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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 2019)
3 2019 Spring Home & Garden Big things come in small packages Territorial Seed Co. builds an international brand locally Did you know that the average distance any supermarket-bound vegetable or fruit trav- els to the store is 800 miles? But a gardener’s own fruits and vegetables move from the garden to the table within minutes, with every ounce of nutritional value intact. Tom and Julie’s fi rst Territorial Seed catalogs offered a fresh-from-the garden look and alterna- tive, as Tom focused on expanding selections of customers’ favorites; more tomatoes (from 15 varieties to 75), then sweet peas, garlic, year-round lettuces and sunfl owers for the birds. After the regional catalog came a national catalog and a Canadian catalog. Their Winter Garden Catalog, fi rst published in 1988, remains the only winter garden Planting season in Oregon According to Oregon State University, Cottage Grove falls into Zone Two for planting in the Willamette Valley. It offers 150- to 250-day season and is described as warm days, cool nights; length of season may vary from year to year. Gardeners in the Rogue and Willamette valleys enjoy an excellent climate for gardening and a wide variety of fertile valley soils. Warm, sunny weather in late spring, summer and early fall provides good growing conditions with a minimum of garden plant diseases. Year-round gardening is possible, with mild winters where temperatures seldom drop below 20 degrees. catalog in the United States. In 1987, Tom and Julie invested in 44 acres for trial grounds at London Springs south of Cottage Grove Lake. Each year Territorial’s research garden staff grows and evaluates thousands of varieties for best taste, Northwest hardiness, and good germination. More recently they began reclaiming older, favorite vegetable varieties sometimes shelved by their seed suppliers. Harvesting their very tiny product has been their biggest challenge. In Lorane, they dried the bean pods on ground tarps and winnowed the seed from the pods by hand. Then they tried grinding tomatoes in a garden variety chipper-shredder and fl uming the seeds out, similar to panning for gold. But seeds still keep their age-old secrets of survival, and Territorial’s seed saving techniques range from natural fermen- tation to the newest processors. Today they grow almost 20% of the seed they offer, especially lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. Currently they fi nd themselves in good company, ‘’capital-O Organics’’, excited about taking leadership in advising the evolution of organic agriculture from a movement into a mainstream market. There are 20 full-time and 25 seasonal employees locally, strate- gic alliances with universities and European plant breeders and a zillion worms making compost and plant teas. Plant the seed, they say...or buy, grow, harvest and clean, store, catalog, package, sprout and love each seed and take a capital-O Opportunity to grow your dreams with Territorial Seed Company, Cottage Grove, Oregon. Pass Creek Nursery STARTER PLANTS Pansies and Violas $1.00 Annual 6-packs $2.95 Wave Petunia 6-packs $4.95 4” Trailing Petunias, Verbena, Million Bells $2.86 5” Geraniums $3.20 5” Begonias $3.20 GARDEN STARTS Vegetable 6-packs $2.75 4” Tomatoes and Peppers $1.95 Seed Potatoes $1.00 per lb. Onion Sets $2.50 per lb. 4” Strawberries $1.00 2 gal. Blueberries $9.95 COMBINATION BASKETS AND PLANTERS 12” Hanging Baskets $24.95 16” Hanging Baskets $42.95 Large Patio Pots $30.00 Open Monday- Saturday 10am to 6pm (Closed Sunday) 2361 Umpqua Hwy 99 Drain, OR 97435 (541) 836-2699
