ECONOGAL

It is January and seed catalogs are multiplying at my house. Online shopping is not a mainstay for me. I prefer supporting the small town businesses. But garden seeds are an exception. Due to the climate, plants need to get started indoors sooner than later.

Since I buy seeds late January to early February, I am now on the list for numerous seed suppliers even if I have never heard of them before. And to a certain extent these companies are reaping a return on their purchase of lists. I always look at the new offerings and sometimes I will try a new company.

Most of the seed catalogs arriving on my doorstep could qualify as a favorite. Standbys such as Burpee, Gurney’s, Johnny’s and Jung appear multiple times a year. Then there are the specialty types. Rare seeds, heirloom seeds, kitchen seeds all seem to find me. Some are thick and glossy, while others are old-fashioned with diagrams instead of photos. I eagerly await them all.

This year both Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and The Seed Savers Catalog arrived before the new year. Perhaps a belief that the early bird will get the seed buyer. However, like previous years, it is the first really cold snap that has me turning and marking pages in the plethora of seed catalogs.

While most catalogs are gone from last year, I do have the 2025 Seed Savers Exchange catalog from 2025. I compared like-to-like prices of my favorite seeds. The costs were identical. I do not know if that is true across all the seed catalogs. Or even across everything in this particular catalog. Seed Savers offers hundreds, if not over a thousand products and I did not check out every one.

I am just in the beginning stages of planning this year’s garden. After three years of no squash in order to persuade the squash bugs to move elsewhere, I will add acorn squash back into the mix.

The peanuts I threw into the garden as a last-ditch attempt for plants did produce some seed. However, the seeds are smaller than average.

Sweet Potato slips will need to be ordered again. No crop last year means no roots saved to produce slips for this year’s garden.

At this time there is only one new baby expected in the family. However, other things will impact the size of the garden. And the time devoted to gardening. All are inputs for determining just how much seed to order. After all the planning and work, everything depends on the timing of mother nature. What are you planting this year?