Gardening: How to Save Big Bucks in the Kitchen

I placed my seed order yesterday at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Their seeds may seem a little pricey compared to W*l-mrt or L*wes, but they are not modified in any way and you can save their seeds for the next summer. I wasn't diligent last fall to save seeds but I plan to this year. (By the way...usually a hybrid fruit or veggie's seeds can not be used for the following season.)

We spend easily $10 a week on frozen or canned veggies. For me to spend $2 on a packet of carrot seeds that will feed us for several months is definitely worth it! You don't have to have a huge garden to grow veggies. Raised beds are great, we've done that before and it worked great. Green peppers and tomatoes grow well in pots. So do herbs! At our current homestead we have a large area that was tilled once before for a garden so we're using that space. The Hubster has put in trellises for our cucumbers/pickles, tomatoes, and beans. I have to remember to rotate our crops after this season so we don't have to worry about plant disease. We have a herb garden area outside the side door by the kitchen. I've seen portable kitchen herb gardens that you can make yourself. You can also grow herbs on your kitchen window sill!

I've ordered now because soon I have to start a lot of my seeds inside so they are ready to plant in May. I ordered a handy dandy chart that will help in my planning...it's at the bottom of the list.

Here's my list of seeds that I ordered, their order number from Baker Creek and what I plan to do with them:

BN108	McCaslin 42 Pole Bean (I ordered 3 packets of these! We intend to freeze a lot!)
BR105	Waltham 29 Broccoli
CR103	Little Finger Carrot (I ordered 3 packets of these! We intend to freeze a lot!)
CR118	Muscade Carrot
CU143	Edmondson Cucumber (We'll eat these as cucumbers and they make great pickles)
LT125	Amish Deer Tongue Lettuce (I ordered 2 packets...we loved this lettuce last year!)
GP104	Lincoln Garden Pea (We have never grown peas before...we'll see how we do.)
PP106	California Wonder Pepper
SP102	New Zealand Spinach (I ordered 2 packets of these. I hope they work out!)
SQ153	Butternut Rogosa Violina Gioia Squash
SQ131	New England Sugar Pie Pumpkin (I would like to use these to make pies, but last year they were a bit too little and I didn't get many so I used them to decorate the homestead.)
SQ129	Connecticut Field Pumpkin (Fall decorations!)
TK120	Mortgage Lifter Tomato (Good slicing tomato for burgers!)
TM132	Riesentraube Tomato (I hear these are great cherry-like tomatoes!)
TM103	Royal Chico Tomato (We grew these last year -- they were great!!)
HB101	Basil - Genovese (I hope to enlarge my herb garden area and dry some basil.)
HB124	Bee Balm Lemon (I hear this is great to treat colds and headaches...reading up on that.)
HB143	Cilantro, Slo-Bolt (I plan to make lots of salsa!)
HB126	Dill Bouquet (I canned pickles last summer and used home grown dill in them!)
HB158	Feverfew (This is supposed to repel insects...I plan to learn how.)
HB118	German Chamomile (I plan to make tea!)
HB112	Lavender (I plan to dry this and sell. Again...we'll see.)
HB133	Parsley Giant Of Italy (To use in cooking!)
HB114	Yarrow (This is a beautiful dried flower and also good to treat colds.)
FL473	I plan to use the following flowers around the homestead. I bought 4 packets of the Alaska Shasta Daisies to sow in to the border by the road. Kilimanjaro White Marigold
FL424	Majorette Double Yellow
FL745	Henry Wilde
WF117	Alaska Shasta Daisy
CGP101	Clydes Garden Planner (I hope this helps me be a bit more organized this year!!)

Like I always say...it's good to have a goal. My main goal is that we'll be able to eat healthy meals in the summer and freeze what we can eat in the winter.

What are your gardening plans this summer?