“The greatest shell pea you’ll ever grow! High yielder blueberry for your best crop ever! Tendersweet carrot-rave reviews for flavor! 4 reasons why this is the best sweet corn we’ve ever sold!”

The seed and plant nurseries have got us gardeners right where they want us at this time of year. We’ve had just enough time to rest from outdoor work; enough time to forget, perhaps, just how devastating last year’s failures were, and more than enough time to regain our optimism that this will be the year we revel in natural splendor and the most abundant harvests ever. We are ready to plan this year’s garden-to-be.

Most novice gardeners make the mistake of getting seduced by photographs and descriptions of crops that turn out to be unsuitable for their situation. I was no exception. And to make matters worse, more than once I devoted a large percentage of my small garden to an experiment that didn’t deliver.

I’m no longer such a pushover for the catalogs, although I do still like to try out new plants. Here are a few of the things I’ve learned that help me choose wisely when I’m ordering for the upcoming growing season, and that prevent much disappointment and frustration. Follow these tips and you’ll be well on your way to a successful season:

• Be realistic about the light requirements of the plants you want to grow. You cannot grow a tomato in full shade, and trying to do so will only lead to frustration. All seed packets and plant tags have information about each particular plant’s sunlight needs: take these seriously and only order plants that will thrive in the light you can provide.
• What can you grow that is rare or costly from other sources? For example, I get a lot of greens from my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmer and from foraging, so I no longer bother planting those. But I only get raspberries from my CSA occasionally and they are pricey at the farmers’ markets, so I maintain a lovely and productive raspberry patch in my garden.
• Think back on what worked and didn’t work last year, and let that guide your planting choices this year. (It’s a great idea to keep a journal of your gardening successes and tribulations. Over a few years, this will help you learn the quirks of your particular ecosystem). If your cucumbers always get powdery mildew, for example, then it makes sense to order seeds or plants for varieties that are resistant to mildew.
• Experiment, but be stingy with how much real estate you allot to unknowns. I try out a few new-to-me plants and varieties every year, but I learned the hard way not to hand over a whole raised bed to them. I did that once with a variety of Brussels sprouts. They are slow growers and hogged that space spring to fall only to get hit hard with an infestation before they reached harvesting size. Now I give most of my space to my tried-and-true varieties, with maybe 25% for experiments. The experiments that do well get more room next year.
• If you plan to save your own seed to plant next year, make sure you are growing open pollinated rather than hybrid varieties. Hybrids do not breed true from seed, and you don’t know what you’ll get when you save seed from hybrids.

Where to Get Seeds

Here are a few of my favorite seed and plant sources:

Seeds of Change

One of the first completely organic seed companies. They’ve expanded to include plant starts as well as seeds.

Pinetree Gardens

Smaller than usual quantities of seeds per packet for the home gardener at lower prices (did you really need to buy 250 okra seeds?). Lots of varieties of vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

Companion Plants

Hundreds of different culinary and medicinal herbs. I’m not a big fan of mail order plants, but theirs always arrive in great condition

Silver Heights Farm

For NYC residents, Silver Heights is a great resource offering dozens of heirloom varieties of herbs and vegetables. They are at the Union Square Greenmarket Wednesdays and Saturdays, and if you pre-order plants from their website, they will have them packed and ready for you to pick up at the market.

Hudson Valley Seed Library

They specialize in varieties bred for the Northeastern U.S.

Hometown Seeds

Check out their Survival Seeds Pack.

Horizon Herbs

A great source of medicinal herb seeds and roots, with a good selection of those suitable for growing in forested, shady areas.