Sunday 1 February 2015

Seed Order Done!


I have officially kicked off the 2015 gardening season with my seed order now complete.  Of course, as most seasoned gardeners know, the gardening season has no real end or beginning, they just flow into each other.  I was already preparing for this year's activities in the fall when I started to save some seeds, and adding compost to some of the spaces and mulching the perennials.

Still, the seed ordering period is always exciting especially with a few new seed catalogues to flip through.  Last year, I outlined my general criteria for choosing seeds to order which I still follow.   West Coast Seeds was one of my top picks last year ... unfortunately I was put off a bit this year with their high shipping costs.  And most of the seed varieties I wanted to order were readily available elsewhere at a lower cost.  I still love their blended seed packets to get more variety of a particular item without having to buy several packages of seeds, but I just didn't have as much of a need for that this year.

So I went with my old standby (and my other top pick last year) William Dam Seeds.  And I added a selection of items for the first time from Vesey's.  Both are located in Eastern Canada so I can trust that they sell seeds that will generally work in my gardening zone (5a).

I also had the opportunity of bartering for seeds from Greta's Organic.  I live close by and was able to trade a large number of unused seedling pots and trays for a good selection of seeds a few months ago.

I will spend the next couple of weeks working on the format I'll use for tracking plant performance and hopefully that format will be suitable for sharing what I'm growing and how I'll go about it.

Stay tuned!

4 comments:

  1. I just picked up a bunch of seeds from William Dam as well. Of course, one of the top items on my list - the downy mildew resistant basil - was not in yet. Guess that means I'll have to go back at some point...."insert fake sigh here" ;)

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  2. I went in a garden centre today (to get a big bag of garden bird food) and had to walk quickly past the seed section to avoid temptation!
    Great that you can go and barter for seed nearby. I think we have a seed swap happening in Norwich for the first time this year, I might go have a lookee.

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    Replies
    1. My seed order is pretty much complete but there are still a couple of seed swaps in the area (which I've never attended before) that I am thinking of going to. Should be interesting ...

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