24th November, 2009 - Posted by shawn - No Comments
The mailbox held the Totally Tomatoes catalog and the Vermont Bean catalog – both are owned by the same company so I’m not surprised they arrived together.
I have to be honest that I do not even look at these catalogs. They are kind of like “spam” to me and the things in them can all be found in other places for less money. Just my opinion.
22nd November, 2009 - Posted by shawn - No Comments
Well, finally had a few minutes to peruse the Stokes catalog. I have to admit that this was not nearly as fun as Pinetree or Seed Savers – lots of things I’ve seen before.
I did like a few things from their “Flowers of Merit” section on page 2, but I wish they’d have put the ordering info here instead of later in the book:
- Mammoth Glamorama White Pansy $2.75 (page 75)
- Cora Cascade Cherry Vinca $2.95 (page 85)
- Starlight Rose Zinnia $3.25 (page 87)
Then there were the wide selection of impatiens. My father loves impatiens and with so many colors to choose from on pages 68-69 he’s bound to find a few he likes. Prices are all over the place for these.
I want everything on the viola page (76) and the marigold pages (71-73.)
I find Stokes prices to be on the high side so I doubt they will get much of my business.
If you’d like to request a catalog, visit www.stokesseeds.com
21st November, 2009 - Posted by shawn - No Comments
I am just amazed at how early these catalogs are arriving this year. Usually I’m sitting next to the Christmas tree drooling over the beautiful photos, but this year the turkey isn’t even cooked yet!
Perhaps gardening has gone the way of the other commercial ventures and decided to push the season earlier and earlier. It’s OK by me, gives me more time to plan and get those wish list items in ordered even earlier.
The SSE catalog cover is a thing of beauty showcasing heirloom tomatoes and a badge for the group’s 35th anniversary. This year they have over 200 certified organic products in the catalog which is great to see.
I did a quick walk through of this catalog while the baby took a nap and a few things caught my eye.
Page 17 showcase a fruit I love and one I’ve never heard of. Huckleberry seeds are offered for $2.75 which is something I may need to look into. My father once lived in an old log cabin surrounded by huckleberry bushes. Alas I never had a chance to partake of their berry goodness and have wanted to grow them since. This page also sports an entry for nipple fruit which I’ve never heard of, but unfortunately there was a crop failure so this one can’t be ordered. I will have to do some research and perhaps look for this one next year.
I love the layout of this catalog this year – blocks of photos with labels make it so easy to look things over. Reminds me of a well set up scrapbook page. (Yes, I’m one of THOSE people… been keeping scrapbooks since before it was a money-making venture, back in the days of construction paper and rubber cement. We’re a bit more advanced now. )
Weird item of the day, page 45 features “prickly caterpillar.” Yep, looks like caterpillars and they say they add them to salads but that usually they are not eaten. Not sure they would make me want to eat a salad.
I also love the grower profiles in this catalog. It is neat to see the people who are taking responsibility for adding to our genetic diversity (or ensuring it remains.) Much more reassuring to see a man on his farm than some lab tech at Monsanto with a petri dish.
(Thanking someone at WordPress for setting up auto-save. I nearly lost this entire post with the touch of a key – whew, glad I could get it back.)
My eye caught the Himalayan blue poppy on page 74, really neat looking flower with bright yellow on baby blue. $2.75. Also was tempted by the interesting snail flower on page 77 but at $5.00 for 5 seeds I’m not sure I’m ready to risk it.
But what I probably will try is the Historic Pansies mix on page 78 for $2.75. I’m a sucker for pansies and violas.
If you don’t get a Seed Savers Exchange catalog, you can order from them at www.seedsavers.org. Their website is always interesting to visit and so far we’ve had great customer service from them. If you join the organization you get 10% off seeds and some other great perks and publications. It is worth checking them out.
20th November, 2009 - Posted by shawn - 1 Comment
Let’s see, where did I leave off? Ah yes, I had just gotten to the medicinal herbs section of the catalog on page 45. Lots of things here I’d like to have, but most I think I already have downstairs just waiting to be planted. Must take an inventory before I buy anything. We got the 50 seed packet from someone a while back and it included a lot of herbs. Some won’t be viable, but some will. Just need to test them.
I’d love to try the dye herbs but I have nothing to dye at the moment. A friend has sheep and I keep telling myself to get some wool from him- just haven’t done it yet. Same as most things. One thing I know I want to grow this year is Dill. Hubby has gotten to like it in yogurt as a sauce for things and we paid an outrageous price for it at the grocery store. Page 47 has several varieties, must research them and see which I want.
Page 49 has a section on tobacco plants to grow which is very interesting. No one in our household smokes, but if you did this would be an interesting project. Not sure if there are regulations on growing or not… again, would require research.
Page 55 has container plants which I’m looking at very closely due to our resident groundhog. I have redskin bell pepper circled at the moment – $1.95 – would be nice to have some success with peppers this year, any year. They are always a dismal failure here. Not hot enough in our microclimate I think.
Page 56 has the wave petunias for $2.95 which I’d like to grow for my father to add to his garden – in white and also impatiens, his favorite. They are on page 59. Most are $1.35. And then there are violas.. ah violas. For me. :0)
Page 61 has Alyssum which is an all time favorite of mine. There is nothing that smells quite like them. I’ve had them since my first garden when they only came in white and purple. Now they come in tons of colors. I still like white though.
Page 65 has a striped Mirabilis – which I know as 4 o’clocks – that I want to try. Easy to gather seeds from these so you only need to buy them once. $1.25 won’t break me though. And page 66 has nasturtiums which are one of hubby’s favorites for snacking on around the yard. $1.25-1.55.
Page 69 shows sunflowers which seem to get more diverse every year. Prices here are from .75 to 2.95 for a mix. I do’t like mixes ’cause when I like something I don’t know what it is and can’t buy more.
And that’s it for seeds. There are a ton of books I’d like to have but I’ll look for them at www.paperbackswap.com first. Very rarely is there a book I can’t wait for.
Hmm… guess it is on to the Stokes catalog now.
20th November, 2009 - Posted by shawn - No Comments
Wow, everyone is starting early this year. I haven’t gotten done making notes in the Pinetree catalog yet and here is another one. Though I don’t normally order from Stokes, they have a tempting selection of Viola seeds. I love violas and violets. Pansies too…. I may just have to order a few.
18th November, 2009 - Posted by shawn - 1 Comment
I spent about an hour looking through the new Pinetree Garden Seeds catalog and made some quick notes and started my wish list. Below are some of the things I wrote down. If you’d like to get your own Pinetree Garden Seeds catalog, visit their website here or call them at 207-926-3400.
- When I get a new seed catalog, I like to read it cover to cover if time permits so that means I start on the inside cover page. I found it very refreshing that the folks at Pinetree recommend people to fellow Maine seed suppliers Fedco Seeds and Johnny’s Selected Seeds if you need large quantities. You won’t see Burpee recommending you go to someone else for something special. A big green thumbs up to Pinetree for this.
- Lulu the cat makes only one appearance in this catalog that I saw, on page 2 being held by Sally. She was on the cover last year.
- Wish list item: White Albino Beets on page 8 ($1.50) Just curious about a white beet and whether I can get great beet taste without ruining all my kitchen towels with red stain.
- Wish list item: Gourds of all kinds from pages 15 and 16. I’m particularly fond of the goblin eggs.
- Wish list item: Pumpkins of all kinds from pages 24 and 25 and the pumpkin decorating book by Vicki Rhodes with a nice price of $2.99.
- Wish list item: Hailstone radish (.95 – no that is not a typo) on page 25. Just sounds neat.
- A must try tomato – Matt’s Wild Cherry ($1.50) on page 32. I have been growing these small cherry tomatoes since my very first garden and they are by far my favorite. The seeds are hard to locate some years, but I was happy to see Pinetree added them for this year. The thing is, these plants are so wild and prolific that they will self sow year after year. All I do is dig up a cup full of soil where the overripe fruit has falled and use that to sprout next year’s plants. Believe me plenty of seeds will germinate. Plus you will also get many rogue plants in your garden to. Funny how the ones in the garden (without all that indoor starting) fruit at the very same time the pampered ones do. Makes you wonder why you go to the trouble?
- Wish list: Cutting celery ($1.15) page 39. I have tried many times to grow this and have only ever had two plants survive. Anybody have any suggestions on how to get this stuff to stay alive past the transplanting stage? Peat pots maybe?
- Wish list: Pineapple Tomatillo ($1.10) on page 44. We grew this once before but didn’t have time to process the fruit so we’d like to try again. We found ours tasted more like strawberries than pineapple, but they were tasty.
Enough dreaming for now, more items of interest later including a first for me – tobacco. Never saw it offered before.
17th November, 2009 - Posted by shawn - No Comments
Catalog cover
I was surprised to see our new Pinetree Garden Seeds Catalog in the mailbox yesterday since it is only November, but there it was. (Actually there were two of them, we seem to be getting doubles – have to email them about that.)
Pinetree is our favorite seed supplier since they offer a lot of varieties in smaller packets with smaller prices and they are a smaller company and friendly to deal with. We don’t have a large garden so getting tons of seeds is just wasteful – and expensive.
The garden for 2009 did not fare particularly well for many reasons including too much rain, an overactive young groundhog (affectionately called Whistle Pig) and a new baby in the house. As all gardeners do, we hope next year will be better.
We are changing our focus to having an educational garden as opposed to one that is growing lots of food. With two children under 2 we just don’t have the time to devote to harvesting and putting lots of food by. If we decide we want to do some of that, the local Farmer’s market provides tons of fresh produce at good prices for us.
Instead I hope to grow new varieties and try my hand at containers since those can be moved outside Whistle Pig’s reach. (Yeah, we could do him in, but why? He’s cute, we aren’t living off our garden and he kicked out the resident large snake that kept startling us… so we kinda owe him.) Our plans are in place for moving to a new location in the next few years so we don’t want to drop tons of money into this garden knowing we’ll move, but it is still a place to learn about plants we’d like to grow at the next place.
We also have TONS of seeds left over from last year so I’m going to see what we can salvage of those and limit new purchases this year, though I think we’re going to do large plantings of pumpkins, gourds and sunflowers in our field. We enjoy growing all of these, though we have mildew problems with the pumpkins and gourds. Hopefully the new location in the field will be better for them.
Stay tuned for highlights from Pinetree’s catalog.