Sowing the Seeds

There's a chill in the air, we had a new delivery of firewood for the wood stove earlier in the week, we're cooking wintery things like pureed celeriac, beets, turnips, blue potatoes, and rutabaga (Glenn) and creme carmel bread pudding (me) and yet lately all I can think about is getting back into the garden and growing things. While we don't typically have truly harsh winters here (the protracted recent cold snap notwithstanding), they're just long enough that I start getting antsy right about now for warm soil, budding green shoots, and dirt-stained knees on my pants.

Fortunately, I have seed catalogues to curl up with and savor. For the crops that I want to get a jump start on, like tomatoes, I'll collect a variety of seeds, tuck them into some potting soil, and then gently coax them into being underneath fluorescent lighting. This month's Hobby Farm Home has an easy tutorial on building your own indoor seed starting "condo,"as they call it.

Asheville has a great, local seed source I've mentioned on here before called Sow True Seeds. I just put in an order for a catalogue today. In addition to Sow True, other seed companies I routinely order from include:

1) Baker's Creek

2) Horizon Herbs

3) Mountain Rose Herbs

4) Territorial

5) Johnny's

6) Seeds of Change

Also, my blogging buddy Kristen, over in the Bay Area, turned me on to Kitazawa Seed Co., a California supplier specializing in Asian vegetables.

Do you have suppliers that you especially enjoy? Anyone specializing in unusual or heirloom varieties? For fruit and nut trees and bushes, I particularly like Stark Brothers.

The rush to get a flavorful, fragrant, and visually appealing garden is on!

*Image from here.