For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."
the seed catalogs I'm ordering from this season
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If you're like me, you probably have a pile of seed catalogs on your table right now (with more coming every week—I can't help it, I sign up for all of them 😁). This is what I'm currently paging through: I love discovering new seed varieties to try. We don't have a proper greenhouse yet (that will be the next big project) so I'm constantly on the lookout for reliable short-season crops (anything that can go from seed to harvest in less than 75 days). I don't bother sowing seeds that need a longer growing season—I buy starts for those in early summer. I've had really good luck with Fedco (which specializes in cold climates) and grew a couple dozen varieties from Territorial Seed last year that did very well. (They have a trial and production farm in Oregon that's also in a tricky climate.) Each year I try to branch out and buy a few seed packets from farms or companies that are new to me—believe it or not, even after 15 years, I'm still finding new ones!
I've updated the list with a couple of new ones for 2026 (including a long-time favorite that's carrying 58!!! varieties of basil this year), so you might discover some new ones in there too. 😄 I'm also dog-earing a bunch of bulb and plant catalogs because I'm hoping to put some new flowers and shrubs around the yard this summer—now that we finally built our deer fence! Thanks to a ridiculously warm December, my husband was able to get this fence up before the ground froze. (Love that we got this done earlier than expected, hate that winter's so late this season.) The top of the fence is his creative vision; it depicts all the peaks in the Cascade mountain range from south to north. Our local ski resort, Mt. Bachelor, is over there on the left. We've since added a section with Mt. Sheridan to span the opening on the porch. He cut the pieces himself, working off a panoramic photo he shot from town on a clear day. The slats are 1x2 cedar and we have a couple of hidden gates along the fence. I'm so stoked with how it all turned out! With the new permanent fence in place now, we can finally take down all the temporary fencing in our backyard (which we've had for five years, ever since we moved onto the property) and get some landscaping plants in there. I'm considering a few specialty varieties from Nature Hills (which I've had really good experiences with) and will be taking a look at our local nurseries this summer. For those of you in Oregon, One Green World in Portland is one of my favorite nurseries to wander. Their catalog is also a crazy good read, even if you don't need a new plant right now. (But I guarantee you'll still want something. 😉) They have many pages devoted to edible perennials, which you know I'm alllll about! (Here are two guides I wrote on the best perennial vegetables and perennial herbs you should try in your garden.) We still have a (much lower) fence to build around the vegetable garden to keep out rabbits and other critters, plus the aforementioned greenhouse, so plans are ever evolving. P.S. Need some garden inspiration? Sign up for a new seed catalog—here are all my favorites this season. P.P.S. It's never too early to start planning your spring garden. Get ahead of the season and start inventorying your seeds and plotting out what to grow and how much of it. My Ultimate Garden Diary can help you track all of this, and more! |
Garden Betty
For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."