Tag: seeds

Cover of catalogue from Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Maine, 7.75 x 10.25 in., 244 pp.

Next up on our tour of seed catalogues is my favorite of all, Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Johnny’s, based in Winslow, Maine, is a large operation that was started in 1973 in New Hampshire by a 22-year-old named Rob Johnston. Back then it was briefly called Johnny Apple Seeds, but that name had already been taken. Now employee owned, Johnny’s is a member of the Safe Seed Initiative, pledging that it will not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants.

One thing I love about this catalogue is the wealth of information in it. It’s better than many most of the gardening books I’ve got from the library. Growing guides are provided for many varieties of vegetable. Second, extraordinary comparison images show differences among varieties. And, finally, the photography is excellent. All three features can be seen in this excerpt from the bush beans section:

Johnnys Selected Seeds, excerpt from section on bush beans.

Read More

Kitazawa catalogue cover.

Kitazawa, now based in Oakland, offers a two-color (green and black) catalogue printed on yellow paper and illustrated with line drawings. 2017 marks the company’s 100th anniversary. It was founded by Gijiu Kitazawa, an apprentice to a Japanese seed company who immigrated to the U.S. and settled in San Jose, where he sold seeds out of a downtown store.

Kitazawa seed catalogue contents page.

During the war the Kitazawa family was forcibly interred into relocation camps, and the business had to be abandoned. Because of the internments, many Japanese-American farmers lost their farms, so after the war Kitazawa, having lost its local market, began a mail-order business.

Kitazawa catalogue spread.

The company features a range of Asian vegetables, not limited to Japanese. I would say that they have the most extensive selection of Asian vegetable seeds of any of the vendors I received catalogues from. Their descriptions are concise but informative.

Kitazawa special packages.

Besides individual seed packets, priced at $3.69, the company offers packages of several seeds, called “Chef Specialty Gardens,” at a reduced price. I ordered the Stir Fry Garden mix.

Kitazawa seed packets.

I also ordered several other seeds from Kitazawa this year, and the company responded instantly: As I recall, the well-packaged seeds were in my mailbox the very next day! I was astonished.

A Kitazawa recipe.

In keeping with the family-oriented spirit of the company, their catalogue includes some recipes using the vegetables.

Orders can be made by phone, fax, mail, or via a secure web page: order info is here. This is one of my favorite seed vendors. Highly recommended.

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that one of the delights of gardening is browsing seed and plant catalogues. I have a handful of vendors I usually buy from, but this year I decided to do a fairly comprehensive survey of vendors and their catalogues. I know it’s late in the season for this, but I think there is still value in comparing the catalogues, if only for preparing for the fall batch (though I still have some spring ordering to do). In subsequent posts I’ll discuss many in detail. For now, here’s a gallery of the covers, together with the location of the vendor, the trim size of the catalogue, and its length. Stay tuned for more (list of vendors below the gallery).

The catalogues:

• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Missouri, 9 x 10.75 in., 148 pp.
• Bluestone Perennials, Ohio, 8 x 10 in., 92 pp.
• Botanical Interests, Colorado, 8.5 x 10.75 in., 72 pp.
• Bountiful Gardens, California, 8.25 x 10.25 in., 72 pp.
• Grow Organic: Fruit Trees, California, 7.75 x 10 in., 68 pp.
• Grow Organic: Gardening Essentials, California, 7.75 x 10 in., 68 pp.
• Grow Organic: Quality Tools, California, 7.75 x 10 in., 68 pp.
• Grow Organic: Seeds, California, 7.75 x 10 in., 68 pp.
• Growers Supply, Connecticut, 7.75 x 10 in., 138 pp.
• Gurney’s, Indiana, 9.25 x 13 in., 68 pp.
• Harris Seeds: Garden Trends, New York, 7.25 x 10.25, 124 pp.
• J. L. Hudson, Seedsman, California, 5.5 x 8.5 in., 96 pp.
• Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Maine, 7.75 x 10.25 in., 244 pp.
• Kitazawa Seed Co., California, 8.5 x 11 in., 48 pp.
• Park Seed, South Carolina, 8 x 10 in., 148 pp.
• Pepper Joe’s, Maryland, 5.5 x 8.5 in., 34 pp.
• Pinetree, Maine, 8 x 10 in., 132 pages
• Raintree Nursery, Washington, 8.5 x 10.75 in., 96 pp.
• Richters, Ontario, 6 x 9.5 in., 96 pp.
• Seed Savers Exchange, Iowa, 8.5 x 10.25 in., 116 pp.
• Seeds from Italy, Kansas, 5.5 x 8.5 in., 64 pp.
• Seeds of Change, Minnesota, 7.75 x 10 in., 68 pp.
• Select Seeds, Connecticut, 8 x 10 in., 68 pp.
• Territorial Seeds Co., Oregon, 7.25 x 10.25 in., 164 pp.
• Wayside Gardens, South Carolina, 8 x 10.5 in., 104 pp.
• White Flower Farm, Connecticut, 8 x 10 in., 140 pp.

Trim size is approximate (the edges of some catalogues are rather imprecisely  trimmed). Some catalogues have self covers and others have a cover stock around the inside pages. Most number the cover as page 1, but some omit the covers from the page counts. (One, Pinetree, actually numbers the inside front cover as 1, so that their versos are odd and their rectos are even. That’s dumb, and someone should have a word with them.) I have tallied up the pages as best I can, including the cover pages in the count.