As always, thank you for coming to us for seeds for this upcoming growing season.
The seeds have been cleaned, germination tested, and packets have been filled.
Here's what we have for you that's new in 2023:
~ Flowers ~
This lovely annual grows up to 8-10 feet tall and forms elegant pink flowers at the tips. Great to grow along borders, fences, and walls. A member of the genus polygonum, it is reminiscent of some of the small pretty polygonum weeds we have, but giant and way more showy and beautiful. It will readily self-sow, but we have not found it to become a problematic weed, just a fun volunteer we sometimes transplant to make a nice tall pink insta-hedge wherever we see fit!
A beautiful selection of this tall long stemed cosmos. Vividly colored double blooms have petals that wrap around into tubes giving it a dahlia like multicolored beauty!
This luscious zinnia is beautifully two-toned. Subtle tones of yellow green and pink combine for a perfect dahlia-like bloom.
Fireball says it all. Round, bright red flowers with a bright yellow center. Holds color when dried.
Elegant, soft, purple-grey flowers bloom from the bottom and upward along the stem. A cut flower that keeps on giving, and holds most of its color when dried.
Peachy petaled flowers make for delightful bouquets, and can be dried for future use in soups and salads. A pollinator favorite.
~ Veggies ~
Evergreen White Nebuka Bunching Onion
This classic bunching onion is well suited for all seasons and dishes making it a staple in Asian cuisine. Its flavor is sweet and strong, and holds up to both heat and light frost in our climate. We love to sow them densely in furrows and “thin harvest” the biggest ones first, or plant in clumps and harvest them all at once!
In 2021 the MVSC crew did an Open-pollinated corn trial to find a sweet tasty corn to add to our collection. New Mama was the hands-down winner. This variety was developed by our friends at Adaptive Seed from a cross between two super sweet varieties. Like other OPs, it is not totally uniform and has a shorter window of best eating than a typical hybrid. The wonderful benefit of the OP is that you can save your own seed.. AND, it is very productive and delicious and we love it. And a great year to introduce to our collection as we now also have a new mama on our team!
This delicious sweet delight is a favorite snack for my 6 year old son. Thick fleshed and delicious, they can be eaten raw or roasted or any other way you can imagine. Plants are quite productive with adequate water and fertility. A nice short season, but still, make sure to give them as much time as possible to ripen in our climate.
Fun fact, some species (including pepper) can have dormancy in the seed the first few months after seed is harvested and then over time the germination rates can actually increase. Pepper seed will often keep good germ rates up to 10 years or more!
One of our favorite garden varieties. With enough fertility will grow large and produce large tasty heads. This variety keeps on giving through the season with especially large and abundant side shoots. Try planting fennel and cilantro at the same time as the brocolli so that they bloom as the summer heat comes on and the broccoli mature. These companion species can attract beneficial insects to help combat the perennial issue of aphids in the brassicas during summer heat.
Relatively short seasoned muskmelon that will certainly ripen here in the Methow if planted early and well tended. To increase likelihood of success you can sow in soil blocks, and set out around June 1 and protect with a row cover for the first 4 weeks or so. It makes abundant medium sized netted skin cantaloup that will absolutely delight the taste buds. PMR means Powdery Mildew Resistant.
This fun open-pollinated jack-o-lantern produces a variety of sizes and shapes of pumpkins on large vines that will yield many pumkins per plant with enough room, water and fertility. There'll be lots of delicious seeds to roast while you carve your masterpiece.
In 2021 we did a trial of 4 different pickling cucumbers to see which one had the best pickle crunch. This was the clear winner. These are flavorful and productive plants forming good sized vines and nice fruit.
Ping Tung are a long slender tender variety from Ping Tung, Taiwan. They grow well in our climate and produce an abundance of fruit up to 18" long.
Beautiful purple and white streaks on the 5-7” oblong fruit. A stunning piece of fruit, these eggplants are a joy to look at. They are a thinner skinned with a lighter color and texture on the inside than a more standard variety, a beautiful addition to eggplant diversity! De Gandia, means from Gandia, which is in Spain, but some historians believe this thin skinned lighter fleshed lineage originated in India and moved into Europe along the trade routes of ancient times.
Deep, dark green rosette of luscious leaves. This green is mild in flavor and perfect for any stir-fry, soup or salad.