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Written by Mousumi P., Rutgers Master Gardener of Somerset County
With spring right around the corner, it’s a great time check out all the colorful seed catalogs and seed packets for this year’s garden. But with seemingly endless plant options for vegetables and flowers, where to begin? Seed catalogs and packets aren’t just beautiful to look at, they carry a wealth of information to make good plant selections for your garden.
A great place to start is the Hardiness zone to help with frost dates, temperature and growing conditions overall to see which plants will do well in that zone. For example, by checking https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/, Somerset County is 7B.
Here are some other things to keep in mind while searching.
The plant description has detailed information regarding the plant’s size (both height and spread), shape or growth habit, color, uses and common pests/diseases. There are now many Container Varieties of favorite vegetables and flowers suited for smaller spaces while keeping significant yields.
Growing requirements are informative for daily sun exposure which can be Full Sun(6hrs+), Partial Sun(4-6hrs), Partial Shade (2-4hrs) or Shade (less than 2hrs). Water and soil requirements are not only important for the plant’s nutrients but also for the gardener’s time and resources.
Planting time is helpful for starting seeds and harvesting plants. For starting seeds, “Indoor Sow” refers to seeds that can be started indoors under lights or in a greenhouse weeks in advance. They can then be hardened off and transplanted outdoors after the threat of frost has past. Direct sow is just that- planting into to ground post threat of frost. In either case, sowing, watering and temperature instructions are given. Days to Maturity is another helpful term especially for vegetables, in that it’s the number of days to harvest. Pick a variety with shorter Days to Maturity for a quicker harvest.
Seed Type can be Heirloom or Hybrid. This may be a consideration in that heirloom variety seeds can be saved and reproduced the following season. Hybrids however are cross-bred for specific desired traits but the saved seeds may not reproduce the same plant in the future.
Other special attributes to consider-
Disease Resistant, Pollinator Friendly, Heat Tolerant, Deer Resistant.
And lastly, many seed companies have Theme Kits where the seed selections are already made for such interests as Herbs, Pollinators, Space Savers etc. These may be a great choice to get started when there are too many wonderful choices!
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