The Bookish Gardener has recently posted her seedlist. And her husband was complaining about how many seeds she’s bought. He doesn’t know how good he’s got it. What if she was a hosta-holic? One latest-and-greatest hosta probably costs more than all her seed orders combined.
She keeps track of her seed sowing using a spreadsheet, which sounds like a better idea than my using WordPerfect to make a form that I fill out by hand. Well, now that I think of it, it’s easier to keep a piece of paper and pencil by your side as you sow the seeds, but it’s probably easier to look things up later in the spreadsheet. But wouldn’t a database be even better? But not everyone has Access or Paradox.
If you happen to be new to seedstarting, or just new to the idea of keeping records, there’s a general seed starting schedule for Zone 4 at the Gardener’s Supply website. Don’t fret if all this record keeping stuff makes it sound like more work than it’s worth. I’ll let you in on a little secret: the entries for the first seeds I sow are always completely filled in, but by the time the last seeds are sown, I am struggling so hard to keep up with everything that I often don’t enter them at all. The important thing is to find the level of gardening that is enjoyable to you. Wayne Winterrowd and Joe Eck, authors of A Year at North Hill (which is my favorite book of all time) among others, pay Walker Farm to sow and grow on the bulk of their seed, leaving their own greenhouse free for them to grow the rare and scarce. Now that’s luxury. If the Bookish Gardener’s husband only knew how frugal she was being . . .
Thank you for your support! I think I’ll seriously have to consider adding another set of columns to my spreadsheet: cost of seed/cost of plants at retail/”you saved:” Cheers.