How To Pick Your Vegetable Seeds Without Going Crazy by Northwest Edible Life
Right now, like most gardeners, you probably have a half-dozen seed catalogs dog-eared around the house. If you are new to the January seed catalog binge, you may be feeling a bit overwhelmed by the options before you. The website of one of my favorite seed houses returns nearly 200 results on a search for lettuce. How do you pick the right seeds?
The bad news is that the inspirational temptation of seed catalogs can be extremely hard on the frugal gardener’s pocketbook. How in the world a few packets of $3.50 seed can turn into a $125 seed order I’ll never know, but there you are. How someone with a pair of 4′x4′ beds plans to grow nine different varieties of summer squash and a dozen different tomatoes, I’ll also never know. But I understand, because I’ve been there.
But if you don’t yet have your tried-and-true favorites sorted out – if you are new to edible gardening, or new to an area – how do you pick out seeds? Here’s a few tips for getting through those seed catalogs without feeling too overwhelmed.
ABOUT ERICA: What happens when a professional chef turns into a gardening fanatic? Can ‘homemaker’ be a political statement? How self-sufficient can a family be on one-third of an acre in suburban Seattle? Where is the right balance between living cheap and living well? Can one ever have too many rutabagas? How much lawn do growing kids really need when there are fruit trees to be planted? Erica blogs about gardening, cooking, urban homesteading and living slow-ish in the Maritime Northwest.
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