Seed Catalogs - The Review

I must live at the end of the Earth. After jealously reading about everyone else getting scads of seed catalogs in the mail, mine have finally started rolling in. So, things that I have noticed/decided:

1.) Open pollinated varieties are almost non-existant. Hmmmm. I wonder why? Is it because there was crop failure, people just aren't interested in them anymore (I find that hard to believe), or are more nefarious things afoot?

2.) Territorial is scaling back its offerings. I compared the 2008 catalog to an old 2006 catalog, and found fewer lettuce, carrot and, most shockingly to me, ultra-early, extra-early and early tomato varieties. They were my sole source of tomato seeds that will survive in our barely-reaching-80-degree summers! Wah!

3.) I'm looking more toward jumping ship from my beloved Territorial/Johnnies to someplace like Fedco, who seems to be fighting the good fight. At least Fedco seems to be trying to shake itself off of the Monsanto monkey.

Well, at any rate, I'll be shopping online more, which is probably better for the environment, but it's not as nice as curling up under a blanket on a cold, stormy day, and drooling all over the catalog dreaming of summer tomatoes, while looking at the perfectly sliced ones on the pages of a catalog. Drip.

Have a fun, safe night tonight. I guess those in the UK are already in the new year. Let's hope it's a better one than the last!