3rd Day of Seed Catalogs

Seed Company Spotlight
High Mowing Organic Seeds
 
Location: 76 Quarry Road, Wolcott, VT 05620
Inquiries: [email protected]
​Phone:1-866-735-4454
Website: www.highmowingseeds.com  
Catalog Request: www.highmowingseeds.com/our-seed-catalog
 
High Mowing Seeds has been selling organic seeds since 1996 from their place in Wolcott, Vermont. One of original seed companies to create and sign the Safe Seed Pledge not to sell GMO seeds. They are committed to growing a healthier, greener world, “one seed at a time.” Their location in chilly Vermont makes them an excellent source for cold tolerant, short season crops. They offer farmers and gardeners over 700 varieties of organic seeds that include open pollinated, heirloom and F1 hybrid varieties. True to their mission, they source the many varieties they sell from “independent, passionate organic seed farmers.”
Why is this company called High Mowing? I learned something and I love the story behind the name.
 
 “Farms in New England in the 1700’s practiced the mowing of hayfields to be stored as off-season feed for livestock during the long, cold winters. Instead of calling such a field a “hayfield” like we do today, they called it a “mowing”. These fields were usually further identified by a descriptor referring to location: the “back mowing” was behind the farm, the “low mowing” was in the valley, and the “high mowing” was up on the hilltop.
 
In northern Vermont, where small rivers wind their way through mountainous and hilly terrain, nearly all mowings are “high mowings”. A hundred years ago, farms on these hillsides had names like “High Mowing Farm” or “High Mowing Acres”. When our seed company first started, we not only liked the sound of “high mowing”, but it was an old, regionally specific, agricultural term that fit the kind of seed company we are: farm-based and rooted in a place.”
 
Each year they print a full color catalog that features the smiling faces of a different group of family farmers on the cover. Sure they feature beautiful photos of veg, herbs, flowers but what strikes me are all the faces of people smiling out of their website and print catalog. Smiling happy people surrounded by beautiful vegetables is a hopeful message. Still waiting for the printed catalog so I am browsing their online catalog.
 
I couldn’t resist looking at the 81 kinds of lettuce, 45 kinds of peppers and 70 kinds of tomatoes – wow! I also found some other surprises. Here are some of my picks.
 
Tomato – Pink Boar. Here’s a beautiful 204 oz slicing tomato that I’d like to try. 75 days, Indeterminate. Catalog sez it “offers great performance in challenging conditions of Northern California.”
 
Pepper – Ring of Fire Cayenne. This one looks like a good choice for our climate. 45 days to green, 60 days to red on 18” plants. With a Scoville rating of 30,000 it is a milder hot pepper.
 
Lettuce – Outredgeous. This variety is stunning and tasty, a favorite of mine. Many varieties are offered as “pelleted seeds” that have been coated in clay and look like donut sprinkles. These make the sowing and spacing tiny seeds easier. If you have trouble with over-sowing, try some pelleted seeds this season.
 
Herbs – Deep Purple Basil. They have 17 different varieties in their catalog, some new ones for me. This variety is on my wish list, it will add beauty to the garden and to the plate.
 
Cover Crops – cool and warm season. They offer a lovely collection of cover crops including typical winter covers such as rye, filed peas and vetch and some nice choices for spring and summer such as sudan grass, phecalia and buckwheat.

High Mowing Seeds packets

Happy farmers

all images are from www.highmowingseeds.com and are used for educational purposes only.

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Book a Speaking Engagement

I would be delighted to bring my message of edible, organic gardening to your group, school, company or organization. I am currently booking speaking events for 2024. I would be delighted to speak to your group either in person or virtually!
​Book a speaking engagement!
Contact me at www.gardenwithlisa.com/contactme 
or email to [email protected]

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Seed Company Spotlight
Seeds Trust / High Altitude Garden
 
Location: 2591 Legacy Way, Grand Junction, CO 81503 
Inquiries: www.seedstrust.com/contact-us    
​Phone: none listed.  
Website: www.seedstrust.com
Online Catalog Only: www.seedstrust.com
 
Seeds Trust, High Altitude Gardens is a unique seed company. They specialize in providing seeds that will grow and produce reliably in the coldest climates and shortest season. Not just for people gardening at high altitudes, this collection of seeds is a great resource for any cool climate, short season grower, especially if they want to grow tomatoes.
 
Started by Bill McDormant in 1984 as High Altitude Garden Seeds when he was living and gardening in a small mountain town in Idaho. Faced with the challenge fewer than 90 frost free days and extreme exposure at high altitudes, he hoped to find varieties that would thrive under these conditions. 
 
After years of research, Bill traveled behind the Iron Curtain in search of the best short season tomato. Eventually he secretly brought back 60 varieties of Siberian tomatoes, many of these varieties are still offered by Seeds Trust and other seed companies.
 
Julia Coffey and Alisha Wenger have owned Seeds Trust since 2011 and they continue Bill’s pioneering work. The High Altitude Garden still acts as a testing site of crop varieties. If it can thrive in the high altitude garden then it is sure to grow well in your cool Maritime Northwest garden.
 
They offer a robust collection of cool season crops but for me, the warm season offerings are where it’s at. Look here for corn, tomatoes, peppers, melons, winter squash and pumpkins. Be sure to start with their 49 types of tomatoes. You’ll find that Siberian and Russian varieties dominate the list and all are chosen primarily for their earliness.
 
Tomato, Siberian – Grushovka. Compact determinate plant produces 6-8 oz  oblong fruit with pink flesh – has delicious and distinctive flavor. The variety is popular in southern Russian, over the border from Kazakhstan and Mongolia – brrrrr.
 
Siberian Hot Pepper – Grandpa’s Home Pepper. 70 days. These medium hot peppers grow on a compact plant. These 1”-2” fruit from Siberia where they are often raised in pots on the windowsill. Scoville rating of 40,000 – 60,000, it is one pepper that can bloom and set fruit in low light conditions.
 
 
Winter Squash – Red Kuri. 90 days. Here’s the best of their early winter squash. Originally from Japan, this fast-maturing Hubbard type squash is tasty and beautiful.
 
Melon – Sugar Baby Watermelon. 73 days. If you are a Maritime Northwest gardener and you’ve ever want to give growing watermelon a try, this is a good one. Measuring 8” x 8” round, it isn’t big but it is quick to mature. They are sweet with red-orange flesh and average 6-12 pounds each. Drought-resistant, gotta love that!
 

All images are from www.seedstrust.com and are used for educational purposes only.

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Book a Speaking Engagement

I would be delighted to bring my message of edible, organic gardening to your group, school, company or organization. I am currently booking speaking events for 2024. I would be delighted to speak to your group either in person or virtually!
Book a speaking engagement!
Contact me at www.gardenwithlisa.com/contactme
​or email to [email protected]