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Ozarks Gardening

spring fest at baker creek

19 years ago

is anyone else planning on going to the spring fest at baker creek heirloom seeds?its april 24and 25, i've never been, but since its convenient to most of us, sounds as if it would be both informative and fun.

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Comments (14)

oakleif
19 years ago
ceresone, Ive bought seeds from BAKER CREEK and would love to go but I've got a lot of traveling in March and April but i'll sure think about it.
Vickie
dragonroost
19 years ago
ceresone, Where is Baker Creek? That might make a good overnight trip. If I'm around, that sounds like fun. Give more details. LizAnne
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I like the fact that they have reviews of the different varieties on their website with the reviewer's city and state. It helps to know what grew well (and tasted good) where. Also, I had wondered about the prairie dresses! I wondered if it was a religious thing. They reminded me of the dresses the women at the Warren Jeff compound wore. Interesting to know it's just a gimmick! I ordered quite a few seed packets from them this year because I had heard good things about them and liked the varieties they offered. Since this is my first time ordering from them, I don't know how they will do yet. I agree that the catalogue is beautiful, but heavy on anti-GMO articles.
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To be honest, I have only planted carrots once in this garden and they did just like they have done most places I have lived, so I just stopped planting them. They were cheap to buy and I just didn't fight it. They don't seem to be the 'cheap' food they once were, but maybe that is because I search out the baby ones and not just those that are peeled to look like baby carrots. I have read lots about them lately and have been happy to have the info from 'real' gardeners like you and Jay, although both of you grow in very different conditions than mine. The problem has been that they didn't develop underground. The tops always looked perfect, but there was just not much under it. I would guess that much of my problem has been that I didn't thin enough. I think I am going to make seed tapes like seedmama does, and then I won't have to do that part. I am thinking that I will build a small bed so I can control the soil, and try some in the fall. It will be just another learning experience for me. One side of my garden drains a lot faster than the other. I have not planted any of the summer crops that you listed above either except for green beans. I planted some pole beans and the germination was not as good as normal. A little later, I planted Contender bush, and they seem to be doing fine. One of the market gardeners that posts on the Market forum says that if you want to plant early beans, make sure the seed color is brown. In her opinion the brown bean was more tolerant of cooler temps. Your temps have been surprising low, haven't they? I think our low for May so far is 47. I've got a ton of work to do outside, so I had better get started. Thanks for the carrot help. Oh, here are the seeds I bought: Cosmic Purple Carrot Atomic Red Carrot Amarillo Carrot Greasy Grits Beans Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli Chinese Red Meat Radish Lettuce Leaf Basil Red Malabar Spinach Stevia Zucchino Rampicante Squash (Already growing for this year) Long Island Cheese Squash Precoce D'Argenteuil Asparagus True Black Brandywine Tomato Pineapple Tomato Flame Tomato Big Yellow Zebra Arkansas Traveler Tomato Amish Paste Flame Lettuce Mascara Lettuce Because I went back in the store and bought 3 different times during the day, I got a free pack of seeds each time. LOL I didn't plan it that way, it just happened, plus with the crowd, it was very hot and crowded in there, expecially early in the day, and I couldn't stand it very long at a time. Last time DH went he was grabbing seeds everywhere and throwing them in the basket. This time he stayed about 3 minutes and headed for the porch to wait for me. After I had bought seeds and thought I was finished, I remembered that I wanted Malibar Spinach, but didn't want to fight the crowd for one pack of seeds. Then I went to hear Oster speak and remembered I wanted Lettuce Leaf Basil also, so I went in for the 3rd time. The free seeds were Clemson Spineless Okra, Watermelon Jublee, Quadrato d'asti Giallo Pepper. I already have that pepper growing in my garden this year also. I hope I didn't duplicate the tomatoes because I didn't check my inventory before I left home since I wasn't planning to buy anymore tomatoes, but since tomato and lettuce seed were were their Spring Festival special priced item, for $1 a pack, I just had to have a few more. LOL
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Comments (7)
Jay, And you just know that I love going out there and fighting to get all that evil bermuda grass out of my lovely red clay. LOL If I had to choose (and I did, which is how we ended up with clay) between the three main types of soil common in Love County (dense red clay, almost pure sand, and rocky limestone soil), I'd choose clay because of the issues that gardeners here have with root knot nematodes in their sandy soil, but clay sure is hard to break and improve, especially clay that is mainly growing either bermuda grass or Johnson grass. I hope to break up three different areas this winter and plant in them next spring. One is clay with a little bit of sand mixed in with it, so I hope it is not quite as dense and hard as the soil where the existing garden was built. Another is pretty sandy, so it only needs lots and lots of organic matter added. The third area is the same type of horrible red clay we have around the house and main garden. Hopefully, we'll be able to break that clay, improve it and grow something edible from Baker Creek in it next year. Carol, Since I haven't visited Baker Creek twice this year like someone here has (hee hee), there were a few things I needed and/or wanted. Since it has been several days, I don't remember everything I ordered but I did order Sungold Select II like Jay did, and Stewart's Zeebest okra, which I've wanted to try for some time now. I think I ordered some melons and squash because most of the melon and squash seeds I have left in my seedbox date back to 2003 or 5 or 7 (I guess I was buying only in odd-numbered years) and I needed some fresher seed. I'll still plant the older ones, but I'll have the newer ones in case the 2003 and 2005 ones don't germinate terribly well. Dorothy, Don't forget broccoli! I've already got broccoli seed for next year (Packman, I think) because I remember well the trouble you had last spring. The seedracks in the stores here always have some sort of Burpee broccoli seed and I don't like their broccoli varieties, so I have to order in the fall to be ready to start seeds in winter. It seems like broccoli that does well for us here is getting harder and harder to find. Y'all, I am sitting here looking at the Irish Eyes print catalog from last year and guess what? They will sell you "Discount Bulk Organic Seed Potatoes" with price breaks if you buy in lots of 100, 500, 1000 or 2000 lbs. Does anyone need seed potatoes in those amounts? And, can you imagine the shipping? I bought 2 5-lb. bags of mixed fingerling potatoes at CostCo today and they were less than $6 a bag. Fingerling seed potatoes usually run about $8 to $10 a lb. from seed potato companies so even though I don't know the exact vareties of fingerlings in the mixed bags, the price was right--slightly more that $1 per pound. I bet I can look at the fingerlings and compare them to the photos in the seed catalogs and figure out what I have in that mix because there aren't that many fingerling varieties available (as compared to, say, regular potatoes). Dawn
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Comments (263)
Happy Halloween, we've got candy ready for the little ghosts and goblins tonight. We woke up to 31 degrees with a feel like of 21 this morning. Our first freeze is usually around Thanksgiving. A few of my plants got brought inside but most did not. It's been raining for days and the pots were just too heavy for just me to deal with by myself. I have a lot of new plants from local swaps and sales and my brugmansias had a lot of buds finally. Oh well, I'll see the damage later today. Annie, thanks for hosting a fun month and Congrats to the game winners.
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ceresone
Original Author
19 years ago
baker creek is at mansfield, mo. never been myself, either, but looking forward to it--check under rareseeds.
deafblossom
19 years ago
I have always wanted to go there. I have my catalog 2003. Baker Creek Seedstore, Directions from Springfield. We are located 45 miles east of Springfield, Missouri. Come to Mansfield MO, and take the 2nd exit, turn north on HWY 5, go 1-1/2 miles to London Road, turn left on London RD. and Drive 3-1/2 miles to Baker Creek Road, turn left and go to 1/2 mile to Store. Phone number 417-924-8917 or www.rareseeds.com
robbins
19 years ago
Hope you all go - we are there every year and have a great time. If you are interested in buying heirloom plants or seeds its a must go! Also great speakers - this year Amy Goldman leads the list speaking about heirloom squash.
Robbins
deafblossom
19 years ago
Heirloom plant.. WOW... I need that!
Marty_Maraschino
19 years ago
I went to both the spring and fall one last year and will be going again in April. It's way out in the sticks but its on a beautiful farm way down a dirt road. I bought a cool grapeviney kind of trellis and my mom bought some really nice heirloom tomato plants and a small mandavilla plant. We also enjoyed the music. There were people playing bluegrassy music and they encourage you to bring your instruments.
ceresone
Original Author
19 years ago
dont forget--its tomorrow, and the next day. jim long, of the newspaper column, and books, is supposed to be there too, as well as various other speakers.looking forward to it, myself
Susy
19 years ago
Thanks for the reminder. I stopped by to check the Ozark Forum this morning and saw the notice.

I told my DH I wanted to go; I had been intending to for a couple of years now. I called my DS and her DH and we all went. Really enjoyed the day. Bought some plants, soap, books, etc. Something there for everyone--even my DH who isn't into flowers, crafts etc. and doesn't especially like crowds. He found the Cowboy beans and some music he enjoyed then went to the van and took a nap while the rest of us enjoyed wandering around.
ceresone
Original Author
19 years ago
well--i went too, took my son, his wife and kids. think i might go back in the fall, as they said there isnt as many people. for myself, i cant stand to be so crowded, and there were certainly lots of people there! really hard to see what you wanted to buy, with the crush.prices good, if you could get to anything!still didnt find my "walking onions".
mowarren
19 years ago
we went also and was great except for getting into the bldg to get seed packets- whew shoulder to shoulder in there.finally went out and waited till one of seminars started and was'nt so bad.we will prob go back in aug .
posy_pet
19 years ago
I went too and met Strong(nice man!) and saw Barbara and John from last springs swap.Didn't buy much but might have gotten more earlier?I didn't expect so many people but they were all polite even when it was so crowded and cold.I think Baker Creek could do more to make it more organized like line out the parking with binder twine(maybe mow the field first)and line the exhibitors up so at least you knew where you'd been.The music was great.Posy Pet
christie_sw_mo
19 years ago
I was just checking out their website and they have lots of cool stuff. I haven't been to a festival yet. I wonder if we go in August, would we be able to sample some of the unusual melons and other produce they offer in seed. What kind of things do they have for sale usually in the fall? Are there things for children to do to?

Here is a link that might be useful: Baker Creek
Susy
19 years ago
Christie, this was my first time to go so can't tell you anything about the Fall festival; though I plan to go this fall.

It was crowded and setup on a hillside so if I had children I would want to leave them with someone--the same goes for the dogs.:>)

That said, there were lots of children and a few dogs there but seems to me it would be more enjoyable for you if you didn't have to be on the outlook to where your children were and there wasn't really anything I remember seeing that they would be that interested in.

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