$3.00 Photograph by Meghan Mickelson Encouraging home gardening and seed saving since 1986. Catalogue of open-pollinated, untreated and non-GE seeds. Rachelle Ternier Jim Ternier Phone (306) 682-1475 Box 2758
[email protected] Humboldt, SK prairiegardenseeds.ca S0K 2A0 Dear Fellow-Gardeners, The 2018 growing season started off rather dry, and late summer and fall was too wet and cool! I (Rachelle) once again attempted to be slightly less ambitious in how many different things I grew this season, as there are still many foundational building blocks we are working on to allow for life and our farm operation to run more smoothly. Nature decided against a few of my experiments in the spring already. I endeavoured to grow peanuts and rice from seed in the greenhouse, however some mice decided that I would not go there this year! They dug up and ate all my peanuts (~40) and turned the soil in all the rice flats so that the tiny seedlings were uprooted and had died by the time I found them. I will try again this year! We grew a beautiful crop of Gete-Okosomin squash, an exceedingly large fruit (2-3ft in length, ~15-20lbs/fruit), with thick, tasty, bright orange flesh. Despite the hail damage in late July, the plants perked up again, and the fruits simply healed over their wounds, finishing the season beautifully. We had a lovely crop of Rouge vif d’Etampes pumpkins, Farnorth melons, Northern Pickling cucumbers, and the delicious, smooth-fruited 1805 Smoothies cucumbers. And that Taiwan Leaf Quinoa which I tried to grow for seed the last two seasons but unsuccessfully (so I had thought), volunteered in my garden this year! Again, we like to try to be in control, but really, plants, animals, and the forces of nature are doing their own thing.