Winter is a quiet time for most gardeners. Time to review the past year’s garden successes (and failures), and to begin planning for next year’s garden… and of course to order new seeds. Many gardeners eagerly anticipate getting the first garden seed catalogs, and by now many have arrived in my mailbox.
Seed catalogs are much more than just pretty pictures of great fruits and vegetables or a source of garden tools and supplies. Within their pages can be found a whole host of information on each plant variety. The descriptions cover many useful topics, from disease resistance, to how to match particular vegetables to the soils of your garden, to the size of the fruit and the plant’s growth habit, and much, much more. A couple of examples from my own garden will explain what I mean.
I love winter squash, particularly butternut squash, but for years my success with it was hit-and-miss. What I observed from years of gardening is that if powdery mildew got into my squash and pumpkins early, I would go on to have a very poor crop, whereas if the powdery mildew showed up later in the summer, I ended up with a much better crop. Looking through a Johnny’s Selected Seeds catalog, I noticed they were offering a hybrid butternut squash called Metro PMR (F1) Butternut Squash – PMR standing for Powdery Mildew Resistant. Since switching to this seed three years ago, I’ve had consistently good crops. This past growing season my pumpkins and acorn squash were hit hard by powdery mildew, but my PMR butternut squash plants growing right next to the pumpkins continued to flourish and produced a nice crop.
Carrots are also a mainstay in my garden. Gardeners with clay-ey soils like mine will have a hard time growing most carrots, but reviewing seed catalog information helped me match varieties to the particular soil type in my garden – in this case Chantenays and Nantes, which do well in heavy soils.
If you don’t like to grow carrots because of the small seed size and the need to thin them during the summer, seed producers have made a simple innovation that you should try. Pelleted carrot seed, is covered with a clay like substance that dissolves when planted. The little round seed pellets are easier to handle and space accurately, even by children, eliminating the need to thin the carrots later.
Questions about tomato diseases are among the most received by our Master Gardeners. Though tomatoes are a very popular vegetable grown by the public, they are unfortunately host to a long list of diseases, including early blight, late blight, mosaic viruses, leaf spots, and others. Losing your tomatoes to one of those is frustrating, especially when the disease strikes right before you are anticipating a delicious harvest. Thankfully, plant scientists have developed a number of tomato varieties that are resistant to many common diseases. Often these disease-resistant varieties can’t be found among the seeds and seedlings at a garden center or big box store, however if you are willing to start your own tomatoes in the early spring, your seed catalog will indicate which varieties are most resistant to disease and best suited to your needs.
Let’s dive into some sample variety descriptions.
Metro PMR Butternut Squash (from Johnny’s Seeds) Exceptional flavor and storage life. Enjoy fantastic butternut flavor deep into the winter with this tasty Johnny’s-bred variety! Great looking and smaller-sized — just what many markets demand. Very similar in size, flavor, and mildew resistance to JWS 6823, though it will hold much longer in storage. Medium vine. Our thanks to Cornell University for their help in developing this variety, which combines parentage from Cornell and Johnny’s. Intermediate resistance to powdery mildew. Avg. weight: 2 1/2–3 1/2 lb, Avg. yield: 4–5 fruits/plant, Avg. 5,600 seeds/lb, Packet: 30 seeds
Earlier I mentioned the importance to me of finding a butternut squash variety with resistance to powdery mildew. Other important information provided includes the size of the fruits (not exceptionally large, good for a family meal) and the medium size of the plant (so it won’t take as much room up in your garden as other varieties). Knowing the squash can be stored through the winter is a big plus when you are counting on your garden for year round nutrition.
Digging deeper into the product description will tell you the optimum soil temperatures for planting this squash, what depth to plant your seed, proper seed spacing, and how to care for your plants throughout the growing season. By the way, did you know that butternut squash can be grown up a trellis, saving additional space in your garden?
Jasper (F1) Cherry Tomato (from High Mowing Seeds) Cheerful trusses of small, bright red cherry tomatoes with strong disease resistance. These fruits have the flavor of a full-sized red tomato packed into the single bite of a cherry. Fruit have an excellent texture, resisting cracking and rot when picked with calyx on. An AAS Winner, plants are highly prolific even in the field and stay healthy for a long harvest window. A popular variety among commercial producers. From our friends at Johnny’s Selected Seeds. AAS Winner, Indeterminate, 0.4 oz fruit, hybrid, High Resistance: Late Blight, Intermediate Resistance: Early Blight
I originally started growing Jasper Cherry Tomatoes in 2015 following the late blight outbreak in August of 2014 in St. Lawrence County. Many gardeners at that time lost their entire tomato crop to this devastating disease, and I was looking to hedge my bets to ensure that I’d have some sort of crop in 2015 if late blight returned. Late blight is not thought to overwinter in St. Lawrence County; disease spores must be brought in by the wind from infected gardens or seedlings from the south. I planted several disease resistant varieties that year , including Mountain Magic, Defiant, and a sauce tomato called Plum Regal.
Jasper turned out to be an exceptional surprise in my garden. It starts producing at the end of July and continues right up to the first frost, longer if protected from the frost or grown in the greenhouse. It produces a prolific, steady crop of delicious cherry tomatoes. While non-resistant varieties are trying to fight off various diseases, Jasper continues to flourish.
The variety description for Jasper states that the plant growth form is indeterminate. Indeterminate means that this variety will continue to grow and produce fruit all summer and into the fall, requiring both trellising and pruning. Determinate tomato varieties, on the other hand, will branch a set number of times and then stop growing. The determinate tomato will produce an abundance of fruit that ripens essentially all at once. This timing is important if you intend to make sauce or salsa.
Note: There are many varieties of vegetables that do well in raised beds, greenhouses or containers. When searching through seed catalogs, make sure to check out recommended varieties for these types of gardens.
Selecting a Seed Catalog
Gardeners have a huge selection of seed catalogs to choose from. As a Master Gardener, I recommend that you purchase seed produced by known companies located in the northern US or Canada, and only purchase seed which is suitable for your growing zone. Seed costs can be expensive, especially some of the new hybrid varieties. I recommend putting a bulk order in with some friends. It’s a good excuse to get together in the winter and pour over the catalogs, then compare notes during the season. Some Northern seed catalog options include (but are not limited to): Johnny’s Selected Seeds (Maine), Burpee’s Seeds (Pennsylvania), High Mowing Seeds (Vermont), Vermont Bean Seed (VT), Harris Seed (Rochester, NY), Jungs Seeds (Wisconsin), Veseys Seeds (PEI, Canada/US), Gurney’s Seeds (Indiana).
Want a recommendation? If you find yourself confused or overwhelmed by the options available, contact the St. Lawrence County Growline at SLCGrowline@gmail.com. Master Gardeners like myself are happy to give recommendations for garden varieties and how to grow them. Happy growing!
Try these links to read articles I’ve written about germination testing, storing garden seeds, and succession planting.
Ken Kogut has been a Master Gardener Volunteer since 2014. A retired NY DEC Natural Resource Supervisor and Wildlife Biologist, Ken now spends his time maintaining his garden, berry patches, and small orchard with a goal of living sustainably off his property. He particularly enjoys helping county residents solve their gardening issues, writing short articles for gardeners, and teaching new gardeners in Seed to Supper classes.