Garden Reading

It's exciting to come home to a package. I usually go to the book store to buy books but some have to be ordered. As was this book. Don't own  a greenhouse but I do have a sun space so I was curious if this book would give me any information I haven't learned about this type of gardening. The reviews of the book on Amazon are appropriate but I thought there would be more information for those who live in houses with sunporches. Unfortunately the book was water damaged. It came in a priority mail envelope with 3 packages of ordered seeds and nothing to protect it from the elements. Everything was dry but obviously at some point the package had been wet. Hopefully the seeds weren't damaged. I called the seed company, Pinetree Garden Seeds and was greeted with a message requesting the caller  leave a message and phone number which I did. But I think e-mail is even better so I sent one notifying them of the damaged book. This was the first time ordering from Pinetree.

I've skimmed through the book and unfortunately it motivated me to maybe try some cool season veggies and herbs on the porch this winter. Those that can tolerate really cold temperatures. No rest for the gardener! At the end of summer I usually look forward to resting from gardening outdoors but last winter the plants that I choose and kept on my porch did well and I loved going out and seeing the blooms in winter while snow was falling. Hellebores lasted all winter and I planted them this spring in the yard. Hopefully to bloom again this winter. I look forward to what will be growing and blooming on the porch this winter.

Something I've never read was that the nitrate content may be higher in winter grown vegetables. Soaking them for a period of time, the time of day picked, and picking the outer green leaves was discussed. A list of different seed varieties that had lower nitrate content was recommended. I'll see what else may be helpful while I wait for them to contact me because a return label was not included.

The foxglove seeds are supposed to be perennial. We shall see. The banana tree seeds are huge and unfortunately the few pansy seeds spilled out when I opened the container. I'm used to seeds I order on line being secured in an additional package but they were not. So, I only have a few seeds to sow. That was a waste. Thankfully I only paid 2.95 for them. I saved about 7 seeds out of 15 seeds. I wasted them because when I looked inside the package it didn't look like 15 seeds. In my effort to put the seeds in my palm, they spilled out. I'll take their word that there were 15 seeds but don't know....

What else am I reading, Shade Glorious Shade from Barnes and Noble Book Store last Saturday. It was a hot but beautiful day to visit the book store, farmers market, and Reading Terminal Market. Jenny Rose was the speaker at the gardening class I attended at the Flower Show this year. She talked about shade gardening and autographed copies of the book if you purchased one. Didn't think I would like the book but I do and I bought it Saturday with my gift card from Christmas. It's nice not to have to spend any of your money. Saving cards and going on a shopping spree is fun. Also bought the 2 magazines below. Beautiful eye candy and I'll look at them over and over, but best to get a subscription for the price of one.