How to seed shop like a total pro

 

 *Excerpt from our monthly coaching update*

 

Digging yourself out from underneath a monster pile of gorgeous glossy seed catalogs? 

 

Yeah, it happens.

 

If you're staring down those catalogs with a mixture of anxiety, desire and straight up fear - take a read through our guide below so that you can seed shop like a pro and finally force those catalogs into doing good instead of evil for your vegetable seed shopping routine.

 

For noobs

1. If you're growing your first garden, first make a quick list of the vegetables you like to eat. 

2. Then, next to each crop, write in their sunlight and space requirements. 

3. Then cross off any that need sunlight or space conditions that you just don't have. Be honest with yourself here. "Full sun" means 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day, not four. You won't be happy with a big beefy tomato grown in four hours of sunlight/day because you won't get any big beefy tomatoes. Instead you'll have leggy weak plants with a few fruitless flowers. Just sayin'.

4. With your list of crops, leaf through those catalogs and choose varieties of those crops that you want to try out. 

5. Order, plan your planting schedule, get ready to live.

For vets

1. If you have grown a garden every year and you already have your catalogs piled up ready to go, first make a quick list of the vegetables and varieties you grew this year and the plant family they belong to. 

2. Next to each crop, write in whether you'd want them again next year or would rather have a different variety or none of this crop at all. Cross off all the crops you don't want to grow again.

3. Then for all the crops you do want to grow again, next to each crop, note whether you have seeds from last year. Most seeds will keep for up to three years even with lackluster care (like they're sitting on your potting bench in the garage all exposed to temperatures and light and whatever). 

4. With your list of crops, leaf through those catalogs and choose varieties of those crops that you want to try out, keeping in mind that when you get ready to plant, you should only put a crop family where there was a different crop family last year. So, if you grew tomatoes (Solanaceae) in a spot last year, don't plant them in this space again this year. Instead, try a Brassicaceae or Asteraceae crop in its place.

5. Order, plan your planting schedule, get ready to live.

For impulse shoppers

Follow the "For noobs" or "For vets" guide depending on which you are, except your #1 rule is DON'T OPEN THAT CATALOG WITHOUT GOING THROUGH THE STEPS FIRST. Also, don't seed shop while you're hungry. Seriously. Bad things happen.

For alleged black thumbs

Follow the "For noobs" or "For vets" guide depending on which you are, except that when you get to choosing varieties, go for hybrid varieties, those with "F1" in their names and ones with listed disease resistances. These are going to be bred for success and are less susceptible to cooties and failure than their heirloom or non-hybridized brethren. 

 

Also, it wouldn't hurt to go back to your list and be brutally honest with yourself about your sunlight and space conditions. If you had a tomato plant that never produced or ripened fruit, melons that never set flowers, cucumbers that never vined - you probably aren't getting enough sunlight. Try plants that grow in Part Sun conditions and you'll have a better chance of success in 2014. 

Now, go! Seed shop like a pro, plant for success and, if you want some guidance on when and how to start those seeds, subscribe to our monthly coaching update because *maybe* that's the next topic on the docket...

Just maybe.