Cindy, your answer didn't come through on the phone, so I will try again. The Paella was good and it could have been great, but the recipe I used called for using the water left over from boiling the lobster and it made it a little too fishy. Next time I will use chicken broth so I can taste the saffron. Saffron sure does made the water and everything else turn yellow. Can't wait to grow some, so I can use it in more dishes. I have just enough left to make some rice or a creamy sauce with it-to go over chicken.

Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world.

I also use chicken stock for the rice, Richard.

Richard, your Carbon tomatoes look great. I'm tempted to grow it this season!

I wish I knew which big red bell pepper variety it is that they sell at US Walmart (of all places). They are SO tasty that now I wish I had saved some seeds - even if they ARE hybrids.......

Linda

Thanks Linda-I had almost given up on them because they never produced tomatoes before this season-they mostly all did in the cooler weather-that is why I want to set things out as early as possible this year-end of February or March 1. Most of the bell peppers I have grown have great flavor including the Karma and Albino-but they are just small-great for cutting up in dishes, but not as good for stuffing-the Ozark Giant is also pretty big.

Thanks for the tip Cindy, I can't wait to make it again-the rice worked out wonderfully. I think it would work with any type of similar meal-I usually use Parboiled rice-which is already yellow and rock hard-so I think I will switch to Basmati.

Richard - Did you order some saffron crocus bulbs and plant them already? Seem to remember something about that.

No, Cindy-they don’t have them in yet since they are a fall plant-Baker Creek and Park seeds sold the bulbs in 2020 and Mary’s Garden Patch is sold out for this year too. I will get some from some where this year. How many years do they live?

Richard - They are perennial! And they slowly multiply.

I rec'd 3 apple scions today. Delicious, Starking Red Delicious, and Richared Delicious. These are old sports of Red Delicious from pre 1930's; before the early coloring Red Delicious sports which can be picked before they ripen. I plan to graft these and plant them in the same hole to find out whether this apple variety lost it's flavor in the rush to market - anything!

Len - I don't have a gift certificate for Johnny's. And I didn't read the other thread comments till after I made my post here. I do have one for Baker Creek and had no problems there.

It's really cold here, mid 20's, mid afternoon. Getting lake effect snow bands coming as flurries. Right now there's a few blue holes in the clouds. Windy and saw a leaf whirligig and a couple more trying to form.

I found some Red Norland seed potatoes at Home Depot but the potatoes are not red-sure hope they didn’t sell me the wrong ones-they are yellow looking, but the chits have a redish purple tint. I went to Tractor Supply first because I called them and they said they had Red Norland, but when I got there-there were none available. I got some Kennebec instead. So now I have Yukon Gold (4 lbs), Kennebec (5 lbs) and maybe Red Norland (6 lbs).

They opened up Covid vaccinations here to people with pre-existing conditions-there were like 5 or 6 conditions they accept and mine was first on the list and my sister is the master of getting appointments scheduled, so I just got my first vaccination. They had it organized like Fort Knox and it went very fast and smooth once I got inside.

John, I sent you a few replacement seeds since you sent your Lipstick seeds to Len. Put them in the mail earlier today.

Rich - It's really nice of you worry about my Lipstick pepper seeds. Thank you. I did keep a few for myself. Again Thank You!

Rich = I didn't see the seed potato post earlier. My Red Norlands are always red.

I looked at █████'s site to see how many items are out of stock and found that they had M-111 apple rootstocks while they didn't when I wanted to order. Made a call: they changed the order from Antonovka which get a Lot bigger. Didn't expect them to change it.

Great Customer Service ██████!

They still have most varieties of apple scions and I think all of the 9 I ordered. These'll grow a semi-dwarf tree especially in the clay here. And the roots are so vigorous that the trees don't need staked.

Edit: I edited out the Nurseries name as I don't want to create the impression that they'll disregard their policies when maybe in other circumstances they wouldn't.

I should have gotten one of those apple tree pairings they had at Park seed, but they are sold out now. It came with 2 trees that pollinate one another-about a foot tall.

John, I opened one of the bags, which are brown see through, and the potatoes are red, just starting to get a yellowish tint from the bag or getting old, but they are red (light red) at least.

Oh dear. Looks like we are going to get a fairly big snow event here starting early Sunday morning and lasting through Monday and possibly into Tuesday.

It did not get above freezing here today and my ground is frozen solidly enough that whatever comes down will stick. Might get some freezing rain in the middle of it but it's going to stick, too. The roads have already been treated.

John - How's your prediction looking?

Richard, that’s a lot of potatoes! Will they all be planted in containers? Kennebec and Norland Reds are 2 that I always plant. They do well for me.

Cindy - The guessers are at 2=4"; but I'd say that will change. And there's some thought that after the snow it will turn to rain. I'll predict that no matter what happens it'll melt before I set out my tomato seedlings.

Margi, most will be in 20 gallon containers, depending on how much soil I can afford. I reused some of the container dirt last time, but had a problem with the plants getting disease and dying early-so I got smaller yields. I will only use the left over dirt for onions and squash this time around. My squash is looking pretty rough and quite yellow-so I need to figure out what is going on there. Probably pick up some dirt in a week or so after my arm stops hurting. I might just get some cheap top soil and mix up some Tomatotone in it. I think I over seeded my containers last year too, so I am going to cut back to 2 or 3 potatoes per container and see how that goes.

Good luck Cindy-hopefully it won’t be too bad. Sure be glad to send you some of these 70 degree January days if I could.

So, Jack another year, another Kansas City Super Bowl. Is Mahomes going to give Brady a 20 point lead before he pulverizes him or just take control from the beginning? I think he like to make it exciting by letting the other team have a lead. Kelsey might be the MVP in this one.

Wonder if Brady will learn to kick like George Blanda so he can play until 60.

Cindy we have had a really warm fall but the weather guessers are promising a cold February. I hope not!

I went to a nearby Asian market next to Home Depot, of course, for the first time this week...I was there to get chicken feet which is Rocky the poodle's most favorite treat. Then I saw the beautiful vegetables...no idea where they get them but lovely broccoli, peppers, zucchini and the nicest ginger roots I have ever seen. There were many others but stopped with those for a stir fry last night. So nice to get some really fresh vegetables. I should have bought some tomatoes to test them. Needless to say we will be back there between now and May!

I thought he was 60. Lol His 10th Super Bowl-almost twice as many as any other team in history.

Richard - I hope the Chiefs don't start slow and give up a big lead like they seem to do every playoff game. It's hard on the old ticker you know! They do seem to always just shrug it off like it's nothing.

I just went back and re- read some of the posts and in John's post from Thursday, where he talks about rootstock, the sources he mentioned are blacked out.

Is anyone else seeing this?

Yes Cindy...was not blacked out when he posted...strange.

Len - It is very strange, especially since the seed sources in this thread are still visible. https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6063617/heirloom-seeds#n=3

It was Me! I edited my own post. Guess I made it look like some multi letter agency or big tech is controlling thought. Sorry; just lil ole me.

They changed our 'winter storm watch' to a 'winter storm warning' for tomorrow. They're calling for 4" to 8" followed by freezing rain and then changing back to snow at the end.

It's going to be a fun day!!

That sounds like 'fun' Cindy. Get your sled out! We are getting a lot of rain today from I'm guessing the same system that will bring you snow. The guessers have us down for a winter storm moving in next weekend. Adding it all up over the 2 days it sounds like 6"-10". I hope they are wrong!

We had another calf born on Thursday so we have 3 calves now, 2 more at 13 months, and 3 breeder cows. The calf that was having some problems with swelling in it's knees seems to be getting better after 3 rounds of steroid shots. It's the one born on Christmas day that my friend's 3 year old granddaughter named 'Baby Cheeses' lol

I love your story Jack. And the calves name.

Hmm...maybe I can get some of those steroid shots:)

Cindy that sounds dreadful. If it happened around here no one would go anywhere until it melted! Oh yes...we are not going anywhere already!

A rainy day here, but I think it's about to pass. Might bundle up and go for a walk with my hubby in a bit. In the meantime, here I sit with all the seed catalogs spread out on the table. Sure wish I would have done this a month ago.

A family request was to grow a jalapeno this year that's not as hot as the Mucho Nacho that I grew last year. Any recommendations? Poblano...that seems like a mild-ish hot pepper. How does it rate on the heat scale compared with typical jalapenos?

Has anybody grown the German Pink tomato from Baker Creek (rareseeds.com)? It sounds like a good one, but I already have so many varieties that I want to grow.

My go-to roma-type tomato has been Margherita for years, even though it suffers quite a bit from blossom end rot early in the season, it's a heavy producer. I'm finally out of seed and it seems I can only find it from an Etsy seller. I guess it needs to come off my list. Supremo from Park Seed is also a good one, I guess I'll stick with that. I figure between that and Tonopah (Thanks, Cindy) maybe I'll be covered for sauce-making. I do have some Giant Garden Paste seeds. Maybe I'll do one of that too...but the plant gets so big!

Another family request was for me to grow sweet potatoes. I'll need lots of help with that here. Varieties? Planting time?

Sorry, I guess I'm full of questions. Please don't kick me to the curb and out of this club!

Bundle up, Cindy!

Edited to add: RareSeeds.com is purposefully down again...until Wednesday, they say.

Margi - Did I ever send you seed for Wessel's Purple Pride?

It's an excellent paste tomato and productive, too. And the chef I work with loves it, too, as well as his friend. They both ask for plants of it every year.

Margi, I have loads of Poblano and jalapeño seeds. I almost put some Poblano seeds in the last package I Can send some your way tomorrow. I think I did put some yellow jalapeño seeds in it and they are definitely the mildest jalapeños I have ever grown-pretty close to poblanos but way smaller. I will send you some poblano and mammoth jalapeno seeds tomorrow.

Margi I agree with Cindy about Wessel's; it did great for me last year and growing again this year. Poblano is a favorite for stuffing around here and does not get very spicy in our cool climate.

Cindy - You sent Wessels Purple to me last year. I was hopeful, but the 2 plants I had really didn’t produce hardly anything. Maybe it was just an off year. I had several plants that didn’t do anything. All plant, no production.

Richard - I have Lemon Jalapeño seeds from Baker Creek. They’re supposed to be a pretty hot one, I think. Is that the yellow jalapeño you have or is yours something different? I’m thinking I should try a poblano.

Margi, the one I have is actually milder than any jalapeño I have ever seen. I think it was actually a pepper in the class below jalapeños but it looks just like a jalapeño. The Mammoth jalapeños are low to medium heat when compared to other jalapeños. The red hot ones I have are about twice as hot as the Mammoth.

The yellow ones are about 2000-2500 on the Scoville scale, the Mammoth are about 5000 and the Red Hot ones are around 9000-10,000

Poblanos are about 2000-2500

Richard - Thanks for the pepper heat education!

Looks like several of you are in for a fun snow day today. Hope you all ran out to stock up on beer and wine yesterday!

Margi - I love poblano peppers for grilling stuffed. They have just a bit of heat but a ton of flavor. My garden will never be without them. I ordered a packet of 100 Baron F1 seeds from Johnny's and they sent me 4 packets of 25. lol

I'm still waiting on 3 items from Johnny's that were back ordered. No shipping notice yet.

So far, we only have about 2.5" or maybe a little more of snow and it's barely snowing now.

Since it's going to last through Monday and the early part of Tuesday, this is looking like a good couple of days to sort and select seeds to grow this season. Will be starting my pepper seeds around the middle of February.

For you pepper lovers - What's the oldest (number of years) pepper seeds that you have been able to germinate?

Various web sites state two to five years.

Currently sorting and pitching my older pepper seeds.

Hi all - I jumped into this thread early in the month and then got caught up in work. Today was a good day to thinking about gardening though, with 3-4" fresh snow on the ground and more coming down throughout the day.

I sure am glad I ordered the bulk of my seeds over the Christmas break. I just checked the results of a germination test with some old seeds (2014/2015) and placed a small order with Seed Savers, which is now publishing a 30-day shipping delay. These are seeds I don't have to start until April, so that's fine. I have broccoli seeds from 2014 that are still germinating at a great rate, so that was nice to see.

My next big adventure will be going out in the next week or so to purchase some compost. We only started our pile last summer, and it's frozen/covered in snow, so I need some for my seed starting mix. I'm doing a homemade mix and trying soil blocks this year (the Elliot Coleman method). My first seeds (onions/leeks) should be started around February 15, and compost is the only ingredient in the mix I'm still missing. Trying to figure out where to get it (might end up at Home Depot) since February isn't exactly prime compost time in Wisconsin.

@Cindy - I'm going to try germinating some Hot Portugal seeds from 2012 this year, so I'll report back on that. :) In the past I think I've only had to use seed that was 2-3 years old.

Liz - Looking forward to hearing how well you pepper seeds germinate!

Liz...looking forward to your report. I'm glad I got many seeds in December but now I have this shopping list from a favorite in Oregon and they are shut down to catch up on orders. Hard to say when they open up or what will be in stock.

Rocky and I checked my little outdoor seed starting department today and I have mizuna, a couple different onions and leeks, parsley, a couple lettuce varieties, and poppies sprouted.

Rocky really needs bangs trimmed!

Onion sprouts inside jug

Cindy, I have gotten decent germination on pepper seeds about 5 years old but they were mostly of the super hot varieties. For some reason the bell pepper varieties and mild peppers I have to plant 10 seeds per container and they take much longer to sprout. I think it is probably best to germinate them in a wet paper towel before planting which I didn’t do this year. I planted 6 or 7 types of pepper seeds when I sent the seeds to Margi and only the Ozark Giant sprouted and only one of them sprouted. I used to think that pepper seeds stayed viable for longer than most, but tomato seeds definitely last longer and sprout much faster so there is less mystery. I think I am going to use the paper towel method for all my pepper seeds from now on.

Len - Rocky looks better than I do. Haven't been to a barber since well before the problem started. And am not about to correct that.

John I think it costs more to maintain Rocky's hair than mine...

Here is the link to the February thread!

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6066488/veggie-tales-february-2021