It used to be that seed catalogs started hitting our mailboxes after the first of the year. Boy, has that little tradition changed. I've been receiving catalogs in the mail for at least a month.
Now that the holidays are winding down, I find I'm thinking ahead to the 2012 gardening season and am starting to make plans.
I'm frequently asked by folks what my favorite mail-order seed and garden catalogs are so here's a list for you, in no particular order:
1. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (www.rareseeds.com)
2. Seeds of Change (www.seedsofchange.com)
3. Renee's Garden (www.reneesgarden.com)
4. Totally Tomatoes (www.totallytomato.com)
5. Vermont Bean Seed (www.vermontbean.com)
6. Lee Valley Tools & Garden Supplies (www.leevalley.com)*
7. Johnny's Seeds (www.johnnyseeds.com)*
8. Harris Seed Co. (www.harrisseeds.com)*
9. Territorial Seed (www.territorialseed.com)
10. Gardens Alive! (www.gardensalive.com)*
I should also mention that I plant a lot of seeds from Ed Hume Seeds, which is based over in Puyallup. You can order seeds online or you can find Hume Seeds in local garden centers. I've had good luck with their seeds and am pleased that they have been selling organic seeds for a few years now. If you go to their web site, www.humeseeds.com, you can look at their online catalog of seeds so you can make a wish list of the ones you'd like to try.
The companies I've listed above that have an asterisk (*) behind their name are ones that I've purchased floating row cover and the red plastic tomato mulch from. While I like to patronize the local garden centers as much as possible, I've found larger quantities and wider widths of row cover at the above mail-order companies, which work better for my raised beds.
Happy New Year and have fun planning your next garden!
