In article ,
songbird wrote:

The Cook wrote:

The seed catalogues have been coming for some time now. The
gardening column in our paper said it is time to start onions, leeks,
broccoli, etc. inside. I bought fresh onion seed and need to get the
planting trays out and cleaned up.

i'm always interested in what you are planting,
methods, etc. especially when it comes to onions.
this past season i harvested several hundred
onion seeds and so have them on hand for planting,
but my results so far for onions have been mixed.
mostly i think because the weather last year was
poor during prime bulbing time, but also because
the starts were not very good, the soil is gradually
improving, but perhaps not enough.


My garlic is still standing up despite 20° F weather. If it gets warm
enough one afternoon soon I will get out and prune off all of the dead
branches on the herbs. Maybe I will keep some of the leaves. Should
be the same as drying them.

garlic here is under 1ft of snow/ice. the bunnies are
running around making tracks in the snow. i have yet to
see any sign that the owls/hawks are doing the honors for
me so i may have to hunt them come spring.

The permaculture books I've read says that at some point the predators
will become aware of the easy pickin's you got, and balance will return
to Happy Valley. ;O)

it depends upon the herb, but some will not have
nearly the same flavor when left on the plant and
out in the elements as compared to harvested and
dried.


I have a program that tracks my seeds and keeps records like where did
I buy them, when did I start them (in the greenhouse or in the
garden), when did I set them out and when did they start producing. My
biggest problem is that the company went out of business a few years
ago and every time I change computers I have to go through and fix a
bunch of stuff. Seems to be working now. Fortunately it is not an
installed program. Too bad Win 7 wants to do too much for you and it
is not always what you want.

i took a look on the web for open source seed saving
software of any kind. found a few, but nothing that
made me think it would be fitting for what you seem to
be indicating. the name of the old program would be
helpful so i can see if i can find a description of
it and what it does.


songbird
--
Remember Rachel Corrie
http://www.rachelcorrie.org/

Welcome to the New America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA736oK9FPg