I have organized and reorganized (with pleasure) 250+ seed packets five times, probably more. I am amazed at how I can get lost in reading about a plant. I like to imagine why they have certain preferences, how their DNA contains specific information just for them, what kind of pollination occurred and the magic of their adaptability to their environment.
I love seeing people collecting and sharing their seeds. I love geeking out over learning the name of the person who shared these seeds in 1947. Yes, I have read that on a seed packet! (Ask me about the Nebraska Wedding variety!) The intimacy of getting to know a plant and its history is empowering, and a blessing to be involved in.
I could geek out over these seeds for days. I have exhausted most of my friends with seed talk. So, I am channeling all my excitement into a blog! Were you wondering where to start, when looking at our 250+ varieties? Then let me help guide you: I’ll tell you which varieties that look the best to me! In short, let me share with you the seeds I'm stoked about.
First, some of my favorite flowers: borage, calendula, and of course marigolds. Borage is relatively new to me and should be a staple in all gardens. It grows easily in Minnesota, has beautiful blue flowers that are edible to humans, and are great for pollinators. Calendula is an easy, self-sowing medicinal plant that has wonderfully soft and bright yellow flowers. It’s awesome for soothing skin irritations and infusions. And marigolds, the unsung hero of flowers. It’s insanely easy to grow, a great companion plant for almost all veggies (especially for tomatoes), disease resistant, deters bugs and has edible flowers. A lot of people overlook marigolds because they are so common, but I recommend you fully embrace these flowers. A lot of our marigold seeds are self-collected, which means these plants and their seeds are primed to succeed.
Second: tomatoes. I am very jazzed about some of our tomato seeds we have this year. When looking for new seeds, I specifically researched tomato varieties bred for colder weather. I also picked some varieties that are smaller and perfect for containers. These are my top tomato picks for cold weather; sub arctic plenty, Wisconsin 55 and glacier. Top picks for small spaces; germanium kiss, indigo rose and sunrise bumblebee cherry. And my favorite cutting tomatoes; borealis beefsteak, pineapple and berkeley tie-dye.
Third, we have some truly terrific pepper seeds this year. I found this amazing pepper company out of New Mexico that has a huge selection of USDA organic certified seeds as well as really unique varieties. We also got a few super fun kinds from Baker’s Creek. These are my suggestions for peppers seeds: purple beauty bell (mild), hatch green chili (mild), paprika (great for drying!) and Carolina reaper (hot!). We have some really cool purple peppers this year like oda, and mulato isleno. You can’t go wrong with any of our peppers, they are all in some way, my favorite.
Finally, we have some really cool funky varieties of cabbage (kailbos), squash (yellow scallop and ukrainian), basil (cinnamon, licorice and lemon!) and eggplant (casper and cookstown orange). I could go on and on, but these are some of my top suggestions. As always, you are more than welcome to shoot us an email with any questions or clarification. We would be more than happy to talk your ear off about our selection.
Some light housekeeping information: we have decided our cut off date for pre-orders is April 3rd to be ready for pick up (or delivery) May 15th. Also some insider information, you will save money if you pre-order; we are going to be charging a few dollars more at farmer’s market.
