Without even looking in my seed case, (crate!, lol) , i placed my order with Johnny's last weekend...
I'm set and ready.

Anything new? Or varieties you can't live without?

OT - Is anyone finding GW popuo ads worse than usual?

I always grow sweet basil, but I'm wondering if I shouldn't try some Thai basil! Can anyone recommend a variety? (for zone 5)

I'm also always trying to find a sweet pepper that grows well for me. I can grow great hot peppers, but the sweets either don't produce or rot in the heavy August rains we always seem to get. I prefer open-pollinated and heirlooms, but will try a hybrid if I can get something good to eat -- not easy to do since our summers are generally short, cool, and wet. :p

Last year was the year from Hell, did not warm up until June, garden went in very late because of that, then we got a late frost, and shortly after that a hail storm wiped out half my garden. What did survive or came back did not have much of a chance to set fruit before the first fall frost. Never got one fresh ripe tomato, peppers never set fruit, finally harvested some peas in August, and not many. And for some reason, I never got one carrot, although the rest of the root veggies did do very well.

I have a list of seeds I start and plant every year and will order them again. Otherwise, I like to experiment, try new varieties. My seed catalogues should be here in a week or two and I can't wait!!!

My must plant, will always plant no matter what else I try with it is a variety of tomato called Manitoba. Developed especially for the Canadian prairie, matures in about 65 days, and is great for canning. (except last year, when they took the brunt of the hail storm)

Darlene

I still have tomatoes out in the garage-BLT'S for lunch today!! Going to try fennel this year, haven't planted it for awhile. I ordered the best onion plants last year from Dixondale Farms. stored onions in panty hose in the basement. Variety was Candy and Big Daddy. I won't plant Big Dadddy again, they just get too darn big.

-the ads are a bit bizarre, pop-up just as i start reading.
We just need to adjust our patience... : )
I do have a hard time on my iPad because of the sensitive touch screen.

Back to the garden...
I do run around the gardening GW forums but usually learn and lurk...market gardeners are very good at getting good results. Though often seem too busy to actually explore cooking.
If i had more time i would respond with some tips.
I grow three varieties of tomatillo as they do so well. Slow smoke them and make a killer salsa.
Kakai pumpkin and kombucha squash are top of my list.
Kakai has hulless seeds and delicious. Easy to toast. The flesh is pale white and a bit mild, but with a good blender it is as creamy as a milk/flour chowder base, (good substitute) and pairs well with delicate seafood.
The kabucha i use for it's rich flavor and color in other soups.

-i've read on the forums that the above three favorites are bland and a waste of time...not so much the kabucha.
But tomatillos are considered a junk weed and kakai as dull and bland...the seeds i've roasted this fall are far superior to the expensive ones i have been buying in the past.

After 20yrs growing, i think i've learned that no year will be like the last. And why i grow such a diverse variety. Seems any heart tomato does well, and the blacks.
I grow in succession from peas to salads to tomatoes. Some as early as i can get away with, then again over the following weeks and let nature do as it does...
Last season i had salad all season long. Shade frames helped.
I grew a fennel variety, not sure the name., but it was for top fronds, not the big bulbs. Love it in soups and broth. And has done well in the freezer.
Same with a beet variety, BigTop i think it is called...for the greens, and does produce a fall baby beet eventually.

Darlene- I've experienced Alberta hail storms! wow, that was something. (bring out the snow plows), cracked windshields...
I should try manitoba toms. But trying to pair down my seed starting of toms that reached about 75 varieties last year...

Basil does fantastic some years...i plant all the varieties.
Thai seems to do just as well as others.

Christmas is over. Can we skip to gardening season? LOL! I just started looking at a seeds from Baker Creek today. I'm a long way off from even planting the early starts! A must have for my garden are Matt's Wild Cherry tomato. Its a dime size cherry tomato with a beefsteak tomato taste. They grow like weeds too. I love them!

I just got my Johnny's catalog a week or so ago, along with a couple of other small seed companies. It seems like there should be more by now. My ritual is to spend the weekend after Christmas pulling out my seeds and going through the catalogs, even though I wind up ordering 90% from Johnny's and Nichols. I have four day weekend coming up and it's on the agenda.

I save a lot of my seed, though with some things hybrids do better. I'm trying to get it down to what will do well, but still need to try a few new things every year. Latest must-haves that I order are an heirloom beet mix from Nichols, Red Giant mustard (the bugs don't bother it!) and a storage carrot called Bolero from Johnny's.

Darlene, we grow tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers and eggplant in high tunnels and they always make it through the first frost. Not this year. Everything set fruit late, so we were just starting to harvest...sighhhh.

Party Music, we're technically in Z5, but really it's Z4...our own little microclimate. I've had good luck with Yankee Bell peppers, Gypsy (small, thin-walled hybrid yellow bell) and Jimmy Nardello Sweet Italian Frying Peppers. They are under cover, though.

Sleevendog, I am with garlic like you are with tomatoes, though I only made it to 39 varieties...am now down to 14. For tomatoes I have room for 50 and half the space goes to my reliables - Legend, Black Krim, Stupice and a few Early Girls. Half goes to experiments. I will have to try the Matt's cherry, Boo. I grew currant tomatoes a few times and they were...eh. I grow one Sweet 100 and one Sun Sugar or Sungold because they taste good and always do well. I try a couple of new heirloom or OP cherries every year. Last year I started a Seed Library at my library, so I have a place to share (get rid of) my failed experiments.

Getitng my seed orders ready and trying to figure out how best to deal with late blight. After never even seeing it for almost 50 years of gardening, it hit in mid August two years in a row. I had put up some tomatoes, but the main crop was just starting. Devastating!

And I'm accustomed to having a tomato with my breakfast egg every morning until frost.

Laceyvail, four years ago my tomatoes got hit really hard with blight. This was after several years prior of the tomatoes not doing well. I stopped growing tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, potatoes and zinnias for 2 years in a row (I thought it was going to kill me not to grow them because those very things are my favorite to grow!) This past summer I grew all of them again. All but the peppers (they were stunted - bad spring & early summer) did well. I had enough tomatoes to eat and can. I still have potatoes too.