overlooked oldtime flowers, plus a confession: i binged on seeds this winter!    

"Help!" I cried to Marilyn Barlow the other day, after getting lost online among her tassel flowers, unusual poppies and crazy chenille-like amaranths. It had been more than 20 years since Marilyn first toured me through her actual Connecticut garden of oldtime flowers, and now I needed virtual guidance through Select Seeds' online aisles.

But where to start?

Marilyn knew: With "annuals and perennials you'd love -- if only you were introduced properly," she said. I'm game; let's go. (You might even win a $25 gift certificate...start here.)

my total binge of a 2014 seed order

I told the packets of peas seeds, usually my first-borns, to sit tight: not their turn yet.  But in a single flat filled with several smaller fiber pots, I just sowed two kale varieties and my earliest Brussels sprouts. And so another growing season begins, as I open the first of many just-arrived packets of seed, in this spring that doesn't want seem to really arrive.

I'm finally confessing to my 2014 seed order -- and yes, I binged. Some people eat in the dark days; I seed-shop.

miss it last time? how to grow kale 

Do I start kale indoors, or direct sow? What about spacing, timing, soil prep, aftercare? From the kale-breeding masters of kale at Adaptive Seeds: How to grow kale.