seed shopping for the garden

one of the best things about the month of january is the terrific mail for gardeners.  in fact, this year, the seed catalogs started to arrive in december.

i have so many favorite seed catalogs which provide such a great variety of plant options.  since i have been a master gardener for five years, i have been learning a great deal about seeds and plants.

the photo in this blog story was taken last year with seeds that i purchased for the garden. some of these seeds were used for winter sowing, some were used to get an early start on plantings under grow lights, and others were directly sown into pots or the garden itself after memorial day. 

a wonderful friend already gave me some seeds for this year's garden, and i have been looking at the packages for several weeks just anticipating when it will be time to plant them.  one of the best things about shopping for seeds is that the variety is spectacular compared to what is mostly available in the local garden center.  the cost of seeds is so minimal that one package usually lasts a couple of years, making the investment very small.

here are some of my very favorite seed catalogs: http://www.reneesgarden.com/about/index.htm ,
http://www.seedsavers.org/ , http://www.territorialseed.com/ , and http://www.burpee.com/ .

any of these catalogs will provide an afternoon of reading and learning about growing seeds. i hope you plant a garden of your own this year.  it is a great reward.