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Tomorrow is my birthday, but I'm celebrating today. First, by sleeping in. Second, no work today. Not even customer support on the big e-commerce site. If anyone has a problem, they can just wait until tomorrow. Next, if it warms up like it's supposed to, yardwork. I will defeat the yucca! (This time wearing glasses.) Finally, dinner at Nana's. We go there about once a year and always have a wonderful time.

The other fun thing I have planned for today is ordering seeds. It's that time again! I get the basics from the big box stores, and go to catalogs or internet suppliers for a few unusual things. We're trying to approach the garden plan logically, testing new crops every year and keeping the ones that work:

repeating the big winners from last year:
beets, chard, zucchini, tomatoes, poblano peppers, shallots

trying again where we think we can fix last year's mistakes:
pumpkins, brussels sprouts

adding some new things:
salad greens, sweet peppers, watermelon, cippolini onions

dropping whatever wasn't worth the effort:
yellow squash, tomatillos

We may (okay, probably will) add some things, but that's the plan so far.

The most fun part is picking the tomato varieties. Last year we grew 1 hybrid, Super Sweet 100, and a bunch of heirlooms. I had chosen the heirlooms based on 2 criteria: flavor and color. Unfortunately I didn't consider heat or drought resistance, and then placed the tomatoes where they were hard to water, and then we had a heat wave and a drought. And the Super Sweet 100 were the only ones that did anything for us.

Heirlooms grown from organic seed are all well and good, but not if we don't get any tomatoes from them! This year we're growing half hybrids and half heirlooms, and choosing the heirlooms based on taste and heat resistance. Super Sweet 100, Early Girl, Better Boy, Arkansas Traveler, Cuostralee, and Mortgage Lifter. They'll all be red, but who cares if they produce better than last year.