grow your own 2011 planning: seeds I've ordered this year

What do gardeners do in the winter?  For me, not much garden-wise except stare out the window and browse the seed catalogues! 

Every year it seems I order more seeds than the last year.  There are a number of reasons for this:

1. As my family has been growing, my gardening budget keeps shrinking.
2. I don't have much space left for new stuff in the perennial gardens so these days I'm buying fewer plants and starting just a few easy-to-grow annuals to stuff in places that need "a little something".
3. I'm growing more vegetables now that I have space and why wouldn't you start vegetables from seed?  The selection from catalogues is far superior to what you will find in the garden centres in spring.
4. It's fun and I feel like I'm gardening as early as February!
5. It's a great hands-on science lesson for the kids!
6. Just keeping with the times - "grow your own" is a big movement these days and I'm fully on board for environmental reasons, not just because I'm a gardener.

Here's what I've ordered this year:

From Dominion Seed House:

• agastache "fragrant delight" for filling pots around the patios
• calendula "bon bon mixture" for the potager
• nasturtiums "salmon baby" and "jewel of africa" for the potager, herb and veggie gardens
• ornamental kale "nagoya improved" to keep pots looking great into late fall
• cosmos "sonata" because I always grow these.  Love them!
• sweet peas "sugar and spice" for pots 
• amaranth "fireworks" for the dry front welcome garden
• verbena bonariensis for the potager and adventure garden
• castor bean "impala" for pots on the patio
• zucchini "spineless beauty", mesclun mix, lettuce "two star" and "new red fire", patio, tumbler and Sun Gold tomatoes for the veggie garden

From Veseys seeds:

• sweet peas "ripples mix" for the adventure garden
• alpine strawberries "temptation" to trial in pots and later plant at the edge of the back shade garden if they do well
• birdhouse gourds for crafts with the kids

From T&T seeds:

• asparagus "martha washington" roots for the potager - I planted asparagus at my old house and then promtply moved, and I can't wait to have freshly harvested asparagus again!  (next year)
• grape "valiant" root - I'm not sure I have a sunny enough spot for this but I'm going to give it a go
• 2 dwarf apples "dexter jackson" to grow in pots this summer and eventually plant and train as espaliers in the veggie garden (their permanent planting spots will be ready by fall)

If you would like help developing a beautiful and successful garden that nourishes your body and soul, view My Services for consultation details.

Comments

[Megan]

How exciting! I've just started browsing as well. I usually order all of my seeds from Botanical Interests, West Coast Seeds or Urban Harvest.

I tried alpine strawberries last year from seed and it was way easier than I thought it would be. I would recommend starting them really early indoors though if you want fruit this year. I was able to get a few handfuls off of about 3 or 4 plants at the end of September. I also had mine in pots and I transplanted them to a bed in the fall - I'm curious to see if they will come back in the spring.

[Janice Miller-Young]

Good tips, thanks Megan!  How early is really early?  I was thinking early February.  And let me know if yours come back!
Janice

[Megan]

Early February is good. I started mine a little later than that and wished I would have done it earlier. Good luck!