Ordering Seeds: An Act of Hope in a Cold, Cold February

I was reminded by my friend Mary that there is hope for spring, though it seems a distant possibility while contending with things like windchill factors of 35-50 below zero, as we experienced Saturday night. So, as an act of faith, I have just placed a seed order with Renee's Garden Seeds. Renee Shepherd was the founder of Shepherd's Garden Seeds, and her new venture brings the same lovely illustrations by Mimi Osborne that I remember from the Shepherd's catalog and seed packets.

I haven't pored over seed catalogs this winter, mainly because I've only received one or two -- a side effect of the fact that I've moved twice in the past two years. And I don't know about you, but I don't get quite the same pleasure from poring over pages of a website. So I just flung myself into the process, ordered a bunch of things that sounded good, and called it enough.

Here's what called to me:

Two seed collections:
The Container Vegetable Collection: "Five of the best tasting, compact varieties especially bred for growing in containers. Enjoy fresh homegrown flavors picked right from your own small space garden." Includes: Super Bush Tomato; Garden Babies Lettuce; Pot of Gold Chard; Bush Slicer Cucumber; Pizza My Heart Pepper. (My home garden is a set of large containers on a southwest-facing patio. That's where I'll grow these babies. I've had terrible luck with peppers, but we'll see what happens.)

Children's Garden Collection: "Five easy to grow, colorful, big-seeded flower and vegetable varieties that kids can plant, harvest and enjoy on their very own." Includes: Easter Egg Radishes; Cinderella's Carriage Pumpkins; Sunzilla Sunflowers; Tricolor Pole Beans; Raggedy Anne Zinnias. (I have an 8-year-old son at home, and I'm hoping I can get him interested in having his own garden. Though it will have to be at my second garden, at his other house -- more on that below. If he's not into it, I'll grow some of these myself and enjoy them thoroughly.)

I also ordered two varieties of basil -- the herb without which no summer is complete: Mrs. Burns Lemon ("sweetest lemony flavor bouquet") and Italian Cameo ("From our best Italian breeder. Easy growing and deliciously fragrant, Cameo has closely packed, luscious big leaves and a compact 6- 8 inch habit. Perfect for containers, window boxes or edging garden beds.")

For what I hope will be my second garden this summer -- unused garden space at the house now mostly occupied by my ex-husband and one of my daughters -- I ordered:

• Garden Oasis cucumbers: "Extra-sweet, burpless, uniquely smooth-skinned Beit alpha cucumber renowned for quality throughout the Mediterranean basin. High yields of glossy fruits with refreshing juicy-sweet flesh."
• Big Beef beefsteak tomatoes: "These scrumptious giant slicers are our hands-down favorite, combining delicious full flavor, heavy yields, wide adaptability and superior disease resistance."
  
• Garden Candy mix of orange, yellow and red cherry tomato varieties.
• A Farmers Market blend of lettuces : "This mix of tender, sweet red and green lettuces draws raves at local farmers markets. A blend of delicious varieties for a balanced palette of colors, shapes and textures."

I'll want some bunching onions as well, but I didn't find them today. And oh my, I seem to have no squash at all. That will never do. I'll have to go and peruse another website another day soon. Johnny, you'll be hearing from me.