Posted on 01/06/2012 9:53:54 AM PST by JustaDumbBlonde
January is not the most hospitable month of the year to be sure. If you're like me those cold dreary days are best spent curled up in a chair (for the guys that don't *do* curl -- sit there very manly) with a cup of tea (insert the manly beverage of your choice) and a stack of garden catalogs that you need a front-end loader to move (got you with the front-end loader, didn't I?).
I've got to hand it to the catalog people, the covers are exceptional this year and, by golly, with all of the $25 to $100 coupons right there on the front ... I saved $475 just walking in from the mailbox!
Your first five minutes spent thumbing through will tell you something, regardless of which catalog your choose: Prices. Are. Up. Must be that ol' supply-n-demand thing, because I choose to believe that MY favorite seed suppliers would never take advantage of a market that is growing by leaps and bounds as people discover that you can feed your family the highest quality foods and save money at the same time. Not to mention, you know exactly how your food was handled and by whom. It must be said -- produce from Mexico just doesn't have the same tropical appeal that it once did.
These are the catalogs I've received as of this morning. I've put these in the form of a link that you can take to that company, if you so desire. You can request a catalog of your own or, do what I do, which is peruse the paper catalog and then place an order online.
Gurney's Seed & Nursery Co.Please let us know about your favorite catalogs and gardening-related companies. I know that we all love to discover something new that will further our fun in the garden.
Musser Forests, Inc.
Michigan Bulb Co.
Agri Supply
Growers Supply
Stark Bro's Nursery
The Greenhouse Catalog
Gardener's Supply Company
Totally Tomatoes
The Cook's Garden
Burpee
Henry Field's Seed & Nursery Co. *
Gurney's Seed & Nursery Co. *
Jung's Seeds & Plants
R.H. Shumway's Illustrated Garden Guide* Henry Field's and Gurney's are one and the same group. I suspect that Burgess is also owned by them, but haven't confirmed
Black Pineapple
Violet Jasper
Here
http://www.heirloomtomatoesoftexas.com/variety.asp?catid=1
is a site that seems maybe defunct? but has a great roster of blacks.
Excellent Advice!
I use the same rules when picking up a Bass Amplifier! LOL!
Did you post a comment a couple weeks ago about aquaponics, possibly indoors? Someone did and I meant to ask about it but it slipped my mind.
I’ve got an old 75 gallon aquarium that I want to use to grow a few things indoors. I was initially thinking of using hydroponics, but it looks like that involves a bit more transferring water in and out of the house than I would like to do.
I’d appreciate any good pointers to getting to a quick and successful start, if you or anyone else out there has some experience.
Around here, most of the stuff I like most can only be grown in the winter. I’m looking for a way to grow lettuce, spinach, and some grape/cherry tomatoes indoors for salads to start with.
Thanks for the thread JaDB, and thanks for all your work on previous threads Red.
The catalog I get is from Stokes, but most of the info. in it is way above my understanding.
I am in Canada. I'll check the list for any companies that ship to Canada. Thanks.
Diana, I still can’t order from you. :-(
Happy New Year Girls.
Thank you, fanfan, and Happy New Year to you! I will add your addendum to my next thread :)
The website is OK, just that particular page was defunct, I guess.
Thanks for the info. I planted a black something last year and it didn't make it through the heat. It was one of my later transplants.
That black pineapple is beautiful. If it tastes half as good as it looks ...
We’ve been enjoying a week of unseasonably warm weather here in Central Missouri. Daytime temps in the upper 60°s!
Mrs. Augie is still juicing kale, broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts from the garden.
Tomorrow I’m going to take advantage and put another load of stall sweepings from the horse college on my compost heap.
We time our trips to arrive at the boudin place while they’re open. Same goes for a small Italian deli in Baton Rouge. When you travel the same roads repeatedly, you figure out where to get the good stuff.
My miniature donkeys are providing my compost bin with hot stuff too! I also found out that I can add wood and/or corn ash from the fireplace.
Glad you're enjoying some nice weather before winter sets in! Thanks for stopping by.
I did three heirlooms: Brandywine, Black Krim and some Japanese black cherry but we were on fire are year here in centex so no blooms. The plants barely hung on and bloomed likeWcrazy in Oct, when the temps finally fell below 100, but
just didn’t have enough time to get big before the first killing freeze.
When you’re concentrating on keeping your ancient oaks and
permanent plantings from croaking over, the vegetables not being bountiful isn’t so disappointing.
Under the black varieties on Heirloom Tomatoes of Texas, there is a listing for the Chocolate Cherry. I grew those this past year and they were still producing well into November. Absolutely raved about by everybody that tried them.
The Japanese black cherries were smoky, thin-walled and black seeded. I can’t honestly assess anything I grew due to the drought and temperatures. The starved wildlife helped themselves to a lot, too.
SO! Tomorrow I am going to buy strawberries, I have a nice whiskey barrel with lots of black mulch all made up for them, and bury some quick-jumping bulbs like grape amaryllis and tulips for company. Chandler, the new hugely prolific commercial variety is good but a bit bland. I might go for some Chinaults, Everbearing types although if anybody is having particularly good luck with a strawberry variety I’m all ears.
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Beautiful salad greens! That ground turned over really well too! Would you usually be frozen this time of year? I see green on the ground.
For those ordering seeds/plants/roots/bulbs, my favorite companies:
Fedco - http://www.fedcoseeds.com
Landreth - http://www.landrethseeds.com
Gourmet Seed - http://www.gourmetseed.com
Jung - http://www.jungseed.com
Shumway - http://www.rhshumway.com
Baker Creek - http://www.rareseeds.com
Willhite - http://www.willhiteseed.com
Johnnys - http://www.johnnyseeds.com
Peaceful Valley - http://www.groworganic.com
Southern Exposure Seed - http://www.southernexposure.com
Seedsavers Exchange - http://www.seedsavers.org
Tomato Growers Supply - http://www.tomatogrowers.com
Nichols Nursery - http://www.nicholsgardennursery
Territorial - http://www.territorialseed.com
Totally Tomatoes - http://www.totallytomato.com
Vermont Bean Seed - http://www.vermontbean.com
Horizon Herbs - http://www.horizonherbs.com
Bountiful Gardens - http://www.bountifulgardens.org
A tiller attachment like that is exactly what I want! Is that a 6 ft? A friend of mine has one that I borrowed last year to try it out, but it was a 4 ft. and I left a tire mark. Not a huge deal, but I tend to want things perfect. I need at least 5 ft. to cover my tracks.
Usually frozen concrete hard, or a foot of snow, or at best mucky, sopping wet. Yes the grass and the hardier stuff like the brassicas are still green. The brutal cold hasn’t hit yet. A very very rare year. I call it my ‘Tennessee winter’.
Thanks so much for those links! There are a few there with which I am not familiar. Also leaves me wondering where my Tomato Growers Supply catalog is ... hmmmmm.
It’s a 50” Land Pride. That one is almost 15 years old. Link to their tillers:
http://www.landpride.com/products/36/rotary-tillers
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