Park Seed Garden Journal

I’m very excited about one of Park Seed’s new items this spring, the Tumbleweed Composter. You don’t need a pitchfork, or a compost turning tool. You just turn
the composter and your compost gets mixed. In hot
weather, the compost stays damp longer and doesn’t dry out, and In wet
weather the compost doesn’t get too soggy.

Compost tumblers have plenty of benefits. Dogs won’t get into your compost, or squirrels or raccoons or rats, but insects will still get in.

This is a favorite item for many gardener’s–I am so glad we finally have one in stock. Many of us here at park seed were already using them at home. If you spend a lot of time in your garden, this will save you tons of extra work. If you have always wanted to start a compost pile, but have been overwhelmed by the process, this could be the perfect item for you.

The colder winter weather is keeping many of us inside, and out of the garden, but there are a few things you can do on those milder winter days to ensure that you have the best possible garden in the spring.

1. Clean up! Get rid of all of the dead plant material in your garden, cut back dormant perrenials, and prune your shrubs and trees. This will save you some time in the spring and give you a fresh start for all of your new plantings.
2. Get rid of weeds. A throrough weeding in the off-season will head off any potential problems before they get out of hand.
3. Mulch your bulbs. This will insulate thems from harsh weather and hold in necessary moisture.
4. Take care of your hardscaping. Your bird baths and feeders are probably due for a cleaning. Replace rotted landscaping timbers or cracked and crumbling blocks in your walls.

These are just a few ideas–I’m sure if you get in the yard and look around you will find plenty to do. If you are ready to start planning for next year, Park Seed’s Spring 2008 catalog is a great place to start.

Everyone knows that if you want to have a plentiful haul of vegetables, starting your seeds inside over the winter gives you good strong plants early in the spring and lets you maximize your growing season. This is especially helpful when growing indeterminate veggies (the ones that produce fruit throughout the season).

Another big advantage of germinating seeds indoors is increase germination rates. Many seeds are small and fragile and environmental conditions may keep them from producing, but if you start these seeds inside, in a controlled environment, you will greatly increase your chances of getting lots of strong healthy plants.

Now, you can be old-fashioned, starting in Dixie cups or a paper towel on top of the fridge, but many of the modern seed-starting kits will give you really high germination rates and they are lots of fun. Park Seed has plenty of neat seed-starting gadgets, our Park Starts systems work great and are very affordable, but the ever-popular Bio Dome seed starter (we can barely keep these in stock) is a durable tool that you can use season after season if you just replace the growing media sponges (they are super cheap). If you are planning on ordering one of our Bio Domes for this growing season, I would strongly suggest you get your orders in now. I was out in shipping this morning and saw stacks of them headed for the door already, probably for Christmas gifts.

Spring catalogs are available now. Request your catalog today!

Two brand new catalogs were dropped on my desk last week, our 140 Year Anniversary edition of the Park Seed Spring 2008 and the 2008 Perennials and Shrubs catalog. Both catalogs are full of beautifully bright, colorful pictures of great new plant items and time-tested classics.

140 Years! And it all started with a teenager selling a few seeds to people in his hometown from a small, hand-pressed flier. Now millions of people all over the country wait eagerly every winter for their spring seed catalogs filled will all of the fruits, vegetables, and flowers you could imagine. It still amazes many of the people that have worked here for years. Now Park Seed is one of the top sellers of cutting edge varieties and organic seeds, we have huge turn-outs at our annual Flower Day celebrations, and we are even providing seeds for NASA’s Seeds In Space project. Maybe one day we’ll even seed Park’s seeds on Mars.

A lot has changed in 140 years, and we’re still moving forward.