Yesterday I picked two small, green chili peppers off of an extremely wilted plant. We had some good frosts while I was out of town for Thanksgiving and it shows in the garden. The lima bean plants have fallen off of the bean teepees and turned brown, and all the pepper plants are dying. Then, just in time to rescue me from this depressing time of year .... seed catalogs have started to arrive!
The first two of the year came while we were gone: Totally Tomatoes and Vermont Bean Seed Company. I got the TT catalog last year (50+ pages of just tomatoes!), but the bean seed catalog was quite an exciting surprise. Beans and peppers were my most successful crops this year, owing to a lack of squirrel interest and immunity to the disease the tomatoes and cucumbers all seemed to get. I use a lot of dried beans in my kitchen these days (I think this baby is a vegetarian!) I have been wondering if I could grow many of them, but I rarely see dried beans in seed catalogs. (I have wondered if the ones I buy in bags at the grocery store would sprout, but I always feel better with a little bit of instruction for new crops.) Then voila! A bean seed catalog! As I told N, I kind of want to go bury the thing in my garden right now!
I'm hoping to order my seeds early this year. Last year I waited until after the holidays and there was a lot of demand for seeds (gardening is popular again!) and I didn't end up getting my seeds until it was almost too late to start indoors. I had to cancel a pepper seed order from Park's because it really was too late for that one. I heard later that that happened to a lot of people this year because they are in bankruptcy. How sad, because they sell really good seeds and I don't really mind paying the extra $1/packet for seeds that will actually grow nice plants, instead of marigolds and nasturtiums that barely sprout, hit sunlight, and then sit, stunted, for weeks. I sure wish I knew where I was going to be living next year...
ps - sorry, no photos. i can't find the cord that connects my camera to the computer. :(
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So, Are you planning to plant the garden, and if you're not there next year, someone else will get to enjoy the fruits of your labor?
ReplyDeleteSounds like some good Christmas present ideas... both the seeds and a new camera cable.
ReplyDeleteGood to know what catalogs you get. Am thinking of setting up a garden too.
ReplyDelete@Renee Michelle - I probably won't plant anything until at least March, and by then I think I should know what our summer plans are. I'm not sure about this year's garden, though, since the baby is supposed to arrive in late May. I may have to get creative.
ReplyDelete@Ellie - I found the camera cord! (Or rather, I asked my husband who admitted he took it to work to charge his phone from his work computer. Hmph.) I did put gardening gift cards on my Christmas list, though.
@Matty - Those aren't actually catalogs I requested, they are companies that bought my information from seed companies I actually did request catalogs from - it seems like I get a new one every year. I think I may have to do a blog post soon about my favorite (and least favorite) seed companies.