The 2008 catalogs are out. So far I received Totally Tomatoes, Tomato Growers Supply and Baker Creek. I'm sure more will be arriving soon. I got the TT almost 2 weeks ago. You should be getting yours soon if you are on their mailing lists.

Since they are your bathroom reading material, I suggest you just turn the other cheek, errr, I mean, forgive and forget.

Great bathroom reading material - better drool than something else on the catalogs! :)

I have not rec'd my TGS... But did get my TT about 2 weeks ago as well. I got my Stokes Catalog around the same time I got my TT Catalog. I got Fedco yesterday... GREAT READING!!! :)

Tomatovator- when did you get TGS? I was going to order on line, but I like their section in the back that lists all the toms they offer, but don't have a pic... they don't have that on line...

Any signs of Burpee yet? I think I've been successfully talked into Brandy Boy...

And YES I'm starting to pick out my plants for spring planting. I've got to find SOME WAY to get through the 8" of snow that just fell last night - on the 15" that just fell earlier in the week...

Pushindirt - may be you could learn how to scrapbook in the mean time??? :)

Tom

I already have most of my new catalogue and have chucked the old ones, I REALLY don't need the old ones. I don't chuck them as the new ones come in, I wait until I have a decent stack and then toss the whole lot from last year. I keep them all in magazine files in my office and so it's nice to have the space free again--lotsa a room for more new seed catalogues. On Monday I received my first order of 2008 seeds from TT--ahhh, there's nothing nicer than a decent seed stash.

I have also received quite a few so far. While waiting on them to arrive, you might check online. Most seed companies have their websites now updated to reflect what they are offering in 2008.

Jay

Tomatovator- when did you get TGS? I was going to order on line, but I like their section in the back that lists all the toms they offer, but don't have a pic... they don't have that on line...

*****

Tom, all the varieties listed on page 53 in the catalog with no picture or description are listed on the website with both a picture and the original description when they were in the main opart of the catalog. Says so at the top of page 53, and is so. LOL

Many folks who send out catalogs have started saying to check the website for more info on this or that, the reason being that to up the pages in a catalog makes for a much increased publishing cost.

BTW, many folks are just now receiving their TGS catalogs. Linda sends them out 3rd class so they will arrive soon. The Sandhill catalog I haven't checked on yet, but should do that as well since so many folks here at GW and elsewhere now use them as well. I suppose that by now the Sandhill website has also been updated .

Carolyn

The only one I have received so far is my "Stokes" 2008, which is funny. I've never ordered from them. - Nice pictures though.
Dave

I actually like Stokes - I order - shhhhhh don't tell anyone - flowers from them... I use it as a reference - they get into detail about germ temps and what not and also sell large quanities. I've never ordered tomatoes from them.

Carolyn - I guess I thought TGS had a page in the back (not sure if it was page 53 specifically - that's some memory you got there, Carolyn!!!) that offered seed for less - I don't know a buck fifty or something... that didn't have pics... I always thought they were dumping them or something... I didn't notice on the web site if they had that - and I haven't gotten their catalog yet (which isn't much of a surprise, I've moved and a lot of my mail has gotten lost). Ah, no matter, I haven't gotten my TGS yet.

And Trudi - dido there's nothing nicer than a decent seed stash...

And Trudi - dido there's nothing nicer than a decent seed stash...

Of course, something nicer is a truly indecent stash of seeds, but that is a fluctuating commodity here as they come and go so quick.

T--going back to playing with seeds and a graphic program.

It's a bit off mark for bathroom reading solely for tomatoes/veggies, but I find the Thompson & Morgan catalog to be one of the most informative, compact, and diverse catalogs out there. Just flipping through it you're bound to expand your knowledge of plants unless you're already a heck of a plant taxonomist.

They carry an unreal amount of flower seed and that's about 3/4 of the catalog. Their actual tomato selection is limited to a couple dozen varieties.

I received my first ever Baker Creek catalog. It's beautiful. Also got a bunch of commercial grower catalogs and handouts at an Expo held locally. They didn't know how small my garden is! I'll never grow anywhere near the number of seeds they have as minimum orders, but the pictures and descriptions are fun to see, anyway.

Maybe having a spouse throw out things is good. I keep way to many things and my kind husband does not throw them out. Right now I'm wondering if I can rescue a "storage room" that is supposed to be a guest bedroom by Saturday night. It isn't looking very good...maybe someone will have to sleep on the couch :)

I fail to understand what makes old Scrapbooking/Crafts magazines, etc. more valuable than last year's seed catalogs. My wife keeps insisting I don't need all THOSE OLD CATALOGS. BECAUSE I LIKE THEM. SHESSSSH. I could be stashing OTHER types of magazines. She should be happy I threw out some fishing magazines that were only 4 years old. Those seed catalogs will be valuable if we only wait about 50 years.
PS - I have enough newspaper put away to make pots for the next 10 years.

Tom,

You're a packrat, I sympathize with your wife.

Let me tell you about fifty years--my inlaws are moving out of the house they lived in for fifty one years and are moving into a senior condo.

Do you knwo what a nightmare fifty years of saved stuff is?

Your wife is saving you from that nightmare, she's a darling and bright woman, give her a hug and kiss for doing the right thing ;-)

T

PS just a tip...

I could be stashing OTHER types of magazines.

Comparing yourself to the bottom of the barrel to make your case doesn't do anything except PO any sensible woman.

Carolyn - I guess I thought TGS had a page in the back (not sure if it was page 53 specifically - that's some memory you got there, Carolyn!!!) that offered seed for less - I don't know a buck fifty or something... that didn't have pics... I always thought they were dumping them or something... I didn't notice on the web site if they had that - and I haven't gotten their catalog yet (which isn't much of a surprise, I've moved and a lot of my mail has gotten lost). Ah, no matter, I haven't gotten my TGS yet.

*****

Tom, I can't find my TGS catalogs now and haven't gotten the 2008 yet, but all the ones on page 53 are usually a bit less, price=wise, than the others. But never a cut rate buck fifty. LOL

And no, it's not a dumping ground at all, it's just that Linda doesn't want to expand the number of pages in the catalog. In addition, she keeps track of the number of varieties sold and so some on page 53 sold less than the ones in preceding pages, and she always has to make room for new ones as well.

This AM I'm going to e-mail Glenn and Linda Drowns and see when those catalogs will be, or have been, sent. Yes, I'm a strong believer in Sandhill Preservation for all the reasons I've mentioned here at GW before.

When I have great new varieteis I send them for trial to just TGS and Sandhill although I used to send to a few other places as well, but not anymore.

Carolyn

"page 53" is in the 08 catalog, but prices are $2.25 a packet.

I got my catalog sometime last week, fwiw.

Actually, I got the catalog earlier THIS week. Monday or Tuesday I believe.

I'm very disappointed in the price differences between TGS and TT. TGS prices are significantly higher in comparison.

Here's a few fast examples, I've shown an OP, two colors and popular hybrid.

Beefsteak:
TGS 30 seeds for $2.45
TT 100 seeds for $1.65

Black from Tula:
TGS 30 seeds for $2.55
TT 30 seeds for $1.95

Aunt Ruby's German Green:
TGS 30 seeds for $2.55
TT 30 seeds for $1.85

BeefMaster Hybrid
TGS 30 seeds for $3.00
TT 30 seeds for $1.95

You can go throughout the both catalogues and see consistant overpricing at TGS. The seeds are the same...but do I want to pay the extra amount? I don't think so.

TGS Shipping ~ $4.25
TT Shipping ~ $4.95 for orders up to $24.99, $5.95 for orders over $25.00

There is a difference in shipping cost that favors TGS. However, I think the difference would be absorbed and/or surpassed by the savings at TT.

I have always had superb customer service with TT, I've had just as great service with TGS--if the only thing that differentiates the two of them are the final price of the order, then TGS has got an uphill battle to compete for my seed money.

Trudi, Here's something else though.
I had never ordered from either of the two you mentioned.
I went out to their websites to request catalogs.
TGS catalog is free.
TT wants me to buy one for $3.00. To me, this speaks bad customer service. Many time I won't gripe about a few dollars if the company gives the impression they're not out to rob me.
TT is not even on my favorites list now.
Dave

I had no idea, but that's minda standard--won't they knock the three dollars of an order too?

Hey Push,

What you said is TOTALLY false--they're catalogue is FREE!

Here is a link that might be useful: Catalogues

I apologize. I didn't realize that the request process took you to another website. When I clicked on it, I saw the first catalogue that came up. This other site obviously processes more than a few. Sorry for the mistake.

That's okay ;-) Get a catalogue from TT and knock yourself out with an order, they have a big selection to choose from. Sometimes I need to order a lot of tomato seeds from them in big quantities. I simply get on the phone, tell them what I need, and the seeds are here in almost no time. Simply stated, I can rely on them and I'm not going to have pay a lot for the amounts I need.

I went out to their site again. I ordered the catalogue.
They seems to have pretty good prices. I think I'll place an order this week. Thanks again.
Dave

Ahh...I think you'll be happy with the tomatoes you grow!

trudi, has this ever been a problem for you?
Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Totally tomatoes

Personally I've never gotten the wrong seeds from TT (that I've noticed so far) but I know their have been mixups that have occured with other people. Last year I know that there were mixups with an Ipomoea that had been distribtued by Renee's Garden and I found out before the plants bloomed because Renee herself sent me replacement seeds. She tracked down everyone who had gotten a falsely labeled pack and she personally replaced them. It's service like that which puts her way ahead of so many other seed sources.

Getting the wrong seeds is not limited to only one company--human error happens everywhere at any level and quite often it isn't the companies own fault, but is the fault of the supplier of the seeds and those seeds go to many companies.

I think if you do some searching on this forum or even search the net and look at old google caches because these forums only save 67 pages, you'll find that mislabled seeds are a problem of many seed companies. Fortunately these mistakes are rare and good companies will replace your seeds the next season if you're not satisfied.

Dave, your nickel and your garden are your own. I can only relate my own experiences; you know yours.

Trudi,
Actually I am only a minor pack rat compared to my DW. When cleaning up always start with your partner's stuff is my DW's motto. We have lived in the same house since 1974, so believe me we have a lot of STUFF stored. I think my wife still has our 39 year old son's baby clothes. I know she still has his kindergarten papers. I think my seed catalogs are minor. ;-)
Happy Holidays everyone.
Tom

I was saving up my old seed catalogs of the 1970's then one day had a soft spot and threw them out. What a mistake. I so wish I had them today. If you like to save up old catalogs then make sure you get Baker Creek Heirlooms catalog. It is a true work of art. Beautiful.

Wrong seeds are often times caused by the wholesaler or grower. The seeds are accidently wrong from the source. In many cases the seeds crossed and mess up the entire line of seeds. It can take years to straighten it out. They first need to find someone with good seeds and then start all over to build up a bulk of seeds to sell again.

Fedco for example is doing this with some strains this year. Fedco located some good seeds and is paying to grow out enough to sell next year. The original source and wholesaler messed up their seeds for everyone. One big problem is that if a small seed saver accidently begins to save seeds from these "wrong" seeds they need to get out the message so the "wrong" seeds do not filter back into the seed supply in the future.

This can be a problem if you buy seeds from a small individual who makes his own seeds and messes up. I like to get seeds that originated from a big seed wholesaler. If he messes up the news will get out and I will have a better chance to find out about it.

I also like to save seeds because all too often the seeds are not available the next year. Seeds keep being dropped.

This can be a problem if you buy seeds from a small individual who makes his own seeds and messes up. I like to get seeds that originated from a big seed wholesaler. If he messes up the news will get out and I will have a better chance to find out about it.

I also like to save seeds because all too often the seeds are not available the next year. Seeds keep being dropped.

*****

When dealing with OP seed there's not a company that hasn't had problems from time to time, but it really does depend on which companies you chose to deal with.

And that's b'c some companies produce almost all their own seed, some subcontract out and some buy wholesale from the company that bred certain varieties. And some companies do a combination of those.

Dan, I don't think you were here at GW when I used to do a wrong variety thread each year, which I did for several years, although I know you've posted here for a couple of years.

There were those companies that rose to the top re seed purity, seed quality and service.

At that time, and I expect that to be true today, the top companies included a couple of large ones as well as several small family owned companies.

It's not whether a company is **small or large**, per your comment about not wanting to deal with a small company,rather, it's the specific company in question and their sources of seed as I mentioned above.

The greatest amount of Xed seed at that time was seed that was traded between individuals and if I were to do those Wrong Varieties threads today I'm sure, from my readiong at several message sites, that that situation would still obtain.

When I did those threads I was the one who contacted the owners of those companies that had wrong seeds b/c I knew many of those owners and still do. Some companies were glad to hear that they had a problem, but there were a couple of companies that wanted the persons who had problems to contact them directly so they could affirm that indeed the person had purchased the seeds from them.

The ultimate responsibuility for reporting wrong purchased seeds rests with the person who bought them but I've also found that many folks just don't want to report errors.

YOu aren't going to hear about seed problems any more frequently with a large company as opposed to dealing with a smaller family owned company. It's the seed purchasers you may or may not hear from on a public message board such as this one. There are those companies that have discovered a problem from feedback and then waitied until they got good seed and then replaced, at no cost, the bad seed with the good seed.

It's a complicated issue, that's for sure, but I cannot agree with your contention that it's better to order seed from a large company versus a small one.

Carolyn

I ordered my seeds on-line from the Cottage Gardener. All are heirloom organic and they put them in the mail Dec. 20 so I should have everything I need by next week.

Just waiting to hear from Tom8olvr about the DCW (Ivory)cherry seeds and I'm done. :>)

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year.

Rory

You know, I've gotten crossed seed from TT and others, plus from saved seed.

I'm thinking: if a company advertised they grew every seed themselves, protected them from cross pollination with season-long row covers, and a 200% refund guarantee, they could charge 50 cents more a pack and have all the business they could handle. Just a thought. ;-)

What are TGS and TT? Sorry, I'm new. Thanks

Loveto

TGS = Tomato Growers Supply Company

TT = Totally Tomatoes

Both companies have catalogs and online catalogs for Tomato seed and other vegetables.

Happy Holidays
Charlie B

Thank you Charlie! and Happy Holidays to you also.

I know I'm going to get reamed for saying this, but what else is new! I think that's what makes gardening with tomatoes so much fun. Getting something that you didn't order IS frustrating. On another vein it's an adventure. I bought seed a million years ago - Cherokee Purple and I believe to this day it wasn't because it was much much better tasting than any other Cherokee purple I have ever had! I recalled when I was germinating them that clearly 1/2 the seed was RL and 1/2 PL. Of course I thought it was my fault, but in retrospect, I don't think I mixed any seeds or made a mistake... (All the others were FINE) I think it was the company I bought them from... I grew out the RL - and those were the BEST tasting toms... Or maybe that WAS the true Cherokee Purple and what I had prior wasn't! :) I kick myself for not saving those seeds - for MYSELF... I would have liked to have seen what I got the following year...? You know when you have something GOOD... I understand the need and want to preserve varieties. I want that too - but lets not overlook a cross or mistake makes it fun also.

Tom

Tom,

You do know that there's the original Cherokee Purple, which is RL and also a Cherokee Purple Potato Leaf which some folks say is not the same as CP with just a leaf form change.

Yes?

Carolyn

Yes, I do know that now - but not at the time... :)

I just feel that whether I had the 'real' thing or not, they were awesome tomatoes...

Thanks!