It’s one of my favorite times of year… when the seed catalogs start coming in the mail. The kids and I love looking through them. Not only is it excited to dream and plan for spring in the dead of winter, but they also contain great lessons for children. I thought I would take the time to share some of our favorite seed catalogs, where we like to order our seeds, and what the kids and I like to do with the catalogs when we are done using them for their intended purpose.
I have gotten my fair share of seed catalogs and a few have always stood out among the others. While all seed catalogs contain pretty images of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and sometimes trees, the ones I picked are also full of information that helps you grow as a gardener.
- Baker’s Creek – I love this catalog, although I have never ordered seeds from it. The seeds they offer are rare heirloom, and while I feel far more confident in my green thumb than I used to I still don’t think I’m ready to start playing with rare seeds just yet. Either way though the catalog is amazing. It’s full of great information and absolutely beautiful photographs.
- Botanical Interests – This catalog is full of information. It doesn’t have photographs, the plants are drawn, but Breckin still enjoys looking at it… especially since this is the catalog that we order from and he gets to go through and circle all of the seed varieties that he wants to grow.
- Jonny’s Selected Seeds – We haven’t received this catalog yet, I’m still waiting for it to come in the mail, but it came very highly recommended from another farmer friend. I was told it contained the best, most throughout, information.
We get our seeds from two places:
- Botanical Interests, the seed catalog that I listed above is where we have bought our seeds the last few years. We have had great luck with the seeds and they have a wonderful selection. They are GMO free and in many cases organic and/or heirloom.
- This year we joined Mike the Gardener’s Seed of the Month Club. Breckin has a true obsession with gardening and seeds (he saves the seeds from the fruits and veggies he eats), and he absolutely loves getting the seeds in the mail each month. The first month you get eight seed packets, and every month there after you get 4 packets. It’s a great lesson each month since he has to learn about the plants we receive, how to grow them, and how we can use them. The seeds are open pollinated, heirloom varieties and are GMO free. The membership is very affordable and a lot of fun! If you become a member of the seed of the month club please use our referral code: W9LOFCDV3Q. It will extend our membership for free! Breckin will be very appreciative!
Seed catalog activities: There are an endless number of activities that you can do with your seed catalogs when you are done planning your garden and purchasing your seeds.
- Go through the catalog talking about the different fruits and vegetables, what sort of vitamins they contain, and how those vitamins help your body. Breckin loves to know how foods help him grow. Quite often it’s the only way we can get him to eat those foods.
- Have your child practice their cutting skills by cutting the different photographs out of the catalog with safety scissors.
- Cut the photographs out of the catalog and then have your child separate them into fruits, veggies, and flowers. It’s a great way for your child to learn the difference between a fruit and a vegetable.
- Cut the individual fruits and vegetables out of the catalog and make a rainbow with the different colors.
- Use the photographs from the seed catalogs and find other foods from different magazines. Use these photographs to teach about the different food groups.
- Use the photographs to make a paper garden
- Make a food collage