The Magic of Fire, Traditional Foodways with William Rubel

When seed catalogs were all printed people used to order dozens of catalogs and then spend hours with them during the winter months dreaming of their summer gardens. This online seed business offers a different kind of sitting and dreaming in some ways, unfortunately, less pleasant than sitting in an armchair beside the fire though with tablet computers that is becoming more possible. What one finds with online catalogs is that one often catches glimpses of the families behind the business as many seed companies are still very small – real labors of love. The Seed Trust is run by a father and son team with a particular interest in high altitude gardening — which means in practice that they are interested in vegetables that thrive in short seasons and intense weather. Seeds of Trust were pioneers going to the Soviet Union as it opening up in the late 1980s to collect seeds. Their offering of short-season tomatoes is extraordinary. You will want to spend time at this site. They are in the midst of developing a new site and I hope that one of you will let me know when they do so I can review it.

This is a Dutch web site. With some patience, even if you don’t read Dutch (I don’t), you will be able to find vegetable cultivars that are not familiar. The site, though in Dutch, is indexed by Dutch, English, and Latin plant names. Between a combination of these languages you ought to be able to find your way around. If you want to read the plant description, then cut and paste it into the Google Translate utility. The English comes out a bit confused, but legible, as in this example for a dark colored pepper:

Growing in the greenhouse or outside in warm sheltered place. Outside before the end of May Driving distance ± 1 m in the row 50 cm. How is it that brown fruits once the word “chocolate” elicit? Well, this funny little peppers’ll go for chocolates! A welcome addition to the color palette.

The Dutch, of course, have been famed market gardeners for centuries. They are also famed for growing in greenhouses. I always find it ironic that in January, in my California groceries, the red peppers are from the Netherlands. For home vegetable gardening and for greenhouse gardening you will find something in this catalog that will tempt you. If the Vreeken’s Zaden shopping cart confuses you, then call the company. You will find a phone number in the “contact” section. You can assume that everyone in the office speaks English. Check the local time in the Netherlands before calling. The contacts page lists the phone number, office hours and the email address.

Harris Seeds traces was founded in the 1870s. It sells seeds both to home gardeners and to farmers. Many, with some varieties, most of their seeds are F1 hybrids. If you don’t save your seed, then I personally wouldn’t worry about it. They sell to organic farmers and so do offer untreated and organic seed. They also sell to growers who grow in greenhouses, so you will find specialty seeds for peppers, for example, for use in greenhouse horticulture although not in home gardener quantities. A solid commercial seed supplier. They sell a product I have not come across before, a plastic mulch/blanket ground cover with built in drip irrigation. The current price is around $70 for an 8X10 blanket, but it lasts 5 years uncovered and 20 if it is mulched so a low amortized cost. Liquid fertilizer can be fed into the system. A seed catalog well worth reading. Be sure to look at the garden tunnels and other season extending products.

This Pennsylvania seed company offers a substantive catalog of heirloom vegetables (they approximately 1400 varieties) which they define as varieties that are about fifty years old. Their descriptions are terse but to the point and do include the botanic name of the vegetable. There is also a nice short statement on soil pH and general growing requirements for most of the vegetable varieties offered. As always, you have to know your own climate when ordering from a seed company that is outside your growing area. An heirloom tomato that might do well in Pennsylvania is unlikely to thrive in my coastal Northern California garden. Planting guides with reference to first frost dates are provided for gardeners who live where the winters are cold. Overall, a seed catalog well worth perusing and ordering from. The seed prices are exceedingly reasonable.