Seed Catalogs

While preparing my posts to review last year's growing season, I've been planning for this year as well. The catalogs have been coming in since December, and they always put me in a good mood reading/daydreaming about the new varieties I'd like to try. Although I have been doing review posts for websites and products that I like in the past year or so, my assessments are always brutally honest. So here are my current thoughts on seed catalogs, completely unsolicited.

This first group are my current all-around favorites for lowest prices combined with best selection of Heirloom and unusual varieties. Very few seed packets are listed in these catalogs for over $3, some are even less than one dollar!

 This group are also reasonably priced at mostly less than $4 per packet, and also have a wide variety of Heirloom and hard-to-find seeds. Johnny's has a fine selection of flower seeds, as well as equipment and supplies for an all-out nursery operation (in case your hobby gets out of control :)

 This last group have the same reasonable price ranges at most for under $4, as well as specialty varieties.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy perusing the main stream vendors like Park Seed, Jung, Gurney's, and Burpee/Cook's Garden. But I've noticed a real spike in prices (at Burpee/Cook's especially), and I find myself gravitating more toward old-school Heirloom varieties with all the scary GMO seed talk out there. One last price consideration is packet size-some list by weight, some by number of seeds. But when you see a price of $4.25 for a packet of 15 seeds, it doesn't take long for the eyes to wander...toward a better deal!

Meh....I'm kinda off plants lately....

...."Really?!"  Naw Gizmo, I'm just kidding. I'm simply frustrated with my slow internet connection, and busy with other things lately. But I'm excited for the upcoming growing season...

 ....particularly since the catalogs have begun pouring in. I mean, just look at this purple swiss chard!

 Plus I still want to blog about last year's season! I'm just rather overwhelmed lately, so if you can just bear with me.....okay Bentley?

"Zzzzzzzzzz" .........I'll take that as a "yes".

Random Garden Happenings

Aside from veggie planting, there's plenty of other garden action at Millertime! Ants busy on the peony buds... ...harvestmen hanging out as well.

This clematis bloom is pretty, but what's up with the folded petal?

It's a spider hideout! Generally I find them to be beautiful, but the eyes on this Jumping Spider kinda freak me out.

The lupine blooms are always a welcome sight...

...as are the Showy Ladyslippers! This year there are two blooms forming-yay!

I got my first winter catalog the other day! Huh? (Actually I understand the wisdom of preparing to harvest in advance, but I was put off at the mere suggestion of winter this time of year. Heck, summer only started what, like ten minutes ago?! :)

Here's the area I'd burned off this past spring (can't you tell?)

I sure can't believe it looked like this barely a month and a half ago.

The taverns up here have a drink that's popular when the weather gets hot: lemonade mixed with vodka (the "basic" recipe, though this one sounds good too :) Anyway, the drink is called a "summer hummer", but here is my preferred variety...

See the droplet of water at the top of the image? I'd left my hose dripping over the deck railing onto a fern that's planted next to a tree and always dry. I turned around to find Mr. Hummingbird here using it as a shower! Glad to help, dude. Then I saw this "ghostly" weed orchid re-appearing, twice the size it was last year.

I had some guests over Memorial Day weekend, I think they wanted to hang out someplace quiet due to the extra ATV traffic.

My Wine Cap Stropharia bed has been producing very well this year, after a quick harvest only three months post-innoculation last year!

This gigantic amendment project needs to be repeated throughout the flowerbed areas. I began by laying down wet newspaper (I also used large paper kitty litter bags which gave me lots of coverage). Then I topped the wet paper with a 2-3" layer of composted manure....

....then covered that with a layer of wood mulch. Looks kind of "bright" at first, but it will fade in the sun. The plants in this area have really responded well, especially since we started getting rain.

Well, back at it then! :)

Home Grown Annuals 2009; The Night Garden

Have you ever planted a "night garden" of flowers that bloom after dark? There are many reasons to do this: the blooms smell great, look nice, and attract cool pollinators like this White-Lined Sphinx moth. My night blooming varieties were purchased as a "Night Blooming Seed Collection" from Select Seeds , plus I added another white flower or two.

After all, it wasn't just about veggies last year...I planted lots of flowers as well. This is borage.... ....and this fuzzy "claw" belongs to....

...woodland tobacco (Nicotania sylvestris).

Here's my other tobacco, jasmine tobacco (Nicotania alata)....guess it likes this pot! It will bloom as a much shorter specimen, too.

This cosmos 'Psyche White' was very popular with the bees, fortunately I planted it in several spots around the yard.

It blooms beautifully all summer...

....as did this adorable night phlox 'Midnight Candy'. These teeny little flowers smelled wonderful....

.....and all the night garden cast members were favorites with the local insect population. This flower is pretty even while closed, IMO.........and while it's opening....
....but most gorgeous when fully opened! This is Datura wrightii that I grew from seed sent to me by a dear friend in Texas, and it has the most heavenly scent!

Doesn't this bloom seem to "strike a pose"?

Like Madonna said, "...there's nothing to it-Vogue!"
Last but not least, this is 'Miss Jeckyll' love-in-a-mist. While she isn't big in the fragrance department, she does bring something to the table...
....efficient and generous seed-setting!

Now that's a quality I've come to appreciate more and more :)

Wintersowing Commences

I signed up for the a seed growing project over at Gardenbloggers, and I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project (thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.) The press kit with the project seeds arrived the other day....
....they included a bonus packet of pink double cosmos seeds-cool!

So I decided to incorporate the GROW project seeds in my wintersowing this year. I moistened the seedling mix with a solution of water and this stuff. It's advertised to help prevent damping off, so I'd used it exclusively for watering my seedlings last year (my "maiden voyage" into indoor seed-starting). I had one seedling appear to succumb to damping off out of all these, so I'll stick with what works. (The only place I've found to purchase PHC is at Gardener's Supply, BTW.)

I sowed three, 36 cell trays: one of wildflower seeds, one of annual flower seeds, and for the first time one tray of veggie seeds. My blogger pal Monica starts her veggies this way every year and swears by it, so I'll try wintersowing and indoor starting the same varieties for a direct comparison. Should be interesting!

There! I set them all out on the porch to "chillax" and await the proper growing temperatures when they'll (hopefully) spring into action. (This was March 4th.)

In another month or so it'll be time to begin the indoor seedlings under lights...there will be a lot more of them. If everything I plant actually grows, I'm gonna be in trouble :)

"I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project, thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds."

Discount on Seed Orders!

Just in time for garden planning, my friends at Hometown Seeds are offering the following discount:



By entering the coupon code thanks, 10% will be reduced from the total cost of any order. The code will be good through February 28, 2010.



Let's get this garden party started!


Disclaimer: Hometown seeds sent me a complimentary seed assortment in exchange for a link in my sidebar, however any opinions expressed here are all my own. I was frankly impressed with the cultural, storage and seed-saving information they included with their vegetable selections.

Play With the Toys You Already Have

Was it just me, or did everyone else hear this from their parents as a kid? Seemed like I was told this very frequently, probably because I felt that the old Sears "Wishbook" was just a giant notepad so my parents could keep track of what I wanted. (Because of course my desires were their first priority. :) I'm slightly embarassed to admit how little things have changed, and lately the mailorder nursery catalogs are my "wishbooks". This first catalog from Plant Delights is one of my favorites, their selection is always amazing! The folks at High Country Gardens have lots of plants for dry climates, including some wicked cool hardy cacti!

And my other favorite "wishbook" is Song Sparrow Nursery right here in Wisconsin. They have a particularly large selection of peonies, including some cute rock-garden types. However, in this nerve-wracking economic climate I find myself taking a new approach...

....and sticking to the catalogs selling items I can better afford-seeds! This is a new favorite, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. They have tons of interesting (and frankly bizarre) seeds of all kinds, foods and flowers.

This catalog from J. L. Hudson, Seedsman is loaded with an ecclectic mix of common and rare seeds, as well as very detailed germination information. They even show you how to correctly pronounce the latin names! However, I must get back to the point of this post....

....and focus on actually using the seeds I already have. (I've acquired even more since taking this picture!)

So for me, this will be the spring of "look don't touch", and play with your own toys already!

Winter's on the Scene

Snow has finally arrived up here, taking longer than many locations farther south. First it was just a dusting about a week ago...

....looking rather decorative on my bamboo....
...then we got the first "named" snowstorm. (Our local forecasters like to name snowstorms like hurricanes. I think it's dorky, but to each his own :)

Sure thing, during the day and afternoon we got more....


...making the night noisy with crunching snow, yet quiet and peaceful too.

All my stuff looks cool covered in snow, IMO...

...as well as less "cluttered and junky" as my mom would say. (However I like it all, and since I'm the boss around here then mine is the last word on the subject!)

The snow brought my third cardinal sighting in all these years too...he's the red blur on the fence there. (I took this through the window and didn't get a second shot.) I just don't understand why I don't see more of these birds in my yard, but I have plenty of other kinds hanging around so whatever.
Bentley has his favorite winter spot mapped out! Seems his fur coat doesn't help as much as I'd expect it to.I decided to try and make my own wreath this year, since I have so many of the materials at hand right outside my door. I started with a wire frame from a purchased wreath I'd bought a few years ago, add some greenery...

....I used an assortment of conifer cuttings...

...then bent the wire thingys to hold it all down.

Add some red twigs from local willows...

....add some more coniferous greenery to hide the wire thingys, and some artemesia sprays...

...then some high bush cranberry branches (with berries, of course). Not too bad! Let's hang it on the door...

....looks pretty, but there's a thin spot on the right side...

...add more greenery...there! It could probably use a couple pinecones too, but I don't mind it without them, either. What do you think?

In houseplant news, my dicentra scandens 'Athens Yellow' looked very lush when I brought it in this fall. I was hoping it might not die back as usual, and just keep on blooming...
...however this was not the case.

But like clockwork, it sprang back to life after a dormancy of about a month. Now if I can get the cats to leave it alone, it should be well on its way for next summer camp on the porch.

I discovered a new "design element" for my home, courtesy of my feline room mates. See, I wanted a blanket rack for my throw blankets to keep them from becoming "cat hair blankets". But when I looked online and in catalogs, the cheapest I could find was $50, which I'm just not willing to pay. Then I noticed this ladder in the garage...I had cut it in half to keep my mom from continuing to use it, cuz' it's super old and dangerous. (She's still mad at me about it, too.) Well I think it works just fine for a blanket rack...

.....and after Bentley checks it out... ...it gets his approval for a chin rest!

The waterways still have open places, so it's too early for ice fishing...

....but never too early to peruse garden catalogs. I got three more the other day!

But my biggest winter news to date? I'm going to see Metallica!!! My friend won tickets from a radio contest to see them in January in Milwaukee, and I get to go too! YAY!!

So bring on the snow I say! Yay winter! Woot, woot! *~<];-)