Planting the Seeds for Next Year's Garden

For several weeks now, the seed catalogs have been arriving in the mail. First to show up was old reliable Thompson & Morgan, followed quickly by most of my other standards: Nichols Garden Nursery, Pinetree Garden Seeds, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, just to name a few. Because of the Christmas rush, they've been stacked up in the conservatory. There they sit, speaking softly but persistently, just waiting for the holidays to end so that I have whole days to wallow in them.

And wallow I always have, unfortunately letting what my husband refers to as the "gimme-wants" dictate my purchase lists. There at least, I've been able to exercise some discipline. It's a ridiculous exercise, but eventually it works. I go through each catalog, damn the torpedoes, and put everything that catches my fancy make the initial list. Then, I go through a second time and whittle it down considerably. Once round two is done, I start comparison shopping, making sure to get the best price I can on everything I want. Only then do the orders get placed. Regrettably, my garden record-keeping skills have been lax over the years. However, I finally got tired of wasting time and money buying seeds that a) I didn't need or b) didn't perform as well as I would have liked, so last year I got serious about documentation and now I'll be able to order wisely. In fact, I got so serious last year that I gave my husband a good laugh one morning - he saw a list on the conservatory table that was captioned, "DO NOT PURCHASE THESE SEEDS. NONE. NOT ANY." I told you I was serious.......

Seaon's Greetings!

All I have to say is this:

"Holly and ivy, box and bay
Put in the church on Christmas Day"

-15th century Christmas carol

A Merry and blessed Christmas to all, and a green New Year as well!