Saturday, December 20, 2008

seeds

I know I'm supposed to be working on Christmas presents, but yesterday the Seed Savers' Exchange catalog came in the mail.

sprouts!
little sprouts getting started in the greenhouse last February

It made me really miss working in the garden, and it made me start fantasizing about getting the garden ready for spring, and what varieties I want to try to grow this year. Listen to some of these:

Charantais melon
"Considered by many to be the most divine and flavorful melon in the world. Smooth round melons mature to a creamy grayish-yellow with green stripes. Sweet, juicy, salmon-colored flesh... Ripe melons have a heavenly fragrance."

Federle tomato
"Beautiful, blemish-free 6-7"-long paste tomato, rich full flavor unlike most other banana pepper-shaped tomatoes. Productive plants. Very few seeds, excellent for processing, especially good for salsa."

I will definitely be ordering both of those. And the names of these varieties! There are tomatoes with names like Hillbilly Potato Leaf, Hungarian Heart, Red Fig, Nebraska Wedding, Blondkopfchen, and Wapsinicon Peach; corn varieties called Bloody Butcher, Strawberry Popcorn and Blue Jade; and beans called Dragon's Tongue, Charlevoix and Tiger's Eye.

Who can think about wrapping Christmas presents when there are garden plans to be drawn?

Come to think of it, seed packets would make some pretty great stocking stuffers... I wonder how long these take to deliver. Who wouldn't like to find a Rat-Tailed Radish in their Christmas stocking?

4 comments:

  1. Our favorite tomato is the Carbon. One of my favorite places to read about and buy seeds from is Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds www.rareseeds.com

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  2. I got my catalog, too! I live in Iowa and have toured their gardens, lovely place. If you have room in your garden, grow Black from Tula tomatoes, you won't be sorry. The federles you picked rock as well. :D I adore their catalog and it's the only place I buy seeds from.

    Peace, Diane

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  3. Wow, this caught my eye because my DH also belongs to Seed Savers Exchange and grows both the Charantais cantaloupes and the Federle tomatoes and we love love love both varieties. Good choices!!

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  4. I planted the Charantais melons last year and they were fantastic! Good luck with this year's garden plans!

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