budgets and seeds

This weekend I spent more rainy-day time working on my planting plans and seed lists. And yes, it's very early to be doing this - most folks do it in January. But, working within a very tight budget, I wanted to see if my seed cost guesstimate was accurate. If not, then other things would have to be adjusted down because, well, when growing plants, seeds are sort of non-negotiable. Necessary. Crucial. As it turns out, the seed budget will be a bit higher than previously anticipated. Part of that is because I want to grow several varieties of each vegetable, and so there isn't a lot of savings that could be had by ordering bulk packages of just a few. For instance, there will be over 20 varieties of heirloom tomatoes in all the colors you can think of - pink, white, green, orange, yellow, purple, and of course red. And then there are different shapes and sizes - beefsteak, plum, cherry, oxheart, and others. It all adds up. And that's just the tomatoes. But what fun would it be to just plant "Big Boy" or "Early Girl"? Yeah, not much. So the seed list is long.

Which brings me back to the fact that other areas of the budget will have to be trimmed. Because I'd like one of these. A lot. I mean I really, really want one before the mesclun and other closely-spaced seed needs to be planted. This puppy can plant six rows of baby greens, or radishes, or carrots, or, well, you get the picture. Can you imagine trying to plant 240 square feet of baby greens by hand? At two-inch spacing between each microscopic seed? I can. It's not pretty. So between now and January, I'll be pushing numbers around trying to see how to get this into the budget.