SEEDS!

Yesterday was wet, cold, and gloomy around here, so when I checked the mail and saw that my rare seeds from SSE had arrived, it was just the thing I needed to brighten my day! On this order (and yes, I have placed another one with them last week for rare pole bean seeds) I received Joya de Oaxaca ("Oaxaca Jewel" or "Jewel of Oaxaca" - whichever you prefer) tomato, Chile Congo de Nicaragua pepper, Chapeau de Frade pepper, PBC-211 pepper, Miscuchu pepper, and Piment de Bresse pepper seeds. Because most of the seeds were older than 6 years, SSE sent me double the normal amount (so I received 80 seeds of each variety). Most of the germination tests they ran put the rates at 35-39% - not very high, but when you consider how many out of 80 seeds will sprout at that rate, it's still a reasonable number for a home gardener. Yesterday, I started a new germination tray with Aji Limo(n) pepper, Thyme, Chapeau de Frade pepper, Brussel Sprouts, Joya de Oaxaca tomato, and Epazote seeds. Today, I need to get another tray going with the remaining pepper seeds, as well as my Ping Tung Eggplant seeds. So many seeds to germinate, and the season is already getting away from me! ACK!

My "Beans of New York" book (mentioned in my previous post) shipped out yesterday, so all of my books are now headed my way! Yippee! While I was researching heirloom beans, I came across ANOTHER excellent bean book: "American Varieties of Garden Beans" by William Woodbridge Tracy, Jr. I highly recommend buying yourself a copy (I plan to!), but in the mean time, Google Books has a free PDF file of the book available for download.