Stocking up on Seeds for Spring Planting

With spring just two days away, have you stocked up on the seeds you want for your garden?

It was exciting to open the package from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and find all the seed packets our family had purchased for this year's organic garden!  We chose to plant mostly Southern Exposure's seeds this year because they're in our region of the country and are champions of preserving heirloom and organic seeds.  They adhere to the Safe Seed Pledge.  Almost all the seeds we purchased are certified USDA Organic, which gives us reassurance about the inputs involved in creating these seeds like no toxic, persistent pesticides.

It's time to for us to start bell pepper and tomato seeds indoors, and we'll wait a few more weeks before planting outdoors.  Our growing seasons have gotten longer in recent years, so we probably could start even earlier than we have. We're trying Cherokee purple heirloom tomatoes again this year, since they were so wonderful last year.  Plus, we'll try growing an Amish tomato that's supposed to be great for canning.  We'll try some vegetables and fruit that's new to our garden.  We'll be omitting that ornery spinning top gourd that threatened to take over last year's garden.

Ahead this month:  why it's worth it for home gardeners to support regional growers of heirloom, organic, non-GMO seeds.