Resources for the Tumbledown Garden

Home, Library Below are our favorite Gardening Links, and Information about 19th and early 20th century Organic Gardening and Food Preservation ("ttt"= a three-star Tumbledown Favorite)

Gardening Sites, Gardening History and Small-Scale Natural History

• Jim Conrad's Naturalist Newsletter.  Jim is a thoughtful, well-traveled author of hundreds of stories and six books, whose natural history web site and newsletters from far afield have much to teach us about observing our own back yards.  Jim is dedicated to a small footprint and inexpensive life and to commenting on the present state of U.S. and global environmental awareness.
• The War Garden Victorious - Charles Lathrop Pack - 1919.
• Food Saving and Sharing.  Telling How the Older Children of America May Help Save - from Famine - Their Comrades in Allied Lands Across the Sea. Prepared under the direction of THE UNITED STATES FOOD ADMINISTRATION. - 1918
• Victory Gardens Handbook of the Victory Garden Committee War Services, Pennsylvania State Council of Defense - April 1944
• Ministry of Agriculture Allotment and Garden Guides - 1945; Dig for Victory Leaflet No. 1 - Cropping Plan referred to in above guides.
• The Garden Magazine
• Victory Horticultural Library:  Fostering Historical Research.  Includes seed company and cultivar histories and some photos and descriptions of vintage seed cleaning and sorting equipment.  (Partially free; partly subscription based.)

Gardening Catalogs: Seed Companies, Nurseries, and Garden Suppliers

The most exhaustive list of mail-order resources for gardeners, Gardening by Mail: A Source Book, is now almost a decade old.  A decade is eons in internet time, but, thankfully, in the world of mail order gardening it is not so very long.  Much of the information contained there is still very useful.  The most comprehensive internet resource I've seen is Cyndi's Catalog of Garden Catalogs.  Another is the web page for the Mail Order Gardening Association, which appears to be a marketing and trade organization for mail order gardening companies.

• Abundant Life Seeds. (ttt)  A sister company of Territorial Seed Company and London Spring Farms.  Their goal is to protect genetic diversity and to keep rare and endangered food crops in existence. (In other words, to keep the huge seed companies from exercising a monopoly and to keep non-Genetically Modified seed available for purchase.)  According to their 2006 catalog, their goal is "to offer true-to-type varieties grown using only certified organic or biodynamic farming methods."
  
• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (ttt)  In 1996, Tumbledown ordered Missouri Wonder pole beans, Hopi Blue dent corn, California Wonder bell peppers, and Orange Striped Cushaw from this company.  The list of "heirloom" varieties is superb, if you can ignore some of the hype about "pure seed" and "peace" and "health."  Forget the festivals and "lifestyle," just give Tumbledown the list of seeds grown in the 1800s.
  
• Burpee (tt)  What can we say?  Lots of varieties...lots of hybrids unknown to the late 19th century.  And for as long as Tumbledown has gardened, his tomatoes have never looked like those on the cover of the Burpee catalog--even when he orders the trademarked F1 hybrids.  Come to think of it, none of the produce Tumbledown eats (except from the unripe stuff sold by the "industry" in the supermarket) ever looks like the pictures in the Burpee catalog.  ...but the taste of Tumbledown's garden sure makes up for its ugliness!
  
• Direct Gardening.com.  Tumbledown cannot get a handle on this outfit.  Catalogs hail from Burgess Seed & Plant Co. (IL), Exciting Gardens / Richard Owen Nursery (IL), Farmer Seed and Nursery / division of Plantron, Inc. (MN), Four Seasons Nursery (IL), Inter-State Nurseries (IL), and Kelly Nurseries (MN)--and these are just the few that Tumbledown has received.  Page layout is similar, watercolors and photos seem the same, etc.  Other than cutting down trees to produce multiple catalogs, it is hard to see what the supposed advantage is to such a deluge.
• Forest Farm.  (tt) The benefit of this plant catalog is in its pedagogy.  The company teaches about the plants it sells.  Their catalog is a "reference work" of thousands of plants.  Not pretty, no pictures (for those, search the web site), mainly a list 504 pages long printed on recycled "newsprint" type paper, but exhaustive, scientific, and helpful.
  
• Gurney's Seed & Nursery Co.  Because there should be an Indiana company represented.  Claims to be "America's Most Complete Seed & Nursery Company"--depends on what you mean by "most complete" and who is doing the measuring.
  
• Harris Seeds.  One of the many companies that sells gardeners' supplies (seed starter, light stands, and the like) in addition to seeds and plants.
• Heirloom Seeds.  Their motto is "Growing a Taste of Yesterday ... Today."  They offer heirloom vegetable, flower and herb seeds.  All are open pollinated and untreated.  Also offer garden supplies and "non-toxic" insect controls.
• Johnny's Selected Seeds (ttt)  Tumbledown's personal favorite, if it were not for the "New England" bias.  Careful attention to the zone information usually is enough to correct for the bias, but it limits the choices.  Would be nice to have a "Johnny's" for the Mid-West.
• Jung Quality Seeds: Your Complete Home Garden Catalog.  The company celebrates its 100th birthday in 2007.  Tumbledown is eyeing the currants and gooseberries, and a couple of pear trees.
  
• Miller Nurseries.  Tumbledown had an unfortunate experience with a cherry tree.  (Dead from mildew or fungus of some sort.)  Not blaming it on the nursery, could be Tumbledown's fault.  Didn't see any evidence of problems on removal from the package.  Still, trying a different fruit tree from a different company this year.
• Nourse Farms, Inc.  This is a Massachusetts supplier that I just discovered and cannot wait to try.  They specialize in small fruit plants (dormant, bare root plants).  Their list of berries is huge--and I love berries!  They serve both home gardens and commercial growers.
• Park's Seeds: Flowers and Vegetables. 
  
• Pinetree Garden Seeds. (tt)  Tumbledown likes the longer descriptions and smaller pictures on news print.  Less gloss, more substance.  Especially likes the inclusion of cover crops,  and gardening and artsy-craftsy books.
• Seed Savers Exchange.  (ttt) Heirloom seeds.  According to their web site, they are "a nonprofit organization that saves and shares the heirloom seeds of our garden heritage, forming a living legacy that can be passed down through generations."  Offers certified organic seed.
• Seeds of Change: Certified Organic.  The ultimate in "generic organic" design, almost a parody of the movement.  Mandalas, back stories with tie dyed photos--even of chefs who cook with organic food--an antique tractor, a stylish "gardening skirt," "earth juice," and "vegan mix."  Oh, and here-and-there they manage to include the seeds you might be seeking.
  
• R. H. Shumway.com (ttt)  Shumway gets three stars for style.  They will never have the word "vegan" or "mandala" in their ads.  In fact, the catalog looks like it came straight from 1880.
  
• Stark Bro's: Fruit Tree and Landscaping Catalog.  Tumbledown wants the cherry tree on the cover, but last year's fruit tree tragedy from Miller's means he'll wait a while.
• Stokes Seeds. (ttt)  "Quality Seeds since 1881."  This is the company from which Tumbledown acquired his Floralight (tm).
  
• Territorial Seed Company: Vegetables, Herbs & Flowers.  Seeds, Plants, Garden Supplies.  Another catalog that reduces the photos on non-glossy paper in order to enhance the plant descriptions.  Marks the difference between conventional, organic, and open-pollinated varieties.
• Totally Tomatoes.  Well, not quite, but almost.  Throw in a pepper and cucumber or two and you have the idea.
• Underwood Gardens, Ltd.  Calls itself the "Home of Grandma's Garden Catalog."  Heirloom, Open-pollinated, heritage and rare seeds.
• Vermont Bean Seed Company.  Again, plenty of beans, but a little of everything else too.
• Wild Seed Farms.  Wildflowers.  ...for something a bit different.
• Worm's Way. (tt)  This one Tumbledown stumbled upon while traveling south on State Road 37.  While Tumbledown doesn't go in for all the hydroponics, chemicals, high-tech gadgets and the like, this company seems to be a good (great?) supplier of organic soil ammendments in quantities useful to the home gardener.  (E.g., 50lb bags of Greensand @ $23.95 / bag; and this is the only place Tumbledown has ever seen Rock Phosphate by the bag available on the shelf.)  And for Tumbledown, Worm's Way is almost local, given his 2-3 times yearly trips south on 37.  They also have wine and beer making supplies.

Gardening Magazines

• Acres U.S.A.  A newsletter, web site, and book catalog  promoting organic gardening, composting, and the like.  May require overlooking a few references to "Gaia" and "paramagnetism," but overall a great list with which to begin reading about the subject. (monthly)
  
• The American Gardener.  A wonderful member magazine from the American Horticultural Society.  Scientific, in the best sense of the term, and showcasing plants from some of the best tended gardens in the U.S. and around the world. (bimonthly)
  
• The Gardener: A Magazine for Gardeners, by Gardeners.  The most literary of the gardening magazines, with water color illustrations and short stories included...and some gardening advice thrown in for good measure. (bimonthly)  [2007 update: Uncertain whether this magazine is still in print.  The web site given in previous issue no longer appears to work, nor do internet searches reveal an alternative.]
  
• Garden Gate.  (tt)  Why is it that all of the best quality magazines are about flower and ornamental gardening?  This one is a case in point.  Tumbledown wishes he could find a vegetable gardening magazine of similar quality.  It even comes three-hole punched to fit your favorite binder.  (bimonthly)
• Horticulture.  (t)  100 years young and thriving.  Once again, a high quality magazine with in-depth articles, beautiful photos, great beyond-the-basics coverage and instructional "how to"--but 99% devoted to gardening as aesthetic pursuit (for flowers), rather than gardening for food.  Why can we not have a magazine devoted to gardening for food that offers this level of excellence in reporting?  Disagree?  Send Tumbledown your nominations. (bimonthly)
• Kitchen Gardener.  A great idea and a great set of back issues, but where is the info on how to subscribe?  If anyone can find it, Tumbledown would love to know where and how to subscribe.
• Organic Gardening Magazine.  (tt)  Not your grandfather's Organic Gardening.  They even call it "OG."  It seems puny (glossy and colorful and wannabe-hip) beside the old standby.  Multiple remakes aren't helping.  Tumbledown grew up reading the packed little magazine of the early 70's.  Now those were magazines for real gardeners!  (bimonthly, except monthly in March)
  

 19th and Early 20th Century Living, Food Preservation, and Supplies

• Lehman's ("Founded by Jay Lehman in 1955 to serve the local Amish and others without electricity, Lehman's ships old-fashioned, high-quality merchandise all over the world.")
  

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