Visions of Spring

Leaving the cozy shelter of my bed this morning, setting out into another bone-chilling day of winter, I can’t help but yearn for spring to appear. The signs that spring is on its way abound, perennials poking their heads out of the ground, buds starting to swell on trees, seed catalogs arriving in the mail. The start of a new year, a new era for America, a new season…the chance to start over.

To us gardeners, seed catalogs are a bit of an obsession. Our gardens have been tucked away for a few months and we ache to place our hands in the soil once again. Then the seed catalogs start to arrive, providing endless possibilities for the year ahead. Pens dance as we struggle to pick just the right cultivar or remember an old favorite. Soon, we still have too much to choose from, for want of more land. The list must be narrowed down, a brutal task. In the end we still order more than we need, in hopes of finding the room.

Every year I struggle to pick just the right mix of plants, the task has been further complicated with my CSA membership. What will I get from the CSA? and when? How can I supplement that selection from my own garden?

Here is what I have come up with:

• Amaranth – Manna De Montana
• Basil – Lettuce Leaf
• Beans – Scarlet Runner, Kentucky Wonder
• Beets – Early Wonder Tall Top
• Carrots – Chantenay Red Core
• Eggplant – Early Black Egg
• Garlic – Chilean Silver
• Kale – Hanover Salad, Premier, Red Ursa
• Melon – Sleeping Beauty
• Nasturtium – Jewel Mixed Colors
• Onion – Riverside
• Orach – Magenta Magic
• Peas – Cascadia, Sugar Snap
• Peppers – Chile Lombak
• Purslane – Golden
• Quinoa – Faro
• Sorrel – Garden
• Spinach – America
• Sunflower – Sunspot
• Swiss Chard – Ruby Red
• Tomatoes – Amish Paste, Cherokee Purple, Matt’s Wild Cherry, Yellow Pear