With the catalog question already posted, I wondered what you all have ordered. What's peaking your interest this year? I treat myself to a few new perennials each year and just put my order in to Wayside Gardens today. I haven't ordered my veggies yet, just new flowers. And the winners are:
Phlox "David": pure white, fragrant flowers.
Echinacea "Razzmatazz": bright fushia, fully triple looking flowers.
aaaannndd....crud! I can't remember the other two!
I guess I'll post those tommorrow after I look at the catalog I left at my mom's house. How 'bout you guys?

A heat mat for starting seed
I have wanted one forever but it was not neccessary so I did without. I got cash from a familt meber for the holiday, enough to buy one so I am thrilled. Best gift I got in a long time.

Mostly herbs and veggies...Cherokee wax beans, cherriette radish, "indigo" radicchio, "Vardaman" sweet potato plants, greek oregano, edamame soybeans, "Bright Lights" swiss chard (never tried it before, don't know if I'll like it, but it's an experiment) and HOPING that DH will let me order some blackberry, raspberry and blueberry bushes (Oh, and those cranberry bushes would look nice in front, and.....)

so far,

charleson hot peppers
hot lemon peppers
ancho/poblano peppers
bermuda peppers

i want to get a few other varietys of peppers and other veggies to try out

I haven't looked at any catalogs. it's been hard & i want to.... but i've resisted. i really have to rewire the house & that's gonna be sooooo much $$! and i really feel that there is going to be a real estate crash & i want to pick up a property, so i need $$ for that.
so i'm not going to spend money on hte garden. a lot of time, but not much $$. we're digging up & moving plants, got the front done!!! but there's no money in the budget for the garden now.

Hello there,well my list is quite long,BUT:
Rugosa Rose'Schneekoppe', Nanking Cherry Bushes, Shasta Daisy'Alaska',Lillies:'Vermeer','Aubade'and 'CasaBlanca'; PhloxPaniculata' David' Veronicastrum'Roseum' and HyssopOfficinalis.
All my vegie seeds and herbs will be ordered and sent by Jan.1
Got the 'Mokum' carrot on the list weedkicker....

We've grown Bright Lights swiss chard for the past 3 years in Southcentral PA and love it. It's become one of our staples. I bet you'll like it too.

a new worm box...and a new book on permaculture. I am now officially the proud owner of 2 1/2 acres with a hand pump well and storage shed. Which come March will become my new potting shed. Finally! It's paid for!!!!!yeah me! I started some fruit trees at one end two years ago and this year we are rotating out the veggies and herbs from side to side. I come from a big family so most of us spend our fair share of time behind a hoe. It feels wonderful to be able to help out the family once again.
My herb plot will be twice the size of last seasons and i well plant less okra and zuchinni!--really i swear on my mama's freezer!
And as always I've ordered too much!-take care and have a Happy New Year everybody!

I figure that this is my year to splurge, as I actually ordered $122 worth of supplies from Garden Supply Co. They are so high priced, but they have things that I have seen nowhere else. Like recycled rubber border mulch, Noodlehead sprinkler (finally a way to water selected spots without watering the succulents that are smack dab in the middle), and Upside down planter (just sounds like too much fun to miss),Expandable Pea fence, made of galvanzed steel so will last, and I think it will solve my tomato staking problems. I know that I will probably not grow enough vegetables to pay for these things, but maybe if I can use them for enough years, they will pay for themselves. As for seeds, Lupines, Cardoon, Columbine (Pretty Bonnets) and a Mullein "Jackie" plant that I bought becaused it is named after me.

franeli,

I think you'll really like the Mokum.
I plant mine in a 4x8 foot section of the garden (course you could go as small as you want) and then bank up the dirt on all four sides. Then I dump 5 or 6 cups of sand into a container, mix two or three packages of mokum seed into the sand and then just sprinkle the mixture evenly over the area. Then I lightly rake the surface, compress the surface by jumping on a sheet of particle board (you could just walk back and forth over the surface and get pretty much the same result) and then sprinkle a thin layer of grass clippings over the top to hold in the moisture. I NEVER thin the patch. When I need to water (about once per week all summer around here) I place the garden hose in the middle of the basin and it fills and soaks the whole area. The patch eventually becomes a solid mass of carrot tops and I harvest hundreds and hundreds of carrots. Last year I filled five 5 gallon buckets out of that 4x8 foot section. That was in addition to all those I harvested earlier in the season as baby carrots. The carrots grow side by side (many are touching each other) and don’t seem to care. I gave away several buckets to friends and kept the rest. After topping and washing them I place the carrots into one-gallon (ended up with 9 total this year) ziplock bags and then store them in the fridge (I have an extra fridge in my garage). We ate fresh carrots (mostly raw) for three months. We ate the last of them just a couple of weeks ago and they were as good as they were when they were fresh from the garden.
Mokum carrots are brittle and have very weak tops, and are almost impossible to pull without breaking them. When it comes time to harvest I just turn the garden hose into the basin and once the area is good and soaked I start pulling. The carrots slip right out of the mud quite easily.
Good luck with your harvest!

Oh man! I’m already at $400 plus and climbing.

Plants I’m ordering

A short list from Bluestone Perennials---Aquilegia McKana Hybrids; Aster Friktartii Wonder of Staffa; Berlandiera Lyrata; Centranthus Ruber; Coreopsis rosea American Dream; Dianthus x Horatio; Echinacea Rubinstern; Gaillardia Grandiflora Dazzler; Geranium Biokovo Karmina; Hypericum Hidcote; Lamium Shell Pink; Lychnis Chalcedonia; Nepeta Six Hill Giant; Phlox Miss Lingard; Phlox paiculata David; Phlox paniculata Juliet; Physostegia Miss Manners; Veronica Giles Van Hees;


A short list from High Country Gardens---Aquilegia species Swallowtail; Aquilegia x caerulea (Red Hobbit Columbine); Eriogonum umbellatum (Shasta Sulfer); Salvia daghestanica; Callirhoe involucrata (Poppy Mallow); Penstemon superbus; Agastache x Desert Sunrise; Agastache cana; Erodium chrysanthum (Yellow Stork’s Bill); Dalea (Purple Prairie Clover); Asclepias (Orange Butterfly Weed); Penstemon palmeri (Pink Wild Snapdragon); Miscanthus (Silver Feather Maiden Hair Grass); Agave (Utah Century Plant)

I haven’t ordered yet from Forest Farm but I’ll have a large list for them.

Seed I’m ordering

Henry Fields----My favorite Big Red Champion tomato, Red Pontiac and White Cobbler potatoes

Jung----Going to try the new Fresh Look Celosias, and Fiesta Del Sol Tithonia (grew this one last year and they were really nice).
Mokum carrots (my current favorite) and going to try the Nelson Hybrids, Kandy Korn (my current favorite sweet corn) and will try Delectable to see what it’s like. Sweet Million tomato (always gotta have this one) Early Crisp Hybrid melon (another favorite) Yellow Doll watermelon and Progress No. 9 pea.

Park Seed----Miscanthus ferner Osten, Diva cucumber, Whopper II watermelon, Scoop II cantaloupe, Hakurei turnip, Jet Star tomato (first time with this one), Red Flame and April Cross Hybrid radishes, Green Ice lettuce, and Golden Summer pepper (someone [think it was jazzieCO] emailed me about another pepper that wouldn’t burn in the high desert sun but I lost the info. Would have liked to have tried their suggestion).

Pinetree----Glory Sugar watermelon, Purple Majesty ornamental millet, and Carola potato.

Terretorial----Arava melon (only place I can find this one) and Golden Hawk pumpkin.

I can't wait for spring!

Wow, Weedkicker, loved reading your list and thanks for the carrot planting method,sounds worth a try.
Guess my DH can't complain about the moola I spend on garden stuff,I'll just tell him about your 400 bucks.
Oh,and I like the Veronica you ordered,I have several kinds in my garden......it's my for real name!
Please show your garden to us. If you have
photos, post them on the web.

http://groups.msn.com/Theresdirtundermyfingernails/shoebox.msnw

Weedkicker, the pepper is pimiento.

Well, I have a very long list made out, nothing like weedkicker's, but long enough. At the top of my list are a few burr oak trees. They are by far the most expensive item on the list and the one that I will budget for somehow. After that is most any kind of yellow or white flower that will be blooming in mid August (for DD's wedding). I'm hoping my next paycheck will stretch to getting orders sent to Musser Forest, Pinetree, and ??? I forgot the other one. Hmm, time for a nap maybe.

I'm so excited that I'm starting to receive my orders already--within 4 or 5 days of placing orders!! I'm kind of new at this gardening thing so the outcome could be interesting, but I ordered:

From Territorial:
Early Dawn Cauliflower
Northern Mixed Bunch Onions

From Burpee:
Psychedelic Spring Viola
Zinnia, Envy
Blue Eyed Daisy Passion Mix
Bells of Ireland
Convolvulus Enchantment Series (a dwarf, non climbing morning glory)
Cosmos Bright Lights Mix
Marigold Happy Days Mix
Sunflower Jade Hybrid
Strawberry--sparkle
Potato--4th of July collection
Hot Pepper Big THai Hybrid

From Park's
Black-Eyed Susan Vine
Sunflower Van Gogh Mix
Container Vegetable Garden Circle Mat (contains peppers, cherry tomatoes and lettuce--for my mom fro mother's day)
Sunny Border Flower mat
Snapdragon Rocket Hybrid Mix
Geranium Summer Showers
Butterfly Bush Mix
Celosia Fresh Look Yellow
Celosia Fresh Look Red

From Pinetree:
Early Wonder Beets
Small Miracle Broccoli
California Wonder Peppers
Easter Egg Radish
Brandywine Tomato
Kentucky Blue
Carouby De Maussane Snow Pea

Needless to say I will probably be growing these seeds for years to come, so I hope they work out!!