Territorial Seed - Vegetable Seed, Flower Seed, and Herb Seed at Territorial Seed Company

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What is a Yellow Multiplier Onion, anyway?
10/26/09 - posted by Kat Barlow
One of Territorial Seed Company’s most popular items, the Yellow Multiplier Onion, still remains a mystery to many gardeners. An old-fashioned favorite, they have been called potato onions for the manner in which they grow and reproduce. Mild-flavored and hardy perennials, these onions are propagated similarly to garlic or shallots: by planting a bulb. Multiplier onion bulbs are planted in the fall and grow and re-generate over the winter and into summer. Typically maturing in mid-summer, one planted bulb will result in a crop of 10 to 12 onions. Thinning and trimming the green tops provides a continuous harvest of tender, green onions throughout the growing season. At harvest time, the bulbs are cured and stored just like any other onions, with the largest and best bulbs replanted in the fall to continue the crop. Yellow Multiplier Onions are an ideal choice for gardeners who are looking for a self-sustaining crop.

Cover Crops - an all natural soil solution
09/11/09 - posted by Kat Barlow
Cover crops, or green manures, are nature’s own system for amending soil. These types of plants serve multiple purposes, which all add up to improving the quality of the soil and supporting future plants. Cover crops will break up heavy, clay soil, add organic matter, trap nutrients, and prevent erosion and unwanted weed growth. Legumes, such as clovers, beans and peas capture life-giving nitrogen from the air and store it in their roots, making it accessible to later plants. Beneficial insects relish the blooms of cover crops and the plants themselves provide habitat and forage for wildlife, and the list goes on.
Planting a cover crop in the fall allows the vegetable garden to work for you during a time when that space might usually be fallow. Broadcast the seed and you’ll quickly have a uniform blanket of industrious plants. Under the soil’s surface, the network of roots spreads and reaches to aerate the ground, improve its texture, and support crucial microbial life. Throughout the winter, these plants grow, capturing and storing nutrients that might otherwise be washed away by the rains. In spring, the mature crop will be ready to be cut and tilled into the ground, adding rich, nutritious organic matter to the ground.
Cover crops come in a range of varieties. Grains and grasses are fast-growing and effective against erosion, legumes fix nitrogen into the soil, and other types such as vetches provide masses of top growth, which in turn provides green manure. Choosing a cover crop should be based on your current soil conditions and needs. Blending a quick-germinating grain with a slower growing, nitrogen-fixing legume makes a custom-tailored mixture with many layers of benefits. Territorial Seed Company’s Fall Mix takes the guesswork out of combining varieties. It’s a balanced blend of legumes, grains and vetch, providing all the optimum benefits of cover cropping in one convenient product.
Sow the cover crop seed anytime from now until the end of September. Timely planting allows the plants to get well established prior to the onset of cold weather. Tilling the crop under approximately one month prior to planting in the spring gives the vegetative matter enough time to break down to a useable, green manure for the approaching garden. Now’s the time to scatter some seed and let Mother Nature perform her miracles.

I'm doing sow much better, thank you...
08/26/09 - posted by Josh Kirschenbaum
It has been quite a while since I wrote a blog entry, as this is a very busy time of the year out at our trial grounds. However, something happened yesterday that I thought was worthy of sharing. Without going into details, the past few weeks have been far from ideal for me. Just one of those times in life that we all have to deal with what hopefully makes us appreciate the better, sunnier times. In any case, I arrived at the trial grounds yesterday slightly stressed out about all of the things that I needed to accomplish for the day. I had to get my fall crops of beets, carrots, and parsnips in the ground (yes, I know that I am a little late but they should still do fine) as well as continue my evaluations on the multitude of summer crops that are ripening in an exponentially high rate with the warm weather we have had. And, I won't even bore you with the tasks that needed to get accomplished back at the office.

So, I started my day frantically getting all of the prep work done for planting the root crops. During this time, I kept thinking about what I was going to do next, and then what I was going to do after that, etc, etc... I wasn't really sure if it was the coffee or stress that made my heart beat fast and my stomach churn. Hines site says probably a little of both! Okay, the prep work was finished and it was finally time to start planting. And the next thing that I know, I had seeded half of the first bed of carrots and it was like someone slipped an anti-anxiety pill in my water. My thoughts had turned from fluttering to meditative as I methodically placed tiny, buff colored seeds into a furrow filled with compost. The simple task of transferring a seed from my hand into the soil calmed me and I didn't even have to try to change my mood. I said to myself, "Seriously, how bad can things be? It's a beautiful, sunny day and I am planting seeds of root crops that will hopefully be enjoyed throughout the fall and winter months". The icing on the cake came later in the day when I tasted the first ripe melon of the season. The sheer aroma of the melon made me giddy.

Now, I am honestly not a mushy, gushy, overly emotional person (despite what you may think after reading this) but I am here to testify that gardening made my "not-so-great" yesterday tremendously better. I would be willing to bet that if it worked on this sap, there is a great chance it would work for you, too.

Summer planting means winter harvest!
06/12/09 - posted by Tim Russell
Summer is almost upon us, and most of the spring and summer vegetables are in the ground and growing strong. But what about your fall and winter garden? No year-round garden is complete without summer and fall planted brassicas, root crops, alliums, lettuces and greens. With successive plantings and cold tolerant varieties you can have great tasting, fresh-from-the-garden produce throughout the entire winter. Visit our overwintering section for a list of all our suitable varieties.

The first Territorial transplants of the season have shipped
03/30/09 - posted by Tim Russell
We are two weeks into spring, and the time has come to start shipping out our live plants! Today the first group of our tomato, eggplant, pepper, herb and flower plants were watered, patted on the head, carefully packed into their shipping boxes, and sent on their way to gardeners across the country to the start of a new life.

We are enjoying beautiful weather here in Cottage Grove, and the plants are getting an extra dose of sun just prior to their journey. Mother Nature doesn't always cooperate with us this time of year, so we are putting our brand new greenhouse to very good use with all these amazing seedlings. With state-of-the-art temperature and climate controls, the house helps to ensure that the seedlings are in tip-top shape! And they certainly are in tip-top shape, as you can tell from the photos.

Unfortunately we no longer have plants available to sell that will be shipped out this month. However, if you are interested in plants they are still available for early and late May shipping, but not for long!

Greenhouse Growing Goes High-Tech
03/13/09 - posted by Kat Barlow
The second week in March 2009 brought innovation to life with the construction of benches for the newest germination greenhouse at Territorial Seed Company’s trials, research, and transplant production operation; London Spring Farms. A brainchild of Tom Johns, Territorial’s President, the benches incorporate low-voltage, electric heat embedded in concrete. "The benches are insulated, durable, and heat-retaining, just like radiant floor heat in homes, in fact, that’s where the idea originated. This is the first design of its kind for Indoor Farming, as far as we know. Our other greenhouse tables are heated by water-circulating systems through rubber mats, which provides the gentle, even heat that seedlings need, but the systems have inherent downsides. The price of propane makes heating water very expensive, internal corrosion, winter freezing and regular wear-and-tear can result in costly annual repairs," says Mr. Johns. These new benches should be up and running next week. Just in time for the spring transplants; this will be the acid test for the new concept.

The Wonderful Flavor and Nutritional Value of Cole Crops Make Them a Must Have in the Spring Garden
02/27/09 - posted by Josh Kirschenbaum

Whether you call them cole crops, Brassicas, or Crucifers, this large genus of plants encompasses some of my all-time favorite vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, mustards, pac choi, rutabagas, and turnips. I realize that we all have different tastes and some of these vitamin rich veggies conjure up ‘not-so-good’ thoughts of dinners past. I have made the plea dozens of times to those who were repulsed by the memory of overcooked, mushy Brussels sprouts to grow their own and give it another try; I definitely became a convert and now I dream of roasted sprouts drizzled with a little olive oil and garlic. Yum!

These crops are great for early spring sowings, as they prefer cooler temperatures. At our trial grounds, we start them in the greenhouse in February and usually transplant them outdoors 6-8 weeks later or when there are 5-6 true leaves on the plants. In areas with harsh winters or late springs, the February sowing might be a little premature and March would be more suitable. Mixing 1/4-1/2 cup of Territorial’s Complete Fertilizer into the soil around each plant should provide optimum nutrition.

Harvesting times vary greatly amongst different types of cole crops and varieties. For specifics, check out the approximate days to maturity at the beginning of each variety description. One recommendation is to choose a few different varieties of the same type of cole crop based on their days to maturity. By planting 2 or 3 different broccoli varieties that mature at different times, for example, you can stagger the harvest and enjoy nutritious, delectable broccoli over a longer period.

One of my goals every garden season is to grow something that I have never tasted before or tasted so long ago that it deserves to be revisited. If you choose to follow suit, I highly recommend giving any of the cole crops a shot.

Plants are off and growing!
02/24/09 - posted by Tim Russell

At the end of this week the first deadline for ordering plants will come to a close, and those plants will start shipping in just four weeks. It is hard to believe that spring is just around the corner!

All of this got me thinking about our plants, so I decided to check in at our farm and see how they were coming along. We seed our peppers and eggplants first and they have been have been growing for about a month now, and our tomato seeds have just been growing for a few weeks. As you can imagine, starting all these plants to be ready for staggered shipping dates throughout the spring is quite an organizational challenge, but our farm crew has been doing it for over ten years now and keeping all the plants growing according to schedule is second nature to them.

Another challenge we are facing due to the popularity of our plants is where to keep them all. We added a new greenhouse at the farm this summer, and we just erected another greenhouse at our shipping facility so that when the plants arrive from the farm, they can still receive the same TLC until moments before they are shipped.

In addition to first class accommodations, all of our plants are grown in a custom potting mix that we prepare ourselves. We have several different mixes so that all the different types of plants get just what they need.

Our plants are growing right along, and before long they will be on their way to our customers, ready to liven up their gardens, patios, and porches.

Time for Planting Peas
02/06/09 - posted by Josh Kirchenbaum

For those of you who live in colder regions of the country, my apologies for what I am about to say but…I get to go out and plant our pea trials soon!!! Yes, February brings promise of less time at the desk and more time at the farm. In the Pacific Northwest, we try to get our peas in the ground by President’s Day (February 16th) but I have certainly planted them later and still got great results.

In general, peas should be planted in the early spring as soon as the soil can be worked. It is not necessary to till the soil, but simply scratch a small furrow where the seeds can be planted. Try to space the seeds 1 inch apart and 1-1½ inches deep. Because peas don’t have extensive root systems, there is no need to thin and as the plants grow, they actually use each other as support.

Some varieties, such as Alderman or Super Sugar Snap really do prefer to be grown on a trellis or fence. For the more compact varieties, you can either grow them on a trellis or in a few rows right next to each other. If they start to get top heavy, simply put a few small stakes around the perimeter of the block and “wrap” the block with a few strands of twine. For more cultural info on growing peas, see page 62 of our paper catalog or see the pea section of our website, and click on more information in any pea variety.

The flavor of fresh-from-the garden peas honestly cannot be beat and is well worth the amount of room in the garden. Be sure to check out Territorial’s Pea-Ples Choice Mix, which is a combination of our favorite shelling, snap, and snow peas.

Territorial Seed Company on Garden Time TV
01/26/09 - posted by Tim Russell
This past fall, Garden Time TV came to visit our trial grounds and warehouse facility. While our trials were fizzling out for the season, you can still get a glimpse of the farm and our operations. Enjoy!

Notes from the trial grounds
12/23/08 - posted by Josh Kirschenbaum
This past summer proved to be one of the most difficult growing seasons I have encountered in almost a decade of working at Territorial. Due to a late/wet spring, we were not able to work the soil and get the trials in the ground on time. Summer veggies such as peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes were not transplanted out until mid June. Then we had an unusually cool summer, which further inhibited the heat-loving veggies from maturing.
While you might think that these non-ideal conditions would make it difficult to evaluate and choose new varieties for the 2009 catalog, it is actually quite the opposite. In fact, the short growing season allowed us to see which varieties really performed well in a far-from-ideal season. For example, Millionaire eggplant is a new variety for 2009. In our eggplant trials, Millionaire was actually fruiting when most of the other varieties were not even flowering! Getting an eggplant to mature in the Northwest is not an easy accomplishment during a normal growing season, let alone this past one. To be able to see just how early and productive Millionaire was in such an imperfect growing season was quite useful. It also leads me to believe that in areas that have warmer summers than us, Millionaire would also perform very well and mature quite early.
So all in all, even though we were confronted with many challenges this past trial season, we did manage to uncover some precious nuggets of wisdom and amazing new varieties. I believe you’ll be able to see them shine through in our new catalog. Just off the presses, this 2009 Spring edition will be arriving in mailboxes within the next week or two. I hope that you are as excited about all of our new vegetable, flower, and herb varieties as I am!

Victory (over the economy) Gardens
12/04/08 - posted by Matthew Kakstys
Since what's happening to the economy has been in the news, I've heard and read several interviews with people who've lived through the Great Depression. One of the common threads in each of the stories was "We always had a garden." Having nutritious, fresh food growing right outside your back door can create a sense of security, and walking the short distance to harvest it makes very small carbon footprints.
Here's an example of the economics of gardening. A package of Hybrid Broccoli Blend has over 250 seeds for $3.95. If you sow the seeds thickly and thin as they grow, you could easily end up with 50-75 mature plants, each producing a head of broccoli. What would that go for at the grocery store? And after the initial harvest, the plants produce smaller heads as side shoots.
In the next few weeks, Territorial will be adding Territorial's Victory Garden to our list of seed collections. It will contain 30 open pollinated varieties (this means you can save your own seed) in a sealable container with all the information you'll need to grow your garden. Watch for it.

Heirloom, Open-Pollinated, & Hybrid
10/31/08 - posted by Matthew Kakstys
Heirloom seed is a descriptive term with no definitive definition. Most people would call a variety an heirloom if it is open-pollinated, has been around about 50 years (some say 100 years), and is not part of today’s large-scale commercial agriculture. Some heirloom varieties have been around for centuries or even millennia. Heirloom varieties were preserved and passed down for a reason; usually reliable production and unique flavor.
Open-pollinated and hybrid are easy to define.
The seed from an open-pollinated variety will produce new plants that are “true to type” or just like the parent plant, as long as it hasn’t cross pollinated with another variety. Saving your own open-pollinated seed from tomatoes, peppers, beans, and peas is easy because their flowers are designed to make cross pollination difficult. It’s trickier to save seed from open-pollinated corn, squash, carrots, and other vegetables that depend on the wind or insects for pollination. They need isolation from other varieties so they don’t cross pollinate.
A hybrid is the result of the pollen from one variety fertilizing the flower of another variety. This is known as cross pollination. The resulting seed won’t grow to be like either of the two parent varieties, but will be a third new variety. Hybrids happen all the time in nature. Anyone who has let volunteer seedlings grow in their garden knows this. The result is usually an inedible zumpkin or pumpchini, but there is a small chance that a random cross pollination could produce an incredibly wonderful hybrid variety that no one has ever seen before. Seed saved from a hybrid will not grow “true to type”. It takes the first generation cross between the two parent strains to make a hybrid variety. Hybrid seed first became available in the late 1940’s. Hybrid vigor and uniformity were a big plus for farmers. Not being able to save seed to replant was a drawback.
Over the years some gardeners have avoided hybrids because a lot of them were developed to mature all at once and withstand mechanical harvesting and long distance transportation, not things that a home gardener is interested in. Other hybrids were developed for flavor, vigor, and disease resistance. If you’re interested in saving seed, choose the open pollinated varieties. For a taste of history, go with the heirlooms.

Garlic Greens
10/06/08 - posted by Matthew Kakstys
Garlic greens are a culinary treat that deserves wider recognition. Usually only seen at farmers markets and specialty stores in the spring, they are easy to grow.
Garlic greens are the early stages of growth for a garlic plant. Before the garlic bulb forms in summer, the spring growth is tender with a milder flavor than mature garlic cloves. You can plant an extra row or two of garlic cloves to dig when they look like small leek plants, leaving the other rows to mature. It’s a great use for those smaller inner cloves found in soft-neck garlic.
An indoor method for forcing during the winter is to plant several cloves in a pot of slightly wet vermiculite. Place the pot in a sunny window and in a week or two you’ll have green sprouts ready to snip.
They are great in any recipe calling for mature garlic. Try some minced in salads or sautéed and added to mashed potatoes.

Garlic is being shipped now!
09/22/08 - posted by Tim Russell
Garlic is being harvested now, and some has already shown up at our warehouse over the last few weeks. We have many varieties that are shipping out now, and we expect to have all varieties in stock, and shipping out in the next few weeks. If you are expecting garlic to be shipped to you, it will be coming your way soon!
One reason our garlic can be shipped later is that we cure our garlic before shipment. Garlic can lose up to 20% of its weight when cured, which means that since the garlic you receive is already cured you are getting more garlic cloves for your dollar!
If you were still planning on purchasing garlic, act quickly! We are soon to be sold out of many of our varieties, and by the end of September, all of our varieties will be going fast!

Save those seeds!
07/31/08 - posted by Matthew Kakstys
Seeds are so nice. If you give them what they need, they’ll always do their best.
This year we’ve noticed that a lot more people seem to be buying larger size packages of our seed. Either people are gardening on a much larger scale or they’re planning on saving some money by buying larger packages and saving the unplanted seed for next year.
When saving seed, the first thing to keep in mind is seed life. Some vegetables like onions and spinach have a life span of only one year. Any unused onion or spinach seed at Territorial is composted at the end of the year. The seed life for the different types of vegetables is listed in the Seed Specs section of the variety information in our print catalog or the More Information tab on the product pages of our website.
The second thing is temperature and humidity. Cool and dry is what seeds want while they’re waiting to be planted. At Territorial we store the freshly harvested seed in a temperature and humidity controlled room to maintain optimum seed viability. If you’re going to store your home harvested or unplanted extra seed, an air-tight container with a desiccant is the way to go. A desiccant is the thing that you’re not supposed to eat that comes in bottles of vitamins. It absorbs moisture from the air and anything else that it’s around. Territorial also sells a desiccant package (ZHG380) that can be shipped with your seed order.
So start with good seed, keep it cool and dry until you’re ready to plant, and those seeds will become a productive garden.

Winter harvest means summer planting
07/08/08 - posted by Tim Russell
Now that the heat of summer has hit the majority of the country, most people are thinking more about keeping their garden watered and bug free than adding additional plants. However, if you would like to have a fall and winter garden, now is the time to act!
There are many varieties suitable for summer and fall planting, but knowing exactly when to plant these varieties can be a bit perplexing. To help with this we have created a handy planting chart which gives you the optimal planting date range through out the summer and into fall for a variety of popular vegetable types. The chart also lets you know when to expect to harvest the varieties based on the summer and fall planting dates. Click here to see the full chart.

About our Fall & Winter Catalog
05/28/08 - posted by Tom Johns
We plant a garden for many reasons. For the joy and satisfaction it brings to our soul. For the nutrition it provides our bodies. For the memories of loved ones past that cared enough to share their wisdom with us, just as their parents and grandparents did with them. Gardening to save money or resources has not been a major reason to plant a food garden since the food and fuel rationing days of World War II.
I’m afraid that is changing—and rapidly. The worldwide demand for oil has driven the price to a record $124.00 a barrel at this writing, and probably more by the time you read this letter. As you well know, the high cost of crude has resulted in much higher food costs, and we are even hearing of food shortages in commodities such as rice. The last time we saw a spike in demand for vegetable seed was in 1999 as people were concerned about Y2K. That frenzy was based on fear of the unknown. What we are experiencing now is known, and perhaps here to stay.
As gardeners you are in the best possible position to lessen the burden of higher food costs. Today I stopped by the supermarket to see what heads of cauliflower and cabbage were priced at so I could make a comparison to growing your own. One 3 pound head of cauliflower was selling for $5.40. Fifty seeds of our high beta-carotene cauliflower variety, Cheddar, sells in this catalog for $5.35. If just 40 of the 50 seeds planted grew to maturity that’s $216.00 worth of cauliflower from one packet of seed! Or looked at another way, you could grow 40 heads of cauliflower in the garden for the same price of buying one head at the supermarket. Green cabbage heads were priced at $3.20 each. A sampler of our green cabbage, Melissa, costs you $3.15 and contains 125 seeds. Say just 110 of those seeds mature, that’s a retail value of $352.00 worth of cabbage from one packet of seed. Or looked at another way, you could grow 110 heads of cabbage for the price of 1 head at the supermarket. Of course, there are more costs to growing a garden than just the sheer cost of seed. But at these prices, you see how growing your own food has the potential to save big money in the household budget. An additional benefit is the huge increase in nutrient value of freshly harvested food, as compared to travel weary produce at the supermarket.
This winter catalog is packed with the best varieties we have found to help you grow food year ‘round. In addition, you’ll find lots of accessories to help you preserve food from your summer garden. There is nothing quite like having a full pantry and woodshed going into winter.
Grow what you can, buy local what you can’t.

California Pack Trials proves to be a very worthwhile trip
04/15/08 - posted by Josh Kirschenbaum
At the end of March, I traveled to California for an event called Pack Trials. This is where the world’s leading flower breeders open up their greenhouses to showcase their assortment of flower varieties along with brand new varieties; some of which have not yet been introduced to the public. I’m not sure if the bosses are reading this but, yes, I got paid to look at and take pictures of beautiful flowers in sunny California. Awesome!
The trip does serve a very important purpose, though. It really helps in choosing new varieties for the next spring catalog. It gives me a chance to meet with our suppliers and find out what is hot or what might not be available next year. It also gives me the opportunity to compare varieties between the different suppliers. Yes, our own trials at London Spring Farms provide some of the same information but on a smaller scale. These flower breeders also provide some great photo opportunities that just can’t be found on our working farm. So…what are the hot brand spanking new varieties that I found to add to Territorial’s Spring 2009 catalog??? Of course you will have to wait to find out…

New Greenhouse at Territorial Farm
04/04/08 - posted by Tim Russell
In my last post I mentioned that our first shipment of live plants was being shipped out. This shipment is usually our smallest shipment, catering to folks that are in very southern areas, or are planning to grow varieties in a greenhouse of some sort. We have three more shipments throughout the season, and there are many more plants to be sent out. We also grow many of our own varieties for our own retail store, located in Cottage Grove, Oregon.
Due to our increased space needs we are currently constructing another permanent greenhouse, which brings our total to five. Each of our greenhouses are 30 feet wide by 100 feet long, and are currently packed full of tomato, pepper, eggplant, herb, and flower plants just waiting to be shipped to you!

First plants of the season shipped!
04/01/08 - posted by Tim Russell
We know that spring has really arrived when we start shipping out the first of our live plants. Last week the weather seemed to have some different ideas however, as we had snow for three days in a row, which has not happened here in Oregon at the end of March as far as anyone can remember. We were a bit worried that the cold weather would prevent us from shipping out some plants, but over the weekend the clouds cleared and the sun came out. It is still a bit chilly (for people at least) but not cold enough to cause any problems with our plants.
We have a team of thirteen skilled plant packagers putting together orders, checking for accuracy and boxing plants up, and making them ready for their trip, whether the trip is across town or across the country.
If you have ordered plants to be shipped out in the first half of April you should be getting them soon. We will be shipping them out this week as well as next week. If you have not ordered plants you can order them now to be shipped to you the last half of May.

Why we have ordering deadlines for some of our plants
03/06/08 - posted by Josh Kirschenbaum
There are certain plants we offer that need to be ordered by a certain date in order to have them delivered at a particular time. These include our veggie plants such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, as well as our herb and flower plants (aka London Spring Botanicals). Basically, any plant whose item number starts with a “Y” falls into this category.
The reason that we have these order deadlines is a rather simple one-we don’t have space in our greenhouses to grow plants in hopes that we sell them. When we seed our veggies, for example, we will start them in a 288-cell flat. In other words, we can get 288 seedlings in a relatively small space (approximately 11 x 21 inches). After an order deadline occurs for one of our four ship dates, we will up-pot just the right number of plants that we need of each variety to fill our orders plus a few extras in case of accidents. Once the plants get up-potted into the pots that we ship out, the same 288 plants now take up approximately 576 x 720 inches of space. You can quickly see how much more room is needed and our greenhouse tables start to fill up very quickly.
Trust me, it is quite an interesting "dance" that occurs in our greenhouses and it involves quite a bit of planning but after successfully shipping plants for over 10 years, we have it figured out very well.

Unique cover art for a unique catalog
02/28/08 - posted by Tim Russell
We at Territorial like to think of ourselves as doing things in a unique way. We do extensive trialing to make sure that we are bringing you the best performing varieties, and our farm produces a large percentage of the varieties that we offer. We offer plants in a way that lets customers pick and choose what varieties and how many of them they want; definitely not the industry norm. And, instead of photographs on the cover of our catalog, we proudly display original artwork.
It's a challenge to bring a new piece of artwork that is visually interesting, immediately striking, and represents what we do here at Territorial. We spend a good deal of time and effort on this project, and work closely with an artist to make our covers unique and exciting.
This year we have had an overwhelmingly positive response about our catalog cover art. The artist of this cover, LaVonne Tarbox-Crone has really made our vegetables, flowers and herbs come to life. Her most difficult job was trying to figure out how to make our new squash, Galeux De Eysines translate to artwork, and she did a wonderful job!
Since we have been getting many comments about our catalog covers, I thought that I would go back over some of our covers throughout the years, and make them available to view online.
To see a selection of some of our catalog covers, click here.

Do Territorial Seeds grow in my area?
02/18/08 - posted by Tim Russell
Hello Gardeners,
We have been getting quite a few requests from customers who wish to know whether certain seeds and plants will grow in their area. For vegetables, most ofthe time, the answer is yes. Keep in mind that our varieties are trialed in the Pacific Northwest where our summers are rather mild--warm in the days and cool at night. We usually use May 15th as the date when all danger of frost has passed and September 15th as the date when we could potentially get our first frost of the fall.
Now it is true, some of you do live in a more extreme environment, such as a high elevation, or perhaps in a near desert area. When determining whether a specific variety will grow in your area there are two things I suggest. First, ask your neighbors! If they have had luck growing a type of vegetable, flower, or herb then chances are it will do just fine for you.
The next resource to explore is your local County Extension office. A County Extension office can help answer specifics about your particular area and what grows well there.
Below are a few links that my be helpful:

Cooperative Extension System Offices Map
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/

USDA plant hardiness zone chart
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html

Results on date to receive catalog poll
02/12/08 - posted by Tom Johns
When do you prefer to receive your Territorial Spring Catalog? This was the question asked in my last blog entry. The choices for when to receive your Territorial catalog were the first week in December or the last week in December. The results are in and 95% of those responding said they prefer receiving their spring catalog the last week of December, or just after Christmas. That is great news for us, as we too like the just after Christmas date too. Late in December allows us to get those late arriving seed varieties packed and in the picking bins. This really helps to ensure that when your order arrives, all items are on hand and thus no need to send a back ordered item later.
Our goal to turn orders is 48 hours, so far this year we are closer to a 24-hour turn around time. This is good for everyone, but be aware that with quick turns comes the inability to add to your order if you forgot something. Chances are if you place and order with us on Monday and call us on Tuesday hoping to add one more SAMPLER to your order, it will have already been shipped. Just prior to placing your order give the catalog one last thumb through to be sure you have not missed anything. But don’t worry too much; we can always get a new order headed your way.

Recent snow is a reminder of just how amazing year ‘round gardening is.
02/07/08 - posted by Josh Kirschenbaum
Winter in the Willamette valley of Oregon is relatively mild compared to many places across the country. In the 10 years that I have lived here, we usually only get a few days of snow each winter with rain being Mother Nature’s precipitation of choice. This makes an ideal climate for overwintering veggies like the cole crops-broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc… and root crops-beets, carrots, parsnips.
About a week and a half ago, I was reminded of just how adaptable and durable certain food plants are when we had an unusually large amount of snow fall, about 6-8 inches (yes, I know that those of you in areas with harsh winters are laughing at our measly 6-8 inches but it’s a lot for us). There, amongst a sea of snow at our trial grounds was a beacon of light-our winter trials. Brussels Sprouts standing tall and proud, cabbage looking like someone carefully placed a white blanket over their outer succulent leaves, and cauliflower heads being protected from the elements by their wrapper leaves. Sure, some of plants had been negatively affected by the weather but for the most part, there were just some cosmetic blemishes that won’t have an impact on their ability to produce.
I assure you that the shivers I got from seeing these veggies persevering through such adversity had nothing to do with how cold it was outside.