More seed catalogs reached my door this year than ever before: Baker Creek, Cook's Garden, Jung's, John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds, Territorial Seed Company, Seed Savers, Johnny's Selected Seeds and Pinetree Garden Seeds. There are also a few retailers I buy from strictly online, Fedco , Franchi Sementi, and Tomato Growers Supply Company being my favorites. Either way, the offerings were outstanding, which means I probably bought more seed than I can grow. Here are a few picks with promise:

Fedco seeds offers an exciting new kale for 2010, 'Rainbow Lacinato.' Bred by Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seed, this cross between 'Lacinato' and 'Redbor' is said to have the habit and blue-green leaf color of dinosaur ('Lacinato') kale with curly edges and purplish red cast of 'Redbor.' I plan to plant it in my flower and vegetable gardens.

Imagine this beautiful blue 'Lacinato' kale crossed with the curly, red-hued 'Redbor.' I can't wait to to grow 'Rainbow Lacinato'!

The mild, flavorful Swiss chard, 'Argentata', is another appealing Fedco offering. They claim its crisp, white ribs lack the strong, bitter flavor of other chards.

The interesting woodcuts and recipes of the old Cook's Garden catalogs are something I sorely miss. I also find their seeds ridiculously expensive (compare Fedco's $1.40 per packet average to Cook's way inflated $3.50 average). Still, they occasionally offer something special I cannot help but buy. This year I was drawn t their kohlrabi 'Gigante', which is supposed to develop 25 to 35 pound bulbs. I'll be trying it in fall.

Somehow I couldn't resist Pinetree Garden Seed's 'Yellow Wonder' strawberry. They claim it's sweeter than standard reds. Birds are attracted to red too, so they are less apt to eat the yellow fruits. Strawberries from seed usually take a couple of years before they produce, so I doubt I'll see fruit this year, which is why I decided to purchase plants for Jung's new strawberry, 'Seascape.' They advertise this everbearer as tasty, prolific, highly disease resistant and adaptable.

I can't say enough about the quality and quantity of Franchi Sementi's seeds and veggies. All the veggies they sell are exceptional, but I'm most drawn to their superior Italian tomatoes. I always grow 'Franchi's Italian Pear' tomato, but this year I also ordered the jumbo plum tomato, 'San Marzano Redorta.' They claim it's as good for fresh eating as it is for sauce.

Last year I used this picture to illustrate the look of poor and crummy tomatoes. To the left is a nasty store bought plum, in the center a decent garden grown red called 'Amelia' and the crème de la crème of tomatoes, 'Franchi's Italian Pear.' I hope 'San Marzano Redorta'' is as good.

My husband and I buy packs of heirloom cherry tomatoes at Trader Joe's and agree we like the dark purple ones the best. This influenced this year's cherry tomato choice. Johnny's Selected Seeds' new cherry tomato, 'Black Cherry', looks just like the plump sweeties offered by TJ's. I can only hope they're as flavorful and long keeping.

Two ugly but tasty melons will find space in my garden this year. Somehow rustic, ugly fruit that's truly delicious appeals to me. Weird huh? The first is the bulbous French heirloom 'Prescott Fond Blanc', which is offered by the ever-interesting Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Its flat, deeply lobed fruits are tan and warty but the flesh is advertised as fragrant, sweet and salmon-orange. The second anomalous melon is a Franchi Sementi Italian heirloom that's simply called, 'Zatta.' Its lobed, round fruits are covered with ugly greenish yellow scales but the orange fruit inside is touted as juicy and sweet. They say Italians call it "bruto ma buono" or "ugly but good."

Some winter greens are quite cold hardy and the large-leaved Italian heirloom spinach, 'Gigante d’Inverno', is said to be prolific and exceedingly cold hardy. Both John Scheepers and Franchi Sementi carry it. Another favorite green for the beginning of the growing season is arugula. The short, deeply lobed cultivar, 'Sylvetta', is heralded for its hardiness, heat resistance and pleasing, almost wild flavor. I bought my seed from Seed Savers though it is also carried by Franchi Sementi.

Golden beets and mild, delicious and don't stain like the purple varieties. The round, sweet golden beet 'Touchstone Gold' offered by Johnny's Selected Seeds looks like a real winner. Good seed germination and high performance are sure to mean good yields.

Gold beets offer all the flavor without the messy color of standard beets.

I always make space for pumpkins and winter squash. Pie and Jack-o-Lanterns are what my pumpkins are destined to be, so I'm eager to grow the beautiful heirloom pie pumpkin offered by Baker Creek, 'Winter Luxury.'  It's uniformly round, golden fruits have delicate netting across their surface and sweet, dense flesh perfect for pies. Another I'd choose if I had space is Territorial Seed Company's massive giant pumpkin, 'Wyatts Wonder.' And, even though I probably lack the space, I could not resist Fedco's spaghetti squash, 'Squisito' (means "yummy" in Italian). They claim it's a spaghetti squash so good everyone will like it.

Granted, these are only some of my choices for this year, but they're the ones I'm most excited about. The first two orders that came in were from Baker Creek and Franchi Sementi; it only took four days. Baker Creek went so far as to give me free seed for a great lookling heirloom tomato and hand signed the order. How's that for customer service?