The Christmas decorations are put away, a toasty fire is in the woodstove…must mean that it’s time for garden dreaming! It is one of the best times of year for a gardener, this January garden dream time. In our January dreams, the rain is regular, in just the right quantity and always falls at night, gardens are gorgeously productive, and there are NO WEEDS! The temperature is perfect and the bugs stay away. The sun shines because that perfect amount of moisture is all coming at night, right?!
For the BCG, January means that seeds are arriving and we are getting the order form out to all of our gardeners to order seedlings and seeds. We are planning our planting schedule so that the plants are ready when you and the weather are. But what if you really want to try a particular carrot variety that your neighbor loves? Or a certain tomato is calling your name? What if you are just plain curious as to what different varieties and vegetable types you could grow here in Maine and are available? Let us help you and share the seed sources we use for good northern varieties of veggies, herbs, flowers, etc.
There are several wonderful seed sources that we tend to use…all of them local to northern New England, three of them from right here in Maine, which means they sell varieties that will do well in our climate. They all have paper catalogs that you can request…some of us just love to have that paper copy in hand for dreaming but also for the wealth of information from planting instructions to how to grow each plant…and you can also just go on-line to their websites and order from them. Our favorites are below:
Fedco Seeds (Clinton, ME) – www.fedcoseeds.com. Good seeds at a good price
Johnny’s Selected Seeds (Winslow, ME) – johnnyseeds.com. Awesome catalog
High Mowing Seeds (Wolcott, VT) – highmowingseeds.com. All organic seeds
A local source that is great for small gardens or square foot gardening is:
Pinetree Garden Seeds (New Gloucester, ME) – superseeds.com. Small quantities
All of these sources also sell tools, seed starting supplies, and all of your gardening needs. Their websites and catalogs are great resources for successfully growing your veggies, flowers, herbs.
Happy January dreaming!