With the help of Dave's Garden's Garden Watchdog, I discovered Johnny's Selected Seeds, Dave's Garden's highest ranked vegetable seed company. I like that this company has organic selections of the seeds I needed, from plants that were not treated with fertilizers or pesticides. And they had a wider variety of vegetables than I have found on other sites, including more varieties listed on the University of Minnesota Extension site for suggested vegetable varieties for our northern climate.
So here's what was in my cart:
Jade Green Beans (a very hearty producer for me last year)
Sugar Ann Snap Peas
Red Ace Beets
Northern Pickling Cucumbers
Marketmore Slicing Cucumbers
Candy onions (mild sweet storage onions)
Johnny's seed website also had a handy seed starting calculator which enables you to type in your spring frost free date to calculate a timeline for starting seeds indoors, if you are so inclined. I truthfully haven't had much luck with starting seeds - if it's something that can't be directly sown, then I'll find it in the greenhouse. Though I wonder, for those who do start seeds indoors (tomatoes, broccoli, and peppers are the plants I usually purchase), am I missing out? Should I be thinking of purchasing grow lights and all of the seed starting supplies necessary? Would I get great satisfaction from it? Would I save money in the long run? My opinion could be swayed with the right answers to these questions.
I enjoy starting a few things from seed because of the much larger choice of varieties and because it starts the fun of the growing season so much sooner. I don't have a very big garden and I haven't started seeds on a large scale; I'm certainly impressed by people who do. I didn't do any last year, but I missed it and plan to do some this year. You probably do have to grow a lot to save money, at least when you're first investing in equipment, but if you find you enjoy it that's another payoff in itself. Whatever you decide, have fun! I love Johnny's too.
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