seeds

As I write, snow is falling outside my Maine window,
and indoors all around me
half a hundred garden catalogues are in bloom.
- Katharine S. White



I've had my seed catalogs for months but I'm just getting around to planning our garden and placing the orders. I have my old favorites that I buy every year—like Buttercrunch and Little Gem lettuces from Seeds of Change. Why mess with a good thing, right?

But I like to try new things, too. Last year it was cannellini beans, which turned out well and will get added to the favorites. This year it will be a different variety of carrot and lima beans. I know, I hate lima beans. But, my husband and friend Jenny (who's from Georgia and calls them butterbeans) tell me I'll love them picked fresh and while they're still small and tender. I'm not convinced, but we'll see. I used to hate peas, too.

I think we'll try corn this year, too. Corn is tricky and I have two funny stories about growing corn. My grandfather once planted some and I watched the next day as crows walked along the carefully planted row and plucked out the seeds one by one. He tried to shoot them from the kitchen window but let's not even go there :)

We tried it once in my family's garden. It had just ripened and we planned to pick and eat it the next day. We woke up the next morning to find the stalks flattened to the ground and the corn gone. Raccoons! They may be cute in those movies and television ads where they talk to one another, but in real life not so much.

These are some of my favorite places to buy seeds. But be warned. Once you place an order you'll get a flood of seed catalogs next winter!

Seeds of Change certified organic seed
Territorial Seed Company
Vermont Bean Seed Company not just beans
Johnnys Selected Seeds
Nourse Farms great for fruit and berries
Pinetree Garden Seeds