By Reggie Solomon

Twelve days after placing my online seed order with Burpee, my seeds finally arrived.

The print date on my receipt was April 13, so I really don’t understand why it took them so long to process an order made on April 4?

There was no indication that anything I ordered was out of stock so I’m really perplexed.

I won’t get an opportunity to assemble seed trays until the weekend so this is going to put me even further behind. An email or some notification from them to apprise me of the delay would have been nice. I took a look at my electronic receipt and it indicates I should have received the order within 7-10 days.

One would think a seed-provider company would know time is of the essence when it comes to growing seasons.

Oh well, here’s to planting.

By Reggie Solomon

It can make you feel like a kid again.

Few deliveries have occasioned as much joy as the one I received today.

After returning from lunch I found two big Johnny’s Seeds boxes waiting for me on my office floor.

I’m really impressed with how fast I received my Johnny’s Seeds order since I only made my online order the Wednesday evening before the Good Friday holiday.

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By Reggie Solomon

Take an afternoon to measure your garden and can sketch it on paper so you can figure out how to best maximize your space.

You wouldn’t construct a building before creating blueprints, so why start gardening before planning your site?

Use a simple tape measurer to determine the dimensions of your garden. In particular you’ll want to note features such as sidewalks, storm doors and stairways. Read the rest of this entry »

By Reggie Solomon

Square foot gardening is the ultimate urban gardening solution!

I stumbled upon this book at the Yale Bookstore this afternoon, and it has changed the way I will forever approach urban gardening.

The Square Foot Gardening book by Mel Bartholomew who also once hosted a similarly-titled television series on public television, is built around gardening in a 4’ x 4’ square subdivided into a grid of sixteen 1’ squares. Mel’s system, which can be organized via a raised bed or at ground-level, incorporates an ingenious vertical trellising design to accommodate vining vegetables such as tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, squash and melons.

The square-foot gardening system is ideal for the urban gardener because it’s suited for small spaces, maximizes growing space by eliminating wasted space between rows, and accommodates vertical growing.

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By Reggie Solomon

Narrowing down a list of what seeds to order online isn’t easy.

Today is my first big seed order day, and I’ve ordered a lot of seeds online (which the seed-provider companies will love) and am storing the leftovers for next year and sharing seeds with friends (which the seed-provider companies won’t like so much).

I want to plant at least two varieties of most vegetables I plan to grow, so that I can grow like a wine-taster. In some cases, like with basil (a personal favorite) I plan to grow six varieties, and am bordering on ordering more than my garden can accommodate.

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