The Countdown IS On!

HEAT BRICKS!

It's January. It's COLD outside. If the high winds aren't whipping all the warmth from your gardening soul at the moment, surely those cold morning temperatures are doing the job. Fortunately, for me at least, most nights are spent layered with the heat brick called Mango the Cat. But Bandit the Border Collie isn't far away. Thanks to those two, it's toasty warm. Which makes in doube-tough to remove said heat bricks and part from a warm, cozy bed.

It isn't easy. Not at my age.

So, how could the countdown to a summer gardening season be on? When and where did that clock start? Why didn't your alarm go off? For some of you, I'm fairly certain it did. The gardening ZEALOTS who like to get off to an early start to the 2025 summer gardening season planted seeds for sweet and hot peppers last month. Or, at least very early this month.

Seed starting efforts for all things tomato will take place in mid to late February. Some even wait until March. It all depends upon your internal gardening clock. Starting seeds isn't difficult. However, it does mean you need to spend some bit of time outdoors in that deep freezer called a backyard. That is, of course, unless you store your gardening soil indoors.

2025 Seed HAUL

Have you started your seed shopping efforts for the 2025 spring and summer gardening efforts yet? No? A bit of advice if I may? The best time to start shopping is RIGHT NOW. Yesterday also works. The vegetable seed DEAL of the season is in your neighborhood at this very moment. All it requires from you is to jump in the car and find it. You are not going to find this deal online. But it is in your local neighborhood shopping centers. Guaranteed.

My thanks to South Natomas gardening fanatic Nels Christensen for pinpointing this deal over the weekend and then alerting me to the fact. I did not wait. Not on this garden bargain bonanza.

Do you see that pile of seeds pictured above? That is from the local Dollar Store. In California, of course, it's now known as the $1.25 store. Putting all politics aside, it's still a great deal. You're not going to find seeds for all sorts of vegetables any cheaper anywhere. But you need to move on this. Like now. Like finish this blog post later. This seed deal comes and goes fairly quickly. In another week or two you may not find it. Or, you may be forced to drive from one Dollar Store to another.

Garden Seeds

The seed haul pictured above, plus the gardening implements like the shovel and the clippers, represents a $16 investment. That investment paid off in three varieties of tomatoes, multiple varieties of bush beans, enough pole beans to feed a small army, scads of corn, enough green onion seeds to cover a small hillside and enough carrots to keep and maintain 20-20 vision.

Of course, we all know that carrots and improved vision are not necessarily a thing (long story), but this does not mean that carrots are not good for you. They are. My haul also includes cucumbers, peppers, melons, basil, oregano and enough sunflower seeds to cover my yard and half of the neighbor's. I hope he likes sunflowers.

I know what your asking right about now. I really do. Are these seeds any good? How can they be so cheap? Why are they selling for 31-cents a packet if they really are that good? Seems fishy, doesn't it?

Dollar Store Seeds

These seeds are not just good. These seeds are the best. They are all heirloom varieties. Heirloom means OLD. Gardeners of all shapes and sizes have been growing these varieties LONG BEFORE you and I were born. And I'm old! Trust me! The Scarlet Nantes carrot, for example? That came to America via France. Around 1850. But I can just about guarantee you that it was growing in various European gardens long before that.

You want another example? How about the Cherokee Wax Bush Bean. This was not named on behalf of the Native American people called the Cherokee. It earned this name because the seed came from the Cherokee, plus other Native American populations. It is THAT old. Anything that old is usually pretty darn good, and it is.

My point is this one variety could have been grown on the North American continent for centuries, long before European settlers arrived. I grew scads of Cherokee bush beans in the garden last summer. They were a part of multiple summer and fall garden meals. Plus, they were so productive, that I managed to clean, cut and freeze two one quart bags for later use this winter.

Bush Beans and Basil

These seeds are not just good, they are extremely productive. This is one reason as to why they are so dirt cheap. It's also impossible to screw these up, unless you really work at it. They are about as guaranteed as a guarantee can get. The only knock against these varieties is they're not fancy. Newer varieties of seeds are available, and in scads of different colors and sizes. A packet of these fancy, colorful seeds also cost $6-$7 a pop. Each. Get the idea?

These 31-cent packet of seeds are as basic as basic can get. They do not hold a lot of seeds either. But what else would you expect from a 31-cent investment? The Fort Knox of Seed Supply? Although, I will admit that just two to three seeds for that basic squash plant is going to produce more squash than you can eat over the course of an entire summer's worth of production.

American Seed is part of the Green Garden Products empire headquartered in Massachusetts. Many of the seed and garden brands they own, which include Ferry Morse and Livingston Seed, are more than 100-years old. One other note? If you are more into growing flowers than vegetables, you will find huge selection of time tested favorites (like sunflowers, of course!)