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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 19, 2021 8:54:10 GMT -6
When I visited the baker Creek website this morning, this is the message I saw posted there:
Thank you for your patience!
We apologize, but due to the unprecedented volume of seed orders, our website will be closed beginning Friday, January 15 at 3 a.m. CST and reopening on Wednesday, January 20 at 10 p.m. CST, to give us time to catch up on orders, restock seed supplies and clean and sanitize our workspaces. At present, our warehouses and shipping line are running 24 hours a day, with social distancing and other safety precautions in place to protect employees. Our workforce, like many others, has been affected by COVID-19, and we highly value our workers’ health and wellness. Thank you for your patience, and for sharing our belief that gardening makes us more human and more whole. We will be live again soon, please check back!
Does this mean that 2021 will become an unprecedented year for home gardening? I mean, with all the people ordering garden seeds like never before, does that mean folks will actually carry through and garden like never before?
If so, Bully for them! That would be wonderful! Gardening entails a great deal of self-discipline, it helps to provide one with a genuine sense of accomplishment, a feeling of inner peace, enjoyment of getting outdoors, a real feeling of self-worth, better health, and enjoyment of the simpler things in one's life.
The first day of Spring, 2021, is only 60 days away!
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Post by macmex on Jan 19, 2021 12:41:14 GMT -6
A lot of folk are going to need help, if that's the case. One thing I've learned is that beginning gardeners need more basic help than experienced gardeners generally realize; things like how to prepare the soil, how to weed and how deeply to plant various seeds, when to plant, etc.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 19, 2021 12:55:05 GMT -6
In years past, at the Farmer's Market, I've had people ask me for corn on the cob during the first week of May; perhaps, not realizing the whole process takes about 80-days to complete (almost 3 months). I don't think most people realize how much time is involved in getting a harvest.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2021 17:21:20 GMT -6
After several hours of pouring through online websites this morning, I noticed a pattern in sold out items.
Most of the items that were sold out are varieties popular among main stream. In my case it was Alma paprika peppers and the Feher paprika peppers. But at least the others were on time, unlike me. These will be for next year because they probably will not arrive until late February or March according to some of the statements made by the various seed dealers about USPS backlogging/halting or the minimal manpower they have because of . . .
I also noticed the beginners kits were sold out or seriously back ordered, such as Victory Seed's tinned garden packages and many of the trial seed mixes for beginner gardens. The tin is the very same we bought when we first started out about ten years ago.
This matches your observations.
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Post by kenneth on Jan 20, 2021 18:53:06 GMT -6
I ordered some vegetable seed on 1-12 and received them on 1-19. I wish the same could be said for my credit card payment. I mailed one on 12-16 and the other on 12-18. The first one got there on 1-5 and the other on 1-4. I now get to pay a late fee and interest on one because it was late. My other order of seed will get here when they get one of the seed in stock. I tried to order early in case something like this happened. I am fortunate that I have some okra seed left over from last year and I did save some seed last year so I am good to go on that.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 21, 2021 19:41:40 GMT -6
I suspect people who wait until Spring to order seeds might be in for a long wait before they actually receive them.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2021 23:43:31 GMT -6
Popular youtubers just posted a video "Buy your seeds now!" and that probably put the noose around availability.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 23, 2021 12:44:20 GMT -6
I just hope the people buying the seeds actually plant them, they are putting legitimate gardeners at risk of having no seed this year.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2021 23:16:25 GMT -6
Yup
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 29, 2021 11:11:59 GMT -6
Everything according to its own time. I woke up this morning, to a bright, sunny day; a rare commodity in late January. The wind was light and blowing from the Southwest. The temperature was about 40 degrees and headed toward 55. I instantly thought to myself, "What a beautiful day to get out to the garden and begin uprooting okra stalks before Spring!"Not!The okra stalks are still so wet and slimy that no amount of grip would allow one to hang onto one long enough to pull it up. All that happens at this point is that the bark pulls off to reveal a thin layer of light green, to yellow-colored, slime covering each slippery stalk. It would be easier to hold on to a slime eel, barehanded than to attempt to pull okra stalks at this stage of the game!The garden still needs the freezing cold of February and the high winds of early March before the stalks are properly dehydrated.All in good time, I suppose.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 6, 2021 21:11:11 GMT -6
Making Headway, By Degrees. I managed to pull an entire row of Roselle after the rains today. I also managed to pull about a quarter of a row of slimy okra stalks. The mud made it possible to pull but a few, though, they are still by no means made weak enough to pull very many without jacking up a guy's back pretty good, so I quit after the first couple of dozen stalks.
I did find that it helps some to hang on to their slimy branches a little better by use of a short length of 1/4" inch ski rope, tied into a half hitch, but that also gets pretty tough on your fingers because of the small diameter of the rope used, so it's probably best just to give nature a little more time to work on the decay of the roots. I didn't get much accomplished out there, but at least the score is no longer a 1,000 to nothing in the garden's favor. I did make a little headway and that feels way better than nothing.
I'm looking forward to Springtime and starting another garden, but none of that can happen until last year's mess is all cleaned out. That will entail the pulling of several more mature-okra stalks, a few more dried Roselle bushes, a few more caged tomatoes, a few more dried up pepper plants (lots of Ajicitos) some Mammoth sunflower stalks, a little dried corn, and a few more climbing beans and various black-eyed pea vines.
After that, I can start pulling up my Plasticulture, so that I can roll up my irrigation lines, level my old beds, and start raking and plowing in some decayed leaf matter, in preparation to spreading a couple of tons of seasoned chicken litter. all that, before I start laying up my new raised beds in preparation for Spring planting.
A guy needs a good plan at this point … a good plan of how to pace one's self, to prevent the severe chance of being defeated before the season even gets underway.
Be careful out there, limber up a little at a time each day, to avoid any late winter injuries, and above all, enjoy some time with the Lord, during these rare days of decent weather. Enjoy whatever time you can in nature; hear the birds singing, feel the faraway sun's warmth on your weary back, and be at peace with what little progress you make each day, for it's the small things we do each day that really begin adding up as the long months of winter wear on.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2021 6:38:44 GMT -6
Good stuff. I now bring along a hatchet to make quick work of dense stalks and horizontal clustered roots. I don't mind dulling my blade by golllies. I can sharpen it all by mythelf.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 7, 2021 13:26:59 GMT -6
Bon,
Glad to hear you've got a hatchet. I'm also glad I got some work done out in the garden yesterday, it looks like the weather this coming week will be prohibitive. The heavy freezing and thawing will surely help the soil though. With the passing of each high pressure and low pressure weather cell, the Earth breathes. God, in his infinite wisdom made it that way. So, maybe, those tough roots won't be nearly as tough next time.
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Post by hedgeapple on Feb 16, 2021 23:05:26 GMT -6
Well, well, well... saw someone's picture in the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog that arrived today.
Congratulations, Mr. Cook!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 17, 2021 0:00:45 GMT -6
Thanks, hedgeapple.
2020 was a crazy busy year. Baker creek bought 60 pounds of Heavy Hitter Okra seed from me in October. To my surprise, the seeds they bought became their #1 seller. They have since then placed a standing order for 400 pounds more in 2021, which is way beyond my capacity to produce. It took all my time and resources to fill their last order. Sixty pounds is roughly 330,000 seeds. For reference to volume, a 5-gallon bucket, brim-full will hold about 26 pounds of okra seeds or nearly 150,000 by count. It takes about 75 mature pods on average to produce one viable pound of okra seeds, so shelling by hand and culling out all the bad seeds by feel and by sight can take an incredible amount of time and labor to produce.
Due to the hand-culling process, I averaged about 4 pounds of seed per day, taking close to 3 weeks to process Baker Creek's Order. On top of all the hours spent laying off rows, irrigating the plants, caring for the soil, pulling weeds, and pruning plants to encourage branching; there were a considerable number of hours involved, but I think they were hours well spent. I really enjoy gardening, it's what I do to keep myself occupied. Finally, my wife can stop complaining that my hobby is costing us more than the value of the vegetables I bring home.
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