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Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008

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Catalogs fresh off the press

By Marianne C. Ophardt, Special to the Herald

KENNEWICK -- It may be only the start of winter, but my garden seed catalogs already have started arriving.

Since gardening trends indicate that more gardeners are interested in food gardening, I thought I would take the time to review some great vegetable specialty catalogs.

It's not surprising that I receive two catalogs from seed companies that specialize in tomatoes, since tomatoes are the number one favorite crop of home gardeners.

In fact, I think tomatoes are the heart of any vegetable garden. This thought is echoed by Totally Tomatoes, which offers lots of different tomato varieties including heirlooms and improved hybrids. Totally Tomatoes is crazy about tomatoes but it also offers a complete line of sweet and hot peppers and cucumbers along with a few other veggies.

Totally Tomatoes is in Wisconsin and can be reached online at www.totallytomato.com. They also offer tomato growing supplies as well as canning equipment.

Another tomato catalog that tomato gardeners will want to look over is from Tomato Growers Supply Company.

They offer many different tomatoes and place them in different groups including seasons, size, color and special collections. They also offer a number of peppers, eggplants and six varieties of tomatillo. Tomato Growers Supply Company is in Florida and can be reached online at www.tomatogrowers.com.

If peppers are your vegetable specialty, you can find almost any pepper you might be looking for from The Pepper Gal in Florida.

Pepper Gal offers peppers from A (Aji Cristal, a Chilean hot pepper with a citrus flavor) to Z (Zimbabwe Bird, a very hot pepper with tiny triangular pods).

If you're a hot pepper connoisseur, you probably know that the hotness of peppers is measured in Scoville Heat Units. Sweet peppers have a rating of 0 units, Cayenne peppers a rating of 6,000 to 50,000 units, and Habanero and Scotch Bonnet peppers a whopping and fiery rating of 350,000 units. You can find the entire range of hot peppers from Pepper Gal. They also offer some seed of other veggies including hardshell gourds, pumpkins, herbs, tomatoes and tomatillos.

You can reach them online at www.peppergal.com.

Next week, we'll look at catalogs that specialize in garlic, potatoes and beans.

* Marianne C. Ophardt is a horticulturist for the Washington State University Extension Office in Benton County. Read more of Ophardt's Garden Tips columns at tricityherald.com/ophardt.



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