I FINALLY placed our order today for a huge collection of Burpee seeds. Athough this will be our first experience with them, I’ve heard fantastic things and found so many things in their catalog that I wanted to try out. It’s mostly tomato and chili plants but also okra and a few other heirloom varieties. We’re trying to avoid the hybrids this year because most of the ones we tried last year just ended up having no flavor…and since this is an old farm and we’re attempting to go more organic, we thought it would just be appropriate. Unfortunately they don’t seem to allow shipping to Germany (or anywhere outside the US) on their website so I will have to ship them twice…but all I care at this point is that they get her quickly so I can start planting. We’re very close to the deadline of starting seedlings so it’s time to step up.

Another reason we’re ordering seeds from the US is because seeds here in Germany are massively more expensive…and “special” plants like okra and chilies can’t be found or cost two euros or more for 6 seeds (as was the case for our Jalepeno seeds!)

When the seeds do finally arrive, I’m thinking of going with a more labor intensive (but probably cheaper) approach for sprouting them and will make my own newspaper pots. There are little gizmos available to simplify this and a few guides online to making them with tape, staples and so on…but I would prefer to just have them with nothing so I can drop them into the ground or in containers later and let them grow on!

I’ve made my own origami-style tutorial on making these pots with step-by-step instructions, photos and even a little video.