The Catalogs are Here

Another seed catalog came in the mail today.
I have a love/hate relationship with the things.

I love to see them come in—sunny faces on a winter day, and so much more welcome than political advertisements and holiday bills. Beautiful pictures, loaded with promise, and all of the new and exciting varieties that will be available for the coming season.

Then again, I’ve already received about a dozen, and it’s still early. The coffee table overflows. And every year I promise myself I will wait until spring, but I’m considering a few new cultivars that I need to order, since I’ll never find the plants locally.

Vegetable seed is one of the best things to order through the mail. Even the best garden center has limited a selection of varieties compared to the seed catalogs, whether you’re looking at started packs of plants in the springtime, or browsing the seed racks now.

And many vegetables grow best from seed sown directly in the garden, so there’s no extra work involved to start your own seed indoors, not to mention keeping the seedlings healthy and making a successful transition to the garden in spring. Even those that do have to be started early, like peppers and tomatoes, are easier than most flowers, with a good germination rate and a tough constitution.

Is there a zucchini that shows some restraint? Produces enough to enjoy, but not so much that you’re eating it three meals a day and you have to leave baskets on neighbor’s porches in the middle of the night?  Try ‘Costata Romanesco’ from Johnny’s Select Seeds, promising half the yield of hybrids, but better flavor, texture, and an abundance of male blooms for cooking.

Choose from dozens of varieties of the new hybrid sweet corns, offering longer storage after picking and much sweeter flavor.  The seed catalogs do a great job of identifying the varieties by type; progressively sweeter from the original ‘su’ high sugar hybrids, to ‘sh2’ (super sweet hybrids) and ‘se’ (sugary-enhanced).  Keep in mind that you’ll need to plant sweet corn in blocks, and keep the different types (including field corn or popcorn) separated by 250-300 feet and/or 3 weeks maturity time. This is to prevent cross-pollination—because you’re eating the seed, pollination affects the current crop.

And perhaps most importantly, mail order offers a wider range of different types of vegetables.

 You might find okra seed at the retail store, but rarely okra plants. Through the seed catalogs, you can also find ‘Burgundy,’ an All America Selections winner with deep red leaves and fruit,  and even ‘Little Lucy’ a compact version that reaches only two feet tall. Both have pastel yellow flowers that contrast beautifully with the leaves.

In categories where choices are usually rare in the seed rack, browse through dozens of different radishes, lettuces, cauliflowers, beans or greens like collards, mustard, radicchio and pak-choi.  Totally Tomatoes and Tomato Growers Supply are catalogs devoted exclusively to peppers and tomatoes, so you can only imagine the options there!

Heirloom and organically produced seed are becoming quite popular, and the heirlooms offer unique flavors, colors and shapes that are difficult to find in the produce department. Most of the seed catalogs offer a few varieties of heirlooms and organics, and there are some that specialize in them, such as Seed Savers Exchange, Seeds of Change, D. Landreth Seed Company, and Nichol’s Garden Nursery, just to name a few.

The internet is a great tool for researching or locating a particular variety, but there is something enjoyable about having the printed catalog to hold.  I’ll have mine tucked full of notes and lists of things that pique my interest, then go back through and compare choices from the different companies until I can make my decisions. It’s a lovely way to spend a cold winter day, dreaming of sun-ripened days.