first order to seedsavers.org

in case i havent been clear, i am very anxious to get going on this years vegetable garden. i have always been interested in odd-ball varieties of vege's - so this year i placed my first order from the seed savers exchange. they offer hundreds of heirloom varieties that are sure to please. this is what i ordered for my 2009 garden:

seeds:

purple dragon carrot

royalty purple pod bean - bush

bean purple pod bean - pole

rattle snake snap bean - pole

japanese climbing cucumber

early silver line melon

thelma sanders sweet potato squash

table queen squash

waltham butternut squash

plum purple radish

early scarlet globe radish

golden midget watermelon

i also took the opportunity to order tomato starts - their price was comparable to local prices, even considering shipping costs. so i will see how well these 'mailed' tomatoes do. here are this years picks:

stupice

hungarian heart

gold medal

german pink

cherokee purple

trophy

i am planning on 30-36 tomato plants, so as you can see my local nursery will still get the majority of my gardening dollars.

my favorite seed catalogs

every year, around december - i start hitting the websites of the seed companies to sign up for their next catalog. up until this year, i have never purchased any seeds from any of them - but just getting the catalogs in the mail would get my gardening juices flowing. i get quite a bit of catalogs each year, but there are four that stand out - head and shoulders above the rest.

the catalogs pictured are from tomato growers supply, seed savers exchange, totally tomatoes and baker creek. the varieties of seeds in these books are incredible - the layout, pictures and presentation is first class.

this year, i placed my first order and it went to totally tomatoes. i was looking for 3 particular varieties of cherry tomatoes and wanted a single source to limit my shipping charges - there is nothing worse than buying $3 in seeds and paying $5.95 in shipping.

totally tomatoes had timely shipping and reasonable shipping fees. in addition to the seeds, i also took the opportunity to purchase walls-of-water. i utilized their web interface, which proved to be reasonably layed out and serviceable. the seeds arrived within 10 days and included in the order were 2 free seed packets, 1 sweet bell variety and also another medium size tomato variety. i would not hesitate to order from them again.

my second seed order, which hasnt taken place yet, is destined for the seed savers exchange. specializing in heirloom varieties of all manner of seeds - their catalog is the best of them all - and i find myself reading it in the evening, just to survey the beautiful pictures that they include to highlight their produce.

i am still waiting for my 2009 burpee catalog - hopefully it will arrive soon!