These seeds have got to GROW! Planning our FIRST big homestead garden | Our 2023 seed audit

[@gardentrix4736]

I am really enjoying your seed audit! Thank you for sharing it. There are so many things I'd like to comment on, but I'll narrow it down to a few: 1) Re: peppers not turning colour, there can be various reasons but, as a northern grower, I'd say the top reason is not starting your plants early enough. The seed packets will have the days to maturity listed. Try starting your plants earlier and/or choose varieties that have fewer days to maturity. 2) The blue-grey poppy that you have is a shirley-type poppy and it will not produce the edible poppy seeds that you are looking to harvest. Poppy seeds for culinary use come from breadseed/opium poppies (Papaver somniferum). There are lots of varieties to choose from. 3) The goldenrod seeds that you harvested on public land are probably Canada goldenrod, which can be quite aggressive in a garden. I have loads and let it grow where it can spread but, if you're looking for varieties that won't form colonies, there of lots of species to choose from - ex. blue-stemmed goldenrod, zigzag goldenrod. Check out the seeds from Prairie Moon Nursery. They specialize in native plant seeds and are one of the best suppliers. They are transparent regarding sourcing, and they provide tons of information regarding what is native to your region. 4) I hope that you will try growing the swamp milkweed one day. Milkweeds provide many benefits to native insects (monarch butterflies, milkweed beetle) and countless learning opportunities for young kids. I have some neighbours whose young boys would visit my garden every few days to see the monarch caterpillars feeding on the various species of milkweed. Kids can learn to identify milkweed and understand that it can be poisonous (and to avoid eating it). There are lots of plants that can be toxic if ingested, including many plants that we grow ornamentally in gardens. In my experience milkweed sap doesn't really irritate unless you have sensitive skin.

[@OrganicMommaGA]

Basil is one of the seeds that needs light to germinate, so if you've had trouble getting it to grow, you might be planting seed too deep. Also, asparagus needs a dedicated spot - it'll be a solid 3 years from seed planting before you're able to harvest even a modest amount. But it is SO WORTH IT! If you like asparagus, it's definitely worth it... but you just have to decide if you have the space you can dedicate exclusively to asparagus forevermore basically. We started ours from 1-year old crowns because we had such a sketchy time with seeds. They're really neat to watch grow - the itty bitty spears become something like an ostrich fern. We're in GA, too (NW of Atl) and we found beets, cabbage, broccoli have all grown really well when we started them in late summer and then planted them before the first frost (but not when it was still hot out). One thing I would say is fun to grow is Cucamelons - they look like tiny watermelons but they're a slightly tart cucumber. Perfect snacking size and fermenting them is good, too. It might not be something you want to grow always, and they do seem to take a while to really start to "do anything", but once they start producing, they'll keep on until frost. Glad I found your channel!

[@roxannern9393]

Goldenrod seeds at Sow True Seeds for native southeastern states. Gray Leaf Goldenrod. Borage is great for tomato plants. I always grow them in my tomato garden. Try cold stratifying poppy seeds in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks/research We are in 7A E TN. My refrigerator drawer is full of seeds--mostly herbs and some flowers. I really like that y'all work together to decide what to grow in a functional manner. My husband and I work closely to provide food for our family and I know absolutely we are becoming more and more successful each year because of our team work. It is wonderful hearing you all working as a cohesive team!

[@roxannern9393]

We tend to grow pole beans on a cattle/hog panel held in place by 2 green metal fencing stakes , one on either side, forming a 4 foot long tunnel. You will get much more yield from the Blue Lake Pole bean, which is also stringless, than from taking up so much space with bush beans. We do fit some bush beans here and there in the garden but, only where we have room. We don't have as much garden space as I would like so, we tend to think of plants that are the most compact. We also grow a couple of vines of noodle beans at the end of the bean tunnel. Do you preserve your food by canning and fermenting? Another trick we use is to concentrate our efforts on certain types of food every other year and grow / preserve enough to last 2 years. Even years are green beans, peppers, lima beans, winter squash, brassacas. Odd years are tomatoes, potatoes, beets, cucumbers, dry beans. We plant summer squash, carrots, salad greens every year along with some fresh eating vegetables, tomatoes, peppers, specialty bush beans and herbs. We feed 12 people with 8 raised beds 5'X2' and 2 inground spaces 5'X16' and 12'X12'.

[@CrocGardener]

Seeda are ao addictive!!! I buy way too many!

[@doolittleranch8302]

You need more seeds!!! Don’t say bad words like, too much and seeds in the same sentence. 🙃 the correct way to say it, is…. We need more seeds, we always should buy more!!! 😍… 🌱 🪴 🍅 🥰🥰🥰🥰

[@doolittleranch8302]

PS- LOVE YOUR CHANNEL!! You Both Rock!!!!! 🔥

[@littleacrehomestead]

You’re so kind, thank you so much! 🖤 and you know what, you’re totally right. We absolutely need more seeds! 🤣

[@PamsPrettyPlants]

The sugar rush peach is one of my favorites but it’s a fussy little b to grow. I find mine get spots by mid season and they take foreverrrr to ripen. Start your hots earlier and see if that helps, I have to start mine soon to get a good crop here in 6b/newly 7a

[@littleacrehomestead]

I saw about the zones changing - we were 7B and now we’re 8A. So that’s another layer of adjusting we need to do. They really are a fussy b! I’ll try starting them earlier and see if that helps. Thank you for the tip 🖤

[@emilyjamestaylor]

You need at least two tomatillo plants for fruit to appear, hope that helps :)

[@Nins-niche67]

For the cucumbers I would say Boston pickling

[@serresaschrock2359]

If you want to start poppies look up the winter sowing milk jug method and mine have always germinated

[@dawns5499]

I bought the spoon tomato thinking they would be so nice in salads. 😂

[@littleacrehomestead]

😭 I wish they were better! I wanted so badly to like them.

[@DianaTorez]

😲What do they taste like I just ordered some for next year

[@dawns5499]

@DianaTorez just like a normal tomato except tiny.

[@teresaseggerman9402]

Any pepper will turn from green to red to yellow as it ripens. Leave them on the plant until they are the color you want.

[@littleacrehomestead]

Interesting! We’ll have to give that a try.

[@katherinecadwallader5418]

They do take awhile to change color. Almost 20 days.

[@jennmannhardt]

Banana peppers have gone absolutely BONKERS for me in the past. It was so nice but chopping up smaller peppers drive me crazy lol. I grew sweet banana's though so I could use them in most scenarios. Beit Alpha is one of my FAVORITE varieties of cucumbers!! They're like the small ones you get in the bags or trays in the store (my fav!). I love using them for fresh eating as well as quick pickling. Lemon Balm is my FAVORITE!!!!!!! I love adding it to tea/water/etc. Just running my hand through it and smelling it. Ugh, so good. It is in the mint family though so watch for babies taking over your beds! I've mostly heard of people growing nasturtiums as "trap" plants but I've never had great success with getting them to really take off. I do like their flavor though so I wish they could. I also want to try small pumpkins this year! I love growing Calendula - it's been super easy for me and reseeds itself like crazy. Also great medicinally - definitely recommend! Wapsie Valley is a dent corn! I've grown it once just for nostalgia but it did pretty well. Why am I picturing you letting Judah pick seeds like they let dogs predict winners of the superbowl? 😂 This brings me joy, haha.

[@littleacrehomestead]

Ooh that’s good to know! I love banana peppers - they’re so mild to me. Ours have done… okay I’m the past. I think with the shade this year they’ll do much better. We need to recreate whatever happened to the lemon drops! Okay okay I did not know they were the little cukes! Now I’m even more excited to try them! Honestly if the lemon balm took over the yard and we never had to mow, I’d be okay with that! Thank you for the dent corn knowledge 😅 we’ll get a sweet variety and put it allllll the way on the other side of the garden. Genuinely can’t wait to let Judah pick some seeds lol I think he’ll have fun!