January is not a time to be working in the garden in Vermont but it is a time to be planning next years garden. One of my favorite occupations in the winter is to sit by the woodstove and read through the new garden catalogs! Some of them have the best copywriters and can convince me to try many new varieties of vegetables.
I usually order the majority of my seeds through the Fedco catalog. Not only do they have excellent prices but also since I order through our local coop I get an additional discount. You really can’t beat it! Fedco is not a fancy catalog, it is printed on what feels like newsprint, and is back and white, so no beautiful glossy photos to look at. They do have very good descriptions of their seeds and clearly explain whether or not a seed packet is heirloom or organic.
Usually I have another catalog that does have the beautiful pictures to look up products if I’m not sure I want to order them or not. My other favorite catalog is Johnny’s Seeds, which is based in Maine.
I start most of my vegetable plants from seed and by the end of February I usually have quite a little garden going in our kitchen. In addition to a couple of grow lights I have lots of windows in the kitchen so I can give my plants a good start.
For now I just have to decide what I want to plant this year in addition to the regular vegetables! Starting your own seeds is a worthwhile investment. You have a much better selection of plants to choose from and you can also grown some wonderful heirloom plants that are hard to find in the local nurseries!
Do you plan to have a vegetable garden this year? If so, will you be starting your own seeds or picking up plants at the local garden center?
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Nancy on the Home Front 