Yep, I have been looking online already also. Having a greenhouse really makes you want to get them early, sometimes too early. lol

I have got to get busy getting my inventory and lists ready. I want to do a serious market garden and need to get stuff ordered. The only catalog I have received is high mowing organic seeds. They may get all my business except for a couple of those tomatoes you recommended Dawn

If I had a greenhouse I would be dangerous, it would be nice to have anyway. It is on my bucket list but when we get to a point to build one we need to purchase something for the farm, oh well I'm sure there is a reason.

I can't remember what thread Dawn mentioned good tomato varieties for early market. Anyone remember?

I have been looking for crook neck milo. I need about 50 pounds of seed. We will save seed from our first year for later use.

I like it because small holders can hang it to dry by the crook and It is a foundation component of chicken feed. Also. it is the first crop I ever planted.

Johnny

After I made my tomato list I spent hours combing the internet and ended up banging my head on the desk. Many of the sites are not working properly. I turned to my pinetree paper catalog and realized they have most of what I need. lol

I like Pinetree, Sample Seed Shop and Fedco. Baker Creek, Johnny's and Southern Exposure for the harder to find. I haven't solidified my list yet.

Robert, I agree. I do have my greenhouse semi-stuffed with overwintering herbs, fruit trees and ornamentals, including two gigantic brugmansias, so that gives me something to play around with and might possibly keep me from starting seeds too early. However, give me a week of sunny, pretty weather (we have sunshine today, yay!) and I'll start getting the itch to plant something too early. It is good that Christmas is approaching. All the pre-Christmas preparations usually keep me too busy to start seeds early even if I'm dying to start seeds of something/anything. The week after Christmas is dangerous for me because the holiday is over, I have time on my hands and the seed-starting materials and seeds start showing up in local stores. It helps if that week is really cold as it allows me to talk myself out of starting aything too early.

Kim, It might have been the squash thread. I don't remember but I'll look for it if I have time this afternoon. I do like High Mowing Seeds. Their quality is good and I like their commitment to growing organically, etc. I have a stack of catalogs already, and I know for sure I've gotten catalogs already from HPS, Wildseed Farms, Totally Tomatoes, Vermont Bean Seed Company, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Pinetree Garden Seeds, Dixondale Farms (onions, leeks, shallots, etc.)....and there's probably others that I'm not thinking of at the moment. Most catalogs seem to arrive between Thanksgiving and Christmas nowadays. For a long time, the always arrived the week after Christmas. I had a few arrive extra early this year---HPS always sends the first one in late summer (maybe August or early Sept), and Dixondale Farms usually has theirs out sometime in early November. I think Pinetree has been earlier than Dixondale the last couple of years. Some companies only have websites now and have dropped their paper catalogs, and I don't know how they works for them as a business stategy. I tend to forget about the ones that don't send out a paper catalog.

Johnny, Usually, Glenn Drowns has Crookneck Milo at Sand Hills Preservation Center, though he only has it in the years when he was able to raise enough to sell. When you grow your own seed (he also has some contract growers), your offerings depend on whatever crop successes you had the previous year). They didn't have any in 2015, and their website isn't updated for 2016 yet, but you might keep an eye on their webpage when it starts updating, which sometimes is in late December and sometimes in January. It is a home-owned and operated company, and is not their primary job, so things get updated in the winter as time allows. How in the world they manage to keep so many heirloom poultry and heirloom seed lines going in what is a side business is completely beyond me....they must not ever sleep.

The next best option might be Seed Savers Exchange. I don't remember if I've seen it in the public catalog, but for some time it seems like they've had Vilgore Crookneck, which I think is listed under grains or sorghums in the member listings. I don't know if it is the same as the Crookneck Milo you're looking for.

It is unlikely that either of the two sources I mentioned would have 50-lbs. available. Often, with these old heirloom grains, you're lucky to find any of it available at all and usually have to start small, grow your own and increase your own seed over the years.

Bon, I wonder why the websites you were visiting weren't working properly? Maybe it has something to do with the timing---many haven't updated yet, but generally they offer what I am looking for every year, so I can order off of last year's listings (if they aren't sold out). The ones that update later than January tend to miss my business as I mostly order early or not at all.

More seed catalogs arrived in today's mail, and usually when the paper catalogs arrive, the websites have been updated too. That's actually what got me started ordering the other day---the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed catalog arrived and I flipped through it for a while and then went to their website and ordered what I wanted. I knew I needed/wanted to order some True Black Brandywine seeds and it was easy after that to pick up a couple more tomato varieties, which actually made me sit still long enough to make my grow list. There wasn't any point to randomly ordering tomato varieties that sounded interesting unless I had my grow list already made and was committed to actually planting what I was going to order.

Amy, I like all those and so many more. There's so many companies that I like that I couldn't possibly order from all of them every year, so I try to spread the business around. However, there's a few that I absolutely do order from every year, and high on that list is Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. If it was the only seed company I patronized, I'd still be a happy camper. They have a great selection every year and their varieties always do well for me here.

Dawn

Dawn I found the suggested market list and copied it to my book..I will look around for those. I got 5 different types of saved seeds done and drying today. One came from the fling but can't find the name right now. These will be my heirloom types plus sungold cherry. I am getting itchy to get the pots out.

Pinetree was sold out of sungold when I returned. I got all the way to payment when I realized the total price equated to a pair of much-needed tennies. I'm going to grow what I have already. I have black vernissage, cherokee purple, ace 55, old better boy seeds, and pink brandy, 2 banana legs seeds, amish paste and red cherry. i just need to pick up an early producer somewhere.

Kim, You tell your itchy fingers to just chill and not get ahead of themselves. (grin) Starting seeds too early does not work out well 8 or 9 years out of 10, and last year likely was the one year out of 10 that it was okay to start early because our last freeze was earlier than usual. If you absolutely must start seeds too early, then maybe start chives, onions, bunching onions, etc. as they can be trimmed back with scissors to keep them manageable indoors over the winter and also can tolerate quite a bit of cold once you move them outdoors.

Bon, E-mail me your address and I'll send you some tomato seeds. I always buy more than I can use because I am a compulsive seed shopper. (Tim realizes it is fortunate I buy "only" seeds compulsively instead of shoes, handbags, blue jeans, coats or something else....since seeds cost less than clothing and take up a lot less space.) And, if you e-mail me your grow list of whatever you're hoping to plant in any category, I'll send you seeds of whatever I have that's on your list.

For anyone looking for seeds of JD's Special C-Tex or Gary 'O Sena, I noticed they are available on the Sample Seed Shop website, where Remy's latest note from 11-15-15 says she already has updated her list of Tomatoes, Beans and Peppers for 2016. No one can beat her prices on tomato seeds. I have to be very careful when I go to Sample Seed Shop's website. With prices that low, I want to order one pkt of everything she has, and I don't have space to grow one of everything.

Dawn

I won't get too crazy. I am moving into little house close to my new job for the winter next week so I will be busy until January 1st. Then you will have to help rein me in.