Beggars can’t be choosers. When it seems like every seed store on the internet is sold out of pretty much everything, you become something of a beggar.
Even if you’re not really begging.
Luckily, I have good friends. One of them sent me a seed vault by My Patriot Supply. It seems they don’t sell this particular one anymore (here’s a similar one that is, alas, sold out), but it’s a useful canister full of all kinds of seeds, and lots of them.
When I mentioned I was digging a garden bed to some friends due to my concerns about the food supply, she offered to send these and pay her back for them whenever I could. Since I get paid monthly, that was huge for me.
The canister arrived yesterday, which meant they went in the ground today.
No, I didn’t get pictures. After all, I already showed you the beds. Look at those same pics and imagine seeds under the dirt. Seriously, they look the same.
So what do I have?
Well, I’d already planted 20 pole beans in hopes they’d sprout. There are some signs that they may have already, which is awesome, but only a few. Then again, they have a 7-10 day germination period, so I’m not sweating until Wednesday.
I planted six beefsteak tomatoes as well. These are generally planted in flats and transplanted, but I put them straight into the ground. Mostly because I didn’t have a flat to grow them in. If they don’t come up, it’s not the end of the world. My wife’s not a huge tomato eater–though she’ll eat tomato and rice soup, tomato sauce, and such. She’s mildly allergic to something in raw tomatoes that isn’t present after cooking–so it’s not the end of the world if we can’t harvest any.
I also planted 13 ears of corn. I almost didn’t, but I had the garden space anyway and corn is one of those things you need to learn how to grow anyway. While 13 plants isn’t nearly enough to feed my family–the 20 pole beans and six tomatoes may well be–it’s more of a learning experience. If I can harvest a few here and there, I can scale it up if things get really bad food-wise.
Additionally, I planted a number of black turtle beans.
These are new to me. I’ve never even tried to grow them and know very little about them. However, I’ve had black beans before and they can be really tasty if they’re cooked right. Plus, mixed with the rice I already have and I’ve got a complete protein. It’s advised to plant something like four plants per person, so I planted something like that. I honestly lost count. We’ll see what happens.
I’m not going to lie, I’m intrigued by these. After all, you can eat them like a snap bean or as a shell or dry bean. I may try some either way just to see what we prefer. I ate a canned variety that was, basically, a shell bean, but if they’re good as snap beans, that might be an option, too.
And that’s it.
That’s all I planted.
Not much, is it?
Well, that’s OK. The beds are planted and, if I feel froggy, I may venture out when I get paid in a couple of weeks and pick up some squash to plant around the pole beans, assuming they’ve sprung up by then. While I have some zucchini seeds, it’s the wrong time to sow them. They can be transplanted right about now, but sowing is less than ideal in my neck of the woods.
However, what I do have, though, are more seeds that will be good for planting later in the year when it’s starting to cool down. That includes things like carrots, onions, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, and so on. I have options for later. I didn’t have a lot for now.
The Downside Of Seed Vaults
I’ll be honest here, I never bought seed vaults like this for one primary reason. They always contain stuff me and my family just don’t eat. Why buy seeds for stuff you don’t eat? It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.
For example, this vault contains bell peppers (which I’m allergic to), radishes (which no one here eats), cucumbers (which we don’t eat in non-pickle form and pickling is another topic), and beats (which my wife refuses to eat). There’s a lot of stuff we don’t eat.
Luckily, there’s a lot more there that we do, but we still end up with a number of seeds that we’re not likely to use if we’re just growing for us.
This is something every gardening book out there seems to tell you not to do. Don’t grow things you don’t eat, yet here I am with a bunch of seeds that I have no interest in growing.
Kinda sucks, doesn’t it?
Seed packages like seed vaults take a lot of popular vegetable types and put them all together in one package so that you end up with a one-shop stop. Frankly, there are likely people who bought this particular vault because they eat everything on the list. More power to them.
Why That’s Not That Bad
I have a pile of seeds that produce food me and my family don’t eat. This, in theory, should be a bad thing. However, if things get really bad, it may not be.
You see, if I have crops that I can grow in otherwise unused garden space, I have crops I can sell or trade. I can grow them and use them to get things I can’t provide for myself. For example, let’s say someone has chickens (I know some who do) and they want bell peppers. I can trade some peppers for eggs.
Supply and demand doesn’t disappear just because money may or may not be a factor.
As a result of having a seed vault, I have seeds for things that I can grow purely for barter if needed.
Is that a rationalization? Eh, maybe. I mean, I got these seeds whether I wanted them or not, so I might as well make the best of them. However, as rationalizations go, it makes a hell of a lot of sense.
Regardless of all of that, I now have food in the ground. Unfortunately, I won’t see any for at least two to three months, so that’s going to be a big old ball of suck, but at least it’s in the ground.
Now to make sure that we have enough to eat before that point and to make sure we produce enough after that point that we don’t starve.
You know…the little things.
Gettin' Prepping 