Time to order seeds!

So it has started. The planning of the garden and the buying of the seeds. This has always been a bit of a problem for me. :) i'm completely addicted to buying seeds. i love a garden that is full of color and variety. i especially love unusual color, which is why i tend to plant an entire bed full of all purple vegetables. :)

Although i'm not much of a planner, i'm trying to sit down and get a handle on my seed stash.  i don't like buying all my seeds at once. i like to collect them over time, purchasing a few here and few there. Picking up a pack or two each time i leave the house. i purchase some online, and some impulsively when i pass the seed racks at the store. i saved a few seeds from last year, but not my usual amount so i have a lot of seeds to buy this year. i do have some scarlet runners, October beans and soy beans that managed to save.

Since i have 5 small gardens, i'm always trying to rotate our crops to avoid diseases like blight.  Last year our potatoes didn't do very well, so i'm planning to move them to a different garden this year. i'm going to try corn where we planted potatoes last year. i've had any luck with corn, on the few occasional that it matures enough to produce ears, the deer, raccoons or my own goats end up getting before we do. Going to attempt it again anyway. 

Tomatoes are my weakness though, and so i have about a dozen varieties so far and i'm sure i'll have a dozen more before the garden is tilled.  :)  i've only purchased heirloom varieties. So far i have seeds for Blue beauty, Yoder's German Yellow, Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, Golden Jubilee, Blueberry, Violet Jasper and San Marzano.  i'll definitely be picking up some Brandywines, Hillbilly and Mortgage lifters too.  i love all the colors, shapes and flavor differences that the heirloom tomatoes offer. 

Most of my seeds this year were purchased from Baker Creek, Botanical Interests and Southern Exposure seed exchange.  

i picked up several packs from Botanical Interest.. They are one of the few places i can find the Redbor Kale, which is a favorite. It's not heirloom, but it's a beautiful purple kale that is delicious, makes the best kale chips and grows all season long. The Redbor sells out quickly and can be hard to find so i was thrilled to find it there! Baker Creek's now sells a Scarlet kale with is very similar:)

It's still a little early to start seeds inside for my area, but with the greenhouse i'll be able to start them earlier than i had in the past.  If you are unsure of planting time for your area, i recommend checking out The Farmer's Almanac Planting Guide.  These are the dates for my area, but you can plug your zipcode into the location box and it will customize for your area/climate.


i'm super excited to get back out in the garden again, but we have a possibility of snow again this week, so right now i'm am only dreaming.


One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides. ~W.E. Johns, The Passing Show