I love to grow food. There it is, a bright shining truth. An additional fact is that I want you to grow food. I have narrowed down my sources of vegetable seeds. What I cannot find locally (and let me emphasize: there is an excellent seed selection right here in our own little town) I order from Pinetree Garden Seeds, P.O. Box 300, New Gloucester, Maine 04260, or (207) 926-3400, or www.superseeds. com. The packet size is small, just perfect for a home garden, the selection is broad and focuses on short season regions. You really can't ask for much more than that.

The order has been placed and, although I often order the same thing year after year, there just has to be something new for me to fuss over. This year I am experimenting with a winter squash called Carnival. It is a hybrid that matures in 85 days. I am considering replacing the Small Sugar pumpkin (95 days) that I have grown for years.

The Carnival is a "semi-bush plant," the thought of which makes my heart leap. I just wish the catalog people would have been more specific. Just how semi is "semi-bush"? The Small Sugar has vines that are at least 15 feet long. The leaves are huge and shade out anything else that may be growing around it. I just do not have enough room for these very delicious pumpkins. But if you do, be sure to plant one or two of them. They make a perfect pie, among other things. Last year I attempted to trellis these very prolific vines. Not only are they prolific but they are heavy and almost pulled down the trellis. If I were to plant them again I would need to evolve the strategy. Instead I am going to plant "Carnival." So there you have it. An experiment just waiting to happen.

I ordered Green Globe artichokes just in case the mulch didn't work on the ones that are already out there. My fingers are crossed, but I will be ready with new seedlings just in case. If I don't need them I have lots of friends who will take them off my hands.

Be sure to plant bush green beans. These take so little room and offer so much in return that you will be dazzled. I have gallons of these in the freezer. Excellent. I have yet to try pole beans, the kind that you can dry. I think, but am not sure, that we don't get hot enough for them to mature. If you have had any success be sure to let me know.

Packman has long been a favorite broccoli. It has a large main head, that once harvested, the plant will crank out loads of side shoots right up to the first really hard frost.

Jade Cross is the Brussels sprout of choice. They will reliably produce a 2.5-foot stalk loaded with sprouts that only get better with a light frost.

Point One cabbage is early and holds well as the season progresses and you may not have time to make the harvest. I am also going to try, for the first time, Gonzales mini-cabbage. I am always on the look-out for small vegetables that will serve two. No real reason to have a huge cabbage since we are now an "empty nest." Too much of a good thing becomes glaringly obvious.

Take your pick on carrots. I usually try different kinds along with Nantes because I know for sure that we like it and it stores fairly well.

Last season was a huge cauliflower year. The only problem, as I see it, is I don't really like it. I have now been saved by Amfora Romanesco. It looks like something out of Star Wars. Light green and pointy all over. Very interesting to look at and very, very good to eat. Graffiti is a brilliant purple that is just too gorgeous and tastes as good as it looks. Give this a try this year.

Bright Lights chard is something that I will never do without. It is a green that will not bolt and when cut will come again. A very small patch of this held us all season. It also freezes well.

We are partial to Buttercrunch lettuce, a classic butterhead variety that is slow to bolt and we just like the taste. There are oodles of lettuces out there that will happily produce for you all season long. I also like to seed in a mix to make salads interesting.

Correnta spinach is slow to bolt, tastes excellent fresh and freezes well.

Stuttgarter onion sets produce a lovely yellow onion that stores perfectly even under imperfect conditions. I will not ever be without this excellent onion.

The point here is to plant what you really want, what you will actually eat. I am not going to plant beets this year. I am the only one eating beets and I had tons and tons of them with absolutely nowhere to store them. Same goes for leeks. I gave almost all of them away.

Think about this as you buy seeds: exactly what are you going to eat and just how much of it. It is way too much fun to experiment with different kinds of vegetables, after all, how are we going to know what will and will not grow here in the Far North if we do not experiment? Just try not to go overboard.

Note: next column will address greenhouse food plant choices, cover cropsand herbs.