Beware of bargain seed packets!

By now most of us are aware that more is just shrinking besides the dollar. Have you had a Big Mac lately? It’s now more like a Little Bud if you get my drift. A hamburger that used to fill two hands, now rests comfortably in just one!

The same is true of seed packets. The seeds packets are the same size, but not the contents. I recently purchased a packet from American Seed (they also make the NK brand) from my local grocery store. It contained radish seed known as Sparkler White Tip. For fifty nine cents plus tax, I got 86 seeds. That’s pretty close to a penny a seed! (Check out my article on the high cost of seed here). Did you know you can let a few plants go to seed in the summer and then harvest them for free? I did this last season a variety call Cherry Belle which is open pollinated and not a hybrid.

As a matter of fact, you can save the seed from many of your common veggies and reap huge saving in the process. Happy Gardening!

Amazing Kale!

After surviving a pretty hard winter where temperatures did get below zero, I have to admit being simply amazed at the hardiness factor I’ve seen in one lone plant. A member of the cabbage family that not only came through in shining colors, but which has also provided me with a few good meals this spring.

The variety, according to the seed packet, is Dwarf Blue Kale. I picked it up at my local grocery store last year with the idea of seeing if I would even like the stuff. To my surprise, I loved steaming the leaves and eating them with a little butter, salt and pepper. While Burpee Seed is selling a packet on line for $3.25, I got mine for fifty nine cents from a company called American Seed. They sell seed under various names including the familiar NK label. It does pay to shop around!

What interested me the most, was the fact that the leaves, after stripping them from the stem and steaming for fourteen minutes, was really awesome! I would have thought they’d be a little bitter, but that was not the case!

One other point. Just a few plants can really produce a good harvest. Also, the leaves make a great garnish and companion to other meals. Sort of like parsley.