All the Dirt on Gardening

The two best known and trusted herb seed and plant companies are  Richters Herb and  Mountain Rose Herb . My herbie concoction making friends use Mountain Rose pretty much exclusively. I've used them both successfully. Richters sends me a print catalog every year so, of course, I tend to select items from them - I can see and read about potential selections. Being able to sit with a cup of tea and a pencil makes it much more likely that I'll find things and then go to the website to get others. In addition to seed packets , Mountain Rose has bulk herbs, teas, aromatherapy supplies, butters, oils, salts, extracts and syrups, facial care, body care and bath, containers for your concoctions, books, kitchen stuff and pet supplies. For those of us who grow sprouts in the winter, they also have a few sprouting seeds. One item that caught my eye is "Tasty Tea Collection". It's seven seed packets: thyme, tulsi, valerian, vitex, white sage, wood betony, wormwood...

Inside our garden shed January is seed and plant catalog month. Catalogs pour in from companies you shopped last year plus several new companies. It is too cold to do much gardening but the weather is just right for dreaming. Maybe your garden needs more vegetables, herbs, perennials, or wild flowers that take less fuss and feed wildlife. Whatever you imagine, online stores and mail order catalogs can help you plan and put it all together. Seeds of many native plants, perennials, wildflowers, herbs and cold weather vegetables can be started any time through February and be ready to plant out in the garden after the last freeze. When you know what will be on your list, check out a few vendors, their prices and shipping costs. Many offer free shipping for large orders. If you are avoiding GMOs, order open pollinated and heirloom varieties. Vegetables in particular, can be easier to grow if you choose the disease resistant varieties. Almost all the online and ...