New Seed Catalogue

Hi everyone;

I have to apologize for the delay in getting the new catalogue online.  It has been a monumentally busy year and the biggest change has been the need to take a second (or fourth) job to help offset the cost of our amazing new seed storage facility.  I have been glad and worried about my choice ever since, however, I wanted to let you know I am working on it feverishly and taking every spare minute to package all the wonderful seeds reaped from this year’s harvest.  So in lieu of the catalogue I will make a brief listing here.  Also, I did do a short list previously, so check that out as well.

For those of you waiting for a printed version (and I do these in rare cases, as the cost is a lot), I will get that to you shortly.  Always you can download the catalogue to your own computer and peruse it online or print it (eek, think of the environment) so you can review it at your leisure.

Here are the new listings:

New Seed Offerings 2015

Wheat –

Chinook – introduced in 1952 by Ag. Canada.  Huge yields, bug resistant grows up to 6 feet.  Good wheat flavor.

Brazilian Lavras – Used in Brazil for their traditional bread making.  An interesting variety. Produces in all kinds of whether, growing up to 6 feet (shorter on the prairies).  Delicious as a whole grain.

Blue Tinge Ethiopian – An original wheat, Emmer type, about 3 feet tall on the prairies, with a blue cast to the seeds and heads.  Easy to thresh and good producer.  Can be cooked whole or ground.  Delicious

Tibetan – Used in traditional Tibetan cooking (Tsampa), great flavor and good producer.  It was one of the taller varieties, growing 4 feet tall.  Easy to harvest and thresh.

Peas –

Penner Family Russian Sugar Snap – 65 days. As it says, an excellent sugar snap pea, used fresh or for stir frying or blanching for frozen use.  Eat the whole pod.  Good producer, tall climber. 20 seeds, limited offering.

Pea – Risser Sugar Snap – 65 days.  I found this one in my quest for good sugar snap varieties.  It is an excellent producer on the prairies of good sized sugar snap pods that stay tender all season. Save seed from one plant in the row. 20 seeds per package.

Amish Snap – 60-70 days.  This pea is an heirloom from Lancaster County PA, USA.  It can grow quite tall.  It is similar to Risser, and as productive and tasty.  30 seeds

Rheinische Zucker Erbse – A rare German sugar pea with bright green delicious pods.  It grew to 5.5 feet, and the pods are productive in all weather, all season.  A great choice. About 35 seeds per package.

Beans

Purple Flowered Fava – a great ornamental Broad Bean, growing highly ornamental magenta purple to black flowers on the plant.  Separate this kind to preserve the color.  Limited offering.  Green favas are edible.

Purple Podded Pole – a very high climber, this striking plant can be used to cover gazebos and gondolas with the added beauty of deep purple pods of edible beans.  Longer season, but it is very prolific. Discovered by Henry Fields in the Ozark Mountains in the 1930’s.  78 days.

Burpees Stringless – 50-65 days.  Also known as stringless green Pod.  An heirloom introduced by the Burpee seed company in 1898 as entirely stringless and productive.  IT is green, round, straight and prolific.  It also tastes great.  About 40-50 seeds.

Fortin Family wax – 55 days. This is a productive and valuable Heirloom yellow bean, bush variety and early for the prairies. It is as productive if not more so than Pisarecka Zlutoluske.  Grown by the Fortin Family in Quebec for many generations.  About 35 seeds.

Heritage Mix – 50-60 days.  A great mix of 4 or 5 different beans of all shapes, sizes and colors from known Heirlooms.  This will keep you in beans all summer long!  Grow out and keep the ones you like the best.  Range from pencil pod greens to fat types and yellow ones.  Awesome fun.  45-50 seeds each package.

Red Swan – 55 days.  Reoffered.  This stunning red bean is productive and tasty and creates quite a show in the garden.  Beans have same great flavor as other traditional green types.  Grow and share, 35-40 seeds per package.

Duane Baptiste Potato Bean – 60 days.  An heirloom bean that is very rare.  IT is a truly Canadian Bean and was grown by the Mohawk Natives for many years before the arrival of the white men.  It is a bush variety, producing long green beans that later mature to white fat beans of excellent soup and stew quality.  They did well in the dry conditions this year.  I have only a limited offering of 10 seeds per package to anyone who wants to grow these out and continue to preserve this nearly extinct variety.

Kabouli Black Garbanzo – 78 days.  A truly interesting growing experience!  These Chickpeas end up with an abundance of 2 seeded pods which ripen to a midnight black.  It makes interesting hummus!  Actually chickpeas are all sorts of colors!  Limited offering, 15 seeds.

Tanya’s Pink Pod – 67 days.  A bush bean that supports large quantities of delicately colored pink, flat pods, similar to Romano in size and taste.  An exciting addition to the bean patch.  Seeds are large, flattish and kidney shaped.  Limited offering of 20 seeds.

Variation of Tanya’s (Green stripe) – 67 days.  These beans were in with Tanya’s Pink pod, but they are more green with blue streaking.  Same shape, flat and long.  Good taste and texture.  Limited offering of 20 seeds.

Spinach –

Amsterdam Prickly seeded – 45-50 days.  This is an interesting spinach variety that produces an abundance of seed which have a decided sharp end.  Thresh with gloves to ensure your hide remains intact.  The plants have huge green succulent leaves with traditional rich spinach flavor.  50 seeds.

Giant Noble – 50 days.  A great open-pollinated variety introduced in 1926.  This heirloom can get two feet across and the leaves are very large, making easy picking and preserving.  50 seeds.

Giant Winter – 50 days.  An Italian Heirloom grown for leaves throughout the winter months where climates will support this.  If you have a greenhouse this might work, otherwise sow in late fall when the snow about to fall and you will enjoy early spring spinach leaves the size of your hand.  Well worth the effort. It can be grown throughout the summer as well like any other spinach.  50 seeds.

Kale –

I always sell out so order early.  This year, these seeds are from a reputable gardener. About 50-60 days for each. 50 seeds per package. Grow under a row cover to avoid Cabbage worms.

Dutch Blue Curled – A frilly kale with thick curled leaves with a blue tinge.

Red Russian – Bluish leaves with red veins.  One of the favorites, also called Raggedy Jack.

White Russian – Like Red Russian but light green with green veins and stems.  Mild flavor.

Lacinato (Dinosaurs) Kale – This is also known as Nero kale, but this one is slightly darker green than the one below.  Long leaves are slightly wavy and narrow.  Grows well here.

Nero di Toscana (Lacinato) – an Italian variety heirloom kale with long pointy leaves, slightly wavy and light green.

Frilly Kale – Medium green frilly leaves, broad and succulent.  This kale is cold tolerant and also does well in the heat.

Lacinato Rainbow – This dinosaur type kale has a myriad of colors ranging in the purple, blue and red hues.  Grows well on the prairies.

Cucumbers –

Early Green Cluster – 60 -65 days.  Reintroduced, double pickling cucumber, meaning that it can produce clusters of cucumbers on the vines.  Good variety, medium spreading, light green pickling cucumbers.  20 seeds per packet.

Sumter – 55 days.  Introduced in 1953, this cucumber is considered an heirloom which was bred the old fashioned way for disease resistance.  Cucmbers are blocky green for pickling use.  Did well in 2014, but we have a limited number of seed available.  15 seeds per packet.  Call or email ahead.

Squash – Zucchini

Golden (or yellow) – 55 days.  Bushy plants produce a flow of long golden colored zucchini all summer long.  10 seeds per pack.

Black Beauty –  55 days.  An heirloom open-pollinated dark green/black skinned zucchini with traditional flavor.  Prolific.  10 seeds per packet.

See also Long of Naples below.

Squash – Butternut type

Long of Naples – 95 days.  Wow!  That is all I can say.  It is listed as a butternut type and indeed the flesh is deep healthy orange.  However, it is also stringy like a vegetable spaghetti making it a wonderful addition for the world of squash lovers.  It is an heirloom from 1863 and it is extremely rare in Canada.  I am probably not the only one growing it, but it is absolutely fabulous young as a zucchini, and older as a soup, baking and vegetable spaghetti squash.  It has a rich sweet flavor and can grow to 25 lbs.  I will include recipes on the website.  I won top prize in the giant squash contest!  The skin is green with lighter green markings.  It grows up to 3’ long.

Brode Galeux d’Eysines (Galeux d’Eysines) – 97 days.  A most exceptional and beautiful squash pumpkin type, that is also tasty for soup and pies.  It is a rare French Heirloom called Embroidered with warts from Eysines (an area in the Bordeaux region of France).  It is also called the Peanut pumpkin in some references, but I have grown Peanut and it does not develop the warts as quickly as this variety.  So I am maintaining it is different.  Lovely deep orange , sugary firm flesh, it is still keeping in storage.  Wonderful for fall decorations for the kids also.  10 seeds.

Fairytale pumpkin – 100 days.  This is not the same pumpkin as the Rouge vif d’Etampes nor the Muscee de Provence.  It is a nice bright orange, squat and up to 10 lbs.  Mine was 20” across, with a mostly hollow center, tasty in pie and soup. It is slightly lobed, not deeply like the others.  Not many seeds inside. 10 seeds per package.

Yellow Scallop Squash – 60 days.  This is a bushy variety that produces an abundance of bright orangey yellow summer squashes like zucchinis, coming from the center of the clump.  Flavor like a scallop squash, or patipan.  These make a great addition to the summer kitchen.  Abundant. 10 seeds.

Yellow fat scallop – 60 days. I have not quite tracked down whether this is a variant of the yellow scallop or a different squash.  The bushy plants grow like scallop squashes, but these yellow/orange ones are uniquely shaped like a cup with a scallop top cover.  Interesting and tasty.  Use like summer squashes like zucchini or scallop.  10 seeds.

Scallop mix – a mixture of the above 2 yellow kinds is available also.  Call or email for an order of these seeds, 20 per package.

Sunflowers –

Short Stuff – 70 days.  A shorter version of an edible seeded sunflower, traditional medium sized heads produce many edible oil seeds that can be enjoyed in the winter or set out for the birds.  Your choice.  25 seeds per package.

Flowerbed mix – An assortment of reds, yellows, and variations of orange mix to make your summer bouquets delightful.  25 seeds per package.

Others

Sweet William Mix – an assortment of the colors that make this a favorite homestead flower, red, pink, white and variations therein.

Snapdragons – red/yellow stripe

Snapdragons – raging red

Snapdragons – deep red mix

Snapdragons – Yellow with red trim

Poppy – Old Farmstead double red delight.  Grown on an abandoned homestead in Northern Alberta, this is a rescue poppy, beautiful vibrant hot pink/red.  Try it.

Broccoli –

Waltham 29 – 60 days.  A great find for the open-pollinated broccoli varieties, making nice sized heads of broccoli followed by many side heads of good size.  Cover with a row cover to keep the cabbage moths out. 50 seeds

Umpqua – 55 days.  A sprouting broccoli type with larger heads and long holding ability.  Limited seed available. 50 seeds.

Calabrese – 55 days.  Called a green sprouting type, the 4” main heads lead to many side shoots once picked.  A good Italian open-pollinated broccoli. 50 seeds, only a few packages.

 

Corn – Sweet types

Ashworth Rat Selected – 75 days, heirloom.  The name may not sound very good.  But even rats know that certain corn kernels are sweeter than others and apparently that is what John Ashworth of St. Lawrence Seeds knew and helped him develop one of the best sweet corns around.  I can attest that the mice have chosen this one as well!  The 6” cobs produce sweet kernels of golden corn for fresh eating. Good for cold soil germination. 45-50 seeds.

Simonet – 60-65 days, reintroduced Heirloom. A Canadian corn, developed by Rob Simonet of Edmonton in 1920! Yay! The stalks are shorter for a shorter season area, producing 6” cobs with good corn flavor, sweet when picked and eaten straight away.  Like many true open-pollinated corns, they convert their sugar to starch more rapidly than hybrids.  This one will not rot in cold soils, making it ideal for planting out.  Start indoors 2 weeks early if you are worried.  Cannot go wrong.  35-50 seeds.

Indian Blue Sweet Corn – 75-80 days, heirloom.  I wondered if this would be the same variety as the Black Aztec, but it is not, although it’s heritage probably dates back at least as far.  Thought to have been obtained in Olympia WA, by Mr. Ira Hooker in the 1930’s it is also called Hooker’s Sweet Indian.  The kernels start out white, when it is eaten fresh.  As they ripen, the corn turns yellow, then pink (when it is most flavorful), the purple and finally blue.  It dries black and can be ground into sweet corn flour for polenta.  Wonderful and delicious.  30-45 kernels per package.

Black Aztec Sweet – 75-80 days, heirloom.  Rumor has it that this corn might have been traded as early as 1860, and it is still one of the best around.  The flavor is highest when in the milk stage, and can be roasted over a fire to bring out the best it has to offer.  Or it can be left to ripen into the dark kernels that can also be used in any recipe calling for corn flour, or for soups.  Wonderful for our area also. 35-45 seeds.

Luther Hill – 75 days, heirloom.  The old standby white sweet corn.  Small cobs with great corn flavor, and short plants.  Good for a short season, because they mature faster.  Cobs are smaller but there are 2-3 per plant.  35-45 seeds.

Corn – Flour/ ornamental or hominy

Pennsylvania Dutch Butter Flavored Popcorn –  Heirloom 1885.  Wow! This corn will produce even though it is 100 days or more.  I started them all super early and was rewarded with kernels for popping by fall.  The mice really thought they tasted like butter as well, so I had to rescue the drying crop before they got them all.  Kernels are butter colored and pop up to look yellowy, and have awesome flavor – hence the name.  Try it and you will be thrilled.  50 seeds.

Dakota Black Popcorn – Heirloom, pre- 1890’s.  One of the original land race varieties, these kernels are deep red, ripening to almost black, and although they were sorely neglected in their isolation plot, they ripened and produced a limited amount of seed so if you want some it is special order by email.  Let me know.

Red Indian Flour – From an ornamental blend.  80-90 days. These seeds will produce a decent crop of red corn kernels that make excellent flour tortillas.  I am going to include a recipe on the website on how to make these from scratch.  You will get a variation in color in your crop but most will be red.  40 seeds.

Ornamental Native flour/popcorn mix – 80-90 days.  An exciting exotic mix of colored cobs and foliage, all of which can be used to grind into flour or popped for kernels of excellent flavor and texture.  Also add them to soup, after you have used them for fall decorations that is!!  40 seeds.

Radishes –

Daikon – 67 days.  The original long white root that is used in salads, kimchi and other Asian dishes since time immemorial.  Used also as a deep tiller of soil and for rat tail use(the immature pods are eaten whole in salads).  Productive and great tasting.  Used in Restoration Agriculture fields to bring minerals from deep underground to top dwelling plants.  50 seeds, or bulk packs upon request.

German Giant – 40 days.  Making large red skinned and white fleshed tender globes in early summer, this giant of a radish is never bitter or hot.  Wonderful variety. 40-50 seeds.

Purple plum – 35 days.  Good sized purple skinned roots, with slightly colored flesh.  They are tender and juicy.  40-50 seeds.

Peppers

Antohi Frying – from Romania.  78 days.  These plants produce 4-6” long tapered thick walled sweet peppers that begin yellow and ripen to red.  They are an heirloom brought back from Romania by Jan Antohi who defected to the US.  They are sautéed in hot oil to bring out their sweet full flavor. 20 seeds.  A rare offering.

Italian Sweet – 70 days. The appearance of a large chili and the taste of a sweet pepper, the Italian Sweet is a rare find.  Up to 8” long, thick walled and ripening to a deep red.  Sure to please.  20 seeds.

Eggplants

Kashmiri Brinjal – 80 days.  These lavender fruits were 4” long, oval shaped and prolific.  They did well despite a poor start weather-wise and much competition.  From Kashmir, North India.  15 seeds.

Japanese White Egg – 65 days.  An early maturing variety of white eggplants that turn yellow in the blazing sun.  They are oval shaped and about the size to fit in your palm.  Productive and good for our climate.  They like lots of heat, so put them near the house out of the wind.  15 seeds.

Applegreen – 70 days.  One of my favorites.  These cute round to oval 3” fruits are lime green and perfect for stirfries or curries.  They are dense and delicious.  Start indoors as per all Solanum family members.  15 seeds.

Fast Round – 65 days.  Abundant producer of the deep purple eggplants we know, smaller version obviously, but they kept going all summer, and liked the heat of the dry year.  Fruits are about 4” long. 15 seeds.

Little Fingers – 65 days.  Plants produce many small finger shaped deep purple fruits.  Sweet and tender all summer, even when larger.  15 seeds, limited numbers.

Potatoes on offer;

Heather’s Norland – early large, red skin, white flesh, all purpose

Red Norland – early medium to large, red skin, white flesh, productive and all purpose

Cherry red – Early, medium red skin, round and white flesh, all use, great for new potatoes

Warba (1933) – mottled white skin with deeper pink eyes, moist white flesh, fairly early, all use.  A German potato with great flavor.

Sangre – Mid season medium sized, dark red skin, slightly elongated, white flesh, baking, boiling, uses

Sante – mid season, white skinned, dry fleshed firm potato.  Medium yields, good all purpose baker.

Danish – from the world traveler.  A white skinned, medium sized, white flesh tuber which is slightly dry.  Good producers, great flavor.

Irish Cobbler – since the late 1800’s this has been around in recorded history.  This somewhat flattish yellow skinned, yellow moist fleshed potatoe is a standby in any potato salad recipe.  Good yields, taste and good storage qualities.  Somewhat prone to scab.

Ukrainian – A white skin, white to yellow fleshed moist potato, slightly flat, but more rounded than Irish Cobbler.  Good storage, baking and other uses.  Great for pyrogy use.

Carola – a midseason, German yellow fleshed, white skinned type with good moist flesh of excellent taste.  Limited quantities.

Purple Chief – early deep red/purple skinned, white moist fleshed potato.  Good keeper and good yields.

Onaway- a fairly new addition to the potato family, this is a white skinned, white to yellow fleshed moist early potato with good yields.  Used for all baking, boiling and new potato use.

Nordonna – Grown as a replacement for Norland, it has slightly higher yields of round red skinned, medium sized, white fleshed tubers than Red Norland.  Good disease resistance and slightly more keeping capacity.

Shepody – Mid-season, white skin and flesh, large sized oblong tubers of great quality and keeping ability.  Some disease resistance.  Good yields.

Pink Fir Apple (Pink Finger) – early high yields of fingerling potatoes, pink skin and creamy yellow flesh.  Grown for over 100 years.

Caribe – early excellent yields of purple skinned, oblong, medium to large sized white fleshed tubers, store excellent, multi-use and medium moist tasty flesh.

Yellow Finger – mid-season to late, abundant yields of finger shaped and sized tubers, some growing large, skin is yellow as is the moist, almost waxy flesh that is absolutely the best for oven roasted Italian potatoes.  They never need peeling and are tasty and sweet.

Fianna – From the world traveler.  It was bred in Denmark. This smooth oval tuber is white skinned and dry white fleshed, with medium size and medium yields.  Grown to be a French fry potato since it does not absorb a lot of fat.

Timo – From the world traveler during his visit to Finland.  Timo is also known as Hankkijan Timo.  It is a well loved favorite there.  It is early and produces well.  It has white skin and slightly yellow moist flesh, and that is why it tastes great.

Ada’s White –  From the seasoned traveler, this is another find from a local grower who has had it in her family forever.  Ada’s white is oblonged, mid-season, and white skinned, almost brown, like a baker.  The flesh is white and light.

India white – Mid-season, oblong, medium sized, multi-use potatoes.  White  thin skin and moist white flesh.

Nooksack – An Aboriginal landrace variety of brown skinned white fleshed medium moist baker.  Moister than a russet.  Good yields of medium to large tubers.

Toolas – From the world traveler.  It is a small to medium sized fairly round white thin skinned potato with white moist to waxy flesh.  Medium yields.

Green Mountain – a late season potato but worth growing for the huge yields of large, oblong tubers of excellent disease resistance and storage qualities.  Makes great fries.

Agria – early season, yellow skin and flesh, moist large sized potatoes for all uses. It is one of the best tasting early potatoes.

Luke’s Bush Cobbler – a bush variant of Irish cobbler for smaller garden spaces.  Good yields, similar characteristics otherwise to Irish Cobbler.

Red Thumb – deep red skin, white fleshed tubers of medium size, definitely fat thumb shaped and mid-season.  Medium yields.

Chieftain – early red skin white flesh, great yielding potato one of the better keepers for an early potato.  Standby for early boiled eating and new potato taste.

Bintje – 1910. A late white skinned, white fleshed, medium dry baking, boiling potato with exceptional keeping qualities and good disease resistance.

Red Pontiac – A mid-season, deep red skinned, white moist fleshed tuber, good storage and yields.

All Red – medium to late maturing.  These potatoes are as the name implies, a cheery red color inside and out.  Keeps during cooking so you can make wonderful mashed potatoes for Valentine’s day without the need for poisoning food color!

Yukon Gold – medium maturing.  Yukon gold is a yellow skin, yellow tasty flesh, moist waxy potato of great quality and production.  Makes quite large tubers sometimes. Developed in Guelph and released in 1966.

Oma’s Saskatchewan White – obtained in 2009 from a decendent of a German Immigrant who brought these white skinned, smooth tubers from the old country.  They are mid-season, white fleshed and fairly moist with good storage abilities.

Red Cloud – a mid-season, white fluffy fleshed red-skin round potato which makes heavenly light baked potatoes.  Good storage.

Egyptian White – obtained from a seasoned traveler who loves collecting rare varieties.  This white skin, white flesh tuber is abundant and mid-season.  It keeps well.  Tubers are slightly oblong and good for all uses.

Red Gold – Mid-season, medium red skin and golden flesh, moist and good yields and flavor.

Wendy’s Purple – from the seasoned traveler, these potatoes are a variety grown by his neighbor Wendy for many years.  They are purple skinned, oblong and white fleshed, with good disease resistance and performance in all soil types.  Medium sized and medium moist.

Chaleur – Early producer, white skin and flesh.  Potatoes are round to oval, comparable to a Yukon gold.  It was developed for French fry use.

All Purple – also called All Blue.  This one is inside and out a purple/blue which can be hard to find in moist soil.  The tubers are quite large, and make a great mix for potato salads.  More antioxidants exist in potatoes with deep flesh colors. So eat your vitamins.

Early Ohio – early season White potato with white creamy flesh.  Slightly on the dry side.  Yields are good and they keep well.

Roko – mid-season bright red skin and white flesh.  Used for all purposes.  It is high yielding and stores excellent.

 

I may add to this in the next few days, but for now, enjoy!!

Denise