Why I love January

First off, I think there are many reasons to dislike January. You have the whole let down because the holidays are over. The weather is cold and dreary. There are no flowers, no green grass, and no garden. But just when I get a little discouraged, the seed catalogs start to arrive in the mail. My favorite is the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed catalog. This year the catalog is even more extensive than ever before.





Baker Creek sells only non-hybrid seeds and seeds that have not been genetically altered in any way. Many of their seeds have been sent to them by "seedsavers", people who save seeds through the generations. There is a striking amount of variety in their catalog, especially with the melons.





Their selection of tomatoes includes all colors in the rainbow. This year I am looking forward to growing some Flame/striped tomatoes and maybe some Cherokee Purple tomatoes.

I am also looking forward to growing:

spinach
cabbage
onions
potatoes
corn
watermelons - this year maybe Black Diamond
cantaloupe - Golden Jenny again this year
And many, many pumpkins - Galeux d'Eysines, Rouge Vif d'Etampes, Turks Cap, Jarrahdale, and many, many more...pumpkins are my favorite

I am also planning on growing more herbs than I did last year. Also some flowering Nicotiana, an old variety of flowering tobacco plant with a wonderful scent.

Everything I have listed is really just a start. I haven't even started marking catalog pages and circling items that I want to order yet. I am predicting a long order this year!