Vegetable Seeds

This RHS Award of Garden Merit winner produces large, 13cm (5″) long pods that are thick and very sweet. Oregon Giant is often grown for use as young snow peas, but they remain tender even when the pods expand. Bush plants are 1.2m (4′) and benefit from staking. Sow as late as July to enjoy a second crop in the fall.

Matures in 60 days.

This early heirloom shelling pea forms stocky, semi-dwarf bushes from 30-45 cm (12-18″) tall and is well suited to growing in containers or the vegetable bed. Each of Little Marvel’s 8-10 cm (3-4″) pods contains 6-9 medium green, sugary peas. This is a winner of the RHS Award for Garden Merit. Can be grown in spring and cut back in time to plant a summer crop, leaving the soil enriched with nitrogen.

Little Marvel shelling pea seeds were first introduced as Sutton’s Little Marvel in 1900. It is an old, dependable variety with an extended season, fine quality, and heavy yields.

Matures in 62 days.

This early heirloom shelling pea forms stocky, semi-dwarf bushes from 30-45 cm (12-18″) tall and is well suited to growing in containers or the vegetable bed. Each of Little Marvel’s 8-10 cm (3-4″) pods contains 6-9 medium green, sugary peas. This is a winner of the RHS Award for Garden Merit. Can be grown in spring and cut back in time to plant a summer crop, leaving the soil enriched with nitrogen.

Little Marvel shelling pea seeds were first introduced as Sutton’s Little Marvel in 1900. It is an old, dependable variety with an extended season, fine quality, and heavy yields.

Matures in 62 days.

Pairs of 8cm (3″) long pods containing seven to nine peas each are borne atop bushy plants that grow to 75cm (30″) tall. Bolero’s tender peas are sweet and perfect for fresh eating or freezing. Since Bolero is not enation resistant, it is best grown for early spring planting in coastal regions so that it matures before the pea enation virus generally shows up in mid- to late summer.

Matures in 68 days.

Ramrod is a white-bulbing Lisbon type scallion (or bunching onion) with sturdy, erect leaves. Make successive sowings from spring to Autumn. September-sown seedlings are very cold-hardy and can overwinter well for early spring harvests. A high-performance, boldly flavoured scallion bred for English gardens, but perfect for the coast. To increase the blanched white lower portion, simply sow or transplant into a shallow trench and hill soil up around the stems as they grow.

Matures in 65 days

Ailsa Craig forms huge, straw-coloured globes up to 20cm (8″) in diameter. They are firm with mild, sweet flesh, for fresh use and short storage. This customer favourite is fine textured, and excellent for salads and sandwiches. It is tolerant of cold weather, so it can be ready for harvest before some other Spanish storage onions. Ailsa Craig is a stony island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland.

Matures in 100 days.

This is the classic large overwintering onion of the Pacific Northwest. A very large, juicy onion with a mild sweet flavour. It can be planted in the spring if given a really early start indoors, or in August to overwinter. Spring planted Walla Walla sweet onion seeds result in bulbs that are not quite as mild as the overwintered ones and may not size up as well. Plants can also be harvested as a delicious, sweet bunching onion.This variety is hardy to -23°C (-10°F). It is most definitely a long day onion, suitable for planting between the 35th and 55th parallels. It might not have good storage ability, but it makes beautiful, caramelized onions!

Matures in 125 days, spring sown – 300 days fall sown.

The ultimate in a red-skinned storage onion. Sow Redwing storage onion seeds early to accommodate for its long days to maturity. The large, globe shaped bulbs are firm and uniform at 7-10cm (3-4″) across, with deep red, glossy skins and strong tops.

In late summer, when the onions have formed nice bulbs, harvest them as needed. At full maturity, the tops of the onions will fall over, signaling the end of growth and the time to harvest. If no rain or frost in forecast, knock each onion over the rest of the way. This will begin the drying process. Leave the onions like that for two or three days.

At the first sign of rain bring the whole onion plants indoors and lay them out in a dry area away from direct sunlight. Leave them to cure for two to four weeks until stems and necks have completely dried down. During this time, the papery skins covering each bulb will dry and contract. Use scissors to trim off the roots and cut at about 2cm (1″) up the stem for each bulb. Store them in a cool, dark place in mesh bags or trays with breathing holes. A well cured storage onion can retain its desirable flavour and aroma for as long as 12 months.

The mildest flavoured and easiest to grow of the radicchios, this sugarloaf type grows light green heads that are tall and slender like an extra tall romaine. Nettuno can be grown early spring through late fall, with good tolerance to hot temperatures and resistance to tipburn. Heads are well wrapped within large outer leaves and are dense when fully mature.

Known in Italy as Catalogna frastagliata, Italian Dandelion Chicory Seeds produce not a dandelion, but a chicory, a kind of endive. Fast growing, upright, dark-green notched leaves stand in thick bunches. Cut the plant at any height and it will re-grow again. Steamed like spinach, they have a pleasant “wild” flavour. Raw, they add bite to salad. May bolt mid-summer from spring planting. Italian dandelion chicory is quite winter-hardy, and suitable for winter gardening. If allowed to bloom, it sends up tall stalks of attractive, edible blue flowers that produce seeds that are easy to harvest and save for next season.
Matures in 65 days.

Red Iceberg lettuce forms a rosette of tasty, nutritious, and richly red outer leaves as it grows. Eventually a tightly-packed, pale green iceberg head forms at its centre, gilded with red markings on the outside. The interior is sweet and mild, with a very pleasant, crisp texture. The head holds well against the heat of summer with a delayed seed set. This was a standout in our seed trials and drew a lot of attention.

Matures in 50 days.

Dating back to 1830, this heirloom is the oldest American lettuce still in cultivation, which speaks to its charms. Plant Tom Thumb lettuce seeds for the smallest lettuce of all – a tennis ball-sized Bibb that will fit in the palm of your hand. The small heads have creamy yellow centers with medium green, slightly crumpled wrapper leaves. This variety works well in containers – even window boxes! It’s a good candidate for indoor growing under lights and does not need a large container to grow well. Try growing some Tom Thumb lettuce seeds in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse in the winter.

Matures in 50-70 days.

This red-spotted, open romaine lettuce is sure to turn some heads. The mid-sized plant is open with glossy, green leaves flecked with maroon; making it a delightful and colourful addition to salad mixes. As the leaves get larger, the markings become even more prominent. The leaves of Freckles lettuce are speckled, not blotchy, so they have quite an elegant look. And the flavour is excellent. Freckles lettuce seeds, also known as Forellenschluss are an heirloom variety of Austrian lineage. Be sure to plant some Freckles lettuce seeds in your organic vegetable garden this spring.

Matures in 55-70 days.

Fragaria vesca. Yellow Wonder Alpine strawberry seeds are a bit easier to start than some others. Start the seeds indoors as early as December, and transplant outdoors one week after your last average frost date. That’s around the first or second week in April. With this kind of head start, the plants will produce fruit in the first year. Yellow Wonder has the lovely oblong shape of alpine types, but with yellow skin and flesh and incredible sweetness. The plants are low growing, but very productive, even in containers. The seeds can also be sown later in the year, but plan on harvesting berries from the second year of growth forward.

Matures in 150 days. (Open-pollinated seeds)

Named for Ping Tung, Taiwan, the town of its origin. The fruits are light purple, from 30-45cm (12-18”) long, and only 3cm (1¼”) in diameter. Hardy, disease resistant plants bear heavy yields of sweet and tender fruits — as many as twenty per plant. Be sure to stake the bushy plants for the straightest fruits. Eggplants thrive in containers, but the trick is to keep the soil evenly moist, particularly during the hot weather of mid-summer, when the plants are most productive. The plants work equally well in the open field, but benefit from full sun and some protection from harsh wind.

Matures in 65-90 days.

This spiny little hybrid was bred for harvest and pickling the perfect gherkin pickles. But even when the odd one grew to full size in our field trials, they never became bitter. The productive plants kept the crop coming all summer in the field, but they would also work well in a greenhouse setting. The large, bushy plants are parthenocarpic, so they do not require pollination. Usually Artist Gherkin is harvested at such a small stage that even if it is pollinated outdoors, there will not be any seed development yet. Give the fruits a gentle rub with a cloth at harvest time, and the spines easily break off.

These seeds are coated with an inert, organically certified layer which helps to minimize clumping in storage and seed sowing machines. The coating is approved by organic certifiers in Canada, the US, EU, and Japan.

Matures in 45 days.

These blimp shaped cucumbers are medium green with small white spines and a crisp interior. You can pick them at 4cm (1″) for baby sweet pickles or wait for bigger ones. In time, they can grow to around 13cm (5″) long, but maintain their appealing pickle shape. Homemade Pickles cucumber seeds produce plants that are vigorous with excellent disease resistance and high yields. Provide a sturdy trellis for this rampant climber, and keep plants picked to keep more fruits coming over a long period. This cucumber can be eaten raw, but it is a little drier and crunchier than regular slicing cucumbers. These are the traits that make such high quality dill pickles.

Matures in 60 days.

Green Dragon cucumber seeds produce vines with substantial fruits to 28cm (11″) long. The fruits have linear indentations and tiny white spines that can easily be brushed off using a tea towel or similar cloth. Thin, dark green skins cover really tasty flesh that is burpless and never bitter. Green Dragon performs well both outdoors and in the greenhouse, but provide a trellis in either case so that the fruits can hang as they grow for better straightness. This variety is hybrid resistance to Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV), powdery mildew, downy mildew, and scab. For container growing, choose pots at least three to five gallons per plant, with fertile soil and good drainage.

Matures in 60 days.