It has been a lot of years since I bought from them, but I liked it when I did.

Surely they must have one tomato that you just have to have. LOL

I love it,myself.I was wondering if anyone reading this thread has bought their conduit bender for making your own hoops for row covers?

I ordered from Johnny's earlier this year and was pleased with their service and choices.

I love Johnny's. I ordered some stuff from them earlier this year. I can look at their catalog forever because he has so many varieties unique to his catalog (or, at least, he has a lot of varieties not generally seen in most of the other catalogs I receive).

Jay, Can't your hear Johnny's garlic varieties calling your name? LOL I am trying his early blight resistant tomato this year....the one that starts out JTO...and then the rest of it is a bunch of numbers. I cannot remember what tomato varieties he has this year that are TSWV-resistant, but you might want to look at them and see if he has any that you want to try. I think all his TSWVs are in the BHN- line so you may have tried them already. I was really hoping he'd have Mountain Magic as you and I discussed previously, but you know he doesn't and you know why.

For those of you who are new to Johnny's Selected Seed, you should know that Johnny caters especially to market growers who either raise for CSAs, farmstands on their own property, or for farmer's market sales. He also has many customers who are contract growers for restaurants. Consequently, many of his unique varieties are very high producing hybrids, have better than average disease-resistance and a lot of them have fine flavor (good flavor is not always found in hybrids geared towards commercial growers).

I also like that Johnny's is employee-owned.

The catalog also carries an amazing array of tools and other supplies, including the largest selection of harvesting knives and machetes that I've ever seen. Do we really need a special broccoli harvesting knife? Well, no, but if we were specialty growers and had huge quantities of broccoli to harvest, maybe we would.

For the record, Johnny's does some of their own plant-breeding and, especially in the area of winter squash, they have had great success. Once or twice or maybe three times in recent years, something they've bred has been recognized as an All-American Selection including one of his new winter squash selections in 2009.

Tulsacityfarmer, I haven't bought the Quick Hoops Bender but I want one. I showed it to my husband and he said we probably could buy a conduit bender at Home Depot for less money. Then I said I doubted it would be sized specifically for 4' and 6' hoops that would cover 1 or 2 rows. So, we are at an impasse. I think I need it. He thinks I don't need it. He also knows me well enough that he probably figures I'll just go ahead and order myself one for Valentine's Day or something and then say "guess what you're giving me for Valentine's Day...." (I don't need no stinkin' flowers or candy. I need this handy gadget. LOL)

Oh, and if Johnny's still has the little metal wheelbarrow for kids in his catalog, I just have to say that we bought our son one of those from Johnny's 20 years ago. That wheelbarrow was played with by our son and his friends, and then handed down to a niece and a nephew and then after we moved here it was further handed down to the grandchild of a friend. There aren't many "toys" you buy nowadays that will see you through 20 years and at least 5 kids. That is the kind of quality you get from Johnny's though.

They also ship fast, have great customer service and their catalog is like a growing guide.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Johnny's Website

Dawn you are being an enabler again. I think I already have all but two of the garlic varieties they offer. LOL. My garlic inventory must be close to 20 varieties now and needs to stop there but know it won't. I planted more last week. I shouldn't have planted as many cloves of it as I did. But thought I was done. Then received more in the mail yesterday. So now have to find room for at least a few cloves of it. So next summer should have plenty of garlic for everyone if most of it comes up and does well. My sister has been telling me I need to save more onions for them and need to fix a place to store them also.
I think Johnny's is good place. I'm one if it can go wrong it will. And after their credit care fiasco and then not calling those involved if I order it will be by mail. I've been involved in two similar situations but both times the business worked overtime to call and notify everyone. I feel mail notification takes too long. i order some online but very little. I prefer the mail. I also had my bank account number on Ebay at one time and it got hacked and I got a call about a couple of thousand of dollars of charges that had been made to my account. I took it off and don't share it anymore. Was fortunate it didn't OD me.
Guess over New Years I will take a gander at the catalog. And keep telling myself I don't need any. LOL. But may end up with something. Think this was the 16th catalog I've received. Jay

Jay,

You calling me an enabler is like the pot calling the kettle black, and you know that I say that with great affection and not in a mean-spirited way. LOL

I simply avoid all discussions of garlic. I plant two types, both no-names from the grocery store, and I am not, not, not, not, not going to get into growing all kinds of garlic. I have more garden than I can manage as it is.

The Johnny's credit card hacking incident was such a mess. I don't think they were at all prepared to deal with it and I think they handled it poorly. This was the first year I've ordered from them since that happened, although we were not impacted by that particular incident.

I can look at a catalog endlessly and tell myself I don't need anything else, but every now and then I do find something I just "have to have". I certainly don't need any more flower seeds but the 2010 Select Seeds Antique Flowers catalog features two new types of four o'clocks that I don't have.....yet.

I'm not even counting catalogs at this point. And, speaking of catalogs, what did you think of Burpee's cover tomato? I'm thinking Brad Gates probably isn't happy they stole his 'tie-dye' name, but his similarly-named tomato is nicer looking than theirs. The last few years they have clearly tried to introduce hybrids that are linked to some favorite heirlooms, either via breeding or just by using a name that is similar to a popular O-P. Except for Brandy Boy, though, I think they've mostly struck out. Their prices are getting ridiculour too. I only buy from them if they are the sole source, and I used to like The Cook's Garden too until they bought it and turned it into Burpee Jr.

Dawn

Dawn, I did'nt know Cooks was owned by Burbees. Learn something new everyday. I see you're still keeping everyone well informed. I still have clippings on your plant instructions.So i'll thank you again.
Vickie

Hi Vickie,

I figured out The Cook's Garden thing pretty quickly all by myself. One year, The Cook's Garden was a great independent company with a unique catalog with the little woodcut type illustrations, then the next year it changed quite a bit and I assumed someone else had bought the comapany, and the third year it really changed. I noticed that third year they'd added Brandy Boy, which is a Burpee exclusive variety, and a little light bulb went off in my head. So, I googled, and found out that Burpee had indeed purchased The Cook's Garden. If you compare their selection, you'll see they carry many of the same varieties now

I miss the unique vegetable varieties once offered by The Cook's Garden. A company that reminds me of the old Cook's Garden is John Scheepers Garden Seeds. I've linked it below. If somebody else has purchased John Scheepers and is in the process of turning it into just another run-of-the-mill seed company, I don't want to know about it. LOL

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds

Dawn,
I'm not sure I'm in the same class as you when it comes to gardening or enabling.

Yes I noticed Burpee's new "Tie-Dye.". I've always had good results with their seeds. Brandyboy adn Porterhouse are the two I usually grow of theirs. Both are hybrids that do well and taste is good. I've grown a few of the other things they sell also. Seed quality has always been good.

Yes it is hard to tell who you are buying from anymore. And usually the business drops off after selling.

The last time I asked about using a credit card Johnny's was still using an online credit card computer system even if you call an order in. I've been told the safest is if they use an offline system and just download. And imagine the computer business maybe greek to them as it is me. Would be hard to live without them now but has opened up another world for the crooks.

Just remember I can send you a sample of garlic next summer. LOL. Jay

Jay,

You and I are in the same class and you know it. hee hee

And, if we were in a tomato class together at school, we'd be sitting in the front row, taking copious notes and challenging our instructor on arcane points. Outside of class, we'd be standing in the hallways handing out tomato seeds trying to get others addicted to growing too many.

It isn't Burpee's quality that bothers me.

It is the endless hype of varieties that just aren't that special compared to what else is out there and the continually increasing prices of seed packets that seem to contain fewer and fewer seeds each year, and I'm not specifically talking tomatoes.

Their flower seeds have not performed well for me in recent years, and I don't usually have trouble raising flowers.

I liked Porterhouse but think the Harris hybrids taste better to my tastebuds. And, do you remember the year Porterhouse was on the Burepee catalog cover? They showed a person's hands holding, I think, 3 Porterhouse tomatoes. The tomatoes looked huge in comparison to the hands holding them, and eventually (after we grew the plant and got much smaller fruit) we figured out that the person holding the Porterhouse tomatoes must have been a child because we normal gardeners didn't get huge tomatoes like that. I felt like it was a deceptive photo then and feel the same way now, even though I like Porterhouse and often grow it. I think it was Bill P. who first mentioned he thought it was a child holding the tomatoes on the cover, or at least it was in one of GoneFishin's threads....and he liked Porterhouse tomato too, but not the photographic trick.

I've been really unhappy with Burpee's seeds as sold at Wal-Mart in recent years. When the 'Highlight Yellow' zinnia came out a few years ago, I ordered a packet from the catalog and it had maybe 25 or 30 seeds (their zinnias used to always have at least 50 seeds but this one didn't) but it cost about $4 or $5 for a packet. Before my seed packet even arrived, I saw the Highlight Yellow Zinnia on the Burpee seed rack when the rack first appeared at Wal-Mart and bought 4 packets for $1.07 or $1.37 each. For that price, the seed packets had either 7, 8 or 9 seeds in them. I expect more than 7, 8 or 9 seeds in a packet even if the packet is a low-priced one at Wal-Mart. And, to make it worse, germination was horrible, I had a lot of damping off, which is very rarely an issue for me, and the transplants that made it into the ground didn't live long. Last year I purchased transplants of Highlight Yellow Zinnia at a local store and they did a little better than the ones I raised from seed a couple of years ago, but not much better. I think I'm through trying to grow it. The flowers are a lovely bright yellow but the plants themselves have low vigor.

I've been pretty disgusted with Burpee ever since. I used to order oodles of seeds from them and in recent years I have chosen to make my purchases from other companies that give you better value for your dollar. They sell some of the same varieties as other seed companies, but charge more for the same amount of seeds or for fewer seeds, and I'm not going to pay extra for the Burpee name. (Other than that, I like them just fine. LOL)

Dawn

Dawn as we both know it boils down to personal experience. And that is why there is so many companies. You know the one company I don't order from. And I know several that have had great results with them. And I respect everyone's opinions and views. I can only base mine on what I've experienced. I find that most tomatoes produce smaller fruit here than elsewhere especially during the heat of summer. So I don't expect as large as tomatoes when I order seeds as advertised. I've read of some that have had Porterhouse fruit over 2 lbs. Which is larger than any I've ever raised. When one goes over a pound I consider it large. And not a great taster but has been as good here as the Harriss tomatoes I grew last year and better than Jet Star to me. Again personal experience. I don't get too upset with glowing ads and I expect it. It is like looking through a site with 2-4 hundred varieties and everyone is a great one. That is why I pay more attention to what fellow growers say. Jay

Jay,

I gave up long ago believing anything said in ads or catlog blurbs in terms of size and flavor because both vary so much.

One think I'll say about Samdhill is that Glenn doesn't seem to hype his varieties. I don't generally order from them because by the time they get around to updating their website I've already bought too many seeds. And it is the opposite at Mariseeds, and I don't order seeds there for that reason. If every tomato variety sold is hyped endlessly by her as being fantastic then how do you choose one? My only conclusion is that none of them are as good as she says they are or that she cannot tell a great tomato from an average one and so I just don't go to her site. I like the way Lisa gives the history of a variety as she knows it at Amishland and I like the way Victory Seeds gives the variety history to the extent that it is known and they don't seem to go overboard gushing about every variety either.

One of the seed companies I like best for their straightforward descriptions and relative lack of hype is Willhite Seeds. Unfortunately, they don't offer much of a selection compared to other companies but I think that is because they only offer proven varieties that perform in the hot Texas climate. Willhite was "the" go-to company for watermelon seeds when I was a kid and to a certain extent they still are, at least for serious melon hobbists or market growers.

I guess the way I approach all seed company catalogs nowadays is that they are mostly fiction and sales hype. You cannot believe everything you read, and you can't even believe what you see because the produce and flowers shown in catalogs tend to look much better than what you get in real life.

I'd love to see one honest seed company and by that I mean one that might write a blurb like this: "Perfecto Bush Bean--far from perfect but we chose that name anyway to fool the gullible new gardeners. Begins producing beans in about 65 days even though we show 57 days for competitive reasons. Plants guzzle a lot of water, so water often and ignore all the rust on the leaves of these fairly sad-looking plants. Despite the apparent ugliness of the plants, they do produce beans with better flavor than most of the others we sell." LOL I'd buy that variety because at least I'd know we were getting an honest description.

Dawn

OK, Dawn, where are you buying your op corn seed? I was waiting for Sandhill, but I am thinking that it was SESE and we talked about more than one order??? I hate to keep waiting for their update. I want it over with and that worry laid to rest. I know it is not even January yet, but seems like the longer I delay............

Glenda,

I do buy my OP corn from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, and sometimes from Baker Creek or Seed Savers Exchange.

Last year and this year both, I bought Country Gentleman and Texas Honey June from SESE and I bought the Wade's Giant Indian corn and the Black Aztec from Baker Creek.

Dawn

Dawn,
You have the same opinion I do of Mariseeds. About 4 years ago I decided I wanted to grow more op's than I had and sent out emails to several of the seed vendors asking what they would recommend of theirs for a hot dry windy climate. And what they wouldn't. I also included a list of varieties of their's I was thinking about asking for any comments pro or con. Mariseeds sent an email back saying all of hers were good and that I would have to contact my extension agent to tell me which ones would work the best. I sent an email back saying my extension service knew nothing about op's. Never heard from her again and have never ordered from her. Of the many emails I sent out. Amishland, Tomatofest and Skyfire seeds were the only ones that answered. Lisa did at AL did make recommendations and comments. She even told me several that she didn't like or that she felt wouldn't do well here. Gary at Tomatofest did the same. And the ones they recommended did well in most cases. Linda at TGS did answer but didn't give any recommendations. I have bought a few from he but not as many as I would have otherwise. Mikki at Skyfire gardens closer to me and has been great to share what grows well for her. That is the way I made the first cut on who to buy form. If they didn't answer or make recommendations I moved them down the list. I know we each will see different results in our gardens but they should have an idea about what they sell and what performs the best. I've about decided many just buy in bulk and resell in smaller packets and never raise the variety. And that is the reason they don't know nothing about a variety. Victory does a good job and I've bought a few seeds there Lisa at AL does use the words rare and scarce a little too much for me but she has always been willing to give me an honest response when emailed. Sadly in our country hype sells. I like some of Korney's descriptions. Have you ever read them? His reviews are like he sees it. Jay

I thought maybe Dawn had mentioned this earlier but in a scan of her posts didn't see it. So if this is a repeat just ignore it. I finally set down and read it as my New Years Eve activity last night. The best growing and harvesting tips I've seen is a catalog. Think they have them for everything they offer. At least most. I feel many gardeners would get a lot of use out of a catalog whether you order seeds or not. After reading it and seeing references to information on their online site I done some browsing. Very good information there also. And I had always just looked at their seeds and never browsed around.

I almost bought a hoop bender on Ebay a while back. But I've decided to try 1/2 or 3/4 inch PVC pipe. Just drive short stakes in the ground and bend the PVC and stick each end over the stake. Easy and when finished will be easy to store. What I've read you will need to tie one pipe lenghthwise across the hoops at the top. To keep the hoops spaced right. I have seen a few that just stick the ends in the garden soil. But afraid they would blow away here. No need for a bender. Just another option. I look for the easiest and cheapest means of doing things. Happy New Years to everyone. Jay

Jay,

I think I mentioned somewhere in a thread here that Johnny's is a good growing guide, but I don't remember where. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange's catalog is helpful in the same way.

I just love Johnny's catalog. I always feel smarter after I've looked through it or read stuff at their website.

I know I don't "need" a hoop bender, and I probably will just use PVC pipe too, but that won't stop me from wishing I had one. I feel the same way about his Zea Later corn sprayer. I don't need it and would never use it enough to justify purchasing one, but every time I look at it, I want it. LOL

Dawn

I have to agree with you, Okiedawn on the seed companies mentioned above. On the conduit benders at home depot, they are for curves, not really an exact u shaped hoop true to size each and every time. I may not be able to buy one this year after buying a new truck. The taxes and tag always get you ,you know! But if anyone does buy one let me know how it does please.