Cabin Fever: Dreaming of Fresh Vegetables

We have now had snow on the ground for about four months.  It's so deep, that it's almost up to my waste.  Monday I took my parents' dog with me cross country skiing, and he got stuck because the snow came up to his neck.  He's a hundred pound black lab.  So needless to say, I kind of tired of the white stuff.  I've done better this year than previously, but it's still time for it to go.  Seeing seed packets showing up in stores makes me ready for spring and ready to plant seeds.

I traveled around on Etsy and made plans for all sorts of things I'd like to plant this year.  I'm kind of planning on actually putting in a garden this year.  I grow a ton of stuff on my deck, in pots, but some things just don't far well in pots.  Things like corn, beans, peas, and even my tomatoes have a hard time getting enough water.  Plus, I would have more room, and wouldn't have to invest in so much potting soil each year and spend so much time watering!

So here's a Pinterest board of some of my favorite finds:

I love salad greens, so I want to plant kale, bibb lettuce, mixed greens, and spinach.  I like a variety of tomatoes.  You need some for slicing and some for salads.  I love yellow pear tomatoes.  Cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli are all necessary.  And if I'm going to grow a real garden, I want some sweet corn, peas, and beans.  Cucumbers for pickling as well as slicing sound delicious.  And I love some zucchini as well.  I also want to try some fun things, like rainbow swiss chard and purple carrots and weird heirloom beets.  I think I'm either going to have to narrow my selections down or convert my whole back yard into growing space.

There's a lot of sellers on Etsy who offer unique seeds.  I haven't ordered from any yet, but as we get closer to growing time I'd like to try some of  them out.  Heirloom Seeds 2 U is from Wisconsin and they have a wide variety of pepper seeds to choose from, as well as some tomatoes, cucumbers, and other veggies.  Box Garden Organics has a ton of unique heirloom veggie and flower seeds and they're from Idaho.  Sherwood Seeds has a ton of unique tomato and pepper seeds, as well as some other veggies and flowers.  They're from Pennsylvania.  Kenyon Organics are from Utah and sell  tons of veggies and flowers (eight pages of seeds!).  If you're thinking of trying some heirloom seeds or unique breeds, I'd start with these four shops.  Also, you can buy seeds from around the world, but just remember that then you have to deal with customs and other headaches, so it may take longer for your seeds to arrive, if they do at all.

So, for most plants you can start seeds inside about six to eight weeks before your projected final frost.  For my zip code, that would be somewhere between March 19 and April 2.  Still more than a month, before I can even start planting seeds.  :( 

What do you think?  Anything else awesome that I should be considering planting?  Feel free to let me know in the comments.  Or know any good seed resources?  Please share.