Robbins Farm Garden

A Cooperative Learning Project

New for 2015 – Garden bed plans

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We began planting many of our garden beds according to drafted plans this year. The planting plans were developed from our 5 years of cooperative gardening wisdom. They are primarily for 6’ by 9’ beds.

The layouts express our interest in maximizing the number of crops that we grow, along with maximizing our limited garden space. They represent our current best guess at the ideal plant and/or row spacing for most of the crops we grow. They also represent our increasing interest in companion plantings.

Some of the layouts are works in progress. The Three Sisters bed is a great example. We have had a Three Sisters plot in the garden since 2011, and we have experimented with it every year.

This first set of planting plans was possible only because of the extensive photos and other records that we've kept. I am grateful to everyone for contributing to the process.

The complete set of scale bed planting plans for 2015 is available on the 2015 Garden Plan page. We hope they will be of use to other gardeners. They have been quite helpful for us.

 

My green car is even greener…..

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Elisabeth and I have developed a system for the seedlings we start indoors.  She has a cold basement and a shady backyard.  I have a warm basement and a good-sized sunny patch in my backyard.  She starts the cool weather seedlings (like the brassicas) in her basement, and I start the warm weather seedlings (like the nightshades) in my basement.  When the seedlings are ready to go outside, they go first to her backyard, and then to mine.

 

Today was transfer day for most of the warm weather seedlings, from her backyard to mine.  My car was completely filled (the back, the floors, and all the seats except the driver’s seat) with tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and tomatillos.  It did all fit, but barely.

Hot Lemon Peppers

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I know that these peppers are very popular with the gardeners (and with me, definitely) but maybe there’s a reason why they’re so expensive when we typically buy them as seedlings.  This year, we’re growing them from seed, and they've definitely been the most problematic of any of the seedlings I've been fostering.

This is a picture of their current state (on 4/29).  I don’t keep detailed records like Elisabeth does (I should probably do that), but we planted the seeds on 4/4.  The largest seedling probably sprouted about 4/13.  The next largest seedling probably sprouted about 4/23, and the 2 smallest seedlings just sprouted yesterday.  Maybe we’ll get some more!

Season’s first seedlings emerge

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With only a foot of the over 8 feet of snow that fell this year still with us, the seeds we planted indoors on March 7th have begun to sprout. (Reasons to be cheerful, parts 1 and 2.)

The broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbages are solidly up. The leeks, lettuce, spinach and onions are beginning to sprout and we await signs of life from the celery.

The photo shows green and red cabbage in the foreground, broccoli and Brussels sprouts in the middle, and leeks and onions in the background.

The Great Skeptical Penny-Pincher’s Seed Bargain Evaluation (with astonishing result!)

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We've all seen name-brand seeds at bargain outlets, and I've always wondered if they were really a bargain. I sort of always assumed that the discount was mitigated by a lower seed count. So this year, I decided to find out, at least with a small sample.

We purchased packets of organic Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce and conventional Cherry Belle radishes from both Burpee on-line and the same varieties off-the-rack at Ocean State Job Lots in Medford. Burpee makes it difficult to compare prices directly, because the packs purchased on-line are sold by seed count, while the retail packs are sold by weight. Until today, I had no idea how many radish or lettuce seeds are in a gram.

If you want to skip the details that follow, the astonishing result is (drum roll)…the Ocean State seeds really are a bargain – by a lot!

The Burpee BSS bought on-line (left, above) sells in packs of nominally 1000 seeds. We weighed the seeds at about 1.15g. At a price of $4.95 (with free shipping), the price based on the nominal seed count is 50 cents/100 seeds.

The Burpee packet bought at Ocean State retails for $3.19, or $1.91 after the discount, with an advertised weight of 1.5g, which we measured at closer to 1.6g. Extrapolating from the relative weights, we're estimating 1400 seeds, which is consistent with the relative sizes of the little piles. The result is about 14 cents/100 seeds, less than 1/3 of the cost of seeds online. Even without the discount, the retail cost is less than 1/2 of online.

The Burpee Cherry Belle radishes (conventional) bought on-line is packaged as nominally 500 seeds, which we weighed to be 4.55g, priced at $4.95, or 99 cents/100 seeds.

The nominally 4g packet bought from Ocean State actually weighed 4.5g, so nominally the same 500 seeds, for a discounted price of 27 cents/100 seeds, almost 1/4 the price from Burpee on-line. Even without the 40% discount, the retail seed would be less than 1/2 the price of on-line.

So the conclusion from these two data points is that Burpee seeds purchased from local discount retailers are significantly less expensive than those purchased on-line directly from Burpee. Ocean State has a pretty good selection of popular varieties of Burpee vegetable and flower seeds, including many organics, but only a fraction of the selection available on-line. I don't think they carry any other brands.

This is pretty much a straightforward apples-to-apples comparison with very conclusive results, but of only two seeds from one supplier. We also don't know at this point how well each will germinate, how well they were handled, or other quality factors. They were both packaged for 2015, but it's possible that the cheaper seeds were actually 2014 seeds which passed germination tests and were repackaged for 2015 – or not – we have no way of knowing (that's me being skeptical again). Three of the seeds were grown in the USA, but the retail radishes were grown in Italy. The BSS seeds purchased on-line came in a foil packet, the other three in paper only.

Even at full retail price (like at Mahoney's or Russell's), the Burpee seeds packaged for retail would be significantly less expensive. In the future, I'll be looking for comparisons of other brands when I find them. For example, I think Verrill Farm sells some High Mowing Seeds that I should be able to compare. If you see anyone selling Johnny's, High Mowing or Baker Creek off the shelf, let me know.