Although it’s cold and blustery outside, by now the avid gardeners amongst us have already received our 2025 garden seed catalogues and many stores have already set up their seed displays.
Although it’s too early for us amateur gardeners to start seeds, now is the time to buy your seeds and supplies when the selection is the best.
You can save a considerable amount of money by starting your own plants instead of buying potted plants from garden centers, where prices have exploded since the pandemic.
One of the best places to start is your local Seedy Saturdays or Sundays. Stratford has a Seedy Sunday Feb 23, Woodstock on March 8th and London has a very popular one on Saturday March 1st. Check the Web for other local ones.
If you’re looking to buy seeds, here are interested in Canadian seeds, here are a few of my favourite sites:
But before you buy your first packet and start your first flat of seed indoors the beginning of March (if you have lights or a nice south facing window, or lucky enough to have a hobby greenhouse: here are few questions to ask yourself from an article copied from the internet:
- What are your garden goals? Are you wanting to harvest for fresh eating only? Hoping to preserve harvest for later? Have extra to sell or give away? Figuring out what you hope to accomplish will help you plan out how to use your space most effectively. Plan to plant extra of stuff you plan to preserve or give away, and plant it all at the same time to have a larger harvest. If you’re focusing on fresh eating for just your family, planting smaller quantities of each plant and spacing them out over time would be better.
- .What do you enjoy eating or growing? Focus on the crops that you and your family like to eat, especially if you have limited garden space or time.
- What resources are you willing to commit to gardening? How much money do you have to invest in seeds, plants, or supplies? And how much time do you have to spend per week? You should base your garden size on what you can reasonably support. And also look for investing in efficiencies. For example, adding drip irrigation will be an investment of time and money up front, but will save on water bills and time spent watering the garden and will likely increase your harvests so it can have a pretty decent return on that initial investment.
- Are you planning on growing throughout the garden season? Many people focus on gardening May through September and often miss those very productive early spring and fall months when cool season crops flourish. Making a plan for using space effectively can include growing an early season, summer, and late season crop all in the same spot using interplanting or succession planting. If you aren’t sure what to grow when in your climate, look for local growing guides or calendars to help. Your local Extension office will likely have some good resources to share. Having an idea what you want to grow throughout the season will also help you make early purchases to ensure you have what you need throughout the season. Seeds are usually off the store shelves by mid to late summer, so buy seeds in the spring for those fall and late planted crops just to be prepared.
- Are there things you want to grow that would be easier to buy? This question is especially important if you have limited space, time, or money. Crops like potatoes, cabbage, and onions are often cheaper for home growers to buy than grow and crops like squash can take up a lot of room and are often easy to buy (there’s usually plenty of zucchini everywhere in the summer). Focus on those things you can’t buy like interesting varieties of tomatoes, peppers, etc.
- Are you ready to deal with diseases and pests throughout the garden season? Be ready to scout the garden for pests and do a little research on the common pests and diseases on the crops you’re growing so you know what to look for. You can often reduce the likelihood of pests and diseases by growing newer resistant cultivars versus older varieties and heirlooms that don’t have resistance bred in.
- What has worked (or not worked) for you in the past? Focus on growing those things you do well. Take some time to research or learn how to better grow the things you haven’t grown so well in the past (extension resources are great for this- contact your local Master Gardener group or search for info online, looking for pages that end in .edu). And don’t be afraid to try something new – you can find new favorites by trying out new cultivars or even new crops.
Using some of these steps can help you plan ahead for a year of garden success. The key is to start early, and especially in 2025, buy those seeds and supplies early. When you do, take a look at your plans for the whole garden season and plan accordingly in advance. Though while you’re out there buying those seeds, be sure to leave a packet or two on the rack for me. I’d prefer to have red beets for pickling this year instead of those white and yellow ones.
Submitted by Jim Fitzgerald, Tri-County Master Gardener
www.facebook.com/SeedsDiversity https://seeds.ca/events/
