Great Black Friday Seed Deal - 70% Off Seeds of the Month Club.

On Tuesday over at GrafixMuse's Garden Spot this great deal was shared.

On November 25, 2011 between 5:00am and 3:00pm EST, if you order via the link below and use the referral code: Holiday you can receive 70% off a membership of 1 year or longer (Sorry, not valid on lifetime memberships)!

All seeds are non-gmo, open pollinated heirloom varieties that have been tested for a germination rate of 95% and higher. The seeds mailed are customized to your location and climate.

For more info check out GrafixMuse's original post on the seed of the month club!

To order, visit this post at GrafixMuse's Garden Spot and follow the link for the black Friday sale!

First Seed Catalog!

The first seed catalog of the season arrived today, from Wolcott, VT's High Mowing Organic Seeds! While I look for holiday gifts for others I will be circling and dog-earring the pages of many seed catalogs.

Seeds Orders & Garden Planning

My seed order from Johnny's is relatively small for the spring but it definitely has an unexpected surprise.

Mostly we stalked up on herb seeds: Garlic Chives, Rosemary, Sage, Cilantro, Chives, Parsley, Thyme, Basil, Arugula. The Cilantro, Chives, Parsley, Thyme, Basil, & Arugula come as a collection of biodegradable herb disks made to be grown in containers.

I also ordered Mini Broccoli(Happy Rich) and Leek(Tadorna) seeds as well. The leeks are going to be started on the kitchen counter as soon as they arrive. Finally, the last part of the order is the unexpected surprise: Horseradish!!! I ordered a set of horseradish roots (5 total) which I will be planting in the space that will be freed up by many of the herbs. Hopefully the little horseradish experiment works. If so, come fall I will have enough to make my own horseradish as well as a supply of roots for the following year!

Along with the seed order I've also sorted through my seeds and have begun planning the layout/schedule of my garden.

Already in the ground is my garlic and Egyptian onions. Hopefully both will produce edible results as well as viable seed!

In addition to the herbs, mini broccoli, leeks and horseradish here's a good idea of what I'll be growing based on the seed I have on hand:

Bush Beans (Fresh Pick), Dry Beans (Ottawa Cranberry & Vermont Cranberry), Kale, Dill, Spinach (Bloomsdale), Butterhead Lettuce (Red Cross), Mustard Greens (Ruby Streaks), 2 different Greens Mixes (Johnny's Elegance Greens & High Mowing Mesclun Mix), Beets (Detroit Dark Red), Radish (Champion), & Carrots (Scarlet Nantes).

Lot's of greens and plenty of variety in that mix. In addition to the seeds I will be getting tomato, pepper, and some flower seedlings from a local farm.

Up for debate on planting is another attempt at cucumbers and zucchini (both of which were serious failures last year), as well as Swiss chard.

Missing from what I tried last year: full size broccoli, cabbage, onions, and potatoes. The broccoli and onions produced poor results while the cabbage took up valuable room and the results were less then impressive. The potatoes were fun to grow, but my little plot doesn't have the room to successfully grow them. With more space I would definitely try them again.

Looking back at the list it seems pretty daunting for my little plot, but I'm eager to take the lessons I learned last year and see how much further my knowledge and experience can take me in the upcoming year. Despite my plot currently being buried under multiple feet of snow I am looking forward to getting to work and building upon the great results I experienced last year.

Looking Ahead.

A quick look at the calendar indicates it is smack in the early stages of what is shaping up to be a real winter here in Boston. With two major storms having already passed through Boston, and a third just around the corner it is difficult to look towards spring, but the time is here!

The seed catalogs have been coming in for a month already, with a few more arriving each week. Over the next few weeks I will be going through my seeds, contacting local farms about seedling sales, and browsing the catalogs while imagining fruitful harvests and warmer temperatures!

As the next bout of snow rolls in this weekend I will be sitting with a cup of delicious coffee or tea and sorting through my seeds and marking up these seed catalogs as a plan begins to form in my head and on paper for the forthcoming year.

It will only be my second year of gardening but I am excited to see where the lessons and skills from my first season will lead to greater success in year 2.

It begins all over again...

Monday I posted my final harvest of the season and a few shots of a put to bed plot. In that post a ready asked if I was already planning for the spring. Half jokingly I replied that I had been planning for next year as soon as I had started working this year. The truth is that I learned a tremendous amount this year and will definitely put it to use next year!

While my post was loading on Monday my mailman left a surprise that already points to next years growing season:

Despite the grainy cellphone pic it's clear that the first 2 seed catalogs for 2011 have arrived with High Mowing Organic Seeds and Pinetree Garden Seeds taking honors for earliest arrivals. I am mostly set with seeds but it never hurts to look through the catalogs and daydream of more space and more veggies!

1st Seed Catalog

After a long day at work I came home to find my first seed catalog waiting for me:

Seeds of Change is a USDA certified organic seed company based in New Mexico. A number of home gardeners & farmers have cited Seeds of Change as an excellent jumping off point to the world of seed catalogs.

I chatted up a few farmers recently at the end of season markets around Boston and was advised that looking at a variety of seed catalogs would give me a good idea about special or heirloom variety of veggies I may want to grow, but my best bet would be finding a reputable and well known seed company based in the same region that I am. If a reputable source in my area has success on their farms with varieties that I'm interested in, chances of my success go up due to similar (not the exact same) climates. The name which came up most often from the farmers was Johnny's Seeds of Winslow, ME. I won't be ordering all of my seeds from Johnny's but for starters a good number will be coming from them.