Video: Seed Catalogs

seed catalogs, Botanical Interests

Have you been receiving seed catalogs in the mail lately? I sure have! And I have to admit that paging through them is my favorite activity this time of year. For this week’s video, I thought I’d share some of the best seed catalogs with you (in my humble opinion) as well as some tips for choosing the best seeds for your region.

There are so many seed catalogs out there these days. I prefer to purchase organic seeds whenever I can and it’s nice to see that many companies are offering way more than they used to. In addition to perusing the newest offerings, I also enjoy looking through the garden supplies that many companies also sell. After all, you just never know what you might “need,” right?

In the video, I mentioned the lovely new aster pictured to the left of this text, but later realized you wouldn’t be able to see it very well. So now that you can see it, what do you think? Isn’t it fabulous? I can’t wait to grow it next year! Botanical Interests is selling these seeds and I also wanted to point out that the photo at the very top of this post is of summer squash from Botanical Interests, too.

Before we get to the video, there are six resources (two of which I mention in the video) on my website that you should be aware of. All of them are located under the Guides menu:

  • Susan’s Garden 2021 – If you want to see what we’ll be growing in our garden next year, you’ll definitely want to check this out.
  • Vegetable Planting Guide – I created this guide a couple of years ago to give you the information you need for seed-planting depth and spacing, how long they typically take to germinate (sprout), the average amount of days to maturity (how long it takes a plant to produce mature “fruits” once you’ve planted them in the garden), and whether a vegetable is a cool- or warm-season crop.
  • Seed Starting: When to Plant Vegetables – This guide is for all hardiness zones, to help you determine when to start your seeds.
  • Seed Starting: When to Plant Vegetables in Zones 5 & 6 – If you live in hardiness zones 5 or 6, this guide provides you with specific dates for starting seeds. I live in Spokane, Wash., which is technically in USDA hardiness zone 6. However, our garden is in a microclimate so it’s more like zone 5b.
  • Seed Starting Schedule – This printable PDF file is a worksheet you can use to schedule when you want to start seeds.
  • Seed Viability – Ever wonder about the shelf life of vegetable seeds? This chart provides you with rough guidelines, although I should also mention that many seeds last longer than we gardeners tend to give them credit for!

OK, now it’s time for my seed catalogs video! I hope you’ll enjoy it and maybe pick up a tip or two that you didn’t know before:

Have a great week.