Seed catalogs vs. reality
It’s mid-December and gardeners are in the clutches – the bustle, the hustle, the holiday mayhem – of seed catalog season. Hohoho. What fantasies will capture us this year – maybe blue tomatoes that taste like watermelons? Before the catalogs cast their spells and you fall under, consider the size of your garden and lessons you’ve learned before you order the entire catalog.
I just noticed I have never used the word “bustle” in any other context, such as, “I bustled to my job this morning because democracy depends on me.” However, the subject at hand is intelligent, efficient, fair-minded planning which applies not only to gardening and maintaining your seed inventory but to running the government for all people, not just oligarchs (does RFK have health insurance… not everybody does).
Regarding lessons learned, I had never grown Corbacci peppers before, so I grew a few. They are slender, long sweet peppers which turn bright red when ripe but are green, yellow, orange before red… delightful to see walking down the path. Preparing them for a salad or a rice-bean mélange requires removing the seeds which are attached to the pithy membrane inside which extends the length of the pepper. It’s a tiny bother to remove the pith and seeds, and flavor of the thin-skinned Corbaccis does not match thicker-skinned bells, and removing bell seeds is easy. Maybe I’ll order only plumper peppers.
Some folks can dozens of quarts of tomatoes. Not me. Sounds like an exciting gardening challenge but growing that many tomatoes would take more space and time than my cat and I have available. A disciplined plan for my garden space, therefore, could include three pairs of traditional varieties (Cherokee Purple, Orange Jubilee or Brandywine, for example) and three or four pairs of exotics like Wooly Kate or Wapsipinicon Peach. I hear tell there is a skinny six-inch paste tomato I haven’t grown yet, so…
I’ve also learned some packets of tomato, pepper and lettuce seeds never run out, so seed swapping is useful and neighborly.
Another reason I limit space for tomatoes is a move toward extra space for perennials such as beautyberries, serviceberries and raspberries. They don’t require much attention for the amount of nutrition they provide. Another worthwhile long-term investment is a patch of asparagus. After 12 years, I still get a month of tasty spears in mid-spring followed by 11 months of weeding to protect the crowns. The crowns last maybe 15 years, so I don’t need to order more yet.
Jerusalem artichokes, also called sunchokes, are a perennial native sunflower relative with small edible tubers with texture similar to jicamas. Cut them into cute little pieces and roast them with potatoes and beets. Tubers left in the ground will survive our winters and sprout tall new stalks with small yellow flowers year after year. They will create a colony so give them their own space toward the north side of the garden. Harvest the tubers in autumn before the ground freezes. Plenty seed catalogs and online sources offer sunchoke tubers. You’ll order just once.
I have learned to include plenty flowers and herbs in the garden plan because the garden is incomplete without them. I started four or five butterfly plants from seeds a few years ago, and though the plants die back at season’s end, they sprout again in spring, and, yes, they attract butterflies like Honolulu for hippies. Cosmos and zinnias reseed themselves which makes them basically perennials, and pollinators like them.
And herbs also belong all over your garden. Oregano will establish itself and spread till you stop it, and it’s a powerful medicinal. A common sage plant, also a medicinal, might live five years and become a small shrub, plus it produces bluish flowers the second year and readily drops seeds.
However, many vegetables, herbs and flowers are annuals. You’ll need more seeds, and that is why Benjamin Franklin invented seed catalogs.