Dan's Gardening and Birding Blog: Seed Catalogs Are Arriving/Winter Bird Photos

Welcome back. Although I have been posting mostly about birdwatching over the last month or so, gardening is always on my mind even during the winter months. I'm always thinking ahead to the next season in regards to which varieties to try, etc. With the snowstorm this past week, which gave us a 30 inch snowfall, Spring seems so far away.

Over the the last few weeks I have been receiving seed catalogs. They seem to come earlier each year. Although I buy most of my seeds locally, sometimes I order from the catalogs especially if I want to try a specific variety that catches my eye. I will cover each catalog that I have received to date, and highlight one variety from each.

The first catalog I received is Totally Tomatoes. How appropriate for me, as I love to grow tomatoes, especially heirlooms. If you are a tomato and/or pepper lover, this catalog is for you.

One new variety they are offering is Belle of the Ball tomato. This one is an heirloom hybrid (from two French heirlooms), which is an interesting concept in itself. In recent years I tend to stray away from hybrids, which were bred to produce uniformly sized, perfectly shaped fruits for mass sale. But in the process some flavor was lost. The heirlooms offer the best flavor, however they also are sometimes oddly shaped, etc.

Therefore a hybrid of 2 heirloom varieties is a great idea to blend the best with the best.

The next catalog I received is Seeds 'nSuch. They have a good selection of veggie and flower seeds.

Keeping with the tomato theme, I will highlight a variety called Mountain Merit Hybrid. You may be wondering why I am mentioning a hybrid tomato after just touting the advantages of the heirlooms.

If you have had problems with tomato blight (early and late), this tomato may be for you. This one has resistance to blight. There are other "Mountain" varieties with blight resistance as well so you can choose which variety you would like. I have had problems with blight for years, although I still manage to get a decent tomato harvest. I try to to rotate where I plant each year which helps somewhat. It is also important to dispose of vegetation instead of tilling into the soil in the Fall. Also, applying a copper fungicide (spray) to your plants several times during the season can help.

The third catalog I have received is Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds This all inclusive catalog comes in at 162 pages and is more like a book.

They offer some rare and interesting heirloom tomatoes. One extremely rare variety is Thorburn's Terra Cotta from 1893. It is very unusual looking, but the flavor is described as "out of this world". It is a prolific producer as well.

Thorburn's Terra Cotta

This catalog is worth taking a look at, you can request a free copy.

I am looking forward to receiving more catalogs in the coming weeks. I will share them with you as I do. Although it is too early to start seeds, the following is a link if you are interested in purchasing seed starting supplies . The time will be here before we know it!

I will leave you with some recent bird photos. Enjoy. Thanks for reading.