A "Small" Seed Purchase

"This year, we're just going to use our seeds from last year. No new seeds. We have enough."
"This year, let's be more realistic about what we actually can plant."
"This year, really, let's just order a few packs to supplement what we have saved up in the closet."

A-hem...well, those conversations were had BEFORE the Seed Savers catalog arrived in January. Simplicity went out the window as visions of juicy orange melons and sun-kissed tomatoes appeared in both of our brains. A hefty order later...and viola! Here are the packages of seeds (and the reasons why we HAD to purchase each) that are now sitting in a manila envelope on our kitchen table:

• Christmas Lima Beans (going to be so pretty!)
• Opalka Tomatoes (justifiable BECAUSE they are romas without a ton of seeds)
• Bloody Butcher Corn (How could we resist with a name like that?)
• Lovage (all of Deborah Madison's soups call for lovage...)
• Green husk tomatillos (Salsa Verde...hello!?!?)
• Blue Solaise Leeks (We never have enough leeks...)
• Mongolian Giant Sunflowers (Our chickens NEED these.)
• Orangeglo Watermelons (melons, melons, melons!)
• Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans (black beans for the pantry)
• Grandma Einck's Dill (pickles!)
• Copenhagen Market Cabbage (helps fight off cancer)
• Danvers Carrots (Last year's breed was so small...our garden requires new ones!)
• Cilantro (again, salsa verde!)
• Traveler Strain Jalapeno Pepper (First year Seed Savers has sold actual jalapenos!)
• Good Mother Stallard Beans (We actually needed to order more of this one. We were out.)
• Oaxacan Green Dent Corn (We want to try our hand at green corn flour.)
• Brandywine Tomato (out of this garden staple)
• Detroit Dark Red Beets (out of these too)
• Long Island Improved Brussel Sprouts (looking for a new gardening challenge)
• Martino's Roma Tomatoes (a staple of which we ran out)
• Joe's Round Peppers (pickled peppers! hot sauce!)
• Lemon Drop Tomatoes (We  HAD to order these. They won the taste award last year.)

We also  have a pack of Amish Pie Squash on the way. These produce big, beautiful orange pumpkin-like squash. I'm excited to see them decorating our lawn.

And potatoes, of course. They'll be shipped in April. This year's choices include Blue Potatoes and German Butterball Potatoes.

Once again, I'm  most excited for melons. This year's are going to be ORANGE!

Seed-ordering day produces so much excitement in our little house - it's a bit silly! I bet it's almost possible to see little dream clouds floating above both our heads as we idealize and romanticize each year's garden. I'm sure this happens to all avid gardeners; it's part of the process and part of the fun. Of course, this year, I'm counting on our dreams matching our reality (wink, wink!).


If all above + all of last year's seeds weren't enough, Andy is hellbent on ordering a packet of ghost pepper seeds. He fell in love with a Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce that we bought in Austin. I've located a place or two from which I could buy a packet, but for the outrageous price of $7.00 or so for around a dozen seeds. Any advice?

And...I want to plant sunchokes this year. I have a little baggie of them saved. I'm still researching exactly how to plant them, so if you have grown them before, please comment! I'm excited for the tall, yellow flowers they produce; in fact, I've heard chickens love sunchoke plots. Plus, you can't beat the nutritional value of the sunchoke (even if they do create the occasional rumbling of the tummy!).

Happy Gardening .... someday soon!