First 2013 catalog

Just checked out neseed--not impressed. BTW, I buy a lot of my seed from Pinetree every year and they are usually among the first catalogs I receive. Not this year. I think many seed companies are pushing for online sales..

Ones choice of sources depends greatly on what varieties one wishes to grow. New England seed is one of the few retail sources for D. Palmer Seeds and they do have some excellent varieties. They don't carry Palmers whole line tho. Twilley is one of the few retailers of Abbott and Cobb varieties. Harris for Harris Moran. All are more directed at market gardeners than home gardeners. Even most of the "heirloom" companies buy from Seeds by Design which has also developed some hybrids. Exceptions are Baker Creek and Sandhills which depend primarily on independent contractors. There are folks here who grow for them.

Palmer seeds which I have found exceptional. Blackball squash, much more productive tha Eight Ball, Daisy Mae Crookneck ( excellent size very prolific), Greybeard ( technically a grey zuke, but competes well with mid eastern types.

I got a Burpee's catalog yesterday , I get those off the rack at Lowes these days , Pinetree is a great, Every few years I look more seriously at seeds ,as a home gardener though I have more than I usually grow.
IT is interesting thinking back over the years and seeing the changes of what has been developed, and what has become heirloom.

Lettuceman- Pinetree is the one catalog got early, ( and I order small but often) yours must have been lost in the system somewhere.
Pinetree has a crookneck which does very well for me here. which name escapes me at the moment. grr

Woohoo! I got Johny's, Harris Seeds, Burpee's, Tomato Growers Supply, Garden's Alive, and Shumway's. Tonight I will light a fire in the fireplace and let the planning begin ☺.

I recently received my first Bakers Creek catalog and have one question to ask. Are they for real? I could not stop reading the articles in the front of the catalog. With all this business of Monsanto spending billions buying up seed distributing companies I have been searching for some seed company I could trust. My last year’s purchase from Johnnies was a big disappointment with poor germination on corn and only eight Jade bean seeds out of ½ pound of seed and four plantings. All my other bean seeds even some older saved seed was fantastic. So I am looking for some place I can trust for quality heirloom seeds.

I really don’t want to purchase seed in bulk any longer and I’m wary of the idea of buying all my seed from one source. Shipping costs is the other consideration. The only other non-GMO company I could find which has a reasonable shipping cost is Ed Hume Seed Company. Packet seed prices are comparable quantity wise and shipping is less than four dollars regardless of quantity of purchase. I have heard Jordan Seeds is a reputable company to buy from but I haven’t had any luck checking them out on line. Any other suggestions for non-GMO seed, or seed which hasn’t been recycled would be appreciated.

Baker Creek is for real. They really do test for GMO contamination, they really do buy seed from small independent producers and they really do travel to seek out new varieties.

I've purchased quite a bit of seed from them and most has been very high quality. The only thing about heirloom varieties is that there is often a small area where the plants thrive or sometimes they are forgotten for a reason. :) So not everything has been a success, but I think they are the only company I've never gotten a bad batch from.

Save your time on Jordan's. They are for large growers. Most seeds are sold in 4 oz quantities or larger.
They buy from all the big companies.
I didn't know there are GMO garden seeds. But here on DG you learn something new everyday.
Would you tell me which ones are GMO.

There aren't any GMO seeds intended for the home grower. They are testing for contamination from cross-pollination, particularly with corn.

Zucchini and yellow crookneck squash are available as GMO; they could cross with any Cucurbita pepo. GMO sugar beet could potentially cross with other Beta vulgaris. But since these don't wind pollinate there's a pretty low risk of contamination for them.

I appreciate the heads up on Baker Creek, however I'm not sure why Baker Creek and Ed Hume would make it a point to advertise right up front that they don't deal in GMO seeds if there wasn't a threat to garden seed packets when Monsanto is tying to buy up all these smaller seed companies. Plus when you read these articles in the Baker Creek catalog they are claiming that heirloom seeds as we have known them in the past are in danger of being contaminated. If Big Brother Ag (BBA) can do this the larger farms with the long arm of the USDA at their side, what is stopping them from doing the same to us little people. Sure I'm just paranoid for no reason at all. Please take some time to read the articles in the front of the Baker Creek catalog and tell me I'm wrong about my assumptions here.

Not only is Big Brother still alive and well, but Monsanto and other such agricultural thugs will prosper in the future with the blessing of the Industrial Food system so prevalent world-wide today. I predict that most of humanity will give up their free choice for food...any kind of food, GMO derived or not. I highly recomend the book "Food Rebels,Guerrila Gardeners, and Smart-cookin' Mamas." Chilling reading.

Territorial and Burpee showed up today. I think I ordered something from Territorial once, but never from Burpee. I guess they bought my name somewhere.

Oh well, too late, I've already purchased for next year. Although it's not beyond the realm of possibility that I might order more seeds I don't have room for!

I've got Jiohnnies but not yet Territorial.

I trust Baker Creek and Ed Hume, but what do I know?

P.S. Here's a rare seed vendor, leaning towards alpine North American wild flowers. I've only ordered once and not grown them out yet.

http://www.alplains.com/

Got Territorial today...you're just a hop, skip n' a jump Northeast of me, so your copy should arrive tomorrow or the next day.

Territorial seed, Baker CReek, Sustainable, Burbee, Peaceful Valley are all here.

Still waiting for Territorial--once I get their catalog I will place my orders. Even thought I don't have Territorial yet I had a great weekend/New Year's Eve plotting out what I want and where and when to plant it. Ahhhhh! My 2013 can now begin.

II got a farmer's seed and nursery and a Michigan bulb co, yesterday. I still love to browse , Nicer weather coming the week ahead time to fiddle and to plan!!!!.

Farmers Seed & Nursery no longer exits. It was headquartered in Fairbault, MN. All that's there now is a retail garden center, not at all connected to Farmers.
Jung sends out the Farmers catalog.
Michigan Bulb gets poor reviews from everybody on DG. I ordered once about 30 years ago, never again.

Yeah well, they are laying on the table as that anyway I usual go a different direction as you may well have guessed or know by now , Good to browse through anyway , even if that is all..

A Miller nurseries catalog this evening, pretty fruit pictures,,lol
The catalogs come marching one by one hurrah,, hurrah,, etc
I just love all the healthy food suggestions ... yum yum....

Burpee, Jung, Michigan Bulbs, Johnny's and Swan Island Dahlias catalogs have arrived.

So far, Gurney's, Henry Field's, and SS have arrived. I haven't ordered any others.

I'm finally getting more catalogs, some went to my parents in So Cal and a bunch were on hold while we were out of town. Today I got Territorial, Jung Seeds and Plants, Johnnies, Gurney's, R. H. Shumway, and Gardens Alive. I won't order from all of them but I love to look. Still waiting on Baker Creek, I called again today and they found orders under my and my parents name so 3 separate people. The man that answered the phone said "gosh you've placed ALOT of orders". Since the shipping address was the same he couldn't figure out why I haven't gotten a catalog but will have one sent immediately. Still waiting on Southern Seed Exchange (?). Not that I need anymore.

Also, got my Texas Gardener Magazine. No wonder don't read as many books!

>> "gosh you've placed A LOT of orders".

That made me laugh out loud! "You know you're a seed-head when ..."

(I knew I had too many meds prescribed when the lady at the Wal-Mart pharmacy didn't need to ask my name. Or maybe they hyad noticed how many tiny Zipl-locs I buy and put my face on some Watch List!)

Could some of you recommend the best cherry tomatoes from personal experience? And also which veggies would be happy in hanging baskets or containers. I'm about out of room and either need to start growing in containers or go vertical.

FOTV- you may want to start another thread regarding your questions. It will be easier for others to find and I'm sure many others have those same questions. : )

Rick-the pharmacy knows me by name too but it's a small town pharmacy. Walmart is a big pharmacy I'm impressed!

Yeah, it's not like I'm conspicuous or anything!

P.S. I like Sungold F1 for flavor, and they're fairly early and tolerant of cool nights.



This message was edited Jan 4, 2013 12:25 PM

LoL!!!! Rick , But you forgot your sword and dagger!!

Patio hybrid was is a nice determinate
And I would imagine sweet 100 would go in a hanging basket , I have never tried it that way but have heard it suggested
Did real well n the garden a couple of times for me ,
And there are updated cultivars of both of these available (just in the last two or three seasons)

>> LoL!!!! Rick , But you forgot your sword and dagger!!

Well, cultivator and mattock. No Vege-Viking should ever be without a mattock and, at least, a trowel.

If that hunk-of-a-Viking is for hire, he sure could do the digging for me.

Seeds from Italy catalog came today. I had forgotten about ordering from them last year and will do so again.
http://growitalian.com/

Nice red peppers in that Italian "Franchi" catalog!

And I was deleighted to learn that my 'Carouby de Maussane' Snow Pea/Snap Pea is also called:
'Pisello Rampicante Gigante Svizzero'.

Now that is a tasty mouthfull.

And now that I know the Italian word for "eat it all" ("mangiatutto") I'll never use the French word again.

LOL! You guys just made me snort my mid-morning Earl Grey! I've been in some Wally Worlds where that outfit would not really stand out.....

Yikes! We have some extreme mall-chiks, but no Vikings. Do you have a lot of SCA members where you live? Or Mad Max biker gangs?

I love the way the copyright notice mostly fades into the white bac kground, but with my screen resolution, the words "RickCorey_WA" are visible on "my" Viking head-band.

I got a Prairie Moon nursery , Roots and Rhizomes and a McClure&Zimmerman I like the first the other two I have never seen before now.
Prairie Moon Nursery always at least a few interesting natives, I have a few from them...

Hit the mother lode today: Willhite Seed, Territorial Seed, Peaceful Valley, Park Seed, Select Seeds, Roots & Rhizomes, and Stark Bros. And I just placed my Just Fruits and Exotics order and Legg Creek order. So I'm in good shape for this spring now☺

I got Park and Burgess today. Won't be ordering from these.

I got Burgess today as well, although I've never done any business with them. No outlandish claims, zone stretching or other unsavory catalog tricks, and just common varieties. I was tempted to order some asparagus crowns from them for what looked like a great price, but then I read their feedback. Too bad their shipping department can't get their act together.

I got Burgess & Park today. Both owned by Jung Seed.

Burgess seeds are okay ,some other things are wanting.
I got a select seeds today (I have had good success with their seeds thus far)
Got a spray &grow catalog also..

I finally got Baker Creek. They sent it Priority Mail because it took so dang long!