The time to order seeds is near. If you order early, you can be sure you’ll get what you want. Shutterstock/Eurobanks
Our 2023 garden, seeds and supplies catalogs arrived weeks ago, definitely before we finished our 2022 gardens. I tried to ignore the catalogues, but when pushed (by my wife Nancy) I looked at a few for gift ideas.
Because of the warm autumn, I didn’t finish the gardening work – final weeding, leek harvest and raking the parts of the yard where we still rake – until the first week of December. That’s when we usually start preparing for Christmas.
I usually don’t start browsing catalogs until after Christmas (and stick with it until Groundhog Day) in preparation for the following spring. As a service to you, my readers, I’ve spent some time picking highlights from a few favorites. But remember, I haven’t read thoroughly yet.
Fedco takes a long time for several reasons. First, it comes in two separate publications — 176-page Fedco Seeds and Supplies and 72-page Fedco Trees, Shrubs and Perennials — both black and white on plain newsprint, definitely not as flashy as the competition.
As well as wonderful seed, perennial, shrub and bulb options, the catalog is filled with stories, explanations, editorials and pen drawings to keep you entertained for days.
A brief article in the Trees catalog entitled “The Good, the Bad and the Knotweed” notes that according to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, “the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 93.4 percent of the world’s oceans.” The changing climate means that perhaps we should welcome some trees that aren’t native to Maine. The article mentions American plane trees that thrived despite this year’s drought.
Nikos Kavanya noted in the catalog introduction that she is leaving the company after more than 40 years. I’ve always enjoyed her insights.
Typical of the non-horticultural yet entertaining items in the apple section of the Trees catalog is “No Direction Home”. The play states that horses were native to North America when the land bridge to Asia existed. These horses spread apple seeds throughout Asia and the European Caucasus. I have nothing to disagree with or support this information, but it is food for thought.
Pinetree Garden Seeds in New Gloucester is another favorite. The company has been in business for 43 years and specializes in smaller seed packs, meaning people with small garden plots can plant an entire pack and not have to worry about storing seeds over the winter.
Although they look like unripe cherry tomatoes, they are actually the fruit of the potato plant. (Don’t eat them! They’re poisonous.) Photo by Tom Atwell
One item I will definitely try is the Clancy potato. In July I discovered that some of our potatoes were bearing fruit that looked like small tomatoes. They are called potato berries and contain seeds. I read at the time that it is not practical to plant these seeds because they will not replicate the parents. A 2019 All-America Selection winner, Clancy grows from seed. The potatoes have a reddish skin and a fairly creamy flesh. It can be grown in containers or directly in the garden.
We grow a lot of potatoes and save some for seed potatoes at the end of each season. I don’t need Clancy for its food potential. The real purpose of our garden is to entertain us. I think this potato will be entertaining.
The company I originally bought many of the seed potatoes from, which I grow year after year, is Wood Prairie Farm, an organic, family-run potato farm in Aroostook County that has expanded into other organic seeds and vegetables.
Wood Prairie Farm is offering four new potato varieties this year. Sarpo Mira, a red-skinned, disease-resistant strain originally from Hungary, sounds best to me. On its website, the company says many varieties are in short supply and could sell out — a disadvantage of waiting so late to order.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Winslow produces an attractive 208-page glossy catalog which, alongside gardening tools, sells a wide range of vegetables, many developed by its staff. Fedco and Pinetree also sell gardening tools.
I wrote about All-America Selections winner Sweet Jade Squash and its creator last week, but that’s just one of about 75 introductions featured throughout the catalogue. We might order some of the other new varieties in addition to Sweet Jade.
I try to do most of our plant and seed purchases from Maine companies. I have met and written about many of their workers and I enjoy helping the local economy.
But we occasionally buy from catalogs outside of the US, and our favorite is Old House Gardens in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They specialize in vintage bulb plants, both spring and fall planted, some dating back to the 17th century. A few growers in Maine produce Old House Gardens bulbs and I received a warm welcome when I was in town for a niece’s wedding.
More catalogs will arrive. Reading these and studying those mentioned here should keep me entertained on many a cold Maine day.
Tom Atwell is a freelance writer working in the garden in Cape Elizabeth. He can be reached at: [email protected]
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