As I methodically pecked away at my keyboard, a gardening friend edged up behind me and exclaimed, "I ordered my seeds."
Usually, this kind of declaration would prompt an immediate halt to work and allow me the pleasure of a 10-minute diversion, a conversational oasis in a long dry work day to discuss our plans for the spring. But this time, since I was under the unforgiving stress of deadline, I continued to bang away, turning only long enough to mumble: "You're ahead of me. I haven't got mine out yet."
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| | | More Resources The catalogs listed below are free:
THOMPSON & MORGAN INC., P.O. Box 1308, Jackson, NJ 08527-0308. 800-274-7333 or www.thompson-morgan.com
SHEPHERD'S GARDEN SEEDS, 30 Irene St., Torrington, CT 06790-6658. 860-482-3638 or www.shepherdseeds.com
PINETREE GARDEN SEEDS, P.O. Box 300, New Gloucester, ME 04260. 207-926-3400 or www.superseeds.com
W.ATLEE BURPEE & CO., Warminster, PA 18974. 800-888-1447 orwww.burpee.com
PARK SEED, 1 Parkton Ave., Greenwood, SC 29647-0001. 800-845-3369 or www.parkseed.com
JOHNNY'S SELECTED SEEDS, Foss Hill Road, RR 1 Box 2580, Albion, ME 04910-9731. 207-437-4301 or www.johnnyseeds.com | |
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As she walked away, her soft voice trailed off, "I can't wait."
Neither can I, friend. None of us can. The excitement of planning for spring is the only thing keeping us going through the winter.
When I go through seed catalogs, I highlight the varieties I must have. Then I compare seed count to price in the catalogs. The differences can be huge. One company wanted $1.75 for 100 seeds of foxglove, digitalis 'Alba,' while another offered 1,500 seeds of the pure white form for $2.99. Foxglove seed is dust-like and hard to work with. I feel much more comfortable with 1,500.
I imagine patches of my woods punctuated with the tall white spires next spring. No, not this spring, next. I'll start the plants this spring with the annuals and vegetables. After they're planted out, I will turn my attention to the perennials and biennials like foxglove. It's a plant that forms foliage the first year, then flowers the next. After flowering, they die, but they often reseed freely.
Perennials start the same way: Some will bloom the first year, others wait until the second. After that, most bloom year after year and increase in size. This year, I'm working hard on planning the garden for spring 2002. I want to grow as many perennials from seed as possible.
Most of that seed is coming from Thompson & Morgan. The seed is pricey, but the quality and variety are great. The difficult thing with some of these perennials is that the seed has special requirements if it is to germinate. Many need weeks of prechilling. I think it's going to be a fun challenge.
I'm also growing Sweet William 'Sooty,' a biennial and sometimes perennial that's easy to grow. Like the foxglove, it's no favorite of deer. The perennials I'm ordering include anemone, astilbe, bergenia, chelone, goat's beard and cyclamen.
Thompson & Morgan's catalog is mostly flowers but has a decent selection of vegetables. It's the first catalog in which I found 'Sungold' tomato, my favorite sweet cherry tomato.
My vegetable and annual flower orders are split between two companies I've never ordered from before. But they have good names and great deals.
The first is Shepherd's Garden Seeds, which has an interesting promotion going on until March 15. If you subscribe to their new ad-free gardening magazine, The Gardener, you can get the $20 subscription price in merchandise from the catalog. The magazine's editor is Tom Cooper, who edited the highly respected magazine Horticulture for 23 years. Personally, I've never read a gardening magazine I didn't like, so this was a no-brainer.
They offer a tomato that I must grow this year, 'Rose de Berne.' It's a medium-sized tomato that made my taste buds dance on a warm summer night last season. Shepherd's also offers the little used but wonderful annual flower sanvitalia (creeping zinnia). It forms a mat of tiny yellow flowers with black centers 6 inches high. It loves full sun, does well in containers and the deer won't eat it. It's best direct sown where it will grow.
Another favorite from Shepherd's is 'Deer Tongue' lettuce. It forms a loose head and loves cool weather. I plant it as early as I can get in the garden, usually late March. It's very tender, tasty and pretty.
The other company, Pinetree Garden Seeds, prides itself on being "the source for home gardeners." It offers smaller sized packets and very good prices. Shipping and handling is only $1.50. I'm ordering 'Super Bush' tomato to grow upside down in 5-gallon buckets, an idea I got and wrote about from Tom Robinson of Russellton.
I also ordered the heirloom watermelon 'Moon and Stars.' I've been reading about this melon for years and it's now becoming widely available. It's a deep green melon with yellow dots on the rind shaped as moons and stars.
There are three other catalogs that I've ordered from in the past -- Burpee, Park Seed and Johnny's Selected Seeds. All three do a good job and have everything you need.
Burpee is probably the biggest, followed by Park. Johnny's is the biggest of the little seed companies. Its catalogs have nice color photos of all the plants. Johnny's best describes the plants' growing requirements.
I loved the information that all three of these catalogs gave me when I first started out. But this year, I was just looking for different things.
The last catalog I want to mention is the most fun -- no pictures, some drawings and lots of attitude. It's titled J.L. Hudson, Seedsman, The 2001 Ethnobotanical Catolog of Seeds. Isn't that a great name for a catalog? All seed packets are $1.50 unless otherwise noted, and shipping is $1 for up to 20 packets.
This catalog is filled with rare seeds like white columbine 'Crystal Star' and a 6-foot astilbe. It took me three nights to read the densely packed 95-page catalog and I enjoyed every minute of it. I learned a lot, laughed out loud and quoted passages to anyone who would listen. The catalog costs a buck, which is the bargain of the century.
For the J.L. Hudson, Seedsman catalog send $1 to Star Route 2, Box 337, La Honda, CA 94020. Log on to its Web site at www.jlhudsonseeds.net It doesn't have a phone.
