Beatin' back the thug.

Today I got to yank my heart monitor off, and I was free to go outside and get nasty and sweaty. Hurrah!

The first order of business was to get the chocolate mint under control, and it proved to be a bit more of a task than I thought. I ripped up about five buckets of runners, made two pots of tea, and have a ton dehydrating for this winter.

It took me about an hour and a run in with a lovely black widow, but I'm glad it's done. The runners are ready to go in the ground and I have no idea what I'm going to do with them!

I've got a promotion going in my shop for a free chocolate mint runner with a purchase of three packs of seeds or the cost equivalent -- $9. Check it out! :)

Some fun newness!

I haven't been feeling well over the past week or so (cardiologist appointment on Tuesday, woot!), so I haven't been up and about in the yard as much. Yesterday, though, my guy was cleaning up the office and was trying to figure out what to do with his old 14" long 3.5" floppy file. I looked at it and was inspired!

It's a HUGE step up from my prior 'organizational' method -- the seed baggies were just tossed in a box. Now, each flavor of seeds has it's own pocket and the pre-packed bags that are ready to be shipped out are easy to find and I've got MUCH better inventory control.

Having everything so organized made me realize how many seeds I've actually collected this year! This 14" long file is completely stuffed, and I still have vials of bulk seeds not packaged yet.

Other than that, my winter basil is coming up. My Red Rubin didn't go to seed this summer after my guy conveniently mowed it down, so I started another pot with last year's seeds to keep indoors this winter. The little sprouts are so cute! I love the color that these have and they make such a great addition to pestos. Purple pesto rocks!

If all goes as planned, I should have plenty of seeds from these lovelies available on etsy for next spring.

Furry little fellow

I saw this guy out in the garden the other day and thought he was absolutely charming. Not being the caterpillar expert, I refrained from handling him and have been searching for his identity. Anyone know what flavor he is? :)

Treasuries!

In honor of the More Meaningful Gifts BNR, jvdarcy set up this treasury. Thanks for including my violet photograph! Here it is!

Hot Cherry Peppers on Stage!

I really need to get Flash working (this is what I get for being a geek!) so I can click and comment on treasuries!

Here's a lovely treasury that has my hot cherry pepper seeds in it that was put together by VintageScraps. Thank you! :)

Another treasury!

Thanks, debralinker, for including my chocolate mint plant in her treasury!

But they're PLASTIC!

I got my latest order of seed bags in, and my SO asked me a very interesting question while I was working on putting together little promo packs.

Why do you use plastic bags rather than paper seed packs like you used to?

The switch to using the plastic zippy baggies came easily, for me, after a couple of seasons using the paper envies. I could never find a way to seal the paper envies well enough so that I could open and close them whenever I wanted and not lose any seeds. I'm not a person who normally uses an entire pack of seeds at once, so I found myself using three, sometimes four, paper envelopes over a couple of weeks for the same pack of seeds.

I got a trade in the little plastic baggies and I've been a convert ever since. For my personal use, I'll even reuse ones from other seed varieties. I also think it makes people feel more confident with buying seeds, because they can SEE them before they buy. I can open and close them whenever I want and have fewer lost seeds because of it.

I do miss the breathability of the paper envelopes, and it's now absolutely imperative that seeds are completely dried before packaging, but I've come to terms with that and think the benefits more than outweigh the extra day in the vent chamber of doom.

Instead of spending weeks making seed envelopes or buying 5000 a year (plus smaller emergency orders occasionally), I'm down to ordering 3000 a year and still having some leftover. Good thing all around.