This is a very exciting time of year for me. All of the seed catalogues are coming in the mail. I could sit for hours looking through them all, trying to decide what is best for my garden. So much fun!

When I am choosing seeds for my garden, there are many factors that come in to play. I have a shorter growing season living in the north east, about 130 days. I prefer organic seeds when available. I try not to water my garden if I don’t have to, so the more drought tolerant the better. I like to garden as vertical as possible to save space and keep things from rotting on the ground so I like vining plants. I try to get as many heirloom varieties as possible.  The most important thing of all is to be able to save the seeds. I have not yet perfected this, but I do my best to buy seeds that will produce seeds that I can save. This means that I never buy F1 hybrids and aim for open pollinated seeds. That way the plants produce viable seeds for saving.

I also have to choose where to buy my seeds from.  I am cheap, so the inexpensive companies are always good.  However, I still like the organic and the heirloom plants, so I can’t get them too cheap.  I try to buy from places that are located close to me so that the plants were grown in the same climate as mine so I know they will do well.  My favorite place to shop is Pinetree Garden Seeds.  Not too expensive and all the good qualities.  I also use Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and Johnny’s.  It does give me way too many choices having all these places I like though.

As much fun as I have picking out seeds, hopefully it is something that I won’t have to do for too much longer.  I am learning how to save seeds from the plants I produce so that I can truly get the best and cheapest seeds I can possibly get.  This does make picking out seeds that much harder though, I will have the same variety of everything for many years to come!