It is nearly -40 around here right now. So naturally, my brain wants to start some seeds… So to curb my enthusiasm a bit, I’m going to write about seeds (shocking right?). I don’t know how these things are going to do, but I am going to give them a shot. If you’ve grown any of these in a zone 3/4 (or colder) hit me up with some tips…
I’m going to start with what I am considering the least weird…
Rouge vif D’Etampes Pumpkin (aka: Cinderella Pumpkin):
Ok, Pumpkin isn’t super weird. Nor is this particular variety. BUT I’m considering it weird in my tiny yard. I haven’t particularly figured out where the heck I’m going to put this, because I know it will sprawl, and I’m slightly intimidated by its 110 days to maturity, given we have an average of 115 frost free days around here. So I may have to get a little creative. Stay tuned. Hopefully I will manage to grow an actual pumpkin.
Ok, Flowers are not super weird either. But I have limited flower starting experience, given I typically just hyper focus on tomatoes. My grandparents grew strawflowers one year… they were so cool, my grandpa made sure to point them out to anyone they gave a garden tour to (which was anyone who came to their house😏)… and these flowers have been in the back of my mind ever since. When I saw them on the MI Gardener seed shop, I couldn’t resist and grabbed the purple red ones. I’ll get to start these ones pretty soon, since they need to be started 8-12 weeks before our last frost. I’m linking to the seed shop for you see their photo there… The watercolor on the seed packet does not do these flowers justice, and I don’t want to steal their photo.
Also, not high on the weird spectrum. These were too cool to pass up trying. Mostly I am hoping that these have enough time to dry on the stalks before we get frost. I did grow some sweet corn in 2014 but I haven’t been willing to give up growing space in my yard to corn. I’m trying to change that up this year and trying more new things again. Look how cute these little blue kernels are! I almost got the pink popcorn as well, but I figured I would see how these grew and then expand my popcorn collection if all goes well.
I’ve never tried to grow celery… so this is a weird one for me. ANY help and advice would be much appreciated. I’m toying with the idea of making a self watering bin just so these have the water they need, since my ground can be hit or miss on keeping moisture. They need to be started 10-12 weeks before the last frost, and at 100 days to maturity, I’ll be tickling the beginning of fall/winter around here. Depending on when mother nature decides it will show up this year.
Butterfly Pea (Thai Double Blue)
I honestly don’t know how these will do here, but since the harvest on this one is the flowers… I figure it has a decent chance. Keeping my fingers crossed for this one, for the beauty… and also I am excited to try the food colouring properties of it. But also, I’m a sucker for blue (purple) flowers.
This is probably the weirdest thing on my list this year. I don’t know how they’ll do. I don’t know if we will even like them, but I was totally won over by MI Gardener’s description that said: “If you have animals or even neighbors that steal produce, grow these! They won’t come within a mile of them.” So I’m testing this out on the fricken klepto squirrels around here. At 75 days to Maturity, I should be able to grow some fruit to show for my efforts at least…. Or at least I hope I will.
I have some more exciting seeds coming this year… I managed to clear out some old seed in my collection, and like a totally sane and rational human, I rewarded myself with *more* new seeds. 😉
ALSO, update from thelast post… My Baker Creek Catalogue finally got here on the 10th of January…
The Crafty Cultivator 
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