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OK, I'm totally aging myself right now, but does anybody else
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remember the Sears Wish Book catalog?
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It came out every winter, and it had all of the toys and books
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and pajamas that you could possibly ask Santa for.
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And you sat down and you circled all the things you wanted, and
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you knew darn well you were never going to get all the
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things you circled. But it was fun to dream, right?
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I get that same feeling this time of year with seed catalogs.
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If your mailbox looks anything like mine this time of year,
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it's probably overflowing with seed catalogs, glossy photos,
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exciting new varieties, and every page quietly whispering.
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You definitely need 10 more kinds of tomatoes.
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So seed catalog is fun, but it can also be a little
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overwhelming. So if you've ever ordered way
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more seed than you can possibly plant, chosen A variety that
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just did not perform in your climate, or gotten confused by
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all the codes and abbreviations and the marketing language, this
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episode is for you. Today on Just Grow Something,
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we're going to talk about how to read a seed catalog, why seed
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catalogues are tools, not just wish books, the key pieces of
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information in a catalog listing and what they actually mean,
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days to maturity and why that number is not as simple as it
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looks and more. By the end, you will be able to
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flip through a catalog and quickly decide, yes, this
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variety makes sense for my garden, or Nope, that's just
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clever marketing and make a wish list that can actually be
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fulfilled. Let's dig in.
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Hey, I'm Karen and what started as a small backyard garden 20
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years ago turned into a lifelong passion for growing food.
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Now as a market farmer and horticulturist, I want to help
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you do the same. On this podcast, I am your
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friend in the garden teaching evidence based techniques to
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help you grow your favorites and build confidence in your own
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garden space. So grab your garden journal and
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a cup of coffee and get ready to just grow something.
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So before we zoom in on the fine print of seed catalogs, let's
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zoom out a little bit. OK, we can use seed catalogs as
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gardening tools. They are product lists, yes, but
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they can also be reference guides full of details about the
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varieties, the growing conditions and disease
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resistance. And a lot of cases.
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They can also be little mini gardening textbooks with
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articles and how to sections. This is why I love physical
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detailed catalog blogs because they can be research tools,
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especially when you combine them with your local planting
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calendar and your notes from previous seasons.
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So if we start with a little bit of a plan and we don't start
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with the catalog, right, If we think about what do you and your
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household actually eat, how much space and time that you
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realistically have for the garden and are you prioritizing
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like fresh eating or preserving or even market sales or
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donations? If you're someone like me, then
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we can use the catalog to find varieties that match that loose
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plan. So you can match crops to your
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particular frost States and the length of your season, and you
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can look for traits that you specifically need, whether
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that's disease resistance or short season crops or compact
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growth or storage quality, whatever it is.
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So if we reverse that and we start with the catalog and then
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we try to justify our choices, then we're much more likely to
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overspend and end up with varieties that don't quite fit
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our climate or even our goals because they just looked really
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pretty in the catalog. So let's walk through a typical
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vegetable variety entry and we'll pull the pieces apart a
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little bit. Different companies format
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things slightly differently, but most of them are going to
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include some combination of these things.
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The first is the variety name. So you have the vegetable type,
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right? So it's broccoli, but then it's
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going to have a specific name to it.
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It's going to be a type or a category.
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So it might be indeterminate if it's a certain slicing tomato or
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a Bush variety of snap bean, right?
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It's going to list the days to maturity, the growth habit.
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So whether it's Bush or pole or determinate or indeterminate,
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compact vining, whatever, the size and the shape and the color
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of the edible part, the flavor or texture description, notes on
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its disease resistance, often with abbreviations, and then
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some notes on maybe special traits of some sort.
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So is it good for storage? Is it an early variety?
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Is it heat tolerant or bolt resistant, whatever.
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And then usually it's also going to indicate the seed type.
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So whether it's a hybrid or it's open pollinated or it's an
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airline. So we're going to unpack each of
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these as we go. But the big idea is this.
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Every catalog listing should be a summary of how that plant is
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expected to behave in an average growing season under reasonable
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conditions. So when you understand what each
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piece of that summary means, then you can compare varieties
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side by side and choose the ones that actually match your
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situation. And I would think one of the
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most important numbers in here and probably the most
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misunderstood in the catalog listing is days to maturity.
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They often abbreviate this as DTM.
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So the catalogs and the seed packets are commonly going to
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define days to maturity as one of two things for direct seeded
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crops. So things like beans or radishes
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that we're putting straight into the ground, we are not
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transplanting in most cases, we're talking about days from
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emergence. This is when the seedlings first
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appear. So days from emergence to the
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first harvest for transplanted crops.
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So like tomatoes or Peppers or broccoli, things that we
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generally are not planting from seed directly in the garden,
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we're talking about days from transplanting outdoors to the
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first harvest. So in either way we think about
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this, this is always going to be from whenever the plant is in
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the garden and the top part, right, the part above the ground
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is visible. So whether you're directly
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sowing them or you're transplanting them, that is
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where we're measuring the days to maturity.
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And the catch is not every catalog is going to say this out
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loud. All right?
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Some of them are going to clarify that in the front text
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or on the web website. Others are just going to assume
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that you understand that this is the rule and that's how things
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go. OK.
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So for instance, if a tomato is listed as 75 days, that's 75
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days from transplant into the garden, not from the day that
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you started that seed indoors, all right?
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And if you're sowing lettuce seed directly outdoors and the
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catalog says it's 45 days, that's 45 days from emergence
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under normal conditions. Now, obviously, weather can
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speed things up or slow things down.
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If you've got cool or cloudy weather or you've got really
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hot, stressful conditions, this can all change the actual
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maturity time. So these are always going to be
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estimates. Remember, this is the best
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estimate under that sort of average or reasonable
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conditions, OK, in average growing conditions.
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So how do you use this number? The first thing is to match it
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to your length of your season. So if you have 110 frost free
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days, planting a warm season variety that needs 100 days from
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transplant is going to be possible, but it's going to be
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very tight and you never know when that first frost is going
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to hit. So if you plant one that needs
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80 days, that gives you a much wider margin, right?
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There's more room for error there.
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You also can use this to compare varieties within a crop.
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So if you have struggled to get Peppers to ripen before your
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first frost, then look for varieties that have a shorter
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number of days to maturity than what you have used before.
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And this is also really helpful for like succession planting.
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So if you can choose a mix of early, mid, and late season
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varieties, then instead of going out and planting 3 different
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times for a succession across the entire season, you can
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actually plant them all at the same time, knowing that those
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days to maturity are staggered. OK.
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And then look for words that modify that number.
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So catalogs might say about 65 days, or they'll say 50 to 60
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days or extra early or whatever. That just acknowledges that the
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environmental conditions are absolutely going to affect the
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actual timing. So just use days to maturity as
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a guide. But it is absolutely not a
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promise, but it is still one of your best tools for planning.
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The next thing to look at is seed types.
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OK, so you're going to see the terms F1, hybrid, open,
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pollinated, and heirloom in catalogs and also on seed
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packets. So what does that mean in
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practical terms? Hybrids or F1, right, are the
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result of a controlled cross between two distinct stable
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parent plants to combine specific traits.
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So whether we're trying to work on disease resistance or yield
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or uniformity or flavor or color, whatever it is, right,
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Hybrids are usually more uniform in terms of their size and when
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they mature, they are very frequently bred for disease
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resistance and higher yield. They are sometimes bred for
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qualities like being able to be transported well or for their
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firmness, especially if you're looking at like commercial
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lines, but they are always going to be labeled as F1 in catalogs.
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Now you can save seeds from hybrids, but the offspring is
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generally going to be genetically different and or
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variable, so they may not resemble the original variety.
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So you know, for for most in purposes, if you're planting a
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hybrid, you're planting it, you're enjoying it for this
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season. We're generally not planting
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them and then saving the seed for long term, but they
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absolutely can't and have a place in your garden again,
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specifically because a lot of them are bred for disease
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resistance. So that might be something that
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you're looking for. Open pollinated varieties are
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those that will generally come true to type when allowed to
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pollinate naturally with each other, like within the same
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variety. OK.
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If you're assuming that there is some isolation from other
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varieties in the same species, so these seeds can be saved and
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replanted and their offspring are going to be very similar to
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the parent plant if they have not cross pollinated, because
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what happens if they cross pollinate?
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Now you have a hybrid. It may not have been
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intentional, but now you have a hybrid, OK.
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So they're going to be, you know, somewhat more variable
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than hybrids. The plants may differ a little
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bit in size or in yield with these open pollinated seeds or
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plants, but a lot of them have been selected for particular
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traits. So open pollinated doesn't
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necessarily mean that is a very old variety or that is an
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heirloom variety. It just describes how the seed
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breeds, right? So you can save seeds from an
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open pollinated variety if you have isolated it from other
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varieties, right? And you're going to get the same
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thing that you grew this year. They just may not be as uniform
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and the way they grow and produce as a hybrid would be.
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An heirloom isn't actually like a strict scientific category,
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but typically what it means is it's an open pollinated variety
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that has a history of being passed down either in families
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or in communities or in cultures, often for several
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decades or longer. Some people will qualify this
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and say, well, an heirloom has to have been around for a
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minimum of 50 years, unchanged, changed.
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Other organizations will say it's 75 years, whatever.
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It's an old variety that is also open pollinated.
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A lot of the times these have really unique flavors.
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They have colors and shapes that are not found like in our modern
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hybrids or even in some open pollinated varieties.
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And in often a lot of these cases, they kind of give a sense
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of like connection to a particular region or a
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particular culture. The the downside to heirlooms is
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that they may or may not have very strong disease resistance
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depending on their background. So you just have to know
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oftentimes too that they may not ripen as quickly.
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They usually take a longer time to get to maturity, but, you
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know, the flavor oftentimes makes up for that.
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So it's OK to use a mix of all of these things.
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OK. I know that there has been this
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huge push here in recent years for nothing but heirloom
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varieties or maybe even just open pollinated and heirloom
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varieties as we look at, you know, patents that are being put
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on seeds and arguments, you know, about not being able to
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patent a life form, which essentially is what a seed is.
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But in terms of home gardening, you know, from a survivalist
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standpoint, yeah, you want to be planting something that you can
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save the seeds from so that you're not beholden to some seed
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company for a source of your own food.
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But in realistic terms, a lot of us live in areas where certain
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diseases are absolutely prevalent in certain crops that
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we want to grow. So there's nothing wrong at all
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with you planting hybrid varieties.
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OK. It's OK to plant a little of all
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of these types so you know for most home gardeners this is less
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about like right versus wrong and more about trade-offs.
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If you struggle with disease or you have limited space and you
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need reliable yields, then hybrids with resistance traits
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can be very helpful. If you care about seed saving
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and genetic diversity or specific heirloom flavors, then
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open pollinated and heirloom varieties might be a priority.
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A lot of us use a mix. I do.
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I have a few reliable hybrids for my very problem prone crops
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and things that I need to generate a specific yield in
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terms of going to market because I'm a market farmer.
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So there are things that I have to concern myself with that, you
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know, a home gardener maybe doesn't.
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But I also have open pollinated and heirloom varieties where I
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want to save the seeds and I want to focus on specific
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flavors. So you do you, as far as that's
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concerned. So one place where C catalogs
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really expect you to read between the lines is the disease
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resistance section. So you might see a tomato
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variety labeled VFFNTA, high resistance to many common
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diseases, or a note that says that it's resistant to like
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downy mildew and powdery mildew. And if you look at all of these
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abbreviations, it reads about as clear as alphabet soup.
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OK, but if you have had disease issues in the past, then this is
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actually a section that you want to pay close attention to.
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So catalogs are usually going to provide a key somewhere in the
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catalog, either in the front or the back pages or the beginning
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of a specific section that is going to break down what the
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codes mean. OK, So for tomatoes for example,
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you know, the most common ones are probably V for Verticilium
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wilt, F for Fusarium wilt and some sometimes you're going to
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see F1F2 or F3, which is indicating resistance to very
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specific races of Fusarium wilt. Most of us are not going to know
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what that is. So if you see the F, okay, fine
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that you know, that's helpful. And for root, not nematodes, T
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or TMV for tobacco mosaic virus. EB or AB.
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So that's early blight or Alternaria blight.
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LB for late blights, PM for powdery mildew, DM for downy
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mildew. So different companies may use
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slightly different abbreviations, so it's worth
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checking the catalog's legend. But what does this actually
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mean? Like these terms generally are
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telling you that, you know, whatever code is listed that
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that crop is resistant to that particular disease or virus
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resistance is not immunity. OK, so a resistant variety may
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still show symptoms with you've got really high disease
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pressure. It just usually gets less
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severely affected than a more susceptible variety.
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And it's often going to yield better and recover more quickly
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if it gets the disease than one that does not have this
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resistance. So just know if you're doing
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something like tomatoes maybe, and you're planting heirlooms
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and you have frequently seen problems with like early blight
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and say powdery mildew, and the heirlooms generally are not
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going to be very resistant to these specific diseases.
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So if you want to guarantee yourself that you're getting
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something in the way of tomatoes, then you may go ahead
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and plant those heirlooms. But you might go and look for
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one or two varieties that specifically list these diseases
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as being resistant to them, just to make sure that you're
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covering your bases. If you really want to make sure
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that you get tomatoes, you might also see terms like HR or IR.
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So HR would be high resistance, IR would be intermediate or
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moderate resistance. Catalogs are going to sometimes
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explain which diseases are more problematic.
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If you have a regional catalog or for specific crops, that
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might help you decide whether or not the resistance you know that
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is listed under there is relevant to your situation.
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But you can also check your extension agency because usually
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they're going to list for you, you know, under vegetable
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gardening, what crops are more susceptible to which specific
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diseases. But you know, to use this
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resistance information for yourself, just ask yourself,
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what diseases have I seen before in my garden?
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Have you been able to identify them?
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Right, That's step number one. And are there any known local
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issues like like bacterial, well downy mildew that you kind of
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want to plan around? So if you know that you've had a
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few cerium wilt in your tomatoes and choosing varieties with an F
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code gives you a better chance of success.
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And a lot of extensions are going to recommend choosing
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varieties that list multiple disease resistance just as a way
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to sort of build in a margin of error.
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So let's take all that information and then connect it
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back into the real world, like your actual garden, your space,
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your climate, your goal is right.
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So we kind of want to emphasize 4 different factors.
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The 1st is going to be the climate and the season length.
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The second would be your space and the growth habit of the
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plants, the purpose of your garden, whether that's fresh use
00:19:22
or storage or processing, or in my case, being a market farmer,
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and then your time and your skill level.
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So when we talk about climate and the season length, you want
00:19:32
to look for cues in the catalog that are saying things like, you
00:19:36
know, performs well in cool springs, has good heat
00:19:40
tolerance, it's slow to bolt or it's a short season or extra
00:19:45
early variety, right? So a lot of these phrases are
00:19:48
going to matter if you you have like very hot summers that
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stress out cool season crops like lettuce or broccoli, or if
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you have a very short frost free window in your garden, you're
00:19:58
going to need some, you know, some short season or extra early
00:20:02
crops if you have cool cloudy springs that slow down those
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warm season crops. You know, pair these descriptors
00:20:11
with like the days to maturity number and your local like
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planting calendar to see if a variety is realistically going
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to be mature before the growing conditions become very
00:20:22
unfavorable for you. And then when we look at the
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space and the growth habit, they're usually going to state
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whether a plant is a Bush variety versus a pole variety,
00:20:32
determinate or indeterminate, if it's compact, if it's dwarf, if
00:20:36
it's good for patios or if it's a vining crop.
00:20:39
So if you're, you know, growing in a small garden or in
00:20:42
containers, yes, you might want to look for Bush or compact
00:20:45
varieties, ones that are labeled good for containers or suitable
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for small spaces. If you have a lot of trellises
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or you want more vertical crops, then you're going to look for
00:20:54
pole beans or indeterminate tomatoes or vining cucumbers and
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squash. Rather than short Bush
00:21:00
varieties, you're going to look for varieties that are
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specifically described as being good for vertical growing.
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And then you know your purpose. How are you going to use this
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harvest? The seed catalogs are often
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going to hint at the best uses for these crops.
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Remember, you know, especially when we're talking about
00:21:20
hybrids, these seed developers, these, these these plant
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scientists are, are going to a lot of trouble and a lot of work
00:21:30
to kind of isolate these specific traits within these
00:21:34
plants. And so they oftentimes are going
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to list exactly what it was that they were breeding these plants
00:21:40
for. So if you see something that
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says best fresh or excellent fresh eating, you know that this
00:21:47
this was a variety that was bred to be good fresh off the vine
00:21:51
versus one that is labeled for good for canning or freezing or
00:21:55
one that stores well or is a lawn keeper or ideal for drying,
00:22:00
right? So choose varieties that match
00:22:02
your intended use. A tomato bred for processing,
00:22:06
you know, one that's good for canning might be more meaty and
00:22:10
less juicy. That might not be something that
00:22:12
you're looking for. You know, a salad tomato might
00:22:14
prioritize texture and fresh flavor over its ability to be
00:22:19
stored for root crops and like winter squashes, something that
00:22:23
says it's a good keeper or, you know, good for long storage is
00:22:27
important if your goal is to eat them over several months.
00:22:30
So pay attention to those descriptions.
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And if you're looking at a catalog that doesn't have those
00:22:34
descriptions, you might want to pick a different catalog.
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And then you know that final, you know, consideration is the
00:22:40
time and skill level. A lot of varieties are going to
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be described as, you know, especially vigorous or
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dependable or performs well under a range of conditions or
00:22:50
recommended for beginners. So if you are a a beginner, you
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can prioritize varieties that have this type of language and
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then add that disease resistance to it to increase your
00:23:03
likelihood of success. Now, if you like a challenge,
00:23:06
you you might intentionally choose one or two fussier
00:23:09
varieties, but it's usually better not to make your entire
00:23:12
garden dependent on those. OK, so catalogs are trying to
00:23:18
sell you seeds, right? So there's always going to be
00:23:21
some type of marketing language in the mix.
00:23:24
So this is where you kind of need to focus on specific
00:23:28
measurable traits rather than like vague adjectives.
00:23:33
OK. So like high yielding is only to
00:23:36
be meaningful if you combine it with like the size and the
00:23:41
spacing in your garden and your own planting density.
00:23:44
OK, excellent flavor is totally subjective.
00:23:48
But if there are multiple sources or trial results that
00:23:52
say that they all agree on that flavor, then that's a little bit
00:23:55
more informative, right? Things like all America
00:23:58
selections winners or any of those types of awards that
00:24:02
usually does indicate good performance in trials across
00:24:06
multiple locations. So that actually can be, you
00:24:09
know, something that would encourage you that that's a good
00:24:13
selection to try. Other phrases that might be
00:24:16
helpful would be like if they're crack resistant or crack
00:24:18
tolerant. If you're looking for tomatoes
00:24:20
and you're growing in a wet climate or slow to bolt for, you
00:24:24
know, your lettuce or your cilantro or even your spinach.
00:24:27
If you're growing in a warm region, tip burn resistant would
00:24:31
be one that's good for like heading lettuce or good field
00:24:34
tolerance, which is, you know, going to indicate tolerance to
00:24:38
certain diseases or certain stresses.
00:24:40
So vague phrases like attractive plants or versatile, they're not
00:24:46
bad. It's just marketing, right?
00:24:47
It's, it's just not enough to base a decision on.
00:24:50
So if you pair that with like more concrete information that
00:24:52
we've already talked about, OK, then you're going to be better
00:24:55
off. So let's run through just some
00:24:57
common seed catalog pitfalls and how you can sidestep them.
00:25:01
The first one is buying without checking your frost dates.
00:25:04
OK, if you're choosing varieties purely on description without
00:25:07
checking the days to maturity against your frost free window,
00:25:11
you might get yourself into trouble.
00:25:12
So know your average last spring frost and 1st fall frost date
00:25:17
and use those cattle or that that those dates to calculate
00:25:20
your growing window. And so in that instance, for
00:25:23
your warm season crops, you're going to need to choose
00:25:25
varieties that fit inside that window with some margin.
00:25:29
The second would be ignoring the growth habit in small spaces.
00:25:32
So the mistake would be ordering vining or indeterminate
00:25:36
varieties without enough support or room.
00:25:39
So if you are growing in small beds or containers then
00:25:42
prioritize those compact or Bush or determinate varieties.
00:25:46
If you want vertical crops, then plan your trellises and spacing
00:25:50
ahead of time and then choose the varieties that are described
00:25:53
as good for trellising. Another mistake would be
00:25:56
overlooking that disease resistance.
00:25:58
If you're reordering the same susceptible variety over and
00:26:02
over again in a garden where you have had repeating disease
00:26:05
issues, you're basically just digging yourself deeper and
00:26:08
deeper into that disease hole. So note which diseases you have
00:26:12
actually seen in the garden and then look for varieties that
00:26:15
have those resistant codes or explicit resistance to those
00:26:19
diseases. And then you can combine that
00:26:22
resistance with some crop rotation and some good cultural
00:26:25
practices in the garden to help wipe out those diseases or at
00:26:28
least get yourself a better yield out of the the plants that
00:26:31
do get hit with that disease. And then, you know, one mistake
00:26:35
that I have made before is ordering too many new crops at
00:26:39
one time. So if you end up, you know,
00:26:42
buying seeds, a long list of crops that you've never grown
00:26:46
before, you might, like, feel overwhelmed trying to figure
00:26:50
them all out. So, you know, one way to avoid
00:26:52
this is just introduce one or two new crops or new techniques
00:26:56
per season as you gain experience.
00:26:58
And then keep the rest of the garden like in your comfort zone
00:27:01
so that you have the bandwidth to experiment without like,
00:27:04
getting burned out on all these things.
00:27:07
And then finally, make sure that you are reading the fine print.
00:27:11
Don't make decisions from photos and variety names alone.
00:27:15
Read the full description, including whatever little notes
00:27:19
there are about spacing or the planting method or the best use.
00:27:23
And then also check for any warnings like requires a long
00:27:26
warm season or sensitive to heat or requires staking, whatever
00:27:32
that is. Try to turn your catalogs into
00:27:35
more of a plan like they can. Absolutely be fun Wish books,
00:27:38
but they're also packed with really useful technical
00:27:42
information if you know how to read it.
00:27:47
OK, so we talked about days to maturity and how it relates to
00:27:50
your frost free season, the difference between hybrid and
00:27:53
open pollinated and heirloom seeds, and why each one might
00:27:57
have a place in your garden. How to read disease resistant
00:28:01
code so you're not guessing about what those letters mean.
00:28:04
After a variety name matching the catalog descriptions to your
00:28:08
climate and your space and your goals instead of just what looks
00:28:11
really pretty on the page and avoiding common catalog traps
00:28:14
like over buying and ignoring the growth habit or resistance.
00:28:18
If you do a seed ordering session after listening to this,
00:28:22
I would love if you would share your variety choices with me and
00:28:25
why you picked them. I love hearing how gardeners
00:28:28
match the seed catalogs to their real world gardens and let me
00:28:31
know if any of the information that I shared in this episode
00:28:34
helped you figure out what exactly to order from your seed
00:28:38
book wish list. Until next time, my gardening
00:28:41
friends, have fun perusing your seed catalog Wish books and we
00:28:45
will talk again soon.