Seed catalog season is fun, but it can also be overwhelming. If you’ve ever ordered way more seed than you can possibly plant, chosen a variety that just did not perform in your climate, or gotten confused by all the codes, abbreviations, and marketing language this episode is for you.
Today on Just Grow Something we’re going to talk about how to read a seed catalog.
We’ll cover:
1. Why seed catalogs are tools, not just wish books
2. The key pieces of information in a catalog listing (and what they actually mean)
3. Days to maturity, and why that number is not as simple as it looks
... and more
By the end, you’ll be able to flip through a catalog and quickly decide, “Yes, this variety makes sense for my garden” or “Nope, that’s just clever marketing” and make a wish list that can actually be fulfilled.
Let’s dig in.
Resources:
1. Washington State University Extension. Tips to Making Strategic Vegetable Seed Selections (EM057E), 2025: https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/wp-extension/uploads/sites/2073/2025/01/Vegetable-Seed-Selection.pdf
2. Oregon State University Extension. “How to Read Seed Packets Before You Buy.”: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/how-read-seed-packets-you-buy
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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
00:00:47
overwhelming. So if you've ever ordered way
00:00:49
more seed than you can possibly plant, chosen A variety that
00:00:53
just did not perform in your climate, or gotten confused by
00:00:57
all the codes and abbreviations and the marketing language, this
00:01:01
episode is for you. Today on Just Grow Something,
00:01:03
we're going to talk about how to read a seed catalog, why seed
00:01:06
catalogues are tools, not just wish books, the key pieces of
00:01:10
information in a catalog listing and what they actually mean,
00:01:14
days to maturity and why that number is not as simple as it
00:01:18
looks and more. By the end, you will be able to
00:01:21
flip through a catalog and quickly decide, yes, this
00:01:24
variety makes sense for my garden, or Nope, that's just
00:01:27
clever marketing and make a wish list that can actually be
00:01:31
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
00:16:03
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
00:17:08
if it gets the disease than one that does not have this
00:17:11
resistance. So just know if you're doing
00:17:15
something like tomatoes maybe, and you're planting heirlooms
00:17:18
and you have frequently seen problems with like early blight
00:17:22
and say powdery mildew, and the heirlooms generally are not
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going to be very resistant to these specific diseases.
00:17:29
So if you want to guarantee yourself that you're getting
00:17:31
something in the way of tomatoes, then you may go ahead
00:17:34
and plant those heirlooms. But you might go and look for
00:17:36
one or two varieties that specifically list these diseases
00:17:40
as being resistant to them, just to make sure that you're
00:17:43
covering your bases. If you really want to make sure
00:17:46
that you get tomatoes, you might also see terms like HR or IR.
00:17:51
So HR would be high resistance, IR would be intermediate or
00:17:55
moderate resistance. Catalogs are going to sometimes
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explain which diseases are more problematic.
00:18:01
If you have a regional catalog or for specific crops, that
00:18:06
might help you decide whether or not the resistance you know that
00:18:09
is listed under there is relevant to your situation.
00:18:12
But you can also check your extension agency because usually
00:18:15
they're going to list for you, you know, under vegetable
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gardening, what crops are more susceptible to which specific
00:18:22
diseases. But you know, to use this
00:18:25
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?
00:18:31
Right, That's step number one. And are there any known local
00:18:35
issues like like bacterial, well downy mildew that you kind of
00:18:39
want to plan around? So if you know that you've had a
00:18:43
few cerium wilt in your tomatoes and choosing varieties with an F
00:18:47
code gives you a better chance of success.
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And a lot of extensions are going to recommend choosing
00:18:53
varieties that list multiple disease resistance just as a way
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to sort of build in a margin of error.
00:19:00
So let's take all that information and then connect it
00:19:03
back into the real world, like your actual garden, your space,
00:19:06
your climate, your goal is right.
00:19:08
So we kind of want to emphasize 4 different factors.
00:19:12
The 1st is going to be the climate and the season length.
00:19:15
The second would be your space and the growth habit of the
00:19:18
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,
00:19:26
and then your time and your skill level.
00:19:28
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
00:19:52
stress out cool season crops like lettuce or broccoli, or if
00:19:55
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
00:20:06
warm season crops. You know, pair these descriptors
00:20:11
with like the days to maturity number and your local like
00:20:15
planting calendar to see if a variety is realistically going
00:20:19
to be mature before the growing conditions become very
00:20:22
unfavorable for you. And then when we look at the
00:20:25
space and the growth habit, they're usually going to state
00:20:28
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
00:20:48
for small spaces. If you have a lot of trellises
00:20:51
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
00:20:59
squash. Rather than short Bush
00:21:00
varieties, you're going to look for varieties that are
00:21:03
specifically described as being good for vertical growing.
00:21:08
And then you know your purpose. How are you going to use this
00:21:10
harvest? The seed catalogs are often
00:21:12
going to hint at the best uses for these crops.
00:21:17
Remember, you know, especially when we're talking about
00:21:20
hybrids, these seed developers, these, these these plant
00:21:25
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
00:21:37
to list exactly what it was that they were breeding these plants
00:21:40
for. So if you see something that
00:21:42
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.
00:22:32
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.
00:22:36
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
00:22:42
be described as, you know, especially vigorous or
00:22:46
dependable or performs well under a range of conditions or
00:22:50
recommended for beginners. So if you are a a beginner, you
00:22:54
can prioritize varieties that have this type of language and
00:22:59
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.