Today on Island Artisans I featured Jeff Wright of Old Country Seeds in Saanich. Jeff is the official Canadian distributor of Franchi Sementi seeds. Franchi Sementi is an Italian seed company that was founded 'way back in 1783 in Parma, Italy. After two centuries of operations there, the company moved to Bergamo, Italy. It has developed some 70 of its own varieties of vegetables it is solely responsible for propagating and the company is still family-owned.
One of the main reasons Jeff started planting these seeds in his garden was taste. These carrots were planted last year and he's still harvesting them from his garden right now. They are sweet and smooth. In addition to flavour, Jeff says the germination rate of the seeds is always more than what it is rated at, nearly 100%! And the seeds can be used for more than one season, he's just finishing off a packet of radicchio that he bought six years ago. The size of the packets is large, and you get your money's worth.
If you want to download Jeff's catalogue of seeds available for 2011, click here for a .pdf version. I have a bunch of seeds to try out from Jeff, and I'm going to be planting some of the mixed greens (misticanza) in my greenhouse in a couple of weeks so I can have some nice fresh salads in a couple of months!
If you're looking for info on the Master Gardener day in Sidney on the 29th of January, click here.
We buy Franchi seeds
http://casa-giardino.blogspot.com/2011/03/hot-peppers-grow-few-and-heat-things-up.html