Seed greed

Sigh. My downfall! I found two suppliers for seeds - specifically Large Bell Peppers and other seeds I can't find elsewhere ... and I got a little carried away.

The first site, Sandveld Organics offers more variety on their own website than I can get through Faithful to Nature (FTN). I have already ordered some of their seeds via FTN, but on their website they also have the peppers, which are out of stock at FTN. Okay, so they offer free delivery only for orders over R700, so I'm paying R100 for delivery - but I'm getting large bell pepper seeds!

What's the issue with those specific seeds? Leon and I have been talking about those this weekend, he's also been looking for seeds and they are not available anywhere. I have also been looking for them for as long as I've had a garden - as in, I've never seen them in PE nor here anywhere. We both tried growing them from seeds saved from store-bought peppers and in both cases they produced those tiny thumb-sized peppers. So yes, I'm very happy to have found large bell pepper seeds!

Also: the red and yellow peppers are extravagantly expensive in stores! The green ones are just about affordable, but still expensive. If I could grow either, that would be awesome!

Okay and then I discovered Seeds for Africa. Very aptly named! Oh. My. Gosh! I was in paradise! And I went totally overboard! However, in my defense, they currently have 'Black Friday' sale going on - 20% off everything. I just surfed and shopped and added and added and added more and more to my cart. And then I looked at the total! Yikes! So, I culled my order ... quite drastically.

The thing is, they offer something like 5 or 10 seeds per packet ... and with my success rate, that seems a little optimistic. Take all my herbs, for example: twice now I've sown seeds and still not much to show for it. And I didn't sow just 5 or 10 seeds ... 

I found seeds for Blueberries, seeds for Strawberries, seeds for Raspberries, seeds for Luffa (loofah), seeds for peanuts, seeds for chervil, seeds for lovage, seeds for cumin, seeds for lavender, seeds for capers ... I have never, ever seen seeds for most of these things anywhere! At best, I've seen seedlings or small plants sold at nurseries, but seeds? Never!

Where am I going to sow all of those, you ask? Yes, that is a very good question :) Very good question, indeed!

Well, here's what I've been thinking: until now, I've done what most people do - prepare beds and then decide which seeds to put where. But with this lot, I'm taking a different approach. Especially, since - together with my order, I also received a growing guide for every single packet of seeds I purchased! So, I have all the knowledge of how, where, when to sow which seeds where! Isn't that awesome?

I can look through those guides and pick a packet, then look around my garden for an ideal spot, clear that, make a little bed - it doesn't need to be large, not for 5-10 seeds - and place my seeds!

I've had a look under the trees, there are loads of patches where the grass has already strangled the succulents, so that I'll have space for beds speckled throughout the garden! I'll make more of the little beds, like I did for the basil, the shady ladies, etc.

I also still have quite a few pots available - especially since nothing seems to be growing in the ones I sowed 2 or 3 weekends ago. Sigh. See what I mean? They get morning sun and afternoon shade - which may be the problem.

So, yes, I do still have space. It is quite a large garden, after all! And I haven't been able to clear even half of it. Oh, I pulled out all the tall grass - but it's already growing again, especially with all the rain we're getting now.

At home, I took time out. I was too tired to do anything, so I just baked my loaf of bread, fried my steak and that was it. Crap, and I forgot to take something out for Wednesday night. Oh and I paid my rent, so that's done. And I'm broke, ha ha!

Well, I won't need to buy any seeds again for a long time now - and those plants which do grow, I'll hopefully never have to buy seeds for again. Ever! I'll be collecting seeds on some of the plants - like watermelon, zucchini, etc - and others, like the basil, can take care of their own propagation.

The power went out again some time during the night - it wakes me up, because some of the electronics cry when they are deprived of power. It also came on again some time during the night - which wakes me up, because all the alarms go off to let everyone know they are back in action.

And yet, I woke up early! Around five! So I had enough time to pack my lunch, have some coffee and get ready.