7 seed sources you might not know
It's time to shop for seeds! Here are my favorite, somewhat under-the-radar catalogs and websites for quality seeds and unmatched selection
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Hello, friends!
It’s almost seed-starting time, so if you’re planning to start sowing you’d better get your supplies in order pronto.
After the Great Seed Shortage Fiasco of 2020, seed companies seemed to have increased supply, but I am seeing sell-outs and delay notices on websites already.
You likely received a few seed catalogs in the past month, and several of you have asked me which are best. “Best” is subjective, of course, but I do have my favorites:
Far and away, if I could only recommend one company, it would be The Whole Seed Catalog (aka Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, aka rareseeds.com). The catalog is h-u-g-e — and heavy. I got curious this morning and weighed it: It came in at 2 pounds, 11 ounces. So what’s in its 499 pages? Everything. You. Could. Possibly. Dream. Of.
I’ve been following the Gettle family since the early 2000s, shortly after then-17-year-old Jere Gettle of Missouri started the company. Each annual catalog features a photo of Gettle and his family — wife Emille and four children, now aged 5-15 (who I’ve watched grow through its pages over the years), along with an update about their lives. It’s almost like getting an annual holiday letter from distant relatives — except you actually want to read this one.
The family, along with some memorable local characters, serve as models posing with produce. Cyan, 5, for instance, is featured on page 3 of the 2021 edition, holding carrots that are nearly as tall as he is. There are recipes — for nasturtium pesto, bitter melon elixir and Swiss chard banana breakfast wraps with Thai basil, for example — and entire articles on the prized white marigold, a 25-year-old Biodynamic farmer named Sara Patterson, and other unrelated but super interesting writeups that will more than likely keep you up past bedtime.
But none of that rivals the real beauty of the catalog: Hundreds (probably thousands, I didn’t count) of quality heirloom seeds for edibles you simply can’t find anywhere else. Sure, they have some ordinary varieties, too, but it’s the unusual that excites me. This year, for instance, I dogeared pages featuring Urizun Japanese winged beans, Nero de Toscana (black palm tree) loose-leafed cabbage, Romanesco Italia cauliflower, Giant Prague celeriac, garden huckleberry, horned cucumber, mibuna, mizuna and red Malabar spinach.
Here are the cream of the rest of the crop, in no particular order:
Open-pollinated, heirloom seeds grown at Invincible Summer Farms on the East End of Long Island in collaboration with “chefs, local breeders and non-profit organizations to promote a sustainable, bio-diverse food culture for all."
Heirloom and open-pollinated flower, vegetable and herb seeds from upstate New York.
Napa Valley-based breeder of “outrageous” tomato varieties. They’re not kidding.
Supplying the U.S market with Asian vegetable seeds since 1917.
U.S. distributor of seeds from Italy's Franchi Sementi seed company, founded in 1783. Nice selection of hard-to-find European vegetable varieties.
Heirloom seeds from Monticello and the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants.
MORE
And of the more mainstream suppliers, you can’t go wrong with High Country Gardens, John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds, Territorial Seed Company, Johnny’s Seeds or Renee’s Garden Seeds (for vegetables and herbs, but also flowers).
And if you need a new seed tray (and other supplies), here are my favorites.
JOIN THE BACKYARD BIRD COUNT
Every year, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, together with the National Audubon Society and Birds of Canada invite us to be their boots on the ground in watching and counting as many birds as we can find and reporting our findings back to them. Taking part is fun but also helps them track the number and location of birds before one of their annual migrations.
This year’s event will run next weekend, from Friday, Feb. 12 through Monday, Feb. 15. To participate, all you have to do is spend some time outdoors and keep track of what you see, then enter your findings at birdcount.org.
📬 QUESTION(S) OF THE WEEK
DEAR JESSICA: I have planted bulbs for forcing. Should they be watered? —Joseph Fasano
DEAR JOSEPH: Yes, bulbs planted in soil or potting mix for forcing require water. Ideally, you planted them pointy-end up with one-half to one-third of their tops exposed (this prevents rotting.) Pat the soil to firm it and keep the soil moist — but never soggy.
You don’t say what types of bulbs you planted, but for those who are interested, you’ll likely have the most success with indoor forcing of daffodil, crocus, hyacinth, grape hyacinth, iris, paperwhite, amaryllis and Siberian squill.
DEAR JESSICA: Thank you for your list of plants that the deer do not normally feed on. I would like to add Japanese plum yews. We have had very good luck with them. —Kathy Schiavone
DEAR KATHY: Common Japanese yews (Taxus cuspidata) are beloved by deer — so they’re typically among the first to be decimated. But, as you point out, Japanese plum yews (Cephalotaxus harringtonii) are typically left alone.
The evergreen shrubs, which are hardy in zones 6-9 and also are native to Asia, produce fruit, which unlike the slimy, poisonous berries of the Japanese yew, actually are edible.
💡 IF YOU DO ONE THING THIS WEEK…
Inspect hemlock branches for woolly adelgid egg sacs — they look like cotton swab tips. If you find any, remove by hand and destroy.
If you had my 2021 Day-by-Day Gardening calendar, you’d know exactly what to do for your plants and garden every day this week. Speaking of which, I’ve got a deal for you…
🌱📅 25% OFF DAILY GARDEN REMINDERS
Get my calendar of 365 daily gardening chores and tips for 25% off — that’s like getting 92 tips for free! Hang this baby on your wall and you’ll know exactly what you should be doing today and every day of the year to keep your houseplants healthy, your crops producing and your garden beautiful. I’m down to my last couple of boxes, so I’ll even throw in free shipping.
Sale price valid only while supplies last, naturally.
👏 SUNDAY SHOUTOUT
Calling all readers: Send photos of witch hazel, pussy willow, winter jasmine, yellow aconite, snowdrops, hellebores and other winter plants, and you might be featured here next. (Bonus points if you’re in the photo!)
📧 SEND ME YOUR FEEDBACK
I welcome your comments and suggestions, so please send them along — as well as any topics you’d like to see covered and questions you’d like answered in the Question of the Week section.
If you’re sending photos of your garden, please include your full name and the name of anyone depicted, your hometown, details about your plant or garden, the name of the person who took the photo, and a sentence granting permission for its use in this newsletter and archives.