FEDCO 2021 Seeds and Supplies Where Is erthing Ordering Instructions page 160 Order Forms pages 161-166 Complete Index inside back cover begin on page Welcome to Fedco’s rd ear Vegetable Seeds 5 “May you live in interesting times”… redux. Herb Seeds 79 How eerily prescient it was to invoke that adage a year Flower Seeds 86 ago—and then to experience it play out as both a curse and a blessing. Onion Sets & Plants 110 So much has shifted in a year. In our last catalog we Ginger, turmeric, sweet potato 111 brought you interviews with innovators in agriculture whose Potatoes 111 wisdom spoke to a more inclusive, regenerative and Farm Seed / Cover Crops 118 holistic future. Those visions, with all the excitement and challenge they bring, are rapidly taking hold and Soil Amendments 124 rooting in the disturbance of 2020. Pest Control 134 We see it all around us: my son’s cul-de-sac Tools 140 organized to grow food together. Neighborhoods Books 151 started seed banks. Signs sprang up in towns for Planting Guides & Lists: Give & Take tables for garden produce, to share what you can and take what you need. Winona La Duke, in Vegetable Chart 77 her (online) Common Ground Fair keynote, stressed the Botanical Index 78 building of local infrastructures. If we look outside the Herb Chart 79 strident newsfeed, we see new structures evolving from Flower Chart 86 common values. Seed Longevity Charts 92, 106 So in this year’s interviews we take a closer look at Organic Variety List 104 what’s unfolding. Cooperation! Community! Care! The Potato Chart 116 voices we’ve highlighted bring it home and yet expand it Farm Seed Chart 118 beyond the individual. They inspires hope and cause us Fertigation Chart 128 to pause in appreciation—before continuing on—knowing so many others are digging in Miscellany alongside us. Seed Racks 5 Soon we will tuck ourselves in once again Seed Collections 5 for the winter. May we keep our dreaming Guarantee 105 alive, vital and connected, knowing that Co-op Membership 107 even in our isolation we do not stand alone. Together, we can sustain the momentum to Genetic Engineering Statement 107 build on this moment. May our efforts shine Solar Panel Update 107 through the eyes of the future’s children as Group Ordering 160 they watch the seed, saved and replanted, Depot Shipping 166 sprouting into new life. – Nikos Kavanya 2021 Catalog Exclusives!!! Antidotes to Despair: Cooperative Gardens Commission 19 Good Shepherd Food Bank 34 Land in Common 50 fedcoseedscom Update from Rowen White 64 uestions or concerns BLISS Meadows Farm 113 mail [email protected] Guidance for Gardeners: Where to Start? 106 end mail orders to Seed Longevity and Seed Saving 106 Call (207) 426-9900 Fedco Seeds Growing for Calories & Nutrition 107 Phone hours PO Box 520 Cheat Sheet for Beginners 121 earround Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm EST Clinton, ME 04927 Groundbreaking Work 145 arch and April onl Saturday, 9am - 3pm Essay: Respect Your Mother (Earth) 108 For friends who’ve passed on: Remembering Dr. Brent Loy 44 Catalog euest ine (207) 426-0090 Remembering Jonathan Spero 66 rdering Deadlines and hipping chedules Order online at fedcoseeds.com. For mail, use forms on pages 161-166. Products Page Ordering Deadlines Shipments egetable, flower and herb seeds items on pp 5-103 October 31, 2021 begin around January 4 Seed potatoes, onion sets & plants, items on pp 110-116 May 7 begin in April sweet potato slips, ginger, turmeric (ginger/turmeric: 2/26) (ginger/turmeric: early March) Cover crops, soil amendments, items on pp 118-159 none year-round tools, supplies and books Fedco Trees catalog, available in October, lists spring-planted fruit trees, berries, shrubs & perennials. Fedco Bulbs catalog, available in June, ists apanted oers perennias and aric. 2 Faith in a Seed W eed arieties for Fedco is founded on cooperative principles, and thus we ask for your page item OG = Organic! cooperation as our partners in this essential service of distributing seeds. 5 5940 Natural Remedies Collection: Fortify against the plague! he ears unpredictable climate, both literal and figurative, presented 6 212 Accelerate bean: Zero to sixty in 53 days! seed growers and distributors with mriad challenges, as reflected in 11 2190 The Bold & The Beautiful beet mix: As dramatic as the Forresters! this year’s catalog: many crop failures, delays, shortages, substitutions. 12 3300 Jacaranda purple broccoli: Nothing like its namesake! This expresses the vagaries of the seed industry, but it is not cause for 13 3314 Green Magic broccoli: The power is yours! panic. We ask you not to over-buy—if we work together we can avoid 14 3343 Divino brussels sprouts: Diablo went to the devil; Divino ascended. a true seed crisis. 16 306 Bermeo cauliflower: ithstands aines new Bermeo-like summers! A seed’s value is in being planted, being shared, feeding families 16 308 Fuiama cauliflower: Cauliflower breeding at its peak! and communities. What does it take to grow a seed? In one sense that’s 18 2082 Bangor pelleted carrot: Ayuh! a ludicrous question: seeds are motivated to disperse and do so readily 18 2095 Redsun carrot: Redsun at night, gardener’s delight! (for the most part) without human intervention. But when seeds are 19 3616 Zwolsche Krul cutting celery: After we go to press I’ll krul under a rock! gathered into a packet for you to plant, a lot of unseen work is enfolded 22 661 Yellowstone supersweet corn: A national treasure! into that promise of new life and continued food. A full season of care 25 3681 Gaudi eggplant: Plenty artful, but does not resemble a drip castle! that runs far past the days to maturity listed on the packet is needed to 27 4316 Texicoa sorghum OG: TEXICOA in Scrabble tiles anagrams 63 ways! produce seed, and a second year for biennials, often with an interim 42 2840 Brune d’Hiver lettuce OG: A brunette to keep your winter lively! period of storage. Seed crops need fencing, irrigation, pest protection, 54 3747 Banana pickling pepper: If pickled bananas are your thing! weeding, staking…while the grower has one eye on the rain clouds and 54 3753 Greek Pepperoncini: Pick a peck of pickled pepperoncini! the other on the thermometer. Then comes harvest: picking, threshing, 57 2242 Celesta radish OG: Only the sky limits this radish’s delights! screening, sorting, and finall a test for viable germination 59 2538 Tundra spinach: Because Maine isn’t far enough north anymore! Each fall, reports come in from our seed growers and we learn of the 60 1509 Delta crookneck squash: An improvement on Gamma! seasons challenges: the elk that trampled everthing, the flocks of birds 63 1631 Seneca buttercup squash OG: Thrives in Great Hills! that descended, late spring frosts, early fall freezes, drought, hail, wind, 72 4134 Sheboygan paste tomato: Like anything in Wisconsin, best with cheese! flood his ear was the most challenging weve ever seen: wildfires 76 2399 Pike “Turnip”: Why in quotes? Answer lies in our ponderous description! blanketed the West Coast, one of the world’s prime seed growing areas. 81 4485 Boneset OG: Casts are a thing of the past! Thankfully, none of our growers lost their lives or farms, but many were 81 4515 Leisure cilantro OG: Takes its sweet sweet time before bolting! harvesting their seeds in fields obscured b smoke, with evacuation bags 92 5025 Dwarf Sensation Mix cosmos OG: Feel a little! packed and at the ready. As Frank Morton summarized: “I’ve never 96 5236 Sparky Mix marigold OG: Always sparks joy, and now it’s organic! thought about evacuating my livelihood.” 6 6 ilkweed: he fragrant weed that feeds monarch butterflies Resilience grows with cooperation, especially in stressful times. 97 5277 Grandpa Ott’s morning glory: You ott to give it a try! Spring 2020 brought so many new seed customers that we had to close 100 01 vening Sun sunflower: Best viewed during that golden hour! ordering for a month to catch up. We ask our customers, new and old, to carefully determine what you need, order accordingly, then leave some BACK in for the next in line. Seeds are 8 356 Calypso dry bean OG: Seven years stranded on an island? Yes, please! not like gold: they don’t last when 10 307 Black Kabouli garbanzo: A bright spot in otherwise falafel times! hoarded. When they sit in a box 11 2170 Lutz Green Leaf beet OG: Not the “Rippon Lutz” but still graceful! in the cupboard, they lose vitality, 13 3312 Fiesta broccoli OG: Celebrate! (Alone in your house, please.) wither and die. 17 2087 Mokum pelleted carrot: Rhymes with hokum, but it’s truly excellent! In this catalog we’ve highlighted 18 2068 Atomic Red carrot: We’re going back to the Cold War with this one! the basics of saving your own 27 4309 Terra Hulless oats OG: Cook up a pot of homegrown oatmeal! seed, which we encourage you 33 3249 Purple Rapa Gene Pool mustard OG: Rapa’s Delight! to do, as well as guidelines for 37 2714 Green Ice lettuce OG: Won’t make your car skid off the road! storage to maximize seed longevity 39 2768 Lingua di Canarino lettuce OG: No birds were harmed in the making! (page 106.) 39 2785 Italienischer lettuce OG: That’s German for “Italian!” Seeds are patient. Seeds are 40 2807 Garnet Butter Gem lettuce OG: Greasy gemstones! Double delish! generous. Let’s meet them on their 40 2809 Carmona lettuce OG: A stunning head! own ground.