Seed Catalogs & Companies Archives

Do You Know Quality Seed and Where to Get It?

The easy answer is to purchase your seed from one of the companies on our Recommended Seed Company List. This works great if you have come to trust our process of evaluating companies.

I am not an “activist”, it is has never been my interest or my bent, yet I do “vote with my dollar” and so choose to support companies who have the values I consider important. To that end, each year I research companies, read a pile of seed catalogs and compare varieties and plant lists of those folks I know and trust and those I don’t.

It has become clear that in addition to the current 13 criteria we use to evaluate a company, two more need to be added. Here are our additional criteria and why we added them. See the first 13 criteria.

Does the company sell varieties that are owned by companies who engage in genetic modification of seeds?

One company in particular, who was on our list for years, has staunchly continued to offer a small percentage of varieties owned by Monsanto. Granted, most of these varieties were not bred by Monsanto, but were bred and owned by companies who Monsanto bought a few years ago. For those like us, who do not want to support companies who engage in genetic modification of seed, the act of buying from a company who buys from a company who engages in genetic modification of seed, is indirectly supporting companies who engage genetic seed modification. Prior Unity Garden does not support this activity. Therefore any company who buys seed from companies who create GMO seed will not make our list, even if they have signed the Safe Seed Pledge.

You may be thinking, but if they signed the Safe Seed Pledge, then they are not selling GMOs, right ? Generally speaking, you are correct, they are not selling genetically modified seed, but they can still sign the Pledge and sell seed that is not genetically modified from companies who make GMO seed. Doing this practice now excludes a company from being on our recommended seed company list.

Does the company actually grow the varieties they sell?

There are ‘seed houses’ who are resellers of seed only, buying seed wholesale and reselling it. They may grow some of it, but do not really have field trials, so are not really in touch with the varieties they are offering.

We have found the seed quality and reliability from these companies to swing wildly and these companies do not have people you can talk with about growing specific varieties they offer. While this may be fine for some folks, we find it frustrating when evaluating specific varieties for growing traits our clients have requested. In effect, you become the testers. Because we want to recommend the highest quality seed companies how offer the highest quality seed, we will not be putting companies on our list who do grow all or most of the varieties whey offer. These companies simply cannot support what they sell to the high degree other companies can.

In some cases, a company will offer seed from a variety of local farms and this is a practice we love seeing as it supports small local farms and seed. In this case, the seed house may not trial every variety, but their partner farms are growing seed and this practice has proven to be an excellent marker of quality seed, in part because the farm’s name is on the seed. These companies do make our list. Granted, most of them also test all or most of the varieties they offer.

Who owned the company?

As large Agribusinesses buy out smaller companies, this question is becoming more important. It used to be seed companies be handed down through generations of a family. Now, it is good to know and sometimes difficult to find out. Often the Agribusiness does not want their ownership known.

Call the company, see what is written in the catalog and website. The point here is avoiding supporting agribusinesses who engage in generic modification of seed.

Companies who are owned by large agriculture businesses will usually sell varieties they own, so knowing what those varieties are, helps you discern if you want to support that business or not.

You can make the process easier and let us do the research for you. See our list of Recommended Seed Companies and/or the rest of our Seed Company Criteria.

Southern Exposure 2014 Seed Catalog

Debby WardLeave a comment

Last year we started talking about seed companies and their catalogs. This year we continue, starting with Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (SESE).

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange 2014 Cover

Beyond having a beautiful and whimsical cover, SESE specialized in varieties that grow well in mid-east and southern United States, AKA, hot humid summers. Historically, they have ties with Seed Saver’s Exchange, so they have a similar ethic of persevering heirloom varieties and encouraging people to save their own seed.

They have an outstanding variety and draw from small regional farms, some of whom are featured in their catalog. They have taken the Safe Seed Pledge, and are one of the 73 plaintiffs continuing their lawsuit against Monsanto, in OSGATA et al v. Monsanto.

Because they specialize in varieties for the south, you’ll find a larger selection of southern favorites including black-eyed peas (or cowpeas as they call them), okra, collards, peanuts and cotton (in various natural colors), than other catalogs. They have a pictorial designation for varieties well-suited to the southeast to help you find these quickly. They have many organic selections.

Here are 9 + varieties to try:

Rosella Purple Tomatos — Rosella Purple tomato gives you full sized slicer taste on a determinate plant that can be grown in containers – yummy

White Bush Scallop Summer Squash Harvest — We love Early White Bush Scallop summer squash. It is very productive all summer and seems to resist squash beetle attack longer than some other varieties.

Sweet Valentine Lettuce — A must have for the lettuce bed is Sweet Valentine. We used to get this years ago from another company and loved it, so we are happy SESE has it. Sweet Valentine is a great all season variety that does well in summer’s heat when shaded, and also in a hoop house from fall into the winter.

Neptune Red Tomato — Neptune & Old Virginia red tomatoes are noted to produce well in hot humid summers. Neptune is pictured.

Dakota Black Popcorn — SESE has an excellent section of popcorn. There is nothing like inviting friends over for a movie and serving home grown popcorn. We love Dakota Black (which pops white and is more like food than just a snack), but try more than one variety and compare.

Sierra Crisphead Lettuce — We have enjoyed two of their crisphead lettuces that are very different are from each other in look, but, both held up great in the fall garden, even with light frost. Try both Loma & Sierra. This is Sierra.

Sweet potatoes of various colors — Like sweet potatoes ? They have a good selection of orange, white and purple fleshed varieties. They carry Bunch Porto Rico for those with smaller gardens because of its shorter more compact vines.

Stone Mountain Watermelon — Southern selections would have to include watermelon, and they have white, yellow, orange and red fleshed varieties. If you have the space, try Stone Mountain for old fashioned 30 pound melons.

Ashe County Pimento Sweet Pepper — Ashe County Pimento sweet peppers are thick, juicy and delicious and can be grown in containers.

Seed Catalog Review: John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds

Debby WardLeave a comment

It may seem hard to follow Territorial with my glowing review, but John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds can take it. I found this company in the last five years and am SO glad. They, like all our recommended seed companies have taken the Safe Seed Pledge and they offer a really cool selection of seeds. Many of our favorite variteties are here, along with a great selection of European veggies. I found varieties from companies who have closed, I used to grow and loved in the 1980s here at John Scheepers. They have been serving gardens since 1908. They are geared more toward cooking so some of their variety descriptions will make your mouth water.

They do not have a huge selection, like Territorial, but what they have is often different and wonderful. One new favorite is a tomato called Lynn’s Mahogany-Garnet, beautiful and yummy. Another new favorite is their Orange Chiffon Chard, although it grows more yellow stems in our garden, the taste is so smooth and wonderful we don’t care what color the ribs are. If you want to find some varieties not offered in most of the other organic seed catalogs, check these guys out, they is worth it.

Catalog Pros:

Nice selection of standard favorites, loved older varieties and new ones.
Good descriptions on each variety
Excellent seed count for the price
Recipes

Catalog Cons:

No photos, but some beautiful drawings that give the catalog a bit of old fashioned feel
Minimal how to grow advise

Seed Catalog Review: Bountiful Gardens

Debby WardLeave a comment

Bountiful Gardens was much used by Russell when he gardened in California and we have found their seed grows great in Virginia. Some readers may have heard of Ecology Action, John Jeavons or his Grow Biointensive® method of gardening. Bountiful Gardens is John’s seed company associated with Ecology Action. As they say on their homepage, all their seeds or open-pollinated, non-GMO & Seed Saver friendly. These guys are out to feed the world, in a sustainable organic way. They have taken the Safe Seed Pledge.

I admit to being in love with their Light Green Lebanese summer squash and their Orange Jelly Turnips. Their seed packets are perfect for home gardeners because they are small in size, with a price to match. We also enjoy the diversity of varieties they offer, including plants we have not seen elsewhere, often from the diverse countries in which they help farmers.

We are not much for seed mixes, but Bountiful Gardens has a Good Companions Collection which is great for anyone wanting to begin companion planting, including flowers and herbs. The collection has each variety in separate seed packets, a must for a good seed collection.

Catalog Pros:

They have the widest selection of books and publications of any of our seed catalogs, so if you are looking to expand your library, Bountiful Garden’s catalog is a good place to see what is out there.
Printed on recycled newsprint
Their variety descriptions are useful and seem written by people who know the variety
Good compost crop information
Extensive grain, fiber and oil crops
Nice selection of medicinal as well as culinary herbs
Interesting selection of unusual varieties from other countries

Catalog Cons:

Not many photos
No latin names

Do you know about the Safe Seed Pledge ?

Debby Ward1 Comment

It is a delineation of the Safe Seed Initiative by the Council for Responsible Genetics. Companies who adopt this pledge do not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered or modified seeds or plants.

Some people poo-poo the list because some of the companies who signed the Safe Seed Pledge had purchased some seed from Seminis seed house that was subsequently bought out by Monsanto – hence the perceived link between some honestly safe seed companies and Monsanto. These companies responded and stopped buying seeds from Seminis, to be true to their Pledge and their values.

The other reason the Safe Seed Pledge is poo-poo’d is because of the phrase “we pledge that we do not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants ”. The word ‘Knowingly’ has been criticized as not good enough, but is used because of the possibility of contamination from genetically modified plants, by such situations as wind bringing pollen onto an organic farm, which is out of the control of the farm (and isn’t making them happy either).

Check out our recommended seed companies which genuinely care about you getting safe seed: http://www.priorunitygarden.com/pns.htm