First, the news:

• Cathy Fulton will be talking about the Food Summit at this week’s meeting of the Sustainable Practices Committee, Thursday, 7pm at the Land Trust building.

• Ivan Weiss wants you to know he has farm-fresh eggs available for “the going rate” ($6/dozen) at his farm in upper Burton. Call ahead: 463-HOGS.

• Seattle’s Flower & Garden Show starts Wednesday and runs through this weekend. DIG will be there in the Vendor’s section, and local garden girl Patty Campbell will give a seminar on “Flower Pot Produce” at 5pm Sunday in the Mt. Hood room.

The Sap’s Rising, making Saps of us all

Have you noticed? The weather, the croaking frogs, and the American Capitalist System are conspiring to convince us it’s spring. 

This has been the warmest January on record: 48° on average, a full seven degrees warmer than the usual low 40s. With the jet stream sending foul weather to north and south of us, our plants think they’re getting mild spring weather. My wallflowers are trying to bloom: they normally blossom in March, with tulips. Just south of town, the forsythia hedge in front of the “Holiday House” is dotting itself yellow. And near the Athletic club, a couple of cherries have sent up a soft-pink cloud of bloom.

These so-called “autumn-flowering” cherries are meant to bloom in late winter. THEY’RE on schedule, but the rest of us, humans and plants, are being led down the primrose path. Our area almost ALWAYS has what I call a “January Thaw” when the oddly-warm air fools humans and flowers alike to think we’re getting an early spring. Our sap is rising, we’re ready to open the wallets and flush out some green. And the shops are ready for us…

Seedy Temptation

As you enter Thriftway through their primrose-lined entrance, you’ll find the seed-packet racks blooming with new arrivals. 2010 Seed packets from Ed Hume, Botanical Interests, and Territorial Seed Company can be found at True Value, Thriftway, Island Lumber, and Country Store (they also carryseeds from  Abundant Life, a company supplying organic and biodynamic seeds that was bought by Territorial seven years ago.) 

Country Store told me they’ve been fielding questions about seeds from eager customers for weeks now, and they are already selling seeds to folks who say they’re planting soon.

But for hobby gardeners, it’s still too early to sow. We may have the warmth, the seed-rotting rains may be averted (for now), but what we don’t have is solar power. Stray sunbeams may have played upon my greenhouse enough to warm it to 60°, but only from 10:30 to 2:30—about two hours shy of the bare minimum for healthily growing plants.

I suspect only the most favored sites—  top-of-the-island farms with open southern exposures like Plum Forest and Island Meadow—will start seedlings this early and only in their greenhouses. As Leda Langley told me last year, “most gardeners get stuck starting way too early, then end up nursing their transplants along for way too long.” Most seedlings only want to be in their little pots for about 4 weeks, yet our earliest frost-free day, according to Ed Hume, is March 24. 

It IS a good time to plan your seed order

In any year, late January through February is THE time to order seeds. If you order now, you’ll receive your seeds by late February, which will be a safer time to sow.

I spent last Saturday buried under one laptop, two gardening books, and five seed catalogs, typing my “Seed Spreadsheet” into google-docs as fast as my eyeballs could pull info from pages. Into this spreadsheet I’ve listed the plants I want to grow, noting varieties recommended by Steve Solomon (“Gardening West of the Cascades”) and Sylvia Thompson (“The Kitchen Garden”). With that list in hand, I can quickly scan the catalogs for those varieties and enter their prices/weight for a quick cost comparison when I’m ready to order.

I hope to diversify my plantings even more by trading for other’s extra seeds through the Seed Exchange at the Food Summit, March 5-7. (More on that in a later blog.)

While you’re at it, test your old seed

Before you order, you could test your old seeds—even last year’s packets—to see whether the seed is still viable or whether you’ll need to buy replacements. Here’s how to do a germination test:

• find a dark, warm place: the closet where the water heater lives, on top of an appliance with a pilot light, near the woodstove.

• Take two sheets of paper towel, lay on over the other, and moisten the upper half on your counter or a cooky sheet. A misting bottle works great.

• Take ten seeds or so from an older packet of seed you want to test. Spread those across the moistened sheet. Fold the bottom of the towels over this layer of seed, and moisten again so the sheets are damp but not dripping.

• Place this folded sheet into a ziploc bag. Seal and place in the dark, warm spot. To keep track of what’s in the bag (in case you’re loading it with several trials), take notes on the bag’s exterior or on a separate sheet of paper, not on the towel itself—wet ink RUNS, remember.

• Open and check seeds daily for sprouting. Within the week if they’re good, they’ll begin to sprout. Your packet may show the expected minimum germination rate (Johnny’s and Territorial for sure). If you get germination much less than that—or under 75%—either sow them as transplants so you won’t plant dudes, or replace the packet.

This idea comes courtesy of today’s Thriftway temptation: a special issue magazine from Taunton Press called “Starting From Seed.”

 Hey, I’m not immune! I may not buy THAT it’s spring, but can I resist buying INTO spring? Not a chance…