 The new 2013 catalog is online.
The 2013 catalogs are in the mail. If you do not receive yours by New Year’s, please request your complimentary free copy online at SouthernExposure.com.
Our online store is fully updated with newly available and returning varieties for 2013. We’ve added 24 varieties, and many varieties are newly available as certified organic seed. Exciting changes include:
New Varieties for 2013
 We have added two tomatoes to this year’s catalog. The Italian heirloom Red Pisa Date tomato is the size of a small date, and it may be similar to the tomatoes eaten by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello (where tomatoes were often served as dessert, dusted with sugar). We think Red Pisa Date is a perfect snacking and salad tomato, with excellent firm texture and sweet, cherry-tomato flavor, even when fully ripe.
 Rosella Purple tomato is a new dwarf variety with fruits similar to Cherokee Purple tomato, with similar heirloom-quality flavor and texture, but on short, 3-foot plants, ideal for container gardens. Rosella Purple is one of the introductions from the Dwarf Tomato Project, an international group of tomato enthusiasts dedicated to breeding great-tasting varieties on short plants.
 We are always seeking out heirlooms that deserve renewed attention. This year we are offering an heirloom melon, Piel de Sapo (Toadskin) melon, with the unusual characteristic of excellent storage quality. Harvest the fruits slightly under-ripe and move them to a cool dark place; the melons will ripen slowly and keep for a couple months in storage, for great tasting melons all the way into November and beyond.
Another old heirloom that is new to our catalog is Iron and Clay southern pea. These flavorful light tan cowpeas date back to before the Revolutionary War and are featured in George Washington Carver’s 1908 Cookbook of Field Pea Recipes. They also make a great summer cover crop that holds up well in high heat.
 We are also introducing the annual French Hollyhock, Zebrina. The striking flower spikes on first year plants will be especially appreciated by gardeners who love the look of hollyhocks, but would prefer not to wait two years for the traditional biennial hollyhock.
We have two new herbs, each from a unique culinary heritage. Sweet Thai Basil, with a flavor reminiscent
of anise and cloves, goes well in curries and many other dishes. Papalo is an intriguing herb used in Mexican, Central American, and South American cuisine. It’s often served raw in tacos and salsa. The unique, complex
taste is often compared to cilantro, but also
to arugula, lemon, and even rue.
Returning from the Archives
Varieties returning from our Southern Exposure archives after many years’ absence
are Upper Ground Sweet Potato winter squash, a sweet winter squash that looks like a neckless butternut squash, and Aunt Mary’s sweet corn, an old Ohio variety famous for its great taste.
New Books
 We are offering several new books this year. Janisse Ray’s The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food offers inspiring histories of heirlooms seeds in the United States. Peter Hatch’s A Rich Spot of Earth: Thomas Jefferson’s Revolutionary Garden at Monticello lets us learn from the groundbreaking horticultural experiments of a founding father.
We also have an excellent new reference for any seed saver: Breeding Organic Vegetables: A Step-By-Step Guide for Growers, from Rowen White of Sierra Seeds and NOFA’s Bryan Connolly.
 Our neighbor Pam Dawling’s Sustainable Market Farming will become available in February, but you can pre-order now. Pam’s invaluable expertise is especially useful to those in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic, who can benefit from her many years growing in our bio-region.
Sweet Potatoes
Thanks to the enthusiastic response to last year’s online offering of sweet potato slips, we’re adding six of our most popular varieties and two collections to the catalog. Shipping begins in mid-May. We will be adding even more varieties and bulk sizes to the online store as the season approaches. |
