It’s seed catalog season. Yes, there is a season for seed catalogs, and we are right in the thick of it. What is seed catalog season? It’s that time of year when the seed companies mail out catalogs and post online all the items they want you to purchase for the upcoming garden season. Looking at seed catalogs and dreaming about what could be in this new year is what gets a lot of gardeners through what my mom called the dark, dreary days of winter…the dreaded 3d days.

If you are not familiar with seed catalog season, get online and visit some sellers of seeds and order their catalog, or you can just browse online if that is your style and you want to save a tree or two. But however you do it, it’s time. So, let’s talk about some of the things you will find in seed catalogs that can help you make the best decisions.

Many vegetable seeds have been cross bred to provide them with some degree of disease resistance. If you have had a problem with a variety of disease that affect tomatoes for example, you might consider acquiring seeds that have a built-in resistance to that disease. For example, on some seed descriptions you will see the letters F, F2, F3, PM, or TMV. The letter F indicates some degree of resistance to fusarium wilt. F2 and F3 would be variations of that disease while PM would indicate resistance to powdery mildew and TMV would suggest resistance to tomato mosaic virus. There are others so pay attention to them, they could possibly save you some headaches later.

Another important bit of information you will see is the number of days required for germination as well as the number of days to harvest. The number of days for germination can help keep your anxiety levels lower if you know you shouldn’t expect to see a little seedling popping up out of the soil for X number of days. It will also tell you that if you have waited X weeks and nothing is happening, you need to start over.

Days to harvest is great information when you are trying to time your cool and warm season vegetable seed starting to the season. For example, if you want to plant lettuce seeds and you know it’s going to be 60 days till harvest, you know not to plant your lettuce seeds in June because your seeds won’t have produced anything before July sets in and lettuce is a cool season crop for the most part. Once that heat hits, your lettuce will be done.

It also will help you in the fall when you are trying to squeeze one more planting in before the season is over. If your crop is a warm season crop and you know it will need 60 days before it starts producing, it would be good not to plant those seeds in September since we can expect our first freeze about mid-October.

Another thing you will notice in the information on your seeds is that they specify whether the seeds are organic or conventional. Organic seeds come from plants that have been grown using organic practices while conventional seeds have not. Organic seeds tend to be a little bit more expensive, but for many of us, it’s worth it.

One of my favorite things is that many seeds come in what is called a pelleted format. Many plants have very small seeds that are somewhat challenging to work with so they cover those small seeds with a clay based covering that makes it easier for you to handle and distribute those seeds appropriately. The only downside to pelleted seeds is that it shortens their shelf life, so you need to use them the year you purchase them.

Tomatoes are typically on most everyone’s list to grow. Before you purchase tomato plants or seeds you need to decide what type of tomato you would like to purchase, and by type I don’t mean variety, I mean do you want determinate or indeterminate tomato plants. Determinate tomato plants are those that produce all their fruit at one time such as roma tomatoes. Determinate tomato plants are good when you are growing tomatoes with the intent of producing tomato sauce or salsa etc. Indeterminate tomato plants will continue to grow and produce throughout the growing season if you take care of them. They are great when you just want to have a good supply of fresh tomatoes throughout the year.

Determinate plants tend to grow to about 3 to 4 feet in height while indeterminate plants continue to grow as a more viney plant.

Another thing to consider when choosing tomato plants or seeds is, do you want to grow heirloom or hybrid tomatoes. While it’s hard to find a definite definition of an heirloom plant, they are the ones that have been passed down through generations and remain the same. Seeds from heirloom plants will produce the same type of plant.

Hybrids are plants that have been crossbred to give them some additional benefit such as disease resistance or greater production. To do this they cross pollinate one plant with the other to achieve the results they are hoping to achieve. Hybrid plants are not GMOs (genetically modified plants). That is a completely different thing. Nature is always hybridizing plants. If you have ever planted cucumbers and zucchini close to one another, you know that sometimes you get some wonky cucumbers due to the work of a busy pollinating insect.

If you hope to save your tomato seeds to use next year, you should stick with heirlooms. Seeds from hybrids can revert back to their original qualities which might mean you will not get what you are hoping to get.

Next is which variety you should get and everyone either has their favorites or will soon have their favorites based on taste or quantity of production or something else. OSU publishes information on varieties they have tested for growing in Oklahoma. These would be a good place to start if you are either new to gardening or haven’t had great success with what you have been planting. You can find this list on our website (www.tulsamastergardeners.org). Just click on Lawn and Garden Help and then Vegetables.

If you are new to vegetable gardening or just want to ramp up your gardener game, we have our first Urban Gardener/Seed to Supper Edition class scheduled for February 10^th. In this class you will learn about soil nutrient management, types of gardens, seed starting and growing, as well as how to take care of plant disease and insects in an environmentally friendly way. Information is on our website. See you in the garden, and maybe even in class!

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org. Photo: OSU Ag. Comm.