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No, No, No, I’m NOT Ready!!!

December 31st, 2014

ACK, every time I open up my mailbox I’m greeted by a new seed catalog. I am completely unprepared to order seed at this early stage; I don’t even want to think about it. There has barely been enough time to sit down and rest from the previous garden season and I’m being bombarded with seed catalogs. It’s not that I don’t like them, in fact I love them, but only when I’m ready to start thinking about planting and getting my hands dirty starting seeds for the coming year. It’s still 2014 for goodness sakes!
seed catalogs
It’s like they come earlier and earlier every year. I know I have to sit down and make my list because gardeners are responding to these early catalogs by ordering earlier every year. Last year I couldn’t get some of the seeds I wanted because they were already sold out. At least in my years of gardening I’ve narrowed it down to a few catalogs, the rest go straight into the recycling so as not to clutter up my desk. My favorite places to order from are: Rare Seeds, Territorial Seed, Southern Exposure, High Mowing, Renee’s Garden, and Johnny’s.

Have you started receiving seed catalogs? Are you making your lists for the coming year already?

7 Comments to “No, No, No, I’m NOT Ready!!!”
  1. Jaye Whitney on December 31, 2014 at 9:05 am

    Yes, my mailbox has already seen some catalogs…for the first couple, I resisted, then I broke down and started looking through them…then I started new garden plans and now I have a seed list!

    I agree with you on ordering early, the same thing has happened (sold out) to me the past two years.

    Your selection of favorites are mine as well (although I haven’t seen High Mowing), great product and excellent customer service from each of them, all highly recommended.

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  2. PennyAshevilleNC on December 31, 2014 at 9:47 am

    Me either! We have had warm weather this winter so it feels like there hasn’t been a break. I need some cold and snow before I feel ready to plan and order. Happy New Year!

    Reply to PennyAshevilleNC's comment

  3. Nebraska Dave on December 31, 2014 at 10:27 am

    Susy, ha, you caught me. Already ordered some seeds. I’m totally into the garden planning and contemplating seed starting mode. Yeah, I know that it’s four months before I’ll get to starting scratching in the dirt but in my mind gardening has already started for 2015. I’m soooo done with holidays and ready for the New Year to begin. I’ve already started preparing the seed starting area and have actually begun the process of testing seed viability. I bought a bunch of seeds off the discount rack from last year and want to know if they are still viable. February is my start month for serious seed starting. I’ll be trying some new things this year to make an attempt to be a month ahead for tomatoes, green peppers, and cucumbers. It will be just a couple plants each for an early harvest. I learned a lot of things last year about how prepare for bad weather conditions. This year will be the best ever. Well isn’t that the hope of every gardener.

    May this year bring to reality the garden that resides in our mind; may all the garden plans work to perfection; and may the harvest be so large that it will feed all the neighbors.

    Have a great transition into 2015 day.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  4. Mary Schier on December 31, 2014 at 12:06 pm

    I ordered my tomato seeds (from Tomato Fest) before Christmas, but have set everything else aside until mid-January or so. Renee’s Gardens and Johnny’s are great seed providers, though I also order quite a few from Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa. Happy New Year!

    Reply to Mary Schier's comment

  5. Robin on December 31, 2014 at 12:17 pm

    I get Fedco, Renee’s and Johnny’s because I us them, and Gurney’s because they won’t take me off their mailing list. Once in a while a stray shows up and I send an email asking to be removed from the list.

    More people are growing and harvesting earlier and later in the growing seasons. I used to struggle to keep myself from cracking open the catalogs but these days the garden is smaller, and I have a lot of seeds in stock. I think I’m going to put the order together on New Year’s Day. Seems like a good way to get the new year off on a good start.

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  6. KimH on December 31, 2014 at 3:10 pm

    I had a half dozen show up in my mailbox before Christmas.. I was blown away.. I dont think I have ever received them that earlier before.. and in the last few days.. yes… my mailbox has been flooded..

    Im not ready to really delve deep into them either but thats ok.. they go in a nice happy pile just waiting for me to attend to it.. Its out of my way so I add them all, throwing away none until after I’ve looked thru it..
    I’ve found some really awesome seeds and seedsmen by not being so selective.

    Im truly not even sure that I am going to be gardening this year.. I’ll still pay for my plot at the community garden but Im just about to the point of believing its not worth it for me anymore when I can buy good organic produce from one of my CSA farmers very inexpensively. The deer there have made it less than a pleasure to garden.. We’ll see.

    Reply to KimH's comment

  7. Colleen on January 2, 2015 at 6:02 pm

    Yes, four catalogs are sitting on my desk already, calling me to “just come look”… I guess I wasn’t imagining things, they are arriving earlier than normal. Even though im not quite ready to sit down and plan out the gardens, you make a good point about getting my orders in. I want to make sure I can get what I want and not need to agree to substitutions.

    Reply to Colleen's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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