Seeds, seeds, seeds.......

What to do on a cold, wintry day.......plan your garden!!!  When I have a day that I can stay inside, I plan what I want to plant in my garden in the spring and leaf through pages of seed catalogs to find new plants or new varieties of things I'm already planting.  So for the next couple of weeks, I'm going to share with you some of the seed catalogs that I like  to order from and hope that you will share your favorites with me too!
First on the list is Pinetree Garden Seeds.  They have been in business for 32 years!  Owned by Richard Meiners & Donna Childs, they are located in New Gloucester, Maine.  They cater to the home gardener and offer lots of varieties in nice size packets at affordable prices.
What first attracted me to Pinetree was the fact that they offered a large variety of herb seeds.  They not only offer basil seeds - they offer 13 varieties of basil!  They not only offer culinary herbs, but they also offer medicinal herbs and dyeing herbs.  And the best thing about them is their price!!!!  Most seed packets are priced from 95 cents to $1.50!  Now that's a price that fits my budget!

Cover of the current Pinetree Garden Seeds catalog.

I order a lot of herbs seeds from Pinetree every year - and they have always been quality seeds.  I have never had any problems with seeds that were mislabeled or did not germinate well.  And they are fabulous people to deal with!  I used to call in my order over the phone, but now I just order online.  But if you have questions about any of the products, don't hesitate to call.  They are very pleasant and knowledgeable.
Pinetree offers many, many other seeds besides herb seeds -- they offer tons of vegetable and flower seeds.  They offer many vegetables from lettuces, beets, beans, corn, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, melons, and almost any other vegetable you could want.  They also offer many ethnic vegetables.  They offer over 20 varieties of lettuces, over 30 varieties of peppers, and over 50 varieties of tomatoes.  I have purchased many tomato seeds from them such as the notable Mortgage Lifter tomato (which produces a huge dark pink tomato) as well as Black Cherry tomato (which produces a delicious dark purple cherry-type tomato).

Here is a glimpse of the lettuce page in their catalog.

Here is a picture of the beginning of their tomato list.

They offer several heirloom varieties in their lineup as well as hybrid varieties.  And they offer good descriptions of the vegetables to entice you to try new things every year.
Their list of flowers is impressive as well.  There are annual and perennial flowers to choose from with great descriptions and lovely pictures.  I always order more that I can get planted each year because they make them so darned tempting!!!

These are some of the varieties of Nasturtiums that they offer!  Who knew there could be so many varieties of Nasturtiums?

They have an impressive list of sunflower varieties as well!

But wait.......there's more!!!!!  In addition to all of the seeds they offer, they also offer onion sets, seed potatoes, asparagus roots, rhubarb roots, and some plants as well as bulbs for many varieties of daylilies and other flowers.  They even have blueberry plants, strawberry plants, elderberries, raspberries, and grapes.
What more could you want?  Books.......did you say books?  They have a very impressive list of books.  Cookbooks, compost books, herb books, bird books, flower books, berry books, garden project books, and even books on many creative garden projects.....they have it!
They also have many garden tools, greenhouse supplies, organic insecticides, pesticides and herbicides.  They have natural fertilizers like seaweed powder and bat poop.  They have potting mixes and Japenese beetle traps.  They even carry soapmaking supplies and a yogurt maker!
I think you really need to check out Pinetree Garden Seeds if you don't already know about them.  You can call them for a free catalog at 207-926-3400 or look up their website at http://www.superseeds.com/.
So what are you waiting for........?  Look them up now and get your order ready!!  Spring will be here before you know it!