The First Garden Chore of 2013: The Seed Order

A very nice aspect of gardening in the Northeast is that we get to have a respite during winter, a time to be cozy indoors and enjoy the lack of garden chores; another is that then we are excited again at the prospect of a new garden season to come. A preview of spring shows up each year in early winter––the arrival of the garden catalogs––and with them the first chore of the spring garden: ordering seeds. Each summer I make a list of the seeds I will need the next season; when my favorite catalog comes, from Fedco Seeds, I browse through it, thinking about any new varieties I might try. Fedco is a wonderful company, a co-op in Waterville, Maine, that specializes in seeds for northern gardens. They have excellent and reliable plant descriptions, and many organic varieties. 

I can check my box of seeds, stored in the freezer, carefully alphabetized, to see if there's anything I've overlooked. I usually work on my order during Christmas week, but this gloomy, gray day seemed a good time to look forward, so I filled it out this morning. And maybe being an early bird will save me from again losing out on those Copra onion seeds.  Next up, starting the seeds of onions and leeks in late February; till then, I hope we have a gloriously bright and snowy winter.