By DOUGLASS OSTER

When a gardening friend told me he had thrown away the first catalog he received, I was puzzled.

“Their seeds are too expensive, and they’re not selling plants this year,” he said.

Yes, some of the hybrid seeds were pricey. But if you spend a little quiet time with catalogs, you can find plenty of bargains.

Reading catalogs and putting together orders is an annual ritual that makes the winter pass a little quicker.

I received about 30 catalogs this year and found some wonderful seeds. Some are brand-new this season, and others have been around for 100 years.

I’ll be buying a couple of the more expensive hybrids this season, but they’re worth it to me – “Brandy Boy” and “Fourth of July,” $4.40 and $3.35, respectively, at Burpee.

I love “Brandy Boy” because it’s prolific and ready earlier than its namesake, “Brandywine.” “Fourth of July” is one of my main early tomatoes. I’ll start it in mid-March and pick at the end of June.

As for bargains, both Burpee and Park Seed have varieties on sale. Their catalogs always have something interesting listed in the middle. These items are usually discontinued after this season.

I found a few bargain tomatoes: “Bloody Butcher” ($1.35) from Burpee and “Container Choice” ($1.50) and “Super Bush” ($1.25) from Park Seed.

“Bloody Butcher” is an early heirloom that produces 3 to 5-ounce fruits in about 60 days. The Park varieties are two of my favorites for growing in pots. I grew “Container Choice” a few summers ago and loved how it produced lots of large, tasty tomatoes from a small plant. “Super Bush” puts on bigger-than-usual tomatoes on a stocky plant.

Both companies are also offering varieties of super sweet corn again this year. Burpee has “Maple Sugar Hybrid” and Park “Mirai.” If you can harvest corn before the raccoons raid it, try these. I’ve heard nothing but good things about them.

One interesting new pepper is “Hole Mole,” a 2007 All-America Selection Winner. It’s the first ever hybrid pasilla-type pepper. It’s hot but not a killer – 700 on the Scoville scale (jalapenos are 4,750). It puts on lots of 7 to 9-inch-long fruit that turns from green to glossy brown as it matures. This type of pepper is used to make a traditional Mexican mole dish. I found it to be cheapest in the J.W. Jung Seed Co. catalog at $2.45.

Jung also specializes in varieties that grow big like “Megaton Hybrid” cabbage ($1.95). A photo in the catalog shows a baby lying in the remaining leaves after harvest. Heads can reach 20 pounds.

If you want something truly Italian, try Seeds From Italy. The catalog has seven types of broccoli rabe ($2.75 to $5.40), tons of greens, and lots of interesting tomatoes.

My three favorite catalogs for the past few years haven’t changed: Heirloom Seeds, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, and Sand Hill Preservation Center. Reading each one makes me want to buy 100 acres so I can grow the unbelievable variety offered by these family-run businesses. If you’re interested in growing something historic, wonderful, and different, check these.

Sand Hill offers the widest variety of tomatoes, many of which I’ve never even heard of, like “Pink Climber” ($1.75). This prolific plant puts on pink flattened fruit that’s 1 pound or more.

One unique thing it offers is “Red Malabar” spinach ($2.50), which tastes like a green. This plant is direct-seeded and needs support because the vines grow 8 feet high and are filled with tender, tasty leaves all summer, long after real spinach has gone to seed.

It also has “May Queen” lettuce (75 cents), an early butterhead from the 19th century that’s pale green with brown-tinged leaves, and more than 30 types of heirloom corn, including “Ohio Calico” ($2.50), which produces 12-inch ears that are striped red and white.

Heirloom Seeds has become one of the country’s most popular sources for heritage varieties. A new one that caught my eye was a dark tomato called “Black Sea Man” ($2.50). Historically, this catalog has offered the best of the darker tomatoes and was one of the first to offer “Cherokee Purple.” “Black Sea Man” is a potato-leaf variety that produces 6 to 8-ounce fruit on short determinate vines.

“Amasoy Edamame” ($2.50) is a bean that’s been popular in Japan for years. It’s prized as a high-protein and low-fat treat that’s sweet right off the vine and even better steamed. Both seeds are certified organic.

Baker Creek’s glossy color catalog is filled with wonderful varieties and always sports a fun illustration on the cover. In its 10th year, this catalog has grown exponentially since it was produced out of 17-year-old Jere Gettle’s bedroom. Cucumbers, melons, squash, and tomatoes are some of their specialties.

The Block News Alliance consists of The Blade and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Douglass Oster is a garden columnist for the Post-Gazette.

Contact him at: doster@post-gazette.com source : toledoblade.com