Sand Hill Preservation Center

On Friday I received my first order from the Sand Hill Preservation Center. This is not a large company, but one run by a dedicated husband and wife team. If you are not familiar with them, then follow the above link to their website. The number of varieties they offer is truly impressive and many I have not seen to be available anywhere else.

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I have been wanting to p;lace an order for several years, and made it one of my new years resolutions to place an order. Aside from the wealth of rare varieties, the prices are reasonable and they do not charge postage for orders over ten dollars. It took a little under three weeks to receive my seeds and this includes the time to get the order to them via snail mail. I was very surprised and delighted that they even sent two bonus packs of seed.

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Click on the above picture to enlarge.

Without further ado, here is what I ordered, descriptions and prices are from their website:

Pole Bean-

Tennessee Greasy: 70 days. A true mix. I've tried for over 10 years to segregate this. I've concluded that it is a true mixture. Seeds are various colors as well as having pods of various shapes and textures. Beans can be used both in the green snap stage and dried for soup. Ornamental and colorful. 1 oz Pkt. - 1 Pkt./$3.00 OG

Insuk's Wang Kong: 80 days. Phaseolus coccineus A true red flowering runner bean. I used to raise runner beans with great success in Idaho, but have failed with all types here in Iowa except for this one. Vigorous, colorful and productive, but a mix of seed colors. 1 oz. Pkt. - 1 Pkt./$2.50

Tomato-

Black Seaman: mid, Ind, PL, bronze-green in color, semi-flattened globe. Pkt. $2.00 OG

Burpee's Table Talk: mid, SD, RL, 4 to 6 oz. globe fruit. Burpees prominently featured this variety on numerous catalog covers and it was their top variety in their 1943 catalog. Pkt. $1.25 OG

Pritchard's Scarlet Topper: mid, Ind, oblate, red globe. In the 1943 Burpee Seed Catalog it states, "The ideal, all-purpose tomato for growing in soil of high fertility. The self-topping habit prevents excessive vine growth under all conditions. Developed by Dr. Pritchard of the USDA." Pkt. $1.75 (Limit 1 Pkt.) OG 1933 AAS Gold Medal

Victor: early, Det, RL, small bush, heavy producer of 4 to 5 oz. red globe fruits. Introduced 1939 by Michigan State College. Bred by Dr.Yeager at ND State University. An All American Bronze Medal winner 1941. Pkt. $2.75 OG

Squash-

Caserta: 48 days. Bush, super early and productive, grey-green striped summer squash. Pkt. $2.00 1949 AAS Gold Medal

Hercules Butternut: 100 days. (C. moschata) Not entirely uniform in shape, but produces some very large sized butternut squash. Pkt. $2.25 1963 AAS Silver Medal

Uconn: 86 days. (C. pepo) Bush, fist sized, productive acorn. Pkt. $1.50 OG 1950 AAS Gold Medal

Lettuce-

Ruby: 60 days. Deep red leaf lettuce. A 1958 AAS Bronze Medal winner. Excellent deep red color. Pkt. $1.00

Spinach-

Nobel: 45 days. Large leafed spreading plant, slow to bolt. Pkt. $1.50 1933 AAS Silver Medal

Watermelon-

New Hampshire Midget: 76 days. Small vines, very productive with pale green, slightly striped fruits about the size of your hand. Rind is very thin, quality is good when picked young. Overripe it is of low quality. This variety nearly became extinct as all commercial suppliers suddenly stopped carrying it in the early 1990's. Pkt. $2.50 OG (Limit 1 Pkt.) 1951 AAS Gold Medal

Gift for Trial-

Watermelon Blacktail Mountain: 76 days. My own development, created while I lived in northern Idaho, a location which has cool 35 to 45 degree nights and short seasons. The fruit is dark green with very faint stripes, flesh is an orange red similar to Sugar Baby. Continuously, it is my earliest type in over 100 varieties grown each season. Fruit averages 6 to 10 pounds. 1 Pkt $1.75; 2 Pkts./$3.00; 1 oz./$7.00; 1 lb./$60.00 OG

Pepper Tennessee Spice: 82 days. Very similar to a Tabasco in shape and size. About the length of a little finger. Very pointed and red in color. Very hot. Pkt. $3.00 (Limit 1 Pkt.) OG

I'm very excited as to finally being able to most of these varieties!

It was still to wet to do any digging today. So far the forecast for the coming weeks shows no rain, so I should be able to get my peas in the ground by next weekend.

I did get more lettuce sown today and cleaned off the shelves on the light stands for this seasons seed starting.