It’s Time to plan for your garden!!!

It’s January!!! You know what that means… Time to start thinking about & get ready to garden!!!

Today I sat down with my favorite catalog EVER… My Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Catalog! I mentioned this seed catalog last year when i had spring fever. But, my husband calls it my “dirty magazine” =) I can’t imagine why? I only grab it out of the mail box like it’s a slab of gold, run off to some place quiet & pour over it for hours, “oooing” & “ahhhing” over it’s beautiful centerfold pictures & colorful descriptions. Heaven, it’s my heaven.

What did I spy with my little eye? Ooo… A lot of beautiful edibles caught my eye, but here is what’s on my list of possible purchases:

• Green Calaloo has my attention for sure. I am in love with “Calaloo soup” and would love to grow & make my own. I’m thinking these plants would thrive tucked in & around the flowers in front if my parents house – where other plants normally fry in the sun!

• Celmson Spineless Okra! Cause you need okra to make Calaloo soup. (& I love fried okra!!!) not to mention I’ve never grown either veggie before!

• Kabouli Black Garbanzo. Hello! I LOVE making homemade Hummus!!! The catalog says:

The purple color comes from a pigment called anthocyanine, which enables seeds to sprout in cool soil, making this variety perfect for short season areas.

I’m willing to give that a try!!!

• Boothbay’s Blonde Cucumber. Only 60 days! & from Maine! Sounds like a great candidate to dress up the garden & my salads… Would go good with that hummus too

• Eggplants. I am head over heels for “Baba Ghanouj”,
(pronounced: Ba Ba Ga Noosh), (I love making it and promise to post a recipe soon.) But I’m torn between which variety of eggplant to get. Can I get your opinion? Which one do you vote for? And why? The choices are: Applegreen, Little fingers, or Ping Tung?

• Minnesota Midget Melon I LOVE melon for breakfast! What got my attention with this variety was the short growth period, only 70 days. And it’s description for having compact vines, only 3-4′ & good yields. Ding ding we have a winner & the breakfast of champions!!! I think they’d look lovely in my cottage garden too instead of the main garden.

• Pink Beauty Radishes This is a new one for me. I have never cared for radishes in the past. But someone recently made me a salad that had them finely diced in & I fell in love! Hooray for more veggie variety!

• Marina Di Chiggia Pumpkin I have ALWAYS wanted to grow pumpkins. So when ever I saw the photo in the catalog of a salty looking (Connecticut) guy holding up this beauty ~ my heart sang!!! I am envisioning this italian beauty not only filling my pie pans but also as the perfect addition to the fall decorations around my lovely Victorian summer cottage!

• Tomatoes. I was very pleased with the varieties I grew last year & want to plant more this year. But I wouldn’t mind adding one more to our garden & reviving an an old family tradition: Bonny Best.

That’s it as far as fruits & veggies go. I had a few other things picked out such as:

• Caraway, I love cooking with it! I think it would be interesting to try growing & harvesting.

• Chocolate Morning Glory. I’d love a small deck off the back door of my cottage, over looking the garden (hint hint, dad), to eat breakfast on & gaze at these lovely morning glories on my trellis! The color of them is stunning!

• Dwarf Jewel Nasturtiums. They will make a fun & colorful addition to the garden! But the real reason I want to grow them is because I want to EAT them!!! I’m going through a lot of diet changes (another topic I will blog about soon), so I will be making A LOT of salads this summer & will add these blossoms for additional color & flavor!

So that’s what I like. I haven’t placed an order yet so I’d love to hear your opinion! What eggplant out of the ones that I listed do you think sounds better? And, What are you going to be planting???