It's time to order seeds. If you order early, you can be sure to get what you want. Shutterstock / Eurobank
Our 2023 Gardening, Seed & Supply Catalog arrived a few weeks ago, just before the 2022 garden is finished. I tried to ignore the catalog, but one day (from my wife Nancy) I saw some gift ideas.
Because of the warm fall, I didn't do any gardening - pulling the last weeds, picking scallions, and tidying up the bits of the garden we were still harvesting - until the first week of December. It's time to start preparing for Christmas.
I usually don't search catalogs until Christmas (and continue until Groundhog Day) in preparation for next spring. For the benefit of your readers, I've taken the time to select some of my favorites. But keep in mind that I haven't read everything yet.
Fedco takes up a lot of my time for a number of reasons. First, it's in two different publications—Fedco Seeds and Supplies at 176 pages and Fedco Trees, Shrubs and Perennials at 72—on plain black-and-white newsprint, clearly not as bright as the competition.
Along with an incredible selection of seeds, perennials, wood and tubers, the catalog is filled with stories, captions, editorials and pen and ink drawings to keep you entertained for hours. days
According to a short tree catalog article titled "The Good, the Bad and the Knotweed," according to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, "the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 93.4% of the world's oceans." Climate change means we're going to have to eat some trees that aren't native to Maine. The article mentions the American sycamore growing despite this year's dry season.
Nikos Cavania stated in the introduction to the catalog that he will leave the company after more than 40 years. I always appreciated his ideas.
No Direction Home is a typical non-garden but interesting item in the apple section of the tree catalog. The book says that horses appeared in North America when there were land bridges to Asia. Horses spread apple seeds in Asia and the Caucasus in Europe. I have no right to deny or confirm this information, but it is worth considering.
Another favorite is Pine Tree Garden Seeds in New Gloucester. In business for 43 years, the company specializes in small packets of seed, meaning people with small gardens can plant whole packets without worrying about storing seed for the winter.
They may look like an unripe cherry tomato, but they are actually the fruit of a potato. (Don't eat them! They're poisonous.) Photo by Tom Atwell
I will definitely try the Clancy's fries. In July I discovered that some of our potatoes were producing fruit that looked like small tomatoes. They are called potato fruits and contain seeds. I read at the time that growing them from seed was not practical because they would not imitate their parents. Clancy, a 2019 All-American draft pick, was born from a seed. The potato has a reddish skin and relatively soft flesh. It can be grown in containers or directly in the garden.
We grow a lot of potatoes and store them as seed potatoes at the end of each season. You don't need Clancy's for its nutritional potential. The real purpose of our garden is our entertainment. I thought these potatoes would cheer me up.
The company where I originally bought a lot of seed potatoes and grew them over the years was Wood Prairie Farm, an organic potato farm in Aroostook County that includes other organic seeds and vegetables.
This year, Wood Prairie Farm will introduce four new varieties of potatoes. What worked best for me was Sarpo Mira, a disease-resistant red-skinned variety from Hungary. Many varieties are in short supply and may be sold out, the downside is waiting too late to order, the company says on its website.
Johnny's Selected Seeds in Winslow produces an attractive, glossy 208-page catalog that sells a variety of vegetables, many of which are grown by the employees, as well as garden supplies. Fedco and Pinetree also sell garden tools.
Last week, I wrote about the All-America Selections-winning Sweet Jade Pumpkin and its creator, but that's just one of the 75 introductions included in the catalog. We can order other new varieties besides Sweet Jade.
I try to buy most of my plants and seeds from a company in Maine. I have met and written to many of their employees and I want to contribute to the local economy.
But sometimes we shop in out-of-state catalogs, and our favorite is Old House Gardens in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They specialize in vintage, spring and autumn bulbs, some dating back to the 17th century. Many Maine growers produce Old House Gardens bulbs, and I received a warm welcome when I visited the town for my niece's wedding.
There will be more catalogs. Reading this and taking a closer look at what I mentioned here should cheer me up on those cold Maine days.
Tom Atwill is a freelance writer based at Cape Isabel Gardens. He can be contacted at: [email protected]
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