I Love Seed Catalogs!

February is just around the bend and I need to get serious with these seed catalogs.
I have been collecting them since Christmas and they are a favorite guilty pleasure.  I shop them the way we did when we were little and the FAO Schwartz catalog arrived.  I wanted, and still do, it all!
But at some time, I need to get realistic and place an order.
All Winter long I have been highlighting phrases like "slow to bolt", "excellent keeper", "sweet, smooth flesh".  It sounds kind of provocative, really.
But seriously, I need to start some broccoli and brussels sprouts.  They are the first starts to head outdoors in cool, Spring weather and I need to get them going in the basement.
Honestly though, I need to settle on a couple of seed catalogs and go from there.
I remember a brussels sprout that caught my attention and flipped through every seed catalog in my pile, looking for it.  When I couldn't find it, I started to panic, until I found the other pile of catalogs I'd collected pre-Christmas.  There it was, in one of my favorite catalogs, Pinetree Garden Seeds .
When looking for seed companies, I have a few favorites.
First on my list is Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds http://rareseeds.com/.  They are a family owned company committed to seeding saving, organic and non-GMO (genetically modified), open pollinated seed.  Their catalogs are BEAUTIFUL.  And they stock some interesting, hard to find, heirloom seeds.  My father has been looking for a squash he remembers from his younger days, "something crook-necked and white that he could only find when we visited my grandparents" was his best description.  Sure enough, it showed up this year in Baker Creek's catalog.  He was ecstatic.  I'll be ordering him a packet of 'Illinois', along with a packet for myself.
I'll definitely place an order with Pinetree Garden Seeds https://www.superseeds.com/, the stocker of my potential favorite variety of sprouts. It's another family owned seed company with lots of heirlooms and a catalog chock full of advice and information.
No one took my advice and got me a subscription to Seed Savers Exchange http://www.seedsavers.org/.  That subscription would have gotten me the mother of all seed catalogs with over 20,000 varieties of rare and heirloom seeds.  Again, their catalog is beautiful, informative, and totally delightful.  A catalog of that girth can really buoy the heart of a gardener all winter long.
It's time to get started thinking about the garden.  So, first, pick some seed companies and surf their sites.  Request a catalog.
Second make a list of what you'd like to grow this season.
Third, choose some varieties.
Fourth, place an order.  Be prudent.  Check shipping costs.  You'd be shocked to see how the tab adds up when you consider shipping costs from several different companies.
Then get ready to start some seeds.  The time to start broccoli, cabbages, and brussels sprouts is quickly approaching!

Even in Winter

I saw a bumper sticker the other day.  "Compost Happens", it read.  And indeed, it does.  Even in Winter. Except, at my home, something had been stealing my compost.
A fresh coat of snow betrayed the culprit.  Our dieting dog had been supplementing her daily food allotment with a sneaky trip to the compost pile.
Usually, the invisible fence keeps her out of the compost pile because we know how she loves broccoli stems.  I think that I cut the line when clearing out a bed and I'll have to wait for Spring to repair it.  In the meantime, I had to devise a way to keep Miss Fatty out of my compost.
In the Winter, any uncovered compost pile can become a feeding station for a variety of critters.  I put a plastic garbage bin with a locking cover in my garden.  I tried it last year and it kept the dog and the raccoons at bay.  Come Spring, I mixed the Winter's worth of coffee grounds and eggshells from the garbage can into the compost pile.

Two Months Later....

Ah, the slippery slope.
I got the flu at Thanksgiving time and all of a sudden, it was Christmas, the New Year's, then my daughter's birthday, then... quiet.
January can be a really pleasant time.  In Zone 4, there's not much to do besides clean the house.
I've been trucking through my canned and frozen garden pickings, taking note of what I may do differently with the next year' plantings.  And it is time to start thinking about the garden, in a contemplative way.
The seed catalogs are rolling in, filling my mail box with hope.  I think I enjoy seed catalogs as much as my daughter enjoys toy catalogs.
So, I pull out my list.  What to plant this year?  What varieties to repeat?  What will I skip this year and what will I try?
I love January!