Spring Seed Catalogs Are Now Sprouting

My Spring 2010 Territorial Seed Company catalog arrived in the mail on Wednesday. After the holidays, this is always a welcome arrival.

When I was growing up on suburban Long Island, my parents always dreaded the long cold days of January. The holidays were over, and snow inevitably loomed on the suburban landscape.

Over the years, my parents developed little traditions to help pass the time in January. One of those traditions was to start reading seed catalogs. My Dad would sit at his sunny desk and study the tomato varieties, deciding which ones he would sow that year. By February, the miniscule seeds were planted and in place on a south facing windowsill in the den.  Ironically, my Dad was growing and saving the seeds for obscure heirloom tomatoes, such as Mortgage Lifter, long before they were considered trendy and chic by chefs.

When I moved to Seattle many moons ago, I discovered the Territorial Seed catalog. The Territorial Seed Company is now owned by Tom and Julie Johns, but the company was originally started in 1979 by Steve Soloman, who is also the author of  Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades. Ever since the business sprouted, the focus has been on growing, testing, and offering the best seed varieties for the Northwest. The current catalog features ten pages of tomato varieties alone! A few of my tried-and-true favorites are Taxi, Mortgage Lifter, Stupice, Siletz, Sweet Million, Yellow Pear, and Costoluto Genovese.

I don't grow Territorial Seeds exclusively, but I've always had awesome results with their lettuces, chards, kale, garlic, beans, flowers, and herbs over the years.  My twelve-year old son adores their Nickel French filet beans, and I'm certain he judges all other green beans by this ultra slim pod grown organically in our urban yard.

In the current catalog, I was thrilled to see that they have added 210 new items for the spring. I was also happy to see an Electric Tomato Processor featured. Granted the price is a bit steep at $239.95, but in my family, it's never to early to dream about tomatoes and all their delicious healthy uses!!

Do you have a favorite seed catalog, gardening book, or vegetable variety? If so, do tell!

Photo by Melissa A. Trainer

--Melissa A. Trainer

Comments

[Jerry (CBSOP) on January 02, 2010 at 10:44 AM]

Do you know if there is a catalog for Northern California? Most veggies don't really appreciate the 110+ degree summer days we have here

[Harold on January 04, 2010 at 12:51 PM]

I am a big fan of Johnny's Selected Seeds.

[Melissa Trainer on January 04, 2010 at 01:12 PM]

Jerry,
I just called Territorial Seed directly and asked them about catalogs suitable for your area. They suggested that you start by calling your County Extension Agency first because they have the most relevant and specific information for your specific microclimate. Additionally, the customer service rep said you might start your planting earlier in the season so the fruits and veggies reach maturity before the height of the summer heat. Thanks for your interest.
Melissa A. Trainer

[Melissa Trainer on January 04, 2010 at 01:14 PM]

Harold,
I've heard good things about Johnny's, which is located in Maine. The website is www.johnnyseeds.com
Melissa Trainer

[Ray Eckhart on January 04, 2010 at 01:32 PM]

I’m a little weird about home-grown tomatoes, so keep that in mind: In addition to Johnny’s and Territorial already mentioned, I've ordered from:

Totally Tomatoes
Tomato Grower’s Supply
Baker Creek Seeds (Which has a great selection of tomatoes this year – ignore the political stuff, though)
Burpee
Pine Tree Garden
TomatoFest (online only)
Vermont Bean Company

Each of these has an on-line version of their catalog, easily found by googling. Enjoy!

[KarenT on January 04, 2010 at 01:42 PM]

Jerry, there are lots of micro-climates in Northern California. Territorial and Nichols (Oasis turnips) are good for cool-summer coastal areas. Also Thompson & Morgan from the UK. Territorial (Northwest ) and Johnny's (Northeast) both give useful cultural information.

For hot summer areas, when you plant can be as important as which variety you plant. Some "out of region" varieties are fine when planted in fall or spring here. But variety is also important. For example, Kabocha squashes are exported from Fresno to Japan in June, but they don't make it through summer in my yard. If you want winter squash in fall here, try something in the Butternut family (C. moschata) - maybe a long season variety like Tahitian.

Pinetree (New England) is an excellent, economical catalog for beginning gardeners, and it has sections with seeds from various parts of the world.

For our region, I like Willhite Seeds from Texas, especially for melons - Sugar Queen Hybrid muskmelon, Banana and the fabulous Ogen. They sell Festina green beans - well adapted to hot springs (won't make it in July here), like Brio. And Contender for the first planting of spring. Don't plant in fall. (You can re-plant Brio in August, along with Black Valentine and Coco Rose de Prague, which are fine as shellies if the weather turns cold.) Willhite sells Fordhook 242 limas - great fresh, and they stand summer heat, producing in fall. Edamame soybeans also take a lot of heat. Plus Southern specialties like Okra and cowpeas and edible gourds and other vegetables from the Indian subcontinent. Get some Magda Lebanese-style zucchini seeds. Purists should be aware that many of Willhite's seeds are treated with fungicides. They cater mostly to market gardeners and farmers.

For fall, I get "Just Right" turnips from another market garden source - Twilley - and Asian greens from yet another market catalog - Stokes (good growing information) in the Northeast.

Evergreen Seeds on the net sells Asian vegetables. Their Extra Summer Sweet hybrid melon is exceptional, but they're out of regular packs for this year. So I bought 100 seeds. This variety bears some resemblance to Charentais melons. Melon seeds keep. My favorites are Crenshaws. Early Sugarshaw has been taken off the market. So sad. Johnny's and Twilley sell Lilly, a smaller hybrid. And you can get traditional Crenshaw from Pinetree this year. Sort of a long-season, soft-skinned melon for New England, I would think. I remember the big Burpee hybrid Crenshaw as better-tasting in the cool-fall Intermountain West than here (compared to some of the other Crenshaws).

Evergreen has other nice varieties of melons, too. Plus lots of greens and Momotaro Japanese Hybrid Tomato - hard to find.

Gardening gets easier in the fall here. Plant lettuce, Asian greens, broccoli, kohlrabi, Savannah hybrid mustard. Beets and turnips go in during September. In beets, I like some of the color variations, including white. For turnips, I like the sweet ones: Oasis, Hakeuri and for colder weather Just Right and Gilfeather, which may be a rutabaga. If you catch the season right, you can get in some fall garden peas - maybe one of the new "supersweet" types from Johnny's. Otherwise, plant in late January.

When in doubt about tomato varieties, choose smaller-fruited ones. Fourth of July is great here. Of the big, widely available hybrid beefsteaks, I like Big Beef. Better Boy is a safe choice. But I'm also starting on some heirlooms. I was impressed by Cherokee Purple last year. Pick with green shoulders. Check the GardenWeb forums if you have regional questions.

Hope this helps you get started.

[KarenT on January 04, 2010 at 01:47 PM]

Anyone gardening in a moderate-summer climate should try Fortex pole beans - from Johnny's or Vermont Bean Seed. And maybe one of the flat European pole beans. Let the catalogs be your guide.

[Paul on January 04, 2010 at 04:39 PM]

Bought three varieties of tomato seeds from Grow Italian four seasons ago. http://www.growitalian.com/
They import seeds from Italy.
Varieties included; San Marzano, a huge ribbed, meaty tomato and a grape that is the size of golfballs.
They are all indeterminate plants....one season had them staked close to 8' high...and they were still producing in late September in Massachusetts.
You cannot kill them......and they taste great!
On top of this....a single packet contains hundreds of seeds. I am still using the original packet from four years ago!
I have also tried some of their greens(endive/basil/chicory) with great success. Not so much luck with the cukes and zukes.
Their catalogue is nothing great....but it came last week.

[Bill Voorhees on January 04, 2010 at 07:19 PM]

For heirloom seeds, try http://www.victoryseeds.com/

[Terry on January 05, 2010 at 07:02 AM]

Anyone know of a catalog that caters to greenhouse growing? Or even just any good varieties for the greenhouse?

[Melissa Trainer on January 05, 2010 at 08:43 AM]

Terry
Charleys Greenhouse, located in Mount Vernon, Washington, would be a good place to start. They sell greenhouse supplies and can probably point you towards good varieties suitable for greenhouse growing. The site is http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/
Melissa A. Trainer

[green tea extract on January 06, 2010 at 02:44 AM]

Hello
Its really good to know about The Territorial Seed.Wow I am glad that they have 210 new items for the spring.Well I do not have a favorite seed catalog, gardening book or vegetable variety.Thank you very much for this nice information.

[tom]

Ah, seed catalogs, eye candy for the avid gardener.
Here's a list of my favorites: http://tallcloverfarm.com/?p=929

[landscaping design phoenix on December 30, 2010 at 11:31 PM]

Johnny's selected seeds, Harold? Why for? Care to share a link or something more specicific so we can see for ourselves its greatness? I haven't been able to find anything about it via my normal google searchiness.