presea(d)son
It's the most magical time of year: the time when the seed catalogs start showing up at our door and offering us tantalizing glimpses of summer bounty. Apparently, anyways; this is the first time we've ever got them. Bulbs, yes, and stupid Gardener's Supply Company (5% good stuff, 95% tacky junk), but never before seeds. This year we've seen Burpee and Territorial Seed Company, and I'm looking forward to more to come! I wonder how they got my name... I can only assume that they recognized my awesome gardening prowess from afar, perhaps by careful examination of satellite footage. What's that? Both catalogs are addressed to Leah? Oh well, I'll take em!
Not that I'll necessarily order from either: you know there are a great many factors we gardeners need to consider when making such important early-season decisions. Last year I went with Pinetree Garden Seeds online, having not received any print catalogs and hearing a good report of their offerings elsewhere. Also, they're in Maine so I know that they're thinking of the cold-weather gardeners of the Northeast—unlike Territorial from Oregon and Burpee from a laboratory in an industrial park in New Jersey. No, not really: they've still got the farm in Pennsylvania where they invented the iceberg lettuce. Hooray.
Then of course I could start worrying about the provenance of my seeds. If I'm concerned that they're all ultimately being produced by huge faceless corporations whose names start with "M" and end with "onsanto", I can always order from Freedom Seeds. That's the outfit set up by the fine folks at Path to Freedom, who know what they're talking about when it comes to small-scale farming.
Unlike me. So I'll probably end up doing just what I did last year and throw darts at the nearest catalog. Who knows, I might hit an apple tree!