Seed Time

Is there anything better than sitting down with a pile of  this year’s seed catalogs and ogling the perfect tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, dahlias….?If you are a gardener, you get the picture. My “go to” seed sources over the last 5 years have been Seeds of Italy, Johnny’s, Scheepers, Territorial, Seeds of Change, and Totally Tomatoes. I’ll also usually buy quite a few off the rack at the local hardware store and other places. I usually end up with quite many more varieties and seeds that I need, so January is also a good time to cull my collection left over from prior years. I used to test the viability of seeds before tossing them, but I’ve learned over the years how long most things last, so I usually just toss stuff out based on my gut feeling about it.

Some of the new things I’m trying this year include:

• Paris Market Carrots. I love sweet young carrots from the garden. So do the voles. This year, as part of my vole and rabbit foiling program (that’s another whole story), I’m going to try growing carrots in containers. Paris Market is a stubby, roundish variety supposedly suitable for container growing. We’ll see.
• Nyagous tomato from Totally Tomatoes. This is a dark brownish tomato (have you seen the Kumatos in the “Whole Paycheck” market?), which in the words of the catalog have “excellent texture, are firm and blemish free, prolific, and full flavored.” How can I go wrong?
• Witloof chicory. I’ve grown this in the past and had good experience in forcing the “Belgian Endive” chicons in the fall. It’s a little bit of extra effort (which is why I haven’t done it for several years), but time to try it again. And they are quite good!
• Romano Italian pole beans. This is another “old” variety that I’ve grown before, and will reprise in 2012. It’s usually loaded, and they’re stringless with a great flavor. I can’t keep the bush varieties away from the rabbits, so pole beans are the way to go. They also produce a lot in a small space.