First seed catalogs!

I received my first two seed catalogs last Saturday - from Vermont Bean Seed and Totally Tomatoes. This is the earliest I've ever gotten seed catalogs. Do you spose' they're getting extra hungry for business? I welcome them all, as they get my spirits up these dreary Winter days. Has anyone else received catalogs this early? Which ones?

Yes! I have recieved a few. They are Twilley Seed, Pinetree Garden Seed and can't remember the other as I disposed of it because it did not have pictures and was in black and white.Very uninteresting to read. Surprised that they would spend all that money on a so-so catalog?

I got the first one in July. I have Harris, Johnny's, HPS, Pinetree (Throw that out!), Stokes, Twilley, Gardenworld, Nagel Gladiolus, Thompson & Morgan, & Dixondale Farms.
My wholesaler usually sends his catalog just before Christmas. All companies have online catalogs that have more information & better pictures. I have visited Reimer Seeds, Evergreen Seeds & Kitazawa Seed Company so far.
http://www.reimerseeds.com/default.aspx
http://www.evergreenseeds.com/
http://www.kitazawaseed.com/
Also already have perennial flower seeds I ordered from Swallowtail.
http://www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com/index.html
Bernie

I have already bought all my veggie seeds for next year. I got the Johnny's catalog last week, and that spurred me to get online and order everything I needed from Baker Creek, Seed Savers, Totally Tomatoes, Stokes, and whatnot. I decided this year to really plan out the veggie garden down to the inch, and that helped a lot.

I'm just about done ordering perennial seeds for next year too.

Bernie:

What's the story with Pinetree??

I got their catalog. I've never ordered from them but they have some soapmaking stuff I was interested in.

Paracelsus:

My My My. Where do I begin? You can't have all your seed shopping done in NOVEMBER. That has to violate of number of the universal rules for gardening! LOL.

I've gotten Johnny's and Pinetree so far.


BB

Pinetree here today, too.

Unimpressive.

I have ordered for Pinetree for years and they are very reliable. The packets are smaller and priced accordingly. Works for me as I do not have a large garden. Very personable and helpful people-even if I seem biased - but I did not live in Maine until recently and ordered when I lived in other states. Germination rates are still good on packets years old.

Personally I prefer to support small businesses such as these whenever I can and seek them out. I don't really need a slick catalog. Some good companies have been forced to scale back their catalogs or even forgo mailing a paper copy. Hunting the perfect garden seed collection is a great pastime! Cyndie

P.S. counting the weeks until we can start seeds for next year. LOL

They only have the old varieties, all over priced. I can get large quantities of those kinds for little of nothing. Example, 4 oz of Detroit Dark Red beet, $1.60. Any open pollinated cabbage, $1 per ounce.

Thanks for the Pinetree info.

I wasn't planning on ordering seeds from them.

Bernie, Where can we buy such good deals? Thanks, Cyndie

CountryGardens...Last year I ordered some tomato, pepper, and onion seed from Pinetree Garden Seeds. As you say they are small volume packets, and that is what I was looking for. I experimented with about a dozen different types of tomato seeds and a couple of peppers and onions tryng to figure out what worked best in my zone...which is the same as yours. I recently joined DG and have had several months to research some of the seeds I plan to use for next year based on DG'ers recommendations. In defense of Pinetree Gardens the tomato seeds I purchased were viable, but I doubt that I will repeat any of them; and the only reason I chose Pinetree was because I was experimenting and didn't need 30 or more seeds.

Anyway, CG I would like to ask your openion of a good salsa or paste tomato for northern climates, and where you would recommend I order the seed. I plan to do 20 or more of these. I have considered an Amish or Russian variety because of reported cool climate hardiness. Stupis also comes highly recommended for salid/sandwich eating, and I plan to try a few of those as well. Appreciate any input here. TYP

morgan

Hey, BronxBoy, yeah, I am asking for trouble. But I am trying real real hard to restrict myself in terms of buying and starting seeds. The capper was two years ago when I started seeds for 75 different plants and that's not even including the veggie garden. Never again.

Famous last words.

Seriously, it has helped me to actually work out garden plans. Been gardening for about 25 years and have never done that.

Hey Paracelsus:

I was teasing you.

I am actually working more on planning myself this year so I commend you. We are actually going to try to plant a lot of our stock from saved seed this year, something we've never done.

But you just HAVE to curl up with a stack of seed catalogs in the Winter. LOL

You don't have to order...(wink..WInk)

Zone numbers don't have much to do with summer growing conditions. We are very warm all summer. Many days over 90º & some over 100º. Nights seldom below 70º. So things grow like gangbusters here.
I grow for market & paste tomatoes aren't very popular. I raise most of my tomatoes inside to get earlier ones & longer season.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/715572/

As for place to buy low priced seeds, go to;
http://www.jordanseeds.com/

"My My My. Where do I begin? You can't have all your seed shopping done in NOVEMBER. That has to violate of number of the universal rules for gardening! LOL." -- so true!

The last time I was "done" shopping by November, my seed expenditures way more than doubled -- as I just HAD to buy more stuff in January right before Seed Starting Mania! Yes, the catalogs are all here, and I am dreaming gardens of veggie delight as the temps slide towards the single digits at night...

I had 20% of my tomato plants survive a first week of May freeze & snow last year (not my main crop), so, do you think I could start tomatoes NOW?!?! Huh?? Huh?? Ok, maybe I will make it to Feb before starting them. Having gardened most of my life in z8-9, it's really tough to live somewhere where there really IS a winter! Black and white, full glorious color, info packed or lean -- I couldn't survive without all those catalogs!

I got Totally Tomatoes & Vermont Bean Seed Company catalogs today. Of course they are just more of HPS companies, same stuff.

You mean there's an end to seed shopping season???????
How can that be? There's always room to squeeze just one more variety in there somewhere.......if I keep looking.......maybe harvest a few of these early.......gosh those didn't grow as big as I thought so I should be able to interplant........ :D

Bernie:

I knew Totally Tomatoes, Vermont Bean and Jungs were somehow related. But HPS too?

BB

There's more! Look in Garden Watchdog, all intermingled companies are listed.
I like the "out of the way" companies, like Kitazawa, Swallowtail, Evergreen, & Reimer. Also Johnny's & Harris. All have things not so common.
I like to grow things others won't have at market. Also things that the ethnic people are looking for. We are the only ones selling "Kermit" eggplant. We sell at least a bushel every Sat. They are about golf ball size & we sell them $1 a basket of 7 to 10. Then you give these people an extra basket, like 5 for $4. They become your pal for life! Kermit are very easy to grow. Another favorite is "Cousa" summer squash. It is the "Lita" squash at Johnny's. Another high producer that we sell 5 for a $1. People will buy 10, 15, or more at a time. Also very hot, small peppers are favorites of ethnic's. A few we grow, Thai Hot, Kung Poa, Bulgarian Carrot & Habenaro.

How was your market season, Bronx Boy ?
Ours was the best ever. We needed to water a lot to keep enough veggies coming, but it taught us a lot about "dry" farming. (It didn't rain here from mid June until mid August.)

Have a Great Day!
Bernie

BronxBoy, you're right--it's an essential part of winter to curl up with a seed catalog. I've been buying earlier every year because I had a few experiences of wanting something and it was sold out. Also, I'm hoping I can get some of the same satisfaction from making these garden plans. I was surprised how long it has taken me to make a small one for one area. It gave me hours and hours of enjoyment, and I still am fiddling with it. And I still have three more to do this winter.

Some part of my garden is stuff I sell but the rest is for me. That's the part where I made some real changes in my buying, because I decided that in the personal part of the garden I would only grow things I could not get anywhere. The organic melons in my store are always dicey, so I am going to try growing some of the French types for me. And since I was concentrating on certain types of veggies, I decided it was okay to buy, say, six different kinds of melon seeds instead of one or two. So you see, it actually led to more shopping time, lol!

CountryGardens - Thanks for the tip on Jordan Seeds...ordered a catalog.

Your right about the differences in similar numbered zones. I believe mine is 4b, whatever the b stands for. I am in a valley completely surrounded by mountains which rob most of the moisture so I water with soaker hoses 3X a day in July when temps hit tripple digits. At night we often get down in the 50's and 60's even with tripple digits. So growing tomatoes is a challenge.

My wife thinks that I should be growing for our farmer's market since I gave away half ton of squash and cukes last year...which is not that difficult. I have been working on ways to beat mother nature for several crops including corn, beans and tomatoes. I was looking at mid-august as productive times last year, but that is much better than the previous year. Since recently joining DG I have picked up on a number of techniques to improve that for next year.

Point in question here - would you mind my asking ya'all your six most popular crop varieties are for farmer's marketing; and if you are aware of any good forums, threads, stickies, etc., dealing with the subject.

Thanks Much

morgan

Hi Morgan:

Check our the market growers forum here on DG. It has been an invaluable part of my education about learning how to run our farmers market.

Bernie is one of our resident experts

Our main crops are potatoes, greenhouse tomatoes, watermelon,(Sangria only one we raise), green beans, cabbage, onions, & the ethnic things.
One time last summer I counted after we were set up, there were almost 50 different items on our tables.
Bernie

Hi Bernie:

We did very well this year. Exceeded last years sales by week 3. Thanks for your inout.

We also grow a lot of unusual varieties. We are going to plant more traditional stuff because things like Oriental greens just didn't sell as well as we thought they would.

Learned a very valuable lesson in that our customers tastes may not mirror our own.

We had a venue set up at the front of the market. Originally we were going to do demonstrations but that didn't pan out. People just want to linger a little while, buy their stuff, socialize and then go. So we used it as the area where we displayed our weekly giveaway. Next year I think I will put out samples of stuff made from some of the different veggies so people will know what to do with them.

BB

I get so many seed catalogs. I like to order from Twilley, Rupp, Willhite, Johnny's, Burpee, Totally Tomatoes, Vermont Bean Seed, and Baker Creek mainly.

I got Johnny's. Burpee, Green Mantle, Stark Brothers and multiple catalogs for perenials. Sorry, don't know what I was thinking......Stark Bros, specializes in fruit and nut trees.

This message was edited Nov 29, 2007 9:37 AM

Thank-you all for mentioning seed companies I have not heard of! Now I have something to do today....look up new seed companies!

One of my favorite seed companies last year was Landreth. Their catalog has beautiful photographs, and they sell tons of heirloom varieties. They put more seed in the package than Pinetree does - and I met some of the folks who work there and really enjoyed them. I admit, I have already bought most of my seed for next year from them and Baker Creek. I teach seed sowing classes for busy urban gardeners, and need to know almost a year in advance what I am planning for them to plan the next year.

One thing I did not like about Willhite is the that the packages do not have seed information, just a card stock tag. These tear off easily so I have to re-package everything into zip loc bags.

Wildseed Farms is another one of my favorite seed companies for brand new introductions.

girlgroupgirl

Speaking of seed packages.... I like Totally Tomatoes and a few other companies' packets in that they reglue back together. On Wilhites' I slit the plastic a small bit and reseal with masking tape. Wilhite was the only company to inform me about an important procedure. It was in the catalog description.

mraider3 - I have similar tomato growing challenges in the high desert of NV. Cherry toms of any variety seem to out set fruit when the temps go to tripple digit and the nights are 45-60*F. Also, afternoon shade seemed to help - I only shaded some, but next year I think I will give them all some shade cloth... and, of course, mulch, mulch, mulch. A neighbor grew Mortgage Lifter and put them out several weeks before our last snow & frost, babied them, and had a crop before the tripple digits, and then they stopped setting and then they got a good crop when the temps dropped for fall (again, babying at night because when the days got into the 80-90*F range, the nights got to the mid 30-45*F range). I am not so dedicated. I think I may just grow cherry toms next year. Yellow Pear and Red Pear were the best at setting fruit under these adverse conditions, but I really haven't tried that many varieties yet... I figure, I have a life time to try all the toms in Totally Tomatoes, right?!?! On the other hand, squash, basil and cukes love it here :-)

paracelsus - besides dreaming of buying everything from every seed catalog, planning, replanning and replanning garden beds is about all that keeps me reasonably sane in the winter. I grow some onion greens and garlic greens and basils under a stip of grow lights, and it ALMOST feels like gardening, but not quite. A side effect of garden planning is that I now own a whole collection of colored pencils! (I am a computer geek by profession and actually own a few garden planning programs, but I guess the old fashioned girl in me still prefers graph paper, a ruler and colored pencils). When I was gardenless for two years, I planned all kinds of exquisit gardens that probably would have to employ an army of gardeners to care for - but at least it was an inexpensive and harmless way for me to believe I would have a garden again (and it kept me from killing my kids).

More catalogs came yesterday! Yippeee! I love 'em all, big, small, colored, b&W, informative or not so informative - although, I must admit, the fatter the better!

Kmom, I like using photoshop (I have a limited edition version) to plan my garden. I scale the image size to the plot size--my front yard garden is 15x26 ft, so my image of that plot is 15x26". Then I create bordered boxes to scale of the spacing that plants need and move them around. It's great. Do you recommend any of the garden planning software? I have looked at one but had a difficult time getting it to work and gave up on it.

paracelsus, I'm not real good with photoshop, but I'm certainly willing to try. I've done trials (demos) with several landscaping programs and am just not satisfied. So I went the old fashioned way with paper and colored pencils. We measured the entire front yard and it has been an amazing help. I'm very "visual" and try to imagine the hts and wds of some of the specimuns I was considering was really tough. This makes it much easier since I can figure out the scale. I trongly recommend the landscaping forums on about.com. Lots of great info and ideas on there. They do have a free online class for beginning landscaping which I have found to be extremely helpful in "pulling it together".

I'm a geek by profession but artistically I'm a lost cause.

Because most of my space are raised beds that I have built and are generally rectangular in nature, I just use Visio to do my plans. But this year I'm going to have a lot more space that will not be raised beds so I'll probably sketch those out.

Our CAD guys tried to show me how to use some of the professional stuff they use but it was WAY more than I wanted to get involved in.

I am writing an application to help with record-keeping though

BB

I use visio, also. Unfortunately, an expensive program if your job isn't paying for it.

I tried the "Burpee" one and also "Punch" home design software (has a garden planner built in). I didn't like either one, but I can't recall why.

I keep my journal with paper and pen and then in the cold winter months, I transpose events into a spreadsheet - probably over kill, but now, after 3 years of doing so, I can sort by "tomatoes by month" and see what was happening at a glance and what journal volume it's in if I want more details. BronxBoy, if you ever write that app, let me know. The journal at Dave's is pretty good, but I need something I can use offline. Probably I need a real database type thing (PHP/MySQL, anyone?), but my programming skills are not up to that (or, my lack of programming skills).

I tried using the "garden organizer delux" at this site: http://www.primasoft.com/ It is comprehensive, scaleable and modifiable - but also rather unweildly. The database seems to be well structured, though, and the actual dbase is pretty small for the number of entries I put in it. I debate every spring if I will use it or not - there are some useful features - like I can track the whole history of each of my trees... on the other hand, recording many, many types of beans gets tedious. So, in a few months, I will have this debate with myself again... (oh, it has backup and restore features, which the sys admin in my loves :-)

Will do

Started modeling in Excel. Will probably migrate to SQL Express when I have the time

"We measured the entire front yard and it has been an amazing help."

Yeah, for me measuring has been a real eye-opener.:) I measured all my garden plots (which are scattered around the yard in the "good" spots). I found out that I needed way less space than I thought, and that I could start and put in way fewer plants if I planned exactly where to put them. It took me only 20+ years to figure that out! You can tell I went to college.

kmom...thanks for the tips...I just spent an hour filling out an order form for Totally Tomatoes...

Last year I experimented with a dozen of varieties of tomato hybrids, and lately I have been struggling with the idea of marketing. When I read through some of the threads in that forum I gain some new insite and great respect for what these people do. My conclussion is however, I am not ready for that adventure.

I enjoy experimenting, so the decision was made last night to go with mostly cold climate tomato Hierlooms next spring. I chose about eight viarieties and will check out the ones you mentioned that are not on my list.

My winter is spent looking for ways to cheat Mother Nature. Last year's tomato crop was greatly improved over the previous year, and thanks to my new DGer friends, I have an even more exciting skeim for next season. Last season my first tomato harvests began around the first of August and next season my goal is July 1, and maybe even a hoop house or green house the following year.

Thanks much kmom for the feedback.

morgan

My plan: DIG & PLANT! Don't like grass any how.
Bernie

Vegetables, we try to rotate plantings.

Beautiful photos, CountryGardens!