Seed Catalogs and Dreams of Spring Gardens

Egg squash photo  from
Gurney's

It is that time of the year here in Mississippi. The holiday season is over, we have begun thinking about Mardi Gras, daffodils and the coming warm spring days.  Winter is not long in our part of the deep south and while there is still a lot of firewood to bring inside and burn before we start planting our spring gardens, warm spells like the one we have had for the best part of this past week impel us to pull out the seed catalogs.  Yesterday's temperature high was in the upper 70s and though I love all that fall and winter bring, as soon as the holidays pass I find myself ready for spring, flowers and gardens full of fresh vegetables.

I still get seed catalogs in the mail and sit for hours browsing through their pages for the perfect seed varieties to fit our soil, climate and taste. While those catalogs provide me hours of entertainment and dreams, I am extremely aware of all of the seed and plant "catalogs" available on the internet. On the web there is http://gurneys.com/, http://parkseed.com/, http://www.burpee.com/ and scores of other purveyors of seeds that afford you the opportunity to not only browse and dream but do a little more research into the decisions that will lead to the purchases you will make.

Thyme photo from Gurney's

These catalogs and their www cousins on the internet are fulfilling their purpose...spurring dreams with images of warmer days, sunshine, green plants and me sitting on the front porch eating a tomato sandwich while drinking a tall, cold glass of ice tea. As I sit here on this rainy January afternoon that is a pretty good image to hold safely in my mind. As we get closer to spring...spring weather in our case here in the deep  south where spring comes weeks before the calendar says it does, I will write more about my progress in the area of gardening.

For now throw, I have to go and bring in firewood for the cold snap that is forecast for the week and then sit down with a cup,of coffee and my seed catalogs.

Oh yeah, catch me on Twitter @acountryjournal. See you there.


Until next time...John.

This is not my garden....just wish is was.