SEED CATALOG A True Leaf Market Company 8th Annual Ginormous Pumpkin Regatta October 2018 Salt Lake City For more information aboutThis the will Utah be a Giant fun event Pumpkin for all Growers ages to Association come and enjoy! or Mountain Valley Seed Co., check out our website www.trueleafmarket.com CONTENT Get to Know Your Seeds: A Seed Type Guide 4 Loyality Rewards Program 6 Vegetables 7 Herbs 47 Storage Seeds 52 Microgreens 54 Sprouts 63 Flowers 69 Wild Flowers 97 Greenhouse Flower Growing 99 Chart Bloommaster and Garden 103 Planters Grasses 106 Cover Crops 107 Growing Supplies 109 Books 113 Garden Food Preservation 114 Gift Ideas 114 Index 115 Terms and Conditions 117 Our Favorites 118 Get to Know Your Seeds: A Seed Type Guide We’ve had an influx of calls inquiring about lovely red and green microgreen that is packed the specifics of seed labeling—questions with spicy radish flavor. like “What is the difference between sprouting and microgreens seeds and traditional garden While most seeds can be grown as a microgreen, vegetable seeds?” and “Are heirloom seeds and there are some that are not well-suited such as open-pollinated seeds the same thing?” and a slew any plant in the Solanaceae family, also known of others. as the nightshade family, contain alkaloids that make them unpalatable, and their full-grown leaves are known to be poisonous. We know it can be overwhelming looking at all the varieties of seeds and their types, reading We have done all the work for you by identifying seeds in one pellet, gardeners are ensured terms like “microgreens seeds” and “sprouting good sprouting and microgreens candidates on germination. The clay will dissolve away, leaving seeds”, “treated” and “untreated seeds”, and our website and in our catalog. the seeds in ideal conditions to sprout. “heirloom” and “open-pollinated”—you just hope that you’ll pick the right ones for you. We hope that the following article will help you Open Pollinated – Simply, open pollinated seeds understand seed identifiers and how it can help are seeds produced from crops that are allowed you purchase the best seed for you and your to pollinate naturally by means of insects, birds, style of gardening. wind, and other natural mechanisms. – There is no officially accepted Sprouting Seeds & Microgreens Seeds – Heirloom Botanically speaking, there is no difference definition of “heirloom”. In common use, the between sprouting seeds and microgreen seeds; term is most universally used to indicate an their names just refer to the growing method open pollinated seed which has remained they are most well suited. Sprouting seeds are consistent for several decades. only grown in water, and once the sprouts are Microgreens ready, the entire plant is eaten. These seeds are In our product line, we use the term Heirloom most often organically produced to prevent any for open pollinated strains with which we have Treated Seed – There are several kinds of seed had experience for 30 or more of our 43 years in contact with pesticides. Our line of sprouting treatments in the seed business. seeds is what we think are the best, cleanest, the seed business. Some people claim heirloom seeds are the “original” variety of a plant, but and frankly, tastiest seeds for sprouting While treatments can vary, the most common available. that’s not necessarily true. If you trace a plant’s treated seed we offer is a fungicide which helps genetics back far enough you will find that to keep the seed from rotting in the ground in these now heirloom varieties likely came from unstable spring weather when soil conditions an intentional or lucky crossing of two different are less than ideal—usually too moist. plants, which leads us to our next term Hybrid. All treated seed is clearly marked as being Hybrid – Hybrids are frequently frowned upon treated in the title of the seed, i.e. on many social media sites usually because they are confused with GMO, but also frequently Treated seed is typically purchased by our larger because some claim that the seed companies farm-based customers. who sell them have engineered the seed to be “sterile” or unable to reproduce so that one Pelleted & Multi-pelleted Seed – When using cannot save their seed. a mechanism of some kind to plant their seeds, farmers and gardeners will turn to pelleted The social media argument usually goes along seeds, which are seeds usually coated in inert the lines of a conspiracy to control the world’s Sprouts clay. seed supply. Again, not true, especially for us, who pride ourselves on our sustainable “Microgreening” is the method of growing your Very small seeds that are difficult to handle practices. seeds in a medium and allowing seedlings to are coated to make them more manageable by mature a bit before harvesting. machines and by people for accurate and easy It is true that saving your seed from a hybrid is sowing. not advisable, but saved seed will grow, it is just Microgreens seeds are selected because unlikely that your second-generation plant will of a varieties’ vibrant color and bold flavor For example, some gardeners prefer working produce similar results to the original plant. The as a seedling. Think of microgreens as baby with pelleted carrot seeds because carrot seeds reason is based in genetics not a board room vegetables. Seeds that germinate at the same are so tiny and difficult to plant accurately. (which after 43 years we have yet to acquire). time and grow uniformly are prime candidates Commonly, flower seeds are pelleted and multi- Let’s look at dog breeding as an example of for microgreening. pelleted because of their, at times, microscopic hybridization to see what is happening. size, such as Lobelia seeds. When breeding a Poodle with a Labrador, the For example, Hong Vit Radish, is a variety of outcome is a Labradoodle. radish that doesn’t produce much of a fruit at Multi-pelleted seeds are multiple seeds bound the end of its life cycle, but it does produce a together and coated in inert clay. With several The Labradoodle is the hybrid. If we take our 801-486-0480 | trueleafmarket.com 4 Get to Know Your Seeds: A Seed Type Guide “hybrid” puppy and breed him with another dog, who spend time really understanding the even if it also is a Labradoodle, the outcome is topic our concern is that the science is moving unlikely to result in a Labradoodle that looks faster than the protections, labeling laws, and identical to our first puppy. Still considered crop protocols. Many of the GMO products labradoodles, but aesthetically these hybrids being grown today have used very impressive look very different from each other. technologies to introduce NON-PLANT BASED genetics into plants. It is this “crossing” of two living organisms that nature would otherwise What is GMO Seed? NOT allow that has us, and many others so concerned. The term GMO is a term that is feared, misunderstood, and misused, leading to The Safe Seed Pledge confusion about what a GMO seed really means. We believe that everyone should be well aware Genetically modified organisms (GMO) are what is in their food—let alone the genetic make-up! While we are impressed with the The new 2nd generation puppy may take on living things, including seeds, whose DNA has technology, we believe that people have the more of the Poodle or more of Labrador line. been engineered outside the natural process of That is the same with hybrid seeds. It is not that cross pollination to inherit desirable traits. right to know what is in the food they eat. they won’t produce, it is just that there is no way Until more research, crop protections, and to guarantee that the plant won’t revert back to clear labeling is created we have chosen not to more of one of the parental lines. Like most of participate in this part of the market. With us, the dog breeds we have today, hybrid seeds you’ll never have to worry about GMO’s because will become stable as continued generations we don’t sell them and never will! All of us in create a “stable and consistent” population the True Leaf Market family have agreed to The and eventually these seeds may become our Safe Seed Pledge, a declaration which ensures grandkids’ heirlooms. that we “do not knowingly buy, sell, or trade genetically engineered seeds” (taken from the When we see anti GMO social media posts or pledge set up by the Council for Responsible speak with people about what GMO means to Genetics). them we find that most people don’t really know why GMO is bad they just “know it is”. We are a Further, we wish to support agricultural progress little concerned that the lack of understanding that leads to healthier soils, genetically diverse of GMO is frequently dragging non-GMO seeds, agricultural ecosystems, and ultimately, healthy such as Hybrids, into the discussion. We do people and communities. Hybrid plants work the same way—they require have a concern with GMO but like most people several generations of selective crossing to become stable enough to produce uniformly. Planting the seeds produced from a first- generation hybrid (marked as “F1”) plant won’t produce the same crop; it will likely revert back to one of its parents or cross breed with another plant nearby producing something other than the expected production of the previous season. People tend to label these seeds “sterile” because they don’t produce the same results a second time; however, that is only because they don’t have the genetic history behind them like heirloom seeds to be tenacious and to produce a reliable crop year after year.