That’s how many seed catalogs I’ve gotten so far. And more coming every day! Some I don’t even bother with. Their prices are so-so, quality is about what you can get in the big box stores in town and some of these catalogs are so sterile—the pictures just do not inspire you to garden. Want to know my favorites? Here is how I choose my seeds.

I’m always taking pictures of my flowers–I want to remember them all year long. This arrangement is in one of my favorite vase and frog combo (frog: a devise used with a vase for holding flowers in place) The middle (pink) vase in the picture below is also a frog.
Here we are at the end of January
We’ve just had our first significant snowfall of the season and I’m thinking about planting seeds. Can you believe it? Gardening really is all about faith, isn’t it? Faith that the seeds will sprout and make pretty (or useful) plants, faith that the cold winter will yield to spring, faith that our labors will bear fruit. So here I am, surrounded by snow and cold and I have faith the earth will come to life in a few short months. I have seed packets in the freezer right now—flowers and herbs that need to be stratified (given a dose of freezing cold) before planting. I hope to start seeds—at least the cold-tolerant brassicas—in the next 2-3 weeks.
So now I have huge gigantic dreams of what I want to plant. Although my vegetable garden is essential for feeding our family, it’s the flowers and herbs I spend the most time with—dreaming, imagining, planting, nurturing. Vegetables are so reliable and sturdy, like the family dog. They always please and give you exactly what you need. Flowers, however, are like cats. Not like our cat, Xena the Warrior Princess, who is happy to live outside and dutifully catches mice and terrorizes the rabbits.
No, flowers are dainty, prissy little things, like a fancy, specially bred white Persian cat, sitting on a satin pillow and eating canned cat food out of a crystal dish. They need to nurtured along and half the time I’m not even sure they’ll sprout. If I have an empty cell in my seed-starting trays, you can bet it’s a flower seed. Once they sprout up, I don’t know how well they’ll tolerate being transplanted or how long before they’ll bloom.
You can see why I do it
But the reward is worth it all. By mid-summer I have a yard-full of riotous blooms, a variety of colors, textures and shapes that never bore. There’s no greater satisfaction than bringing my flowers into the house and making arrangements. It’s a sign that once again I was able to coax something beautiful from a temperamental flower seed.
Leggy seedlings
My seed starts have always been a little on the wimpy side. Despite sitting right next to a south-facing window, the stems are always to long and skinny for the leaves. We call that “leggy.”
This year I want big, robust plants to transplant into the garden this spring. That’s why for years I’ve lusted for a seed starting rack like this one on the right. But even this three-shelf model costs $600! Can you believe that?

For the strongest plants, you need to have grow lights an inch or two above the plants and move them as the plants grow. You can buy grow lights with adjustable shelves that are perfect for the job.
And I don’t want any puny 2- or 3-shelf unit. Oh no, no, no. I’m SERIOUS about starting seeds. I want four shelves. I tried making one out of 2X4’s and plywood several years ago, but it was big, difficult to move and store. And adjusting the lights was a cumbersome project.
Homemade racks
Then I found this idea to make your own seed-starting rack with adjustable lights. Just use wire shelves and hang lights from the shelves with a chain (so you can easily adjust the height.) Voila’! All of it for about $140.
So, with spring right around the corner, who’s with me? Will you be starting seeds indoors? What kind of garden do you dream of? How many seed catalogs do you have? Are you ready for flowers?
Cost for Grow Shelves
5 shelf unit: $58
4 shop lights: $40
4 warm lights: $18
4 cool lights: $10
Package of S-hooks: $4
Chains: $4
TOTAL: $134
I got the book on Amazon. Just click the Amazon button on the left.
You could try summer bulbs, Charlene.
I’ve found the best bulb prices (and good, large, true to what you ordered and actually flowers!) bulbs at Van Engelen. They sell bulk quanitites for a great price. They start taking orders in June.
They do sell some summer bulbs as well.
Where did you order book from??
Here’s what I have in my freezer right now: larkspur, anise hyssop, elecampane, marshmallow, valarian and echinacea. You also need to cold treat angelica and asparagus seeds.
But if I were going to start a perennial herb garden, I’d start with more common ones: chives, chamomile, calendula, any of the mints, bee balm (monarda or bergamot) and sage. And of course, roses. Check the library for my chart on herbs to see which ones you want to start with.
I’ll post pictures of the sprouting rack once I get it up and running.
The celery project sounds interesting. Are you then able to plant it in the garden to grow full size?
I would really love to hear more about the sprouting rack. I’d really like to revamp my gardening situation in my back yard. I’d also like to know what herb seeds need the cold snap before planting. What I’ve been doing for an experiment this winter is when I buy celery from the store, I’ve been putting the bottom with a few inner leaves in water and than planting it in a pot. I’ve got three fairly good plants of celery regrowing in my window.
Thanks Colleen. Can you send me a picture of your shelves set up? That’s what I ordered–the 5-shelf model from Walmart.
I keep saying that THIS is the year I’m going to start raising chickens. The hold-up has been finding an affordable coop. I really, really hope that this IS the year for chickens.
Hi Charlene,
I plant pretty things (blooming things) in my herb garden as many of them are lovely and fragrant. As for seed starting I use those same wire racks a little differently. I use the 5 shelf rack from walmart. The bottom shelf is a foot from the ground and under that shelf I put a heat lamp ( for brooding chicks) and under the heat lamp I place a pan of water. On the shelf with the light and the next three I place cake pans 9 x 13 in size. I have a cheap soil-blocker $30 and you can start many plants to one pan. These cake pans are placed on the shelves. When all of the shelves are full you take clear rolled plastic and wrap the shelves in a way that top and 3 sides are covered permanently and the front is able to open and close tightly. This contraption can be taken in and out of the garage or I have a green house where my racks remain stationary. Keep your pan full of water for humidity and open the front if it gets to hot. I do this because it was to hard to keep my greenhouse heated when all I needed was to keep the area where my plants are heated. I have six racks and start over 1200 plants a year. You can put plants together that have like needs peppers and tomatoes in one broccoli and cabbage in another and give them the temperatures and conditions they desire.
As for seed catalogs we receive many. We save seed from most of our garden . We will only be ordering 3 types of seed this year. What a money saver. When you save your own seeds you are not only saving money you can mark your plants for traits you want to pass on. For example if you are saving bean seeds (the easiest) When your plants first come up use survey flags to mark them. The first to come up later mark the best producer, toward the end mark the overall most desirable do not pick these plants let them go to seed. Next year do the same in about 5 years your seeds will adopt these traits and become a seed designed for your climate,soil and traits you want.
My seeds are started in April after conference ( celery and onion seeds are started in late February or early March). Two things that make your seedlings scrappy are starting them to soon and being crowded. If I start melons and cukes I only do that to get them to germinate faster. I have stopped starting them as the shock is to much from the green house to the garden they do better with direct sewing however if you can warm your garden soil this would go well. TRANSPLANT . I transplant all of my seedlings into 4 inch pots as soon as they a big enough to handle they are amazingly strong and robust they grow amazingly fast after they are transplanted and adjust well to a second transplant into the garden.
thanks for your blog,
Colleen
GORGEOUS!!!!! I am VERY jealous! I WILL, I WILL, I WILL plant flowers this year. I missed planting bulbs in the fall can I still do them now since my ground is wet and not frozen?
No, sorry. Fall really is the time to plant bulbs. They need enough time to start taking up and storing nutrients and then they need several weeks of freezing temps in order to bloom. You can try to force them, but it’s already so late, I don’t know how much earlier you’d get flowers. Article on forcing: http://www.uri.edu/ce/factsheets/sheets/forcebulbs.html
I’m with you–I LOVE bulbs. But I’m always so busy with canning, etc in the fall I always forget to plant bulbs till it’s too late. I’m going to try to get some put in this fall.