Seed and plant orders have been placed. Copies of the confirmations.

I have been planning, and writing, and planning some more. I have been drawing maps of where the different vegetables will be planted. Where the new raised beds will go. Then I planned some more. So here we are. Christmas is over and it is year end for the store. We are leaving for vacation at the end of January, so getting inventory and year end done before then, as well as get everything done in advance for my being away...means that it was now or wait until march to do these orders. Having never ordered seeds and herbs by mail, I was really worried that if I waited, much of what I would like, may be sold out. So, oh poor me, I had to get the orders done. So here are the confirmation copies of the three orders I did so you can see exactly what I'll be growing this year.

Richters order  Dec 29. Ship after feb 22

  Cat.No.    Item    Price    Unit    Quantity    Subtotal  
P3910 Marjoram, Sweet Plants   $ 3.00 ea 1 $ 3.00
P5300 Savory, Winter Plants   $ 3.00 ea 1 $ 3.00
P6620 Verbena, Lemon Plants   $ 4.00 ea 1 $ 4.00
P1300 Bay Laurel Plants   $ 7.00 ea 1 $ 7.00
P6460 Thyme, Lemon Plants   $ 3.00 ea 1 $ 3.00
P6080 Strawberry, Alpine Plants   $ 1.80 ea 12 $ 21.60
P1870 Comfrey, Common Plants   $ 3.00 ea 1 $ 3.00
P8016 Artichoke, Globe Plants   $ 3.00 ea 1 $ 3.00
Pre-shipping Order Total = $ 47.60 
Currency: Canadian Dollar 
Potted herbs and plug packs ship spring 2012. 
To reserve your plants, you will be charged for them at time of ordering.
Shipping and Handling: $ 35.00
Sales Tax: $ 9.92
Grand Total: $ 92.51


Botanical Interest Order.  Dec 29

Thank you for your order!
Product Name Prod # Unit Price Quantity Price
Beet Gourmet Blend Heirloom Seed
0174 $2.69 1 $2.69
Carrot Carnival Blend Organic Seed
3115 $2.99 1 $2.99
Cucumber Homemade Pickles Seed
0022 $1.79 1 $1.79
Pumpkin Lumina Seed
0158 $2.99 1 $2.99
Squash Summer Early Yellow Crookneck Heirloom Seed
0045 $1.69 1 $1.69
Tomato Cherry Yellow Pear Heirloom Seed
0104 $1.89 1 $1.89
Tomato Pole Black Krim Organic Heirloom Seed
3118 $2.39 1 $2.39
Tomato Pole Brandywine Heirloom Seed
0051 $1.89 1 $1.89
Subtotal: $18.32
Shipping Total: $3.95
Order Total: $22.27


west coast seeds order Dec 29

( 2011-12-29 )
Item Code Item Name Item Size Qty. Price
TM784A Tomatoes>Amish paste 0.1 g 1 $ 2.99 CA
TM780A Tomatoes>Gold nugget 0.1 g 1 $ 2.79 CA
FL2978A Morning glory>Heavenly blue 2 g 1 $ 2.99 CA
FL3252A Sunflowers>Zohar organic 1 g 1 $ 3.99 CA
SQ724A Zucchini>Romanesco zucchini 3 g 1 $ 2.99 CA
PP629A Peppers>Pepperoncini 0.5 g 1 $ 2.99 CA
KL420A Kale and collards>Winter kale blend 1 g 1 $ 3.95 CA
CB242A Cabbage>Danish ballhead 1 g 1 $ 2.79 CA
BT162A Beets>Winterkeeper lutz green leaf 5 g 1 $ 3.25 CA
ON565A Onions>Walla walla 1 g 1 $ 3.29 CA
CF304A Cauliflower>Snow crown 0.1 g 1 $ 3.29 CA
TM792A Tomatoes>Brandywine 0.5 g 1 $ 2.99 CA
Sub Total 38.3
Tax Summary :
GST/HST * ----- $ 4.60
HST Rebate ----- $ 0.00
Tax 4.58
Shipping ( ) 0.00
Total 42.88
Didn't order brandywine, yet it is on order. I emailed right away to remove.

I think Rainier Cherries are the most beautiful fruit.

I was just surfing on the world wide web and stumbled, yes stumbled, on this gorgeous picture of Rainier Cherries. I am trying to find a fruit tree I just can't live without to put right against the back of my house. Would cherry be a good choice for this?

A gardener's dream Christmas.

I have everything I need. I told everyone that there just isn't any material thing
that I need. After much persistance on their part, I came up with a short list of
gardening things from Lee Valley. I told them if they just got one thing, that would be plenty. I think they went out and bought everything on my list. They will be hooped next year. Now I really need...nothing.

At our house Christmas is called paper day. We fling it everywhere.
The cats love it!

Sorry about the quality of the pictures. I used Allan's camera, which obviously isn't working perfectly at the moment. 

All is calm, all is bright...

Merry Christmas dear friends.

Calendula flowers in the dehydrator

We have a customer I'll call J. He does a bang on rooster crow. We are graced with said rooster crow a couple times per week. J brought me a bouquet of calendula flowers the other day. In the bouquet was a dried flower head full of seeds. Yayyy. I was actually going to order some seeds to grow calendula for tea and making salves next year. Today I was going to dispose of the flowers and realized that I could dehydrate them. Duh.
The petals of calendula are small and light. Which means...they blow all over the place in a dehydrator. I think I should have figured that out before hand. They are now in the greenhouse drying in a dish.

I've just washed a box of mandarin oranges. Why you ask? I found a recipe for a rub which calls for dried mandarin orange peels, buzzed up to a coarse meal..mixed with herbs, coarse pepper and salt. Rosemary-Mandarin Orange Spice Rub. Doesn't that sound wonderful.

The link will take you to the recipe located on one of my favorite blogs. Check out Northwest Edible Life. Erica is a wonderful writer, hilariously funny and brilliant at what she does.