Part of the romance of gardening is planning what I am going to plant and where. No matter how much space we have, it is a good idea to have a garden plan.
How detailed that plan is going to be does not just depend on what type of garden we are planning. It also depends on what type of personality each of us have. Some people have to have everything planned out on paper down to the last seed. Some people plant everything in neat precise rows. Some people love to ‘hang loose and scatter the seed wherever the impulse moves at the time. No one personality type is better or more suited to gardening than another. We just do it differently! That too is part of the romance of gardening. Your garden should be an expression of your and your family’s needs expressed in your personality.
No matter what kind of gardener you are or type of garden you want, you have some choices to make. One choice is: do you want a flower garden, or a vegetable garden, or maybe a combined garden with vegetables and flowers- edible flowers or not edible.
Another choice is to either buy bedding plants, or buy locally available seeds, or order seeds from one of the many seed catalogs.
If you buy already started little plants you are restricted to only the varieties that the local nursery chose for you. Sometimes I like them; sometimes I don’t. This choice takes more money and less elbow grease. You do not need a greenhouse to pre-start your own seeds, though it is handy. It can be done on a table by a south facing window. And you can grow whatever varieties (old or new) that your heart desires, that you have purchased, saved, or traded for.
Not only is your choice restricted, but you will still need to buy seeds for things like carrots and turnips and beets etc., that not only do not need to be started early, but do not like to be transplanted. Now you have the choice of buying locally or from seed catalogs.
If you get caught at the last minute without enough seeds for all you wanted to grow, it is nice to be able to go down to the store and pick up a packet even if it is a different variety. You would think that what is displayed would all be well adapted to the area. You cannot always count on that. The seed companies choose what to send, not the store owner.
Some people figure that the seeds sent from orders from the seed catalogs are fresher and sprouted better. They figure that they are kept in ideal storage till they are shipped. The local displays might sit out in the heat and light of the store for a month or more.
When you order seeds from catalogs you have much more variety of sources and plants. If you ask other gardeners they will probably share which are their favorite catalogs. If you google ‘seed catalogs’ you will get more than a dozen pages of seed catalog. Most of them have online catalogs. You can spend as much or as little time as you want browsing to your heart’s content.
You can find catalogs with higher price points or lower price points. You can find seed catalogs with flowers or vegetables or fruit bushes or fruit trees. Most have a combination of some or all of these. You can find catalogs with old heritage types that you can save seeds from. You can find seed catalogs which carry only modern hybrids, or both.
The catalogs will generally give you more information than seed packets and displays. You can learn about the color, size, shape, days from germination to maturity, hardiness, and unique characteristics.
Seed catalogs are real wish books.