Garden Seed Give Away!!

Time for a gardening Give away!

This time I will be giving away a set of seeds to start your garden.

All of the seeds offered are all dated 2009 with the exception of one packet dated 2008.(yellow squash/crookneck)

But all others are packed for the 2009 growing season.All are unopened/new packets of seeds

(The seeds are of hybrid varieties...for the most part..so if that doesn't bother you..go ahead and join in the fun!)

I could not see just tossing them out...even though I personally am concentrating on turning my efforts towards heirloom varieties.

In my cleaning/sorting out.... I discovered these seeds in my seed stash, and decided that someone may still enjoy them..even though they are not heirlooms. So..let the fun begin!!!

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O.k.... For what you'll be winning here:

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1 pkt Zucchini seeds/Burpee Hybrid Zucchini

1 pkt Spinach/Baby's Leaf hybrid Burpee's

1 pkt Cucumber/Bush Champion Burpee's

1 pkt. Cantaloupe/Sweet and Early hybrid Burpee's

1 pkt. Yellow Crookneck Squash/Ferry Morse

1 pkt. Burpee's Tomato Big Boy hybrid

1 pkt Burpee's Tomato Gardener's Delight

1 pkt Burpee's Tomato Delicious

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Simply leave me a comment and a name will be drawn on March 30th!

Please make sure you leave me a way to be able to contact you should you be the winner.

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~The Victory Gardener

Happy Spring!!

HELLO SPRING!!! Today it is "officially" Spring! ...Yippee!

Have been listing new items in the garden shop over at www.myvictorygarden.etsy.com

Love hearing from folks that are planning their gardens, some are new gardeners, some are veteran gardeners, but the fact remains..all of them are excited that Spring is now officially here... as of today in fact!

It is so nice to get little notes like this one from a customer in Idaho:

"Thank you for posting seeds on etsy. We've recently formed a 12 family Victory Garden with a teacher farm. The folks there are leading/teaching their trade of farming on a 1/4 acre plot this season.I am ordering these seeds for my own raised bed gardens though, and will share your site with all."

It is letters like this that really make having the garden shop so very much fun for me! I really,really enjoy that aspect of it.
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I did manage to get some green bean seeds planted in our 4 ft by 8 ft raised bed....my littlest children assisted me..and already our green bean crop has about 5 inch tall plants. Grant it the chickens did decide to feast upon some of the wee seedlings, and to scratch some of the bean seeds to the surface..the rascals!
But we do have at least half of what we planted coming up just fine, and undisturbed by the chickens..so I think we'll see a decent crop from it.
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We also have quite a number of strawberries showing up on the berry plants..but again..trying to keep the chickens from discovering them.
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This time of year the amaryllis are starting to pop up in the pots they have been planted in and some have already begun blooming. So very pretty.
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The days here have been delightfully sunny and breezy...yes, Spring is here!
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I will be back to posting some gardening tips very soon.
You see we are currently in the "wrapping things up phase" on trying to get our home ready to be placed on the market. We wound up being several months behind on the deadline I had wanted to have things completed by..but now things are moving again full steam ahead..and life has gotten a wee bit hectic to say the least.
I do have some topics I will be covering and very soon..so please do not give up on me.
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In the meantime do stop by the seed shop and check out the varieties of seed available there. I will be adding some more lettuce varieties and bean varieties soon..but already there is a nice selection posted. So..if you have not yet selected seed for your garden, I invite you to stop by. The seeds offered are all heirloom varieties.
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Hoping you are enjoying some marvelous weather in your area and making plans for your gardens.
Have a wonderful weekend.
~Happy Gardening!
~The Victory Gardener~

Winners of Giveaway

Winners for the drawing have been announced over on my other blog at:
www.gardengoose.blogspot.com
Pop on over and see if your name is on the list.
I'll be emailing you if it is.:0)
Congratulations.
I will be back to garden related posts in a jiffy..but if you are looking for heirloom seeds to start your garden with this year do stop by my little etsy shop at:
www.myvictorygarden.etsy.com
I am adding new varieties to the list quite often.
Thanks for stopping by and again..Congratulations! to the winners of my giveaway.
Have a great evening!
~The Victory Gardener!~

My Victory Garden Shop has been stalked:0) yay!

I have been stalked, but in a good way now mind you.

One of the products from my garden shop has been featured on the blog "Etsy Stalker"

Check it out here:

http://etsystalker.com/?p=503

~The Victory Gardener!~

Time For A Give Away!

I figured since I had not done one of these on this blog....that it was time to have a great big give away!
.....And by great big give away this one will have 16 winners!
YES!!! 16 winners!
(I've posted this give away over on my gardengoose blog as well, and will combine the comments received)
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See my hubby and I own and operate a sign shop, and we have capability to print full color canvas prints.
Well..in my clearing out/packing up..I came across 16 canvas prints that had been tucked away...and are absolutely gorgeous...in various themes from farm house style, to nautical beach scenes,pelicans,fruit crate label images...etc.
All total 16 lovely canvas prints that need a new home
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This will be a totally fun and random give away....a surprise giveaway. 16 random folks will be chosen, and I'll send out a random canvas image from the stash.
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So... please spread the word and sign up below.....trust me...you will want a chance at one of these.... as they are darling.
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I've posted a few examples of some, but not all of the designs.
(if I showed all of them it wouldn't be so much of a surprise then now would it?..ha)
So...get your name on this list here and join the fun.
Drawing will be held Friday, March 13th. (US RESIDENTS ONLY PLEASE)
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~The Victory Gardener!~

Keeping Critters out of the Garden

You have plans to plant a nice garden this year..but you find yourself between a rock and a hard place as the neighbors cat has been known to ...well..use your yard and planned garden space as a great big kitty box. Or perhaps deer or rabbits roam around your yard..how to enjoy them from a distance, and keep your yard/garden space at the same time from being chewed all up?

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Here are a few ideas:
Cats:

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*Invest in a motion detector sprinkler.

*Mulching in flower beds ..using large pieces of bark or rocks. Cats prefer a smooth material to paw through.

*Laying chicken wire down over the ground.Then cutting areas in the chicken wire to plant in. Cats do not like walking on chicken wire.

*Sprinkling of chili pepper flakes every few days in the areas the cat goes.

*Plastic forks with the tongs stuck up..cats don't like having to dig around them.

*Ground up orange peels are supposed to deter cats.

*Scatter prickly type pinecones in the areas the cat is using.

*Install an electric wire fence.

*3 plants that supposedly cats and deer both do not like are:

rue, lavender, and pennyroyal

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Rabbits:

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*For the most part rabbits do not typically like the taste of tomato plants,. corn plants, squash, cucumbers, potatoes, or peppers. So you could make sure that you plant these type of plants on the outer borders of your garden area.They do go after things like beans, peas, beets ,and lush greens.

* Construct a 2 foot high fencing around the garden.Make sure that the fence is either buried about a few inches or is tight against the ground.

*Sprinkle dried blood meal around the border of the garden, or fox urine.

*Human hair sprinkled around the border of the garden ...ask for some at your local hair salon.

* Corn cobs soaked in vinegar...resoak after about 2 weeks.

* Plant a clover patch especially for the rabbits, they'd rather eat clover than your garden.

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Deer:

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* Fencing..at least 3 ft. high or higher.

*Invest in a dog. Dogs and deer do not mix.

*Here is another method I came across:

Mix 2 ½ pounds of bloodmeal (half of a 5 lb. bag) into a normal size bucket that's about half to 2/3 full of water.
Stir well.
Add 1 cup of ammonia and keep stirring until mixed.
Now, cut green florist block into big cubes and place each cube on a three-foot tall stake. Dip the staked cubes into the bucket and let them soak for awhile to get really saturated. Then, place the stakes about six feet apart around plants you wish to protect. Re-saturate the cubes every couple of weeks or after a really heavy rain.

* Grated Irish spring or Ivory soap sprinkled around the garden.

* Human urine..yes..you read right.

*Plant chives around the garden..but you'll have to keep them thinned as they can take over the garden, apparently deer don't care much for chives.

* Plants that deer will not eat can be planted around the borders of your garden. Try the following:

Annuals :

ageratum,snapdragon,salvia,nicotiana,petunia, alyssum,marigold,begonia.

Perennials:

columbine,coreopsis,foxglove,aconitum,lavender, salvia,nepeta,daffodils,hyacinth,rudbeckia,beebalm,babysbreath.

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Good Luck!...and may you have a critter free garden this year.

~Happy Gardening!~

Understanding Your Seed Catalogs

The seed catalogs are starting to pour in and the excitement is in the air to get growing. But...when you look at the catalogs you see a variety of seeds ..some marked hybrid, some marked open pollinated, some marked organic, and some marked heirloom.

Just what is the difference here?
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Hybrid seed is seed that is derived from mixing different traits from various plants to come up with a new/unique variety. Alot of times when seed is planted from this type of plant..it may/may not grow true to the parent plant.
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Open pollinated seed means the seed is allowed to grow as nature intended...all heirloom seed is open pollinated seed.Open pollinated seed is then classified as both heirloom seed and open pollinated if the strain of seed has proven to grow "true to type" for 50 yrs or better.
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Heirloom seed is seed that has been passed down from generation to generation and is seed that is at least from a 50 to 100 year strain of seed that has proven to grow "true to type" meaning that what you plant seed wise will look like the parent plant.
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Organic seed does not necessarily mean that you are getting an heirloom variety of seed..organic simply refers to the methods/practices by which the seed has been grown..usually with minimal chemicals. Both hybrids and heirlooms can be grown organically.
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~Happy Gardening!~
p.s. check out the Heirloom seed available at http://www.myvictorygarden.etsy.com/
We have okra, tomato, lettuce, radicchio and more to come.