Newsletter: December 2011 Gardening Tips

December 2011 Edition

Hello Subscriber!

Welcome to the December edition of Terroir Seeds Gardening Tips. Our first snow of the year arrived on December 1, and it has been cold since with some more snow last weekend. This will help our drought situation that we’ve been in for the past 15 years or so.

The 2012 Heirloom Seeds Catalog finished printing today and will be in the mail next Monday, to arrive sometime just before Christmas in your mailbox. The electronic version is on our Catalog Page, so you can download it and get a first read before it’s in the mail.

Our website is now finished and just waiting for you. The information is up front, organized and much easier to find. The store has been revamped and simplified as well. Once you’ve had some time to look around, please let us know your thoughts and suggestions in an email.

Let’s see what’s new!

Planning Your Garden for Next Year

Most of our gardens are dormant and some covered with snow like our garden shown here, put away for the year, waiting for the spring thaw to reawaken again. Now is the perfect time to start planning for what you want to do in your garden next year. Just get the planning started, then work on it as ideas bubble up from your subconscious. This way, you won’t be caught short when time becomes an issue next spring.

To help you get the process rolling, we have the following points to consider, along with some tools to help get you there sooner.

1. Review your garden from this year. How did it do? Did you start enough seeds/seedlings to compensate for losses due to transplanting, weather, etc.? Were plants healthy and productive, or were there issues that need some researching, such as pests, insects, disease, weather conditions to plan for or try to mitigate?
2. Plan early for varieties that might need a longer growing season, or take longer to germinate. This isn’t just a beginner’s mistake, many experienced gardeners get caught out on the timing for their garden.
3. Try one new variety this year that you’ve never had out of your garden. It may be something that you don’t think you’ll like, or it may just be something that you’ve never had fresh just moments before from your own garden. This was eggplant for me, and I now love it- from my own garden.
4. Make a garden plan. This can help with spacing, intensive planting, succession planting and growing more food in your existing space. Also helps with small space/container growing. Download and use our Garden Journal for more information and help.
5. Grow an herb this year. You won’t believe the exquisite flavor that one fresh herb can bring to your kitchen and meals. If you’ve grown herbs before, or are growing some now- try a new one.
6. Don’t forget pollinator attractants. These can be herbs or flowers and will dramatically help your garden’s production. Just one or two varieties planted throughout the garden can make a huge difference.
7. Plan to save one variety of seed this year. Start with something easy and something that you are interested in. Read our Seed Saving articles to get started, or take a look at these books- “The Complete Guide to Saving Seeds” is a new book that has great illustrations and introductions, while “Seed to Seed” is the established reference for all things seed saving.
8. Plant enough to share with a neighbor/senior center home or food bank. Plant an extra row if possible, a couple of plants extra if space is small. The difference even one gardener can make in another’s life is extraordinary!
9. Get your kids or grand-kids involved. Have them help plan the garden and plant something just for them. Don’t have kids or grand-kids? Use the neighbors, friends, etc. Start them on growing food and learning where our food comes from and how it gets to the plate. You will be surprised at how interested kids are in the garden once they are there.
10. Cook a meal with those kids above. Plan a simple, easy to make meal. Have them help harvest, clean and prepare the meal.
11. Review our catalog, website and if you have questions or need help, email or call us. We’re here to help you be more successful in your garden.

Early Bird Special thru December 25

We’ve decided to do something entirely different this year to celebrate our new website going live and all of the new items we’ve been hard at work getting into the catalog and online. There has been a lot of hard work by several people to get us to this point, and now it’s time to celebrate! You, our customers, are the entire reason that we’ve been able to grow into where we are now, so here’s something for you.

You are cordially invited to celebrate with us in a store-wide Early Bird Special of 10% off from now thru December 25, 2011. The only exclusions are Holiday Gift Specials and Sale and Clearance Items, because there are significant discounts built into them already. If you are a member, when we process your order you will receive your 20% discount and the special early bird discount. (Membership fees must be current to receive the 30% off.)

This is the first time we’ve ever offered a store-wide sale, so if you like it we will consider doing it again. Maybe even a yearly event, like the Shea Butter sale! This is a unique opportunity to do your garden planning as shown above using the Garden Journal and get your seed ordering finished before Christmas.

We are still receiving seed stock in; if an item is not currently available, we will ship any back-ordered items to you when they arrive! To receive the discount please use the code Earlybird in the space at the top of the shopping basket where it asks “If you have a key code, please enter it.” Shop early and save for next spring!

Armenian Cucumber- Best Tasting, Burpless Home Grown Cucumber

We have a new post about the Armenian Cucumber, a new offering for 2012. This was a favorite of Cindy’s grandmother in her garden, and there is a tasty Peasant Salad recipe along with the story.

This is one of the “burpless” varieties, and we explain why. Take a look at Armenian Cucumber- Best Tasting, Burpless Home Grown Cucumber to read the whole story.

Wishing You and Your Family
the Very Best Holidays

As the year draws to a close and families plan on holiday meals and time together, we wanted to wish you and your family the very best holidays. Regardless of your spiritual observation, this is traditionally a time to reflect on our blessings and positive directions in our lives. Our heartfelt thanks to you for doing business with us and supporting the growth of heirlooms and home gardening. We hope your year has been good, and have made plans for an even better new year.

We are grateful for customers like you, for helping us to grow in uncertain times and allowing us to be a part of your lives in the garden. To be a part of something as powerful and positive as home gardening- growing your own food- is both a humbling and thrilling experience for us. It is wonderful to be able to talk with some of you and share your experiences, challenges and successes. There is a deep seated enjoyment in hearing about how a garden did, or a new variety, or a challenge overcome after getting to know you and your garden a bit more. We look forward to years of moving forward, introducing more heirlooms to you and helping you have a better garden year after year.

As we’ve said before, our customers are friends we have not yet met. This is never more true than now!

Our customers are friends that we have not yet met, as you share our interest and passion for growing incredibly delicious foods, preserving heirloom seed traditions and biological diversity for the future through our own home gardens. Sharing this is possibly the most important work, as it helps all of us make a definite, positive impact in our lives and in those that we share.

Thanks for your time this edition, we hope you have enjoyed it. Please let us know your thoughts and suggestions, as we are always working to improve.

Stephen and Cindy Scott
Terroir Seeds | Underwood Gardens