Because of family commitments, I will not be selling seed in 2024.
2021 was another good year in the garden, except for the abundance of voles who have descended upon my garden to ravage my root crops! They were hungry and I was glad I had overplanted, particularly the beets which seemed to be their favourite by far. Again as the pandemic continued (s) I am thankful for my gardens and the peace, beauty and nourishment I find there. Mother Earth, you never cease to amaze me.
I am not a computer whiz so I apologize for the lack of pictures on this listing and on the seed packs. What I offer is good seed in simple seed envelopes. I do have many of the varieties pictured on my Tree and Twig Instagram and Facebook pages if you care to have a peek.
All seeds are from my gardens and saved by me. If you need any advice about seeding or gardening please contact me. I am happy to help.
I try my best to ensure that there are no issues with cross pollination, but it is not impossible for it to happen. That's Mother Nature doing what she does.
I also had the great good fortune of being the Friday Farm Manager at the Start Me Up Niagara Garden in Vineland Ont. We grew literally tons of food to donate to social service agencies and fed many hungry people. A good chunk of the garden was devoted to...beans! If you wish to order some of the seed I am offering from the Start Me Up Garden, needless to say all the money will be given to Start Me Up to support the continued operation of the gardens and the valuable work of the agency.
To order, please send a listing of your requested seed to me by email (treeandtwig@sympatico.ca) and payment can be made by etransfer to the same email address within Canada. I also accept PayPal using the same email address. Alternately this can all be done through mail, the old fashioned way, and payment by cheque or concealed cash is fine too. I will ship outside of Canada. Shipping and handling cost is $5.00 regardless if you are ordering 1 package or 20.
Seeds will be shipped out on Mondays and Thursdays and I will begin shipping January 15th, 2022
GROWING INSTRUCTIONS-TOMATOES
Plant seed indoors 6-8 weeks before your last frost. Here in Southern Ontario CANADA that is about April 1st. Plant in sterile moistened soiless mix, whatever containers you can find, but ensure they have holes in the bottom for drainage. Push seeds appoximately 1/4" deep and cover gently with soil. Mist to dampen, do not overwater. Cover with a humidity dome, a simple plastic bag (bread bags are great!) propped up with a popsicle stick or something similar. Place in a warm environment, under lights, on top of the fridge etc. When seedlings emerge, remove the humidity dome immediately. If they are not under lights, put them there immediately or in a south facing window. No question lights are preferable, seedlings will reach and become leggy with light through a window, but lots of people still succeed with this. Keep the soil damp, careful not to over water or let the seedlings dry out. When you see a second set of leaves ( considered the first set of true leaves) gently remove the seedlings by the roots and plant them into bigger individual pots. In doing so, remove the bottom set of leaves,( the first that appeared), and sink the seedlings into the soil, up to the remaining bottom set of leaves. Water them with a good water soluble organic fertilizer such as kelp. Fertilize every few weeks. Keep them moderately watered. When frost risk is no longer an issue, begin to harden the plants off, taking approx a week of inside and outside. Plant in a deep compost filled hole, again removing the bottom leaves and burying them deep. Water again with your kelp fertilizer until you see new growth. For best flavour, water sparingly...no more than once a week, if at all.
Clear as mud? Don't hesitate to ask me at treeandtwig@sympatico.ca
TOMATO SEED IS SOLD OUT FOR 2022! (Still lots of beans though)
OPEN POLLINATED TOMATO SEED (All tomato packets are $3.50 for a minimum of 20 seeds)
1) Aladdin's Lamp - A mid-sized squat pear shaped bright orange tomato. This tomato is not exceedingly sweet as many oranges are and has a somewhat dry flesh. Superb as a paste or drying tomato. Indet. 70 days
2) African Brown - Mid sized brownish purple fruit, very good flavour. Indet. 80 days
3) Alice's Dream - Beefsteak up to 1 lb, yellow blue- black fuit with red veining. Juicy and delicious. Good production. Indet, 80 days.
4) Barry's Crazy Cherry- Super sweet pale yellow cherry tomatoes grow in huge clusters on indeterminate plants. Amazing yields of fruit. This is a Wild Boar Farm original.Indet. 70 days. SOLD OUT FOR 2022
5) Big Red Peach- For many years this tomato has been a favourite of mine. My original seed is from Kokopelli in France some 20 years ago and I have faithfully been saving seed ever since. This is a medium sized pale red fruit with fragile skin. The tomato is very soft and sweet, quite different but truly addictive. Very rare. Indet. 78 days.
6) Black Prince - Always a favourite for taste and production. A salad sized brownish fruit, frequently has green shoulders. Indet. 75 days
7) Burye Russian - A tomato I obtained from D Primus, Ohio. She received the seed as a gift from a Russian acquaintance in 1991 when she visited Moscow. A small purplish brown tomato, green shoulders with a rich and complex flavour. Indet. 75 days. Rare.
8) Cerese Champagne- Small and very sweet pale yellow cherry fruit with translucent skin on big indeterminate plants. 70 days.
9) Chinese Purple - A productive large pale purple pink tomato, nice mild flavour. Indet. 83 days.
10) Crushed Heart - Ever have crushed heart? I have and here it is.. a worthwhile crushed heart. Really a unique tomato, heart shaped, often elongated pointy ends. But flattened if you can imagine that. Medium to large fruit. Meaty, few seeds. Light pink in color with green/yellowish stripes and light blue splash. Wispy leaf. Indet. 80 days.
11) Dingo Eye- Take note tomato lovers! This is truly an exceptional tomato. Amazing production of sweet large pink fruit with some rippling. If you search for this tomato onlline by name you will find a newer tomato which is a medium sized bicolour. This is not that tomato. My original seed is from Kokopelli in France some 20 years ago. Funny story with this one..I have a gmail account that I never check and I have this tomato seed listed in the Seed Saver's Exchange Yearbook. Last winter I went into my gmail account to erase hundreds of random emails that were sent there. I found a request for this seed there and promptly (8 years later) emailed this person to apologize and say I would send the seed. He answered immediately...as in within a minute and I sent the seed to him. I'm glad someone else is stewarding this variety now. It's very worthwhile. Indet. 82 days. Very rare.
12) Darby Striped Yellow/Green- Another very rare tomato that I'm having trouble finding mentioned anywhere. I received seed for this variety many years ago from the Heritage Seed Library in England. Created in the mid 60's by Dr Lewis Darby of the Glasshouse Crops Research Institute, Littlehampton.This variety goes from yellow with green stripes, then turns orange when ready to pick. Good sweet flavour, golf ball sized fruit. Indet. 70 days.
13) Darby Striped Pink /Yellow- With the same story as the above noted variety, this is a pretty pale pink tomato with yellow striping. Gof ball sized sweet mild flavoured fruit. Indet. 70 Days
14) David Davidson- A Tennessee heirloom grown by a gentleman of the same name. Mid sized orange globe shaped tomato, with great flavour with a citrusy tang. Indet. 90 days.
15) Datterino - A very popular Italian cherry, red and slighly elongated. Good production and flavour, rich taste. Indet, 75 days
16) Eva Purple Ball- Is this the perfect tomato? It could be. Small perfectly shaped globes are pink, not purple, despite the name. Wonderful sweet mild taste, truly an heirloom of note, very reliable. An 1800's variety brought from the Black Forest region of Germany by the family of well known seedperson Joseph Bratka. I can't think of this tomato without thinking of Paul, who drives down from Brampton every year to my seedling sales to purchase several of these plants. Indet. 70 days.
17) Fater Rein - Red heart-shaped with a big nipple at the blossom end. 1 lb or more. Bright red, meaty, dense, sweet flesh. Few seeds. Indet. 75 days.
18) Furry Bumblebee - I am unclear as to why this is called "Bumblebee". Other bumblebee tomatoes are cherry and striped. This one is not. But furry it is! Not only the fruit, but the stems and leaves as well are heavily pubescent. Super productive dwarf type tomato. Oval fruit, pinkish-red fruit, very good flavour. Dwarf, 75 days.
19) Green Honey-Super sweet green and gold golf ball sized fruit, rich flavour. Good production on indet. potato leaved plants. 75 days
20) Gold Rush Currant-Another customer favourite. Piercingly sweet baby currant sized gold tomatoes on large indeterminate plants. Just try to pick them all-it might be impossible. 75 days.
21) German Pink- One of two plants that inspired the idea for Seed Savers Exchange. A Bavarian heirloom with meaty pink beefsteak fruit, few seeds and little cracking. Full rich sweet flavour. Potato leaf indet plants. 85 days.
22) Great White Purple - Pretty pale yellow medium sized fruit, with purple-blue blushing on top. Juicy and sweet fruit, mild flavoured. Random fruit shapes, some are flattened, round or oxheart....so not an entirely stable variety. Indet. 80 days.
23)) Grandma Oliver's Green-A 1920's heirloom from Indiana, a green when ripe tomato blushed with amber when fully ripe. Large fruited with a tangy sweet flavour. Indet. 80 days.
24) House - Sweet little plant, sweet little fruits. This Russian heirloom only grows to appro 1 ft, but absolutely loaded with delicious red cherry fruits, to the point that it flops to the ground with the weight of the fruit. Give it a wee bit of support and it will delight you. Small enough to remain in a smaller container and bring it inside for the winter. Dwarf plant, 75 days.
25) - Indigo Pear Drops - A very pretty pear shaped cherry tomato. More elongated than yellow pear. Yellow with beautiful blue splashes. Smaller mounding plant for me that produced most of it's crop a bit later than most cherries despite what I read elsewhere. Sweet and mild flavour. Indet, 75 days.
26) Ivory Pear- Refreshingly sweet white pear shaped cherry tomato. Indet. 75 days
27) Karma Purple Multiflora - Terrific salad sized fruit bred by Karen Olivier of Canada (True North Seeds). Truly prolific production of deep purple fruit with rich sweet flavour. Compact potato leaf plants. 65 days. SOLD OUT for 2022
28) Legenda Tarasenko - Beautiful red plum shaped tomato with an extreme pointy end. Solid and meaty flesh, rich taste. Great for fresh eating or sauce. Lovely. Indet. 78 days
29) Legs Diamond- A newer tomato variety, a cross between the varieties "Tad" and the well known heirloom "Brandywine", and named after the Irish American gangster of the same name. Huge production of large red fruit with very pretty yellow striping. In 2022 some of mine were well over a pound. Nice sweet balanced flavour. Large indet plant, 80 days.
30) Marlowe Charlston - A Virginia heirloom, medium sized pink beefsteak which produces well and has very good taste. Indet. 80 days.
31) Orange Pear - Pretty little orange pear shaped cherry tomato. Good flavour. Indet. 78 days.
32) Owyhee- Great production, medium sized red fruit. Early fruit was quite large, smaller fruit as the season progressed. Very good flavour and reliability. Indet.79 days.
33) Plum Black- Just a great little ruddy brown plum shaped cherry. Deep rich flavour and good production. 75 days.
34)Rose quartz Multiflora - Small pink cherries, sweet and delicious growing in clusters. Indet. 65 days.
35) Skyomish- A recent variety created by legendary tomato breeder Tom Wagner. This tomato is late blight resistant and tolerant resulting in log lived healthy plants. Round yellow orange fruit, medium sized. Some red blushing in hot weather. Sweet taste, nice and juicy. Indet. 80 days.
36) Smoky Mountain- Heirloom from Tennessee. Slight fuzzy red fruit, small round red with good flavour. Good all purpose tomato. Indet. 75 days.
37) Sunrise Jazz- Recent variety developed by Fred Hempel, not entirely stable so there may be some off types. Large flattened beefsteak, slight ribbing. Yellow skin streaked with orange, pink and red. Sweet and juicy. Indet. 80 days.
38) Sweet Tooth - Recent variety. Developed by Wild Boar Farm, California. Dark brown with glossy green stripes, elongated roma type. Very sweet with a nice balanced flavour, good for fresh eating or sauces. Indet. wispy leaf. 70 days.
39) Stick - Sometimes called "Curl". Here's an oddball tomato variety for you. Produces a nice larger cherry tomato and quite prolific..considering the plant itself which is the oddball part. The leaves on the vines are tightly clustered looking somewhat like pom poms. I seldom stake my tomato plants, but this one is a real flopper, so does best with support. Lots of fun and a good tasting fruit. Indet. 65 days. Rare.
40) Stupice - An old and early friend in the garden. Small salad sized red fruit appear super early and are very delicious with a beautiful rich taste. One of my all time favourites..a little work horse of a plant, producing all season long with no problems. Potato leaf variety. Indet. 60 days.
41) T2- My original seed for this variety was given to me by Tom Wagner, tomato breeder many years ago at a Seed Savers Exchange conference in Decorah, Iowa many years ago.Another perfect tomato...round red medium size globes with yellow striping that look painted on. Looks aren't everything,the flavour is very good. Indet. 80 days. Very rare.
42) Thunder Mountain - Created by J and L Gardens. Big tomatoes on a smaller plant, good production.Ripens to a red orange colour, with very faint yellow stripes and blue around the stem. Compact indet. 80 days.
43) TT Baby Blue - This is a tiny red currant tomato with blue shoulders that appeared in my fields many years ago. I continued to grow it out and stabilize it. A cross I assume between Red Currant and Blueberry. Prolific producer, tomatoes grow in sprays and are quite stunning. Unique sweet flavour. The more sunshine they get, the bluer they are. Terrific little self seeders if you can't pick them all. Indet. 70 days
44) Thorburn's Terra Cotta- Another star in my 2020 garden. Huge production of this medium sized tomato which is honey brown on the exterior and has a pink orange flesh. Superb flavour. An heirloom that dates back to 1892, at which time it appeared in John Thorburn's New York seed catalog. Indet. 70 days.
45) - Velue Striee - Angora leaf plant produces a small salad size round fruit with a bit of peachy skin, red with yellow striping. Nice sweet flavour. Indet, 70 days.
46) - Wild Tiger - Large amounts of 2-3 oz., very attractive, fat, elongated cherry, mahogany colored tomatoes with green-striping. Good flavour, not overly sweet with a bit of zing. 70 days. Indet.
47) White Currant- This has been my favourite currant tomato type for many years. The flavour is unparalleled and different. Very sweet, teeny whiteish yellow fruit. Great production. Indet. 78 days.
48) White Queen- A luxurious large fruited white. Dreamy, cream coloured fruit is mild and sweet. Very good production. Indet. 82 days
49)Whippersnapper- A little pink cherry tomato that is great for pots because of it's small size, determinate. Sweet little fruits. Reg leaf. 70 days.
50)Yellow Garden Peach- Peach type skin, fragile pale yellow golf ball sized fruit. Sweet mild taste. Indet. 75 days.
51) Xanadu Green Goddess- From a surprise cross in the garden of Tricia Rosamilla, Uof the US. This one produced early and like mad for me in 2022. Medium sized green striped fruit with deep purple anthocyanin striped shoulders. A standout in the garden. Nice balanced flavour and minimal cracking. Indet. 70 days. SOLD OUT for 2022
52 ) Surprise Mix -Cherry - Some of my favourites in one package. Some not on this list, but an intriguing mix of shapes and colours. All terrific.
53) - Surprise Mix - A mix of medium to large fruited types, some of my favourites. Wonderful colours and shapes and superb flavours.
BEAN SEEDS All packs are bush beans, unless specified. 40 seeds for $3.50
Plant after all risk of frost has passed and soil has warmed. Beans are easy to grow from seed, don't bother with transplants.
1) Blue Ribbon - A very rare bean, hard to find elsewhere, but so worthwhile. This is a fat meaty fresh eating bean, green with purple striping. Plump cream coloured seed with maroon splotches.
2) Bobis D'Albenga - A very rare bean, hard to find elsewhere. I love this bean, green curved bean with purple striping, slimmer than Blue Ribbon. Tasty. Seed is kidney bean shaped, cream with maroon markings.
3) Canadian Wonder - A rare bean, my original seed is from the UK, not Canada! Also known as Rose bean, good for fresh (green) or dried use, dried seed is red flat kidney shaped bean.
4)Dragon Tongue- A Dutch heirloom...such a great bean. Excellent for fresh eating, juicy, plump and sweet. A wide pale yellow bean with purple striping.
5) - Greasy Grits - POLE- An old Appalachian heirloom, bean has a glossy sheen to the pod. nutty flavour. Small tan seed with brown splotches.
6) - Hutterite Soup Bean - Pretty lime green small seed. Productive and great for...as the name suggests...soup!
7) Ice - A very rare and unique bean, hard to find elsewhere. Great for fresh eating, a small pale lime green curved bean, juicy and delicious. Seed is small and white. Unlike any other bean I know of.
8) Mbombo- An excellent dried bean from Kenya, also good as fresh. Seed is an emerald green kidney shaped, quite unusual. Drought and heat tolerant, good production.
9) Negritos - Another very rare one. I got my original seed many years ago from the seed saving organization Kokopelli in France. I can find no one offering this anywhere now. So keep saving it! A small plump black bean that I have only used as a dry bean. Excellent for this purpose.
10) Quarantaine - Rare. Dry use, excellent meaty bean, plump roundish bean is cream coloured with purple swirls and splotches.
11) Schwarze Dalmation-Gorgeous black and white patterned bean, shaped like a kidney bean. Speckled with black around hilum.
12) Straight and Narrow- Just like it's description. This is a marvellous small green filet bean which produces extremely well. My mom always grew this one, the seed originally coming from William Dam Seeds in Flamborough. Unfortunately as does happen, they dropped the seed from their catalogue and I found it again at Early's Seed Company in Saskatchewan. I knew I had better save the seed for it and good thing I did, as they dropped it too. Not sure why as they had a reall following for it and I had many requests from Saskatchewan for this bean seed. People were upset! So here it is. A great bean for fresh eating with small white seeds.
13) Turtle - Small well known black bean for dry use, good production. Great taste.
COWPEA (aka Southern Pea, Black Pea) Vigna unguiculata. I can't figure out why people don't grow these in our area. The pea/beans are 25% protein and a great source of other vitamins and minerals. Very easy to grow, you can enjoy them fresh or dried. Native to African and common in the Souther US. Super worthwhile and easy to pick the long slim pods are held erect on top of the tall bush plants.
40 seeds per packet, $3.50
1) Fagiolina Del Trasimeno- An Ark of Taste variety. Tiny pale brown and white beans are produced in long slim pods. Ready for dry use when pods are dry and tan coloured. Traditionally served boiled and seasoned with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic. Delicious.
2) Holstein - Black and white like a holstein cow. Some growers have found them to climb, mine do not. Trouble free and prolific producer. Long slender pods may contain up to 13 seeds.
START ME UP NIAGARA BEAN SEED
- Silver Cloud Canellini- A great dried bean, thick and meaty when cooked. White kidney bean shape. Bush habit
- Coco (black)-Nice large plump black bean for dried use. Bush habit.
- Tiger Eye-For dried use, gorgeous orange bean with purple swirls. Bush habit.
- Jacob’s Cattle- For dried use, gorgeous white and maroon patterned bean. Bush habit.
- Orca -aka Ying Yang. For dried use, white and black roundish bean. Very pretty.
- Bluejay - Green snap, tender and stringless. Large productive plants, seed is black with white speckles. Introduced by Russell Crowe, he found it in a field of white seeded beans.
- Painted Pony-Small slim white and tan seed, great for dried use. Compact plants.
- Alice Sunshine Snap-A productive snap green bean, gorgeous seed which is tan coloured with burnt orange coloured mottling. Of course the seeds you save are edible as dry beans if you have too many for the next years crop...as are all the beans listed here.
- Rattlesnake-Pole bean. Excellent for fresh eating, long green bean with purple striping. Very productive plants.
- Borlotto- Great Italian dried bean, green with purple striping, dries to a plump burgudy and cream coloured seed.
- Fall Speckled- Rare bean, excellent dried bean. Produces a plump and meaty bean, which is beautiful. Tan and maroon swirls.
AND OTHER INTERESTING THINGS!
1) 5 Minute Plant (solanum atropurpureum). Annual. Such a cool plant that I'll grow it till the day I die. In 2020, my plants were the tallest I'd ever grown, over 6 feet of thorny loveliness. Big bushy plants have thick glossy purple black stems and branches, and are covered in fat purple black thorns. Leaves are green/purple with thorns. They produce a green and white striped berry, which turns a golden colour in the fall. Very eye catching and fun! NOT EDIBLE. I start my seeds indoors in early April. 25 seeds-$3.50
2) Garden Huckleberry This annual plant has the same culture as tomatoes. About 3 feet high here, with long branches that are loaded with purple black blueberry sized fruit. They don't taste like blueberries though ...you must cook them and add some sort of sweetener for them to be edible. One of my favourites for jam making, and my mom used to make a terrific pie with them as well. 25 seeds-$3.50
3) Hyacinth Bean ( Dolichos lab lab)This wonderful tender annual vining bean is native to the West Indies, where apparently they know how to cook and eat it, but it is TOXIC. Don't eat it. It produces stunning and showy purple-rose flowers, leaves are purple green and pods are glossy purple. I have had people pull over in front of my farm asking what it is. A stunner. I plant mine early in my greenhouse so that our season is long enough to produce seed, but it can be direct seeded. Be aware...it climbs! 25 seeds-$3.50
4) Job"s Tears (Coix lacryma-jobi) Named as such as they are said to represent the tears shed by Job in the bible as he lived through his struggles. In the millet family, the hard grain has been used as beads since at least 2000 BC. I grow lots of them every year and use them in my small jewellery business Brindille Jewellery which gets me through the winter. Direct seed or start indoors in April. 25 seeds-$3.50
5) Morelle de Balbis (Litchi Tomato) Another fun thorny one, but this annual produces delicious edible fruit and has some frost tolerance. Plants in my clay soil grow about 4 feet high and have long thorny branches. It produces a husked fruit, the husk is covered in thorns. The bright red fruit is the size of cherries and is produced in a spray on the branches. Seedy but delicious. It becomes quite addicitive. I harvest mine but cutting off the fruit sprays with secateurs. It is a bit treacherous...but worth it. Same culture as tomatoes. 25 seeds-$$3.50