Seed ordering has begun!

Red Russian Kale prior to weeding!

All of the favorite seed catalogs have arrived and it's time to order seeds.  Just a few weeks til we start the early seedlings, cauliflower and broccoli, followed by our favorites, tomatoes and peppers.  The photo shows last year's kale variety, Red Russian. You'll note this was prior to weeding.  Or more likely between weedings and prior to mulching.  Seems like until we get the mulch around the plants the weeds grow faster than the plants. 
This year we're trying a few new kale varieties.  Winterbor and Redbor - both are much curlier than last years varieties - Red Russian and Blue Curled Vate.  There is also a lovely Winter Red which is tempting so maybe we'll go with a few more choices this year.  I learned from the Territorial catalog that there are two types of kale, the Scotch group which has the curly leaves and the Siberian group like the Red Russian shown in the photo here.  At the end of the 2010 fall season, we had baby kale salads which had both wonderful flavor and crisp taste.  Mid-January now, that means maybe if we have a warm spring and are lucky with the frost events, we could be eating baby kale in four months!  Now off to decide about this years Basil.