Wishing and Learning with Johnny’s Selected Seed Catalog

Posted by Maile.
Every year, along about the end of January, beginning of February, the Johnny’s Selected Seed catalog appears in my mailbox. It’s usually a bitter cold, if not snowy day. This year it must have been snowy. When wasn’t it?

Sure enough, on the cover was a woman, seen through the snow, holding a basket of carrots and winter greens. Such a hopeful sight, that catalog! I know, it must take a lot of trees and postage to get the publication out, but I feel as thought they’ve sent me a huge gift, just when I needed it most.

On the catalog cover it says “Over 325 Organic Products,” and that’s what I want to talk about: the incredible bounty of offerings and information. Back when my mother was gardening in the 1950’s, we used to pore over the Burpee catalog. We thought the variety of vegetables was wonderful. But the Johnny’s catalog of today is a more like a wishbook of international scope, with a touch of poetry and a vast array of ecological information.

It has arugula; sylvetta; altor mizuma; shungiku (edible chrysanthemum greens); 5 kinds of cress; purslane; 7 kinds of mustard greens; mache; sorrel; collards; and flowering kale, plus various shoots and sprouts.

There are 40 or 50 kinds of lettuce and 21 kinds of hot peppers alone; 9 pages of tomatoes; 19 kinds of basil; and 2 dozen varieties of sunflowers. It has 18 pages of culinary and medicinal herbs, with uses where appropriate, and 34 magnificent pages of flowers.

Moreover, the text reads almost like poetry: purple broccoli and carrots; gold beets and ruby cabbages; cheddar cauliflower and lemon cukes; white, green, and purple-black eggplants; yellow raspberries  - a rainbow of surprises.

Page 106 is all about self-reliant and sustainable farming:

• Pasture mixes of grasses and legumes for livestock grazing.
• Hay, silage, and forage turnips for livestock food and tillage.
• Growing and mixing feed rations, including grains, sunflower seeds, and bird food.
• Cover crops for green manure, nutrients, and improved soil tilth.
• Insectary plantings to increase pollination of crops and provide nectar and habitat, control nematodes, and increase organic matter in the soil.

Last but not least, there are 26 pages of equipment and supplies you wish you had, plus advice, and all kinds of charts. For example, there’s a chart that compares seeds with respect to:

• Sowing season. 
• Nitrogen fixation.
• Growth rate.
• Beneficial insects.
• Primary uses, and more…

The cover also says, “Extend your season. Be first and last to market.” You know they’re talking to the people who grow the fruits, vegetables, and herbs you buy at farmers’ markets. With cover crops, pasture mixes, and prices per 50 pounds, it’s like being let into a farmer’s life.

Thinking about where your food comes from can be more than a pleasant pastime, especially with the assistance of a growers point of view. When you read the Johnny’s catalog, you get a very integrated education.
http://www.johnnyseeds.com