06:33
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I'm not sure I detect any strong new trends this year, but the turn, about in the middle of this project, towards a wider range of plants including grains continues to gather strength. There are more locally-adapted and bred varieties being listed, and the number of greens and herbs available is now quite amazing. Along with the local heirlooms, there is a much larger selection of international choices, some of which will no doubt become locally adapted, and some of which will not.
I try to time this post so that most everybody will have their new listings up, but the spread is enough that some of the early-birds are showing sold-out items already.
So, without further ado, go forth and... sow!
As ever, don't forget to check Seeds of Diversity's Seed Catalogue Index if you are looking for something specific (and, in fact, if you are just browsing too).
A'Bunadh Seeds: What can you grow in zone 2a (a 90 to 110 day season)? More than you would think! Green Orient beans, Amsterdam prickly-seeded spinach, Langedijker Late Red cabbage, Who Gets Kissed and Seneca Arrowhead corn, Leanne's Pioneer pickling cucumber, Sayda squash, Ethiopian lentils, and Hungarian shelling peas.
AgroHaitai: The only Canadian source I know of for mostly Asian vegetables; they have a good reputation but most of their offerings are F1 hybrids. Look for Bai Bu Lao yellow pole beans, and Qing Bian #8 green romano beans. How about Black Giant #2 F1 winter melon, Golden Giant F1 melon, Zou Sing F1 luffa, Black Champion eggplant, China Long F1 cucumber, Indian Mini F1 bitter melon, Green Improved 70 day choy sum, Nabai Spring F1 baby bok choy, Jimao Choy bok choy - said tolerant of heat, which is always a problem with this type of green - and much more.
Annapolis Seeds: They say they are the only 100% Atlantic-provinces-grown seed company, and I believe it. New things for this year include Palestinian Kusa summer squash, Sugar Rush Peach hot pepper, Yorkshire Hero pea, Lupini bean, Newburg onion (bred by Alan Kapular) Dakota Tears onion, Lewis bean, Chinese thick-stemmed mustard, and Squisito spaghetti squash, amongst others. An excellent source of interesting and unusual things as well as the tried and true.
Atlantic Pepper Seeds:Wow! It looks like they carry 1500 different pepper seeds at this seed house! I'd look here for any pepper I've ever heard of, and whole bunch more that I haven't. Lots of wildly hot things, of course, but every kind imaginable.
Bird & Bee: A small seed house from near Ottawa, mostly fairly standard open pollinated varieties. Stand-outs include Bouchard soup peas, Little Bell and Tangerine peppers, Topsi radish, and Caitydid tomato. They have locallly-bred ALE-kale and Icicle pea.
Burt's Greenhouses: Mostly a nursery with ornamentals, Burt's also sells a good range of sweet potato slips. We got our Toka Toka Gold, Owairaka, and Purple sweet potatoes from them, although they have a smaller selection this year and only the Purple are available. They also have Beauregard, Covington, Georgia Jet, and Tainung 65. Good prices and the ability to buy in volume. If you want to grow sweet potatoes in Canada, you should get the book Sweet Potatoes for the Home Garden, by Ken Allen, which they also have. Only other common source of sweet potato slips I know of in Ontario is Round Plains Plantation, and nothing is listed on site - I believe they only supply commercial quantities.
Cochrane Family Farm: Formerly Pumpkin Moon Seeds. Atlantic Canada is starting to have quite a number of seed companies. Look for Amarillo and Snow White carrots, Painted Mountain corn, Bulgarian Giant leek, Bennie's Red onion, Candlelight hot pepper, Des Vertus Marteaux turnip, and Sweet Reba acorn squash.
Eagle Creek Seed Potatoes:You will not find another Canadian source of seed potatoes with as large and comprehensive a selection of potatoes - organically grown, too. Look for Pink Fir Apple - I get to like it more and more, and I liked it plenty right from the beginning - Alta Blush, Pacific Russet, Roko, Sangre, All Red, Blue Mac, and many others. Potatoes are expensive to ship but as I say, you will not find a better selection. You can order mixed packs and very small orders too, so you don't have to have a big garden to grow amazing potatoes.
If you are in the Vancouver area, you might try Helmer's Organic Farm for seed potatoes.
Eagleridge Seeds: From Salt Spring Island, a seed house that seems to skip the ordinary and get right to the unusual listings. Right away I see Nine Star sprouting broccoli, Filderkraut, Kazakstan eggplant, Sperling Toga onion, Chihuacle Rojo pepper, Ed's Red shallot, Lillooet, Royal City Cannery, and Yer Fasulyasi beans. They have a fairly large selection of tomatoes.
Edible Antiques: Appears to no longer be in business.
Full Circle Seeds: Another west coast company, from Sooke. Interesting things include 5B's Choice fava beans, Pawnee beans, Berlicummer carrots, Brilliant celeriac, Umi Nami cucumber, Maxigolt peas, Maule's Red Hot chile, Harris turnips and a slew of lettuces and greens. Several of those are locally adapted varieties.
Greta's Organic Gardens: Here is a very large selection of unusual varieties. New this year are Coco Bianco dry (bush) bean, Dhol bottle gourd, used in Indian cuisine - but you could make bottles too, I assume -, Cajun Jewel okra, Biquino Red, Shishito Mild, Trinidad Perfume and Zavory peppers, Flagpole scallion (welsh onion) Candy Stripe, Druzba, Eva Purple Ball and Gardener's Sweetheart tomatoes, Tokyo Market turnip, and Moon and Stars and Winter watermelons
Harmonic Herbs: Not updated for 2020. They specialize in medicinal herbs, and also have a small collection of grains and flowers. Being another Alberta company they have short season vegetables including Broccoli Raab (Rapini) - I believe they have the faster "Quarentina" (40 days) version and not the more common but less workable for Canadians "Sessentina" (60 days). I'd try Margaret's sugar snap pea, Turga parsnips, Canoncito peppers, and Harmonic Mix lettuces.
Hawthorn Farm:I don't get the impression that much has changed here. Since they carry an extremely well curated selection of vegetables that do well in southern Ontario, one can't complain. So rather than new items, I'm going to list some of the things we've grown from Hawthorn and liked... Fortex, Northeaster, Provider and Macuzalito beans, Chioggia, Cylindra, Early Wonder, and Touchstone Gold beets, April Green and Chieftain Savoy cabbages, Bionda di Lyon Swiss chard, Shintokiwa cucumber, Ping Tung eggplant, Black Seeded Simpson, New Red Fire, and Brown Goldring lettuces, New York Early, Rossa di Milano, and Walla Walla onions, Aleppo, Doe Hill, and Stocky Red Roaster peppers, Pretty much all their summer squash, and most of their moschata winter squash. Much less grown by us, given our raccoon problems, but they have a vary tempting selection of corn.
Heritage Harvest Seed: I have a great deal of trouble deciding on which seeds to get from Heritage Harvest; when I make a list I find myself just transcribing their inventory. So many wonderful things! I have found a number of our best varieties here, including Gnadenfeld melon, and a lot of our favourite peas. New and returning items this year include Ancho Poblano peppers, Succotash beans (which look amazingly like giant purple corn kernels), Canteen gourd, Art Combe's Ancient watermelon, Jebousek lettuce, Loewen Family ground cherries, Marquis wheat, the very reliable Muncher cucumber, and Dark Galaxy tomato (wow), Kral Russian parsnips (good for heavy soils), Mammoth Red Rock cabbage, and Mandan Red Clay corn. Damn those raccoons; I am so tempted.
Hope Seeds: New this year they have Ropreco paste tomato, said to be productive even in cool climates, Kalocsai Paprika pepper, Long Purple eggplant and Amish Butter popcorn. Hope Seeds used to have a lot of very unusual East Coast heirlooms, but it is now under new ownership and the list runs far more to good, basic all-'round choices. Of which, it has to be said, there is a pretty comprehensive list. Look for Goose Gullet bush bean, Golden Grex beets, Bushy cucumber, Violet Sparkle and Doe Hill peppers, Butterflay spinach, and Bernardo's Paste tomato.
Ferme Tournesol: Not just seed producers, but vegetable breeders as well. New and returning items include Karma and Gatherer's Gold peppers, both bred by Frank Morton, Blue jade corn, Limelight millet, Jadeite lettuce, and Yukina Savoy greens. In potatoes, Amarosa, French Fingerling, German Butterball, and Roko as well as a few more common ones. Sweet Crimson Night and Amethyst Night radishes are from their own breeding and look fantastic! Also Tournesol Select Field cucumber is their own.
Jardins de l'Écoumène: Site is in French but worth a little struggle. Some really striking new things including Abenakis Calais corn, Cyclanthère (Achocha, or Caigua - a "lost crop" of the Incas), Arikara sunflower, Lily White sea kale, Ice green bean, and even Woad, if you are inclined to dye something blue. Grandmaman Dinel beans have a local history, as do Fortin beans. La Pasquale, Glacier, and Plourde tomatoes round things out.
Le Jardin des vie-la-joie: Some intriguing and unusual offerings here, including Green Finger Lebanese cucumber, Caserta zucchini, Early Purple sprouting broccoli, Norridgewock and Hyote beans, Edox and Gustave lettuces, Ferme de Bullion red popcorn, Werner snow-pea, Gold Harvest and Gotland Blue soup peas, Malaga radish, Kuroshinju soy bean, and Polar Baby and The Dutchman tomatoes.
Kitchen Table Seed House: (formerly Mouse Seeds) located in eastern Ontario. A nice collection! Look for Amarant red cabbage, Azur Star kohlrabi, Buena (sic) Mulato chile, Candystick Dessert delicata squash, Dolciva carrot, Dorinny corn (an Ontario heirloom!), Feuer Kugel beet, Fiskeby soybean, Kalibos red cabbage (only red cabbage that has grown for us, so far), Lucid Gem tomato, Seneca Red Stalker corn, Solstice broccoli, Sweet Reba acorn squash, and Who Gets Kissed sweet corn.
Mapple Farm: Is still here this year, but they have ceased to sell sweet potato slips. The passage of time is a sad thing, but there are a few other places which have picked up the torch, which is a very good thing as for a long time they were the only Canadian source.
I suspect that Mapple Farm is not likely to continue long into the future, so this may be the last call for a few of the items on their small but carefully curated list of seeds. Look for things like Gaucho beans (used by Carol Deppe in her breeding), Mystery Keeper tomato, Turkish rocket, French scorzonera, Nutmeg melon, Gill's Golden Pippin and Fisher's acorn squash, and Honeyboat delicata squash. They have Crosnes, also known as Chinese Artichokes.
Matchbox Garden Seed Co: Another Ontario company growing most of their own seed! Selection is not huge, and leans more to the best standards than the rare and exotic. The only item marked as new is Monte Gusto, a yellow pole bean. It looks extremely appealing, I must say, as do their Casper white eggplant, and New York Early and Rossa di Milano onions (we grew these both and let them cross one year; the resulting hybrid was rather nice). Paul Robeson tomatoes and Fish peppers are long-time favourites here. Koralik tomatoes look too short for our garden but like they would work well in containers or small gardens.
Mountain Grove Seed Company: Located in eastern Ontario, they have a surprisingly large selection, and some unusual listings including Blue Speckled Tepary, Cherokee Cornfield, Comtesse de Chambord, and Jimmy's White Lake (local!) beans; Blond du Cazard and Gotte Jaune d'Or lettuce, Corne de Belier snow pea, De Cuneo peppers, the extremely elusive Philadelphia White Box radish, Famille Fortin rutabaga, and Charbonnier du Barry, Hungarian Pink, Southern Night, and Roman Candle tomatos.
Naramata Seed Company: Don't fail to click on "View All" for each section, or you will not view all. Items not marked as new and yet, as usual, there are lots of things I am noticing for the first time including Zebrune shallot, Little Potato (Khira Balam) cucumber, Kamo eggplant, Beleah Rose lettuce. May Queen is a favourite lettuce for us They have a heap of intriguing lettuces, actually. They have the excellent and hard-to-find Small Shining Light and Sweet Siberian watermelons. Greek Sweet Red moschata squash sounds very intriguing. Lots of peppers and tomatoes in every size and colour.
Norton Naturals: Not a seed company; they sell a selection of roots, mostly native but also crosnes, edible day lilies, and double Tiger lilies. Native plants include: Arrowhead, Camas (Quamash), Groundnuts, Hog Peanuts, 3 different Jerusalem artichokes, Spring Beauty, Meadow Garlic, and Ramps (Wild Leeks). In my experience, if you do not have the necessary fungus in the soil those last will not grow. Worth trying if you have a typical Ontario woodlot though. They sell Prairie Turnip as seeds - this is actually a tap-rooted legume, and it looks like it would also make an excellent ornamental. They ship twice a year - next up in April.
OSC (Ontario Seed Company): A good source for open-pollinated classics at reasonable prices. They have always had a good selection of native grasses and wildflowers, but this year they seem to have a new bent toward the more ecologically sound, including a number of "lawn" solutions. (They still carry the standard bluegrass, etc, to). Last year their corn was treated with neonicotinoids; this year corn is untreated unless you specifically ask for it on large orders. Otherwise all seeds are untreated and some are organic.
This year's new seeds have an emphasis on compact varieties good for container growing. Look for Little Purple snow peas and Little Crunch snap peas, Encore green bell pepper, and Durango sweet chile pepper. On the larger side, they have Total Eclipse scallop squash, Turk's Turban squash, and Rattlesnake bean. They have some appealing and well-priced "collections" too.
Potager Ornemental de Catherine: Site is in French. New offerings include Ananashyi yellow zucchini (I'm always on the lookout for a better yellow zucchini; will try!), Parsley and King Tut peas, Klari Baby Cheese pepper, Capella peas (no description, but the photos suggest a high-tendril medium height yellow soup pea), Dapple Grey, Early Warwick, Gaga Hut, Giovanni, Métis tigré and Noir Hâtif de Châteaurenard beans, Liso Calcutta and Robichaud cucumbers, and Turkish Orange eggpplant.
Prairie Garden Seeds: New offerings aren't labelled as such and this list doesn't change a lot from year to year. However, they are the go-to source for many Canadian heirloom vegetables, and are particularly strong in tomatoes and beans, but also in grains - if you want small amounts of many historic Canadian wheats, or indeed all kinds of grains from all over the world, check here. If you want open-pollinated, untreated corn this is probably the place. Prices are very reasonable and amounts generous, but while they still prefer you to send them an order form and a cheque, they are starting to accept e-transfers from Canadian customers. Prairie Garden is a national treasure, and a storehouse of many heirloom Canadian varieties.
Richter's Herbs: The source of the largest and most complete list of herbs I have seen anywhere is turning 50 this year. I admit I am rather annoyed with them, since I ordered French shallots from them which thanks to shortages took several years to get and then turned out to be something else altogether; no response to my email of complaint.
However, you will find things here that are unavailable anywhere else, at least on the herb front. Their vegetables are bit more standard but if you are ordering anyway, worth checking out. Described as new are Scarlet Runner beans, Golden Sweet peas, Giuditta rucola (arugula/rocket), Galeux d'Eysines squash, Mongolian Gian sunflower, and Get Stuffed, San Marzano and Sausage tomatoes,
Herb of the year is actually the rubus family, which includes berries such as raspberries and blackberries, but the leaves do have herbal applications.
Salt Spring Seeds: They don't put much emphasis on the new here (probably rightly, in spite of the existence of this post) but they do note a few things: Crimson Flowered and Sandra's fava beans, chick pea of Spello, Alice Sunshine, Blauhilde, Jack in the Bean Stalk, Maxibel, and Ugandan Bantu beans, Streaker hulless oats, Streaker naked barley - apparently plant breeders are extremely conventional when it comes to naming things -, Purple Cape cauliflower, Midwinter gai lan, Ching Chiang baby bok choy, Turga parsnip, Meres salsify, Stocky Red Roaster pepper, Ashley cucumber, and Nyagous tomato. Blooming Prairie beans are currently half price.
Salt Spring Seeds led the charge in carrying a large selection of field crops for home and market gardeners, and they are still very strong in grains, field legumes, and seed crops.
The Seed Company by E.W. Gaze: My impression is that this is a fairly standard list of seeds, produced elsewhere, but I do note a few things of interest. There is locally grown Brights Brilliant quinoa, Gaze's Special Purple Top rutabaga, Dwarf Essex Rape turnip tops, and possibly Melfort Green Top rutabaga. I did have a friend who came from Newfoundland, who said that rutabaga was the only vegetable that Newfoundland was self-sufficient in. I'm afraid it was one of the reasons he left, but as a rutabaga lover I am intrigued.
Semences du Portage: Site is in French. New this year they have Costata Romanesco zucchini, Comtesse de Chambord, Blue Lake, and Rattlesnake beans, Divina, Lollo Bionda, and Reine des Glaces lettuces, Salsa and Dispelette (sic - d'Espelette) peppers, and Tiny Tim and Carbone tomatoes. In general, a good selection of standard open-pollinated varieties, including Goodman cauliflower, Fisher's Earliest corn, Scarlet Ohno Revival turnip, and Green Zebra tomato.
la Société des Plantes: Site is in French. No note of anything new. Emphasis is on permaculture, so a good number of perennial vegetables including mertensia maritima, camassia esculenta, turnip-rooted chervil, skirrets (chervis), crosnes, rumex scutatus French sorrel, and Ste Anne shallots (which I ordered last year; they are currently in the garden to be assessed this year, but they look very nice).
Other things that catch my eye include Violet de Tours celery, de Krosno rutabaga (actually, got this last year and it did well), Mideast Peace cucumber (do you think it could help...?), Jewel Green zucchini (does well in lower light/cool conditions so maybe a good one for carrying on into the fall), Courge de Siam aka Sharkskin squash sounds fascinating, Gaspé corn, Val-aux-Vents leek, Charlevois peas, Hiyayuki rice, yes I said RICE, in short, sit yourself down with Google Translate and go to town. This is a really excellent collection.
Solana Seeds: Right away it looks like the theme of the year is multicolours - Glass Gem corn, Aji Omnicolor, Buena Mulata, and Chinese 5-Color peppers are all really striking. Lots of other new peppers too - Golden Cayenne, Criolla Sella, Purple Jalapeño, and Corno di Toro Chocolate all bring unique colours but only one at a time. Otherwise, it's mostly tomatoes: Mushroom Basket, Campari OP, Chile Verde (by Tom Wagner), Orange Oxheart, Mini San Marzano, Chocolate Pear, Purple Smaragd, and Rio Grande.
Sunshine Farm: Located in Kelowna, BC. There is a nice assortment of surprising greens, including Ortania and Wild Italian arugulas, Shallot cress, French and Red-Veined sorrels, Shungiku, and Quillquina. How about Chinese Pink celery, Petrowski turnips, Chimayo, Rocatillo, Pasilla, and Kiss of Satan peppers, and Swiss Butter lettuce. If you are still looking, there are about 150 varieties of tomatoes.
Tatiana's Tomato base: Tatiana does not seem to be selling seeds at this time; sad but not surprising as I know she has had some ill-health in recent years. However,Tatiana's TOMATObase is also a wiki with information about most of the tomatoes in existence. It's the first place I look whenever I hear of a new one.
Terra Edibles: was our original source for seeds when we first started gardening many years ago, and they still have a particularly well-considered list of varieties. They have many of our tried and true varieties, although Spanish Skyscraper pea is out of stock. They carry the hard-to-find legume inoculant, available for a fairly short season in the spring (listed with the beans). Amethyst Cream tomato is new, picked up from the late, lamented Cottage Gardener. They are strongest on beans and tomatoes, but they have an assortment of other vegetables as well. In spite of not listing any as new, it seems to me their selection of leafy vegetables and roots is better than it was - look for Stowells Evergreen and Wachichu flint corns, Montreal and Oka melons, King of the North and Fish peppers, and German Giant radishes.
Terre Promise: English option doesn't really work - stick to the French. Maybe it's the photos, but Tokyo Bekana and Shanghai Green bok choy look marvellous. Tante Alice cucumber is a Quebec heirloom. Algonquin and and Boston Marrow are local native heirlooms, hard to find. Black Night Fall is the ultimate Goth bean, in perfect contrast to haricots Grand-mère, which are bright pink. De Charlevoix and Petit du Lac broad beans, Canadien Blanc corn, Oka and Montreal Melons, St. Hubert (soup) peas, Ice Grow, Arthur Fowler, Canabec Rose, Mon Plaiser cherry, Quebec #13, Espagnol Lefebvre, Oncle Tom, Petit Moineau, Savignac (Dufresne), Mémé de Beauce, and Plourde tomatoes are all Quebec heirlooms. Minuit de Montreal is not yet a Quebec heirloom, being of their own breeding. Vinedale pepper is actually an Ontario heirloom. Cressonnette marocaine is, despite the name, an Italian lettuce.
In July Ste Anne shallots will be available, and a good selection of garlics in season.
Urban Harvest: Not updated for 2020 at the time of posting. However, lots of interesting things: Black-Seeded Italian pole beans, not to be confused with Tolosa Black-Seeded Italian pole beans. There's Arikara, a tough, smart dry bush bean. Golden Detroit beet; Blushed Butter Oak, Little Gem, and Freckles Lettuce; Shooting Star eggplant; Gold Nugget winter squash; Butterflay spinach; there's lots here.
Urban Tomato: Not updated for 2020, but they continue to have a good selection of vegetables suited to small gardens. I see Alma Paprika, which is excellent and hard to find. There's an Urban Grain Mix which looks like fun, and of course, a good selection of tomatoes.
West Coast Seeds: Very much like a West Coast equivalent to William Dam, with similar strengths and weaknesses. In spite of their very large number of f1 hybrids (some of them dubiously claimed not be GMO) they have a good selection of really useful open-pollinated seeds as well.
They have the Clancy potatoes grown from seeds, not clones. Not actually new, there are also a selection of strawberries that can be grown from seed, not clones. Eleanora broad beans, Jacob's Cattle bean, and Yellow Cab tomato and Hojiso ornamental shiso are new. But newness notwithstanding, there is a large selection of very interesting seeds. Grow your own Goji berries from seed, or maybe Golden Pearls (solanum villosum; I can't say much about this as I have never previously heard of it!) They have a large selection of herbs including the very decorative Cardinal basil, Mexican tarragon, and Peruvian black mint (huacatay). I'm reading their section on Lawn Solutions and Cover crops with considerable interest. They look like a great source for sprouting and micro-green seeds, and their seed-starting, market garden and greenhouse equipment selection is impressive.
Wild Rose Heritage Seed Company: Nothing is marked as being new. They are located in Lethbridge, Alberta so you can expect seeds adapted to short seasons. They have a good range of open-pollinated and heirloom seeds. A few things that catch my eye include Carson, Oceanus, and Painted Pony beans, Vandergaw All Seasons cabbage, Simonet corn, Bridgemere lettuce, Cubanelle, Charleston Hot and Sunbright Yellow Bell peppers, Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck squash, Gold Ball turnips, and plenty of tomatoes.
William Dam Seeds: New this year I see Arroyo organic romaine lettuce. Erasmus F1 all-male purple asparagus is really intriguing. There are several peas that catch my eye: Early Freezer 680 sounds ideal for the way we grow peas, and Grundy-Perfect Arrow and Envy Organic also look like they are going to get a try-out. Sweet Paprika Organic peppers may get a try too, in my ongoing search for the ideal paprika pepper. I'm REALLY interested in the Clancy F1 potatoes that can be grown from seed! There have been rumblings of this on the horizon for the last few years, but they really are a pretty new thing. Also becoming possible to grow from seed - strawberries! Summer Breeze Rose is really eye-catching. White Flat Boer Ford pumpkins looks pretty, with good taste and long keeping qualities. They continue to carry Sumter pickling cucumbers which are the best pickling cukes we've ever grown, and we've grown quite a few.
Always a good place for gardening equipment that can be hard to find - trays, netting and row covers, organic fertilizer, etc, and a very large selection of annual and perennial flowers and grasses.
Posted in: Ontario Food
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