The Catalog is Here!

I picked up the mail and hidden amongst the unwanted post-Christmas sales, credit card offers, phone bill and tabs for the car was my 2011 Territorial Seed Company catalog! Roughly one hundred pages of seeds, starts, fertilizers, floating row covers, tools, etc. I grabbed the booklet, smiled at Jeremy and Jordan and said "I'll be in my room for a while."

Geek-out is the best way to describe how I feel about seeds and starts. I actually read the descriptions and compare days-to-harvest, disease resistance and sugar content. Every year there some new varieties to check out. I'm not talking about crazy, introduce wheat DNA into corn, varieties. These are just crosses that bring out the best qualities of the plant - the same thing humans have been doing for thousands years.

I do have my favorites like "Precocious" a sweet, yellow corn with a 75 day growing period. Since we are in the pacific northwest, anything that takes much more than that is difficult unless started inside a month early. Which is why I put up the shelf. I plan to start cantaloupe, honey dew, Brussels sprouts, acorn squash and butternut squash on that shelf.

After about 30 minutes I emerged from my room with pages dog-eared and stars and circles on the options. A second read through over breakfast narrowed the choices down a bit. Now the catalog is with my mom ("Yay, it's here! Can I take it home?") for the next week. Then we'll figure out The List. I'm so excited!