Surfing for seeds while at 2 below

I whittled my seed list down for the third and final time and made a fatal mistake. Maybe I needed another cup of coffee or an intervention, but I let my guard down and surfed the Internet only to stumble across some more seed sites. If you’re smart, you’ll head to the local hardware and grocery aisles for locally available seeds and save money and sanity. There are some great buys and nice selections already in the stores. But for the real garden nuts there’s nothing like the torment of exotic seed catalogs. The Internet is just a new twist in the rack of seed torture. The sheer numbers, photos, information and variety can overwhelm your senses and cause early garden burnout. It’s about 2 degrees below zero and it’s still dark out — let me throw a little fuel on the fire with some tantalizing seed sites.

At www.TomatoBob.com (614-256-6298) black is “in.” As in Noir de Crimee — “Similar to Black Krim with dusky brown sides and greenish shoulders. A great spicy flavor with a smoky overtone.” I’ll take two packs and a side of avocados, please. The black tomatoes range from Black Brandywine, Black Cherry and Purple Passion to Black Zebra. This section reads like a cheap dime novel with an R rating. Tomato Bob describes Black Seaman tomatoes as “Dusky brown fruits with green shoulders.” Black Zebra has markings similar to Green Zebra “yet the Black Zebra has a spicy flavor with hints of a smoky aftertaste. Very beautiful when sliced.”

Bob’s early tomato varieties will only depress you. These are the tomatoes that would have been grown by characters in a Willa Cather novel about the hardscrabble lives of the Nebraska pioneers. Hard-working names like Bloody Butcher, Money Maker, Mule Team, Nebraska Wedding … names that make you reach for the thermostat and the whiskey.

A trip to the tropics can be had with Kitazawa Seed Company’s Tropical Garden mix. Poha Berries, green stemmed Malabar spinach, Manoa lettuce and the like are just some of the offerings under the Chef Specialty Gardens section that will tantalize your visions of stir fry and warm summer nights. Started in 1917, Gijiu Kitazawa’s firm is the oldest Asian seed company in America. The Kitazawas and many of their loyal customers were forced into government relocation camps during World War II. The loss of private property and farms by these Americans led to post-war relocations and the rebirth of Kitazawa’s as a mail-order seed company. If you love easy, flavorful greens with plenty of zest and spice this is one seed company you should surf up to at www.Kitazawaseed.com or (510) 595-1188.

Tom Stearns at High Mowing Organic Seeds in Vermont has a mission to bring folks back to good stewardship of the planet. What started out as a one-man venture on five acres has turned into a 40-acre farm and a network of farmers and growers — “A fun-loving group with diverse interests brought together by our common love of growing, on whatever scale, appreciation for the importance of sustainable agriculture and tolerance of a cold climate.” Chock full of great photos, newsletters and a fantastic selection of organic seeds, this site will keep you coming back for more at www.HighMowingSeeds.com or (802) 472-6174. It warms the heart to know there are others like us out there huddled in heavy winter coats while tending the garden.

The folks at Real Seeds, www.realseeds.co.uk, won’t send seeds across the pond, but, their website is a valuable source of information about anything you want to know about seeds — starting, saving, breeding your own varieties, etc. Real Seeds is all about encouraging gardeners to save their own seeds and pass them around. This is the basis for varieties that are adaptable, strong and disease resistant — a quality we are losing to the seed standardization of modern agriculture where there are fewer varieties and less open pollination. These folks pride themselves on the fact that they sell fewer packets of seeds annually and their customers are saving more of their own seeds. Of course, they live where you could grow your own food nearly year-round.

If that’s not enough to germinate some excitement, check out www.forkandbottle.com/garden/seeds/seedsource.htm for a whole page of seed-related sites. Next time we’ll talk about how to make your own seed tape Alaska-style. Now where did I put the duct tape?

Brooke Heppinstall, artist and gardener, is the owner of Wool Wood Studio & Gardens, an art studio and nursery specializing in Alaska-grown perennials and shrubs. Visit online at Woolwood.blogspot.com.