Seed Catalogs Arriving Daily

It’s that time of year again - seed catalogs arriving by the handful. If you ordered from one or even requested a catalog from one of them, then your name is on a list. So far I have received 26 brightly colored catalogs and it isn’t even the middle of January. Most of them contain seeds and plants that will never grow in our area. Yes, I know, many varieties are claimed to grow at 20° below zero and then in the summer will give you an abundant food crop. I’m sure that with this claim they have never gardened in South Deschutes County where summer day time highs can be 90º and night time lows can be 24º. Welcome to the real world of Cold Climate Gardening. When looking through the catalogs I recommend that you NOT try anything higher than a zone 3 zoning. Yes, I do grow some zone 4 plants that have done very well and have a couple of zone 5 plants, but this has taken years of experimenting with hundreds of plant varieties, so for you first time plant growers, stay with zone 3. When ordering from your catalogs remember to order the hardiest vegetable seeds with the shortest growing season. We don’t have enough growing time for a long season crop. Beautiful vegetable gardens can be had when you work with a good fertile soil and cool season crops; a frost cover blanket really helps also for those summer nights that get below freezing. As for those fruit trees, do some research before you order. Most fruit trees are not grown on their own root, which means they have been grafted. You might be getting a tree with a hardy root, but what type of top has it been grafted to? The catalogs once again will tell you that they are very hardy. Do I recommend that you purchase fruit trees - no, not unless you have researched the hardiest varieties (look under fruit trees in my book Cold Climate Gardening) and go into the venture with the idea that one year you might get lucky and get apples. As for other plants, trees and shrubs, be very careful on your selections and shipping times. What might be spring in the zone charts of the company you order from, could mean a typical frozen February or March for us with no ground workable to plant your purchases.