight (which is early for me!), and lo, I discovered Valley Girl! Despite anything anyone says to the contrary, I am going to believe this tomato was developed just for me. (I am a girl, and I am living in a Valley.) [...]

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Testing Seed Germination. . . what do you learn?

March 22, 2006

Not much.
As is my habit every spring, I test my seeds to see whether they’re still any good, or if I need to buy new ones. This is a very easy thing to do–you stick half a damp paper towel in a little plastic bag, drop in ten seeds (5 if you’re starting to run [...]

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Answers to Betsy & Heather’s questions

February 28, 2006

Hi gals, isn’t it fun to dream of gardening when it’s raining too much to set foot in the garden? And, yes, Betsy, this is not the end of winter. In Boundary County we can have snow & freezes every month of the year so it’s not over yet. It’s a very [...]

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Can you believe it?

October 1, 2005

I got my Thompson & Morgan seed catalog today. Talk about rushing the season! It’s usually the first catalog to arrive, but I don’t remember it ever coming this early. I must say, the ‘Fruit Punch’ Oriental poppies on the cover tempt me to break my vow of no more seed starting until the beds [...]

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You never know who’s listening. . .

June 25, 2005

People who have been reading a while might remember this post of mine from a while back. Well, today we have a very similar story. Once again, it begins with me coming back from shopping–which is odd, because I actually very rarely go out shopping, only about once a month when I go out to [...]

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Too Bad for the Broccoli

May 9, 2005

Yes, folks, this is going to be a sad post. Better get out your Kleenex. *Sigh.* Particularly sad after last year’s broccoli, which was the most wonderful broccoli I’d ever had in my life, no kidding. That was amazing broccoli.
First we must set the stage. . .
After our terrible flooding (for most of which, [...]

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Hardening my heart.

April 15, 2005

I read the bookish gardeners article about seed starting with chagrin. My own seed starting practices have deteriorated over the years. Every seed gets sown in the same conditions, at the same time, somewhere around 6-8 weeks (if I’m running late, I change my last frost date so I am not behind). [...]

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Savoring Seeds with the Bookish Gardener

April 7, 2005

March blew through with the mood swings of a diva… freeze! thaw! snow! thunderstorms!… “tempera-mental,” indeed. But the weather always turns the corner in April. The garden shows only the earliest signs of green, but spring finally seems plausible, and I’m even emboldened to regard the coming of tulips with the same certainty as taxes.
Chan [...]

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