Day 136: Seedling Sale Success!

But not exactly the success we expected. We dragged ourselves out of bed on Saturday morning for the arduous five minute walk to Little City Farm's annual seedling sale. There were five (I think) vendors with all kinds of seedlings - lots of different heirloom tomatoes, hot peppers, perennials, etc. - and some tasty looking drinks and baked goods on sale.

Success #1: The goal was to top up our poor pepper showing but with all the variety, Garrett suggested we could get something other than peppers and I couldn't resist! We didn't go crazy, though. Just picked up a yellow watermelon seedling, some leaf lettuce, and a few marigolds to keep our tomatoes company.

Sun tanning in 30 degree weather. Living the life!

We've been taking all of the seedlings outside to harden. They seem to be loving the sun. Since the thinning, there has only been one cucumber casualty.

Success #2: I also couldn't resist the baked goods table and picked up this tasty sourdough loaf. We're usually not crazy about very multi-grainy breads but this was good. I went on a Jane's Walk a few weekends ago all about the neighbourhood's industrial past and the evolution of those industrial sites. The walk ended at Little City Farm (not exactly industrial but a great demonstration of ways we can live sustainably in an urban centre) and they served some delicious bread freshly baked in their backyard cob oven. I raved to Garrett about it so buying a loaf at the seedling sale was pretty much a given. Not sure it was the same bread but still pretty yummy.

Success #3: More plants identified (we think)! There was one vendor selling lots of perennials so we had a look and saw a few familiar faces leaf structures.

Mystery #4 looks to be Black-eyed Susan. I wasn't totally convinced based on pictures I've since found online but apparently "black eyed susan" is the common name for several plants. Newcomb's Wildflower Guide has a pretty convincing drawing (in colour, even!) so we'll find out for sure when it flowers.

Mystery #8 was Goldenrod. I say "was" because as soon as we got home, Garrett promptly tore it out all. In his words, "it's a weed and serves no purpose."

Perhaps most exciting is one plant we actually haven't mentioned before. In our giving-away-day-lily-for-free extravaganza, we noticed one clump that had a funny plant mixed in. It's tall and doesn't photograph well in bright sunlight (not unlike many other plants) and likes to make water look like big globs of gel. So maybe none of those traits are helpful in identifying, but these photos would probably do the trick.
It's sweet peas! Up to yesterday, the only "peas" I knew of were tiny and delicious. Apparently what we have here is a tall flowering plant that both smells and looks like heaven. And it's toxic so don't try to eat it, even if the name leaves images of cute little french peas dancing around in your head. Now it's just a matter of finding an open sunny site with good support - perhaps mixed in with the vegetable garden, as suggested here?