Snow sits on the high hills out the window as I type and I know that the time to be “doing” in the garden has slowed to an almost halt. Fortunately, it is the quiet time in the garden as the garlic is in and safely mulched away, and now is more of a time for reflection over the last season and what you will do this coming season in your vegetable patch.  But, before I can continue to announce our new range I would like to offer an excerpt from our Opening Letter in our new Catalogue, (to read the full letter which I hope you do, please find it at the beginning of our PDF Catalogue):

 “As I write these words, the events occurring around the world have been overshadowing all of our lives. With COVID-19 ramping up and hitting NZ in March for our Level 4 lockdown, we experienced this in a different way to many folks. While others were at home with their families, perhaps not knowing what to do with their new found freedom and space, we were thrown into the busiest 6 weeks of our lives in terms of our business! Being an essential service showed us how much we are on the right track with our lives. We changed very little in our daily routine, but we did have many more orders to fill, many more emails to answer. We saw other seed companies experiencing the same. We decided not to shut down when everyone needed us the most and try our best to fill orders and get the seeds out to the people. It was amazing to witness so many people rediscovering gardening at such an uncertain time in all our lives. We were, and are still grateful to have been a part of that for so many Kiwi families. I would like to apologise if some of you did not get the seeds you had wanted or had to wait a long time for your order to arrive. Please know we were doing the best that we could in such an intense and challenging time.

As we sit in our post lockdown space, it is good to remember what we learned through our times at home and to continue to prioritise for our lives what is truly important for us and our families. It has been a great opportunity to reflect and make changes if necessary. I want to acknowledge how difficult it may have been and continues to be for some, especially those who may have lost a loved one during this time. I hope that all are getting the support and help they need as we all try to figure out our new way forward.
We have had it very good as a nation and I am aware that it is still a very intense climate in other parts of the world, made more intense by the recent events in the USA. It seems to be a moment in our history where change is palpable. I invite all of us gardeners to help hold the space and, hopefully, we will all emerge through this time for the better, with more skills and vision to create our new world together. I, for one, see gardens everywhere where all people can come together and harvest food for their families. If this is a visioning time, let’s envision a society that values family, unity, freedom, nourishment and respect for the earth which provides. Let us make our decisions from a place of love, not fear. We can do it, the time is now. Let us see what can blossom and rise up from this dark time.

On a very positive note, just before lockdown came into effect, we became proud owners of the farm we live on! As many of our long time customers may know, we have never owned land before and have always leased land for our seed gardens. Being earth stewards, we always found a way and a landowner to work with, so that we could follow our passion to grow nutrient dense seeds for sale and to feed ourselves healthy food from our garden. It has not always been an easy journey and at times we have had to move our business and gardens when we did not expect to. So it is with great joy that we share this news that Setha’s Seeds has a permanent home in Tutira!”
 
So in this quiet space we find a perfect time for browsing our new 2020/21 catalogue! We have updated our website and our full range of freshly germination tested seeds are all listed on our Website, PDF Catalogue, and we can also send you a physical copy of our catalogue if you get in touch to request one. We prefer orders through the website, but please choose the method of ordering that works best for you.

As we gear up for spring in the garden in our new world, where travel is less possible, we would like to put the call out to locals and travelers already in the country, to get in touch as we are looking to invite individuals and or couples to intern with us. We have had so much fun with our internship program and we hope this year is no different. Internships are a minimum of 2 months and can extend for longer periods. We also accept wwoofers for shorter periods. We can tailor programs to suit your needs, so if you have any questions please get in touch. Please let anyone know who you think might be interested.  All inquiries are welcome and considered and more information is available on our website.

 
We are also about to start planning all of our spring plantings, as now is the time to decide: what do you want to grow this year! Such an exciting time where the possibilities seem endless; or at least as endless as space allows.  So remember how big your garden is when sowing seeds. Also take a moment to check out our NEW Garden Combo Deals! If you are new to gardening and don’t know where to begin, these Combos are designed with you in mind. Something else new to the catalogue which I am proud to announce, is the beautiful Seed Art Gift Cards created by my mother, Suchitra Davenport. We hope you find them as stunning as we do! Also, back in stock now you will find our seed potatoes. Please, we ask for no large orders as stock is limited, we would like to share the seed spuds around. We appreciate your understanding.

Things to Sow in the Garden Now:

As we have passed the Winter Solstice and the days are growing longer we can start sowing some of our earliest spring vegetables. We will be sowing shortly, Silverbeet Fordhook Giant, Broccoli De Cicco & Romanesco, Broccoli Raab Spring Rapini, Arugula Wild, Cress Land, Rocket, Mizuna, Tat Soi and Lettuces Tree, Speckled, Red Salad Bowl, St Vincent and Lollo Rossa. Don’t forget the companion flowers! You can get underway now or in the next few months Aquilegia Grandmother’s Garden, Dianthus Clove Pink, Cleome Heritage Queen Mix, Statice Sea Lavender, Calendula Orange, Echinacea, Lupin Blue, Sweet Williams and Poppies. So many options, some perennial and some annual so make sure you choose the ones that suit your garden best. 

We are always working with the Cosmos with our sowings, plantings and harvests. Sometimes we work with the moon energies especially when harvesting root crops or other storage crops. Best to harvest in a waning moon as the water is moving out of the potato, beet or pumpkin etc. and less likely to cause premature rotting. When sowing seeds we always strive for the moon opposition Saturn day in the calendar month, as this is the best all round seed sowing day, something we have learned from biodynamic growers we know. In saying this, it is important to not be paralysed by the Cosmos, and if you have the time and energy to do something in your garden, I say go ahead and do it! If you can do it working with these unseen energies, please do and see if you see a difference. The only thing we are very strict on following the cosmos with is our garlic planting time. Since the rust issue, we have always chosen moon opposition Saturn for garlic planting day. It is the best day to encourage strength of form in a plant, something that seems to really help in our garden for rust prevention.

Our Website is the best place to find the most up to date information on what we have available at all times during the year.

We encourage orders through this medium, but of course we will still accept orders via email from our Catalogue or via the post using our printed order form.
 
And here is our   Order Form PDF  or Order Form Excel
 
Email orders from the catalogue to: sethasseeds@outlook.com 

Or post order forms to: Setha's Seeds PO Box 60, Tutira 4181

And a reminder that selections of our seeds are also available from Cornucopia Organics in Hastings. Edible Garden in Ashhurst, the Thames Organic Shop in Thames and Tim's Garden Shop in Nelson.

We wish you an amazing year ahead in the garden, with bountiful harvests and cool evenings outside to bask in the fruits of your labours. As the temperatures plummet now, know that the shortest day has passed, and believe it or not, summer is around the corner.
 

Happy gardening,

Roddy, Setha and River Rose