Lucas Holman
My mailbox is being flooded with gardening catalogs of every shape and size. It’s a great feeling to open the mailbox and find reading material that I like.
Don’t be tempted to try out all of the new and exciting things that seed catalogs are pushing. Many of those things will not be in the catalog next year.
I’m always interested to see which things are listed only once and never again. A few years ago, I was given some plants from a new cultivar of tomato called “Buffalosun.” The few pictures I could find online looked like a yellow-skinned tomato that was going to produce a tomato that was between 4-5 inches. I was really excited because I’m a fan of yellow tomatoes.
The fruit looked perfect, absolutely catalog worthy without any defects. It was perfect until I decided to take my first bite. The taste was similar to the catalog where I saw the pictures of it advertised. It had no flavor and I prefer tomatoes to have a “bite.” Out of all of my catalogs I’ve received so far, I can’t remember seeing it listed this year. Just because something is new and exciting does not mean that it merits a place in your garden.
Try and stick with those cultivars that perform well in your garden. Tennessee is a tricky place to try and grow vegetables because we’re smack in the middle of north and south. We’re in a transitional zone and we need to grow those vegetables that are “tried and true.”
For example, there are certain onion varieties that will perform really well in the North but won’t develop a bulb in Tennessee. Be sure to research your choices before you make any purchase. Ask gardeners what their favorites are. All gardeners love to chat and I’m not the exception! There are local gardening groups all across their state and many of them have monthly meetings.
Social media can be hit or miss on gardening advice. There are really good gardeners who share relevant and factual information, but there are just as many bad ones sharing inaccurate information. Find information from gardeners who actually garden instead of copy and paste information from websites or other social media gardening influencers.
The University of Tennessee has three public gardens across our state and they grow all sorts of things. Go see what is performing well in their gardens and recreate that in your own garden. They also trial many vegetables to see which ones perform the best. I’m always eager to see which ones are at the top of the list.
I generally don’t purchase any seeds until the middle of winter. I’ll go through my stack of catalogs and see which ones I’m interested in and highlight them. If it is a newer cultivar, I’ll research it and look for any information I can find on that particular one. The majority of my garden is full of cultivars that I’ve grown before, but I always try a few of the new and exciting ones. That’s how I discovered “Icicle” eggplant. UT was selling some at a plant sale because it performed so well in its gardens. This year I planted three and they produced fruit right up until frost.
On a snowy day this winter, grab your stack of catalogs and start dreaming of your 2026 garden. Map out your garden because most gardeners have a tendency to over-buy instead of under-buy!
Lucas Holman is the UT Horticulture Extension Agent, Wilson County. Contact him at (615) 444-9584 or Lholman1@utk.edu. The University of Tennessee Extension offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability and is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Through its mission of research, teaching and extension, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. ag.tennessee.edu
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