Seed catalogs & gardening

I began getting 2011 seed catalogs the week of Christmas. On December 23rd to be exact. I received the Burpee catalog. The week between Christmas & New Year's, I received the following: Jung's, Johnny's Selected Seeds, Territorial Seeds, John Scheeper's Kitchen Garden Seeds, & a few others that didn't turn me on, so to speak. Last year, I ordered some plants, all heirlooms, from Territorial Seeds & Burpee. I ordered most of my other seed needs from Johnny's Selected Seeds. I also picked a few plants from Lowe's & Home Depot, respectively.

Now that Christmas is over, I am already thinking about spring gardening & planning. Not that I'm anxious for spring to get here my you, that won't happen for at least another month or two. However, I've found that having some sort of gardening plan in place, no matter how simple or elaborate, it makes the whole aspect of gardening, vegetable & flower, much more fun & rewarding. Most of the fun I have with gardening comes from being able to spend countless hours, pouring over all the beautifully photographed & illustrated seed catalogs & gardening books.

When it comes to vegetables, I'm a simple kind of girl. I plant every thing in nice, semi-neat, rows to make cultivating easier for the hubby. And I don't usually venture to far into any type of exotic or "weird" plants or vegetables. I plants green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, lettuce, radishes, onions, potatoes, and the occasional cantaloupe. I've dabbled with sweet corn with little success, and I've also tried a wide variety of peppers, cucumbers, & pole/bush beans. I always come back to what grows well for me, and what I know my family will eat. I plant Blue Lake 247 bush beans, heirloom tomatoes (Mortgage Lifter, Amish paste, Costoluto Genovese {a good juicing tomato}, & Brandywine), bush pickling cucumbers (not for pickling, just because I like the taste, and the bush cukes don't require a lot of room), white onion sets, green & red leaf lettuces (along with a "gourmet" lettuce mix), French Breakfast & Cherry Belle radishes, yellow & red bell peppers, and Hungarian Hot Wax peppers. I planted potatoes last year for the first time in over 15 years. I yielded approximately 6lbs. of yummy fresh potatoes. We've downsized the garden in hopes that it'll be able to be easier for me to keep up with, with our ever hectic summer schedules! My plan is to plant 12 tomato plants, 6-8 rows of green beans, 1 row of green & red lettuces, 1 row of the "gourmet" blend lettuces, 1/2 row of Cherry Belle radishes-1/2 row of French Breakfast, 2 red & 2 yellow bell peppers, 2 Hungarian Hot Wax peppers, 3 "hills" of cucumbers, 2 rows of potatoes, & 1 row of onions. If there is room, I may squeeze in a hill or two of heirloom cantaloupes. My goal is to put up some tomatoes, tomato juice, green beans, and possibly a batch or two of homemade salsa.

Now, when it comes to flower gardening, I lean more to the lazy side, I guess you could say. I would prefer to spend my flower dollars more wisely....on plants/flowers that come up year after year (perennials) as opposed to spending loads of money on annuals, and then have to plant them all. Each year, we spend between $50-100 on perennials. Last year, we added a poppy, a white bleeding heart, & a butterfly bush (that didn't make it). This year, I'd like to add some astilbe plants, lilies, & perhaps some hollyhocks. Now this doesn't mean I don't plant any annuals, because I do. I love to plant wave petunias in my hanging baskets (which I make myself each season), and my planters next to the garage doors. I also will add a few impatiens & coleus' around my shade loving plants, just for a pop of color for after the perennial blooms fade.

I've seen in a few of my catalogs, where I can purchase 3-5 foot tall, bare root, Honeycrisp apple trees, for around $30 each. I may look around at Lowe's or Home Depot first, to see if I can't get one from there, or perhaps Oakland Nursery. I will most likely have to pay more for it from one of those stores, but I'd be more apt to trust it's survival than through mail order. Honeycrsip apples are a big deal around these parts, and the cheapest I think I've seen them on sale for, was $1.49 per pound. However, they are worth every stinking penny!!

Any of you plan on gardening this year? Share your plans, tips, hints, & ideas!!

Love & hugs to you all!!