West Coast Seeds

The very straight, tapered roots of Deep Purple carrot grow 17-20cm (7-8”) long. These carrots are named for the fact that the purple characteristic runs right to the core, and they keep their colour when lightly cooked. The tops are strong for easy harvests, and the storage potential is great. This is a fine fall harvest carrot that is good for juicing and it looks amazing in salads. The sweet, smooth-skinned roots were a staff favourite from our field trials. This is a high yielding, very uniform variety for the market grower or home gardener.

These seeds are coated with an inert, organically certified layer which helps to minimize clumping in storage and seed sowing machines. The coating is approved by organic certifiers in Canada, the US, EU, and Japan.

Matures in 75 days. (Hybrid seeds)

Patio Snacker cucumber seeds produce compact little plants that grow to only 90-150cm (36-60"), but producing numerous full-sized slicing cucumbers from mid-summer on. Trellis the little plants, or try them in a hanging basket and allow the short vines to spill over the sides. Patio Snacker was bred with the small-space gardener in mind, so it's ideal for balcony growing. Be sure to keep the plants picked so that new flowers and fruits continue to come.

Matures in 50-55 days. (Hybrid seeds)

This is a blend of green and red lettuces selected for use as baby greens. These lettuces look spectacular in a container with their diverse shapes, colours, and textures, almost like a bouquet of flowers. Harvest the baby greens with scissors for an instant, pre-mixed salad. Grow in full sun from fall to spring, and in partial shade in the summer. Each pellet contains numerous seeds, so one or two pellets per 5" container is ample. The result is very attractive and fully edible.

Matures in 55 days. (Open-pollinated seeds)

Like Ramrod scallions, Eiffel produces a nice, strong, upright growing, white Lisbon type scallion with little or no bulbing at the root end, even in the heat of summer. This variety grows straight, with mild, crisp, appealing flavour and good uniformity. Its stiff upright leaves shed the rain, so it is less susceptible to the diseases that can occur in damp weather. Sow short rows of Eiffel scallion seeds every two weeks from April to the end of September, and you'll have scallions all year long. Provide a cloche row cover over winter for the best results.

Matures in 65 days. (Open-pollinated seeds)

Extra early, incredibly sweet snap peas on short, 60cm (2') vines that don't require trellising. Sugar Ann snap pea seeds are an excellent choice for smaller garden spaces. The bushy plants produce crisp, tasty, 6cm (2") pods, and have excellent resistance to pea enation virus and powdery mildew. Sugar Ann was the 1984 AAS Winner, and also received the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society. It has been a stand-by snap pea for West Coast Seeds for decades. If you're short on space, this is the pea for you - they can even be grown in larger containers.

Matures in 56 days. (Open-pollinated seeds)

Bees and flowering plants evolved together millions of years ago. Although bees face many challenges in this age of global climate change, the simple act of sowing the seeds of plants that bees and other pollinators love to forage on is a critically important step in helping to ensure they--and the whole planet--have a future. The Bee Garden Blend wildflower seeds are specially blended by our Certified Bee Master for use in managed landscapes such as disused laneways; verges; or along the edges of cultivated areas in residential or agricultural properties.

Helianthus annuus. Inconspicuous Giganteus sunflower seeds produce absolutely huge plants in one short season. This is the giant among sunflowers, with towering stems up to 3.6m (12') tall, as thick as a man's leg. At the top grows a monumental flower, with the seed head growing 25-35cm (10-14") across, heavy with edible seeds. The seed heads tend to nod forward at maturity, facing down. Be sure to get the seeds planted early so the seed heads can mature before the wet weather arrives in September. It's a good idea to direct sow (as opposed to transplanting) these enormous plants so their root growth is not interrupted. They need a solid anchor in order to keep them standing upright.

Annual

Feathery foliage on tall and vigorous dill plants that mature and form seed quickly from large umbels of yellow flowers. Sow Long Island Mammoth dill seeds at the back of the herb or vegetable bed, as plants can reach 2m (6') tall or more. In fact, it gets so tall, it makes a nice specimen plant, central in the garden. Harvest the leaves as needed. The leaves and seeds dry well.

The structure of dill's flowers is known as an umbel. Thus dill is considered an umbelliferous plant. Other umbellifers include carrots, cilantro, fennel, parsnips, and Ammi. All of these plants are attractive to predatory insects such as lady beetles, Syrphid flies (hover-flies), lacewings, and tiny parasitoid wasps. WCS recommends that organic gardeners should grow some dill precisely to attract these beneficial insects, for they will control pest insects like aphids, thrips, whitefly, and the caterpillar of the Small White Butterfly (cabbage moth).

C. pepo. Dating back to 1863, Small Sugar pumpkin seeds are the heirloom of choice for baking pies. Just look at the various names this old time variety has been known by: New England Pie Pumpkin, Northeast Pie, Boston Pie, Sugar Pie, Early Sugar Pie, and Sweet Sugar - to name a few! This is the classic (if not original) pie pumpkin with small, round, slightly flattened orange fruits that have very light rib indentations. Each fine-grained, stringless pumpkin averages 20cm (8") tall by 23cm (9") wide. The votes are in, making Small Sugar one of the best of all pumpkins for canning and pies.

Matures in 110 days (Open-pollinated seeds)

Breen Pelleted Organic romaine lettuce seeds are CERTIFIED ORGANIC! Breen is a slow-growing miniature red romaine lettuce with an elegant, urn-shaped head. Its superb, rust coloured leaves have olive-green undertones and nicely contrasting veins. Breen is slow to bolt and looks lovely tucked in among green lettuces. The leaves are firm and crisp with excellent flavour. PELLETED SEEDS - sold by seed count. Pelleted seeds are great for precision sowing. The seed coating is certified organic and made from an inert clay mixture. Let Breen mature for harvest after most of your other lettuce has been already cut.

Recommended for hydroponic and aquaponic growing.

Matures in 45 days. (Open-pollinated seeds)

Imperator type. Versatility and long storage ability makes this variety a good choice for growers and homesteaders alike. Neptune carrot seeds produce large, handsome, medium-orange roots grow 20-25cm (8-10") long, with outstanding flavour and crisp, crunchy texture. The roots are very straight with a slight taper to a pointed tip. Tops are abundant for tying market bundles. Grow these carrots in deeply dug soil with fluffy texture - raised beds work really well. Apply carrot fertilizer or the All Purpose 4-4-4 organic fertilizer at planting time for the largest, most uniform roots.

Matures in 65 days. (Hybrid seeds)

Smooth skinned, highly productive, and very tasty. Olympian cucumber seeds produced fruits mid-season in our trials, and performed as well outdoors in raised beds as in containers in the greenhouse. Fruits grow slightly longer than Marketmore at 22cm (8"). Olympian is a gynoecious Marketmore hybrid with tolerance to Anthracnose, angular leaf spot, scab, powdery mildew, and downy mildew. Gynoecious plants produce mostly female flowers for increased productivity, so the cucumbers just keep coming and coming all summer long. Provide steady moisture and fertile soil and you may be overwhelmed by the quantity of delicious fruits.

Matures in 65 days. (Hybrid seeds)

A dwarf variety of dill, growing to only 30-45cm (12-18"), Fernleaf dill bears tidy, bright yellow umbels that quickly ripen into masses of seed. The foliage from Fernleaf dill seeds maintains its distinct aroma, and compliments fish or can be used in dill pickles. This is a good dill variety for container growing.

The structure of dill's flowers is known as an umbel. Thus, dill is considered an umbelliferous plant. Other umbellifers include carrots, cilantro, fennel, parsnips, and Ammi. All of these plants are attractive to predatory insects such as lady beetles, Syrphid flies (hover-flies), lacewings, and tiny parasitoid wasps. Many organic gardeners like to grow dill precisely to attract these beneficial insects, as they will help control pest insects like aphids, thrips, whitefly, and the caterpillar of the Small White Butterfly (cabbage moth).

A great substitute for Mammoth Melting peas, Avalanche snow pea seeds grow into 15cm (6") pods that are sweet and tender. Plants are "semi-leafless" so they put more energy into producing pods, making for higher yields of snow peas. Plant two to three rows close together and plants will intertwine, providing support for each other. Expect a height of 90cm (36"). Avalanche is resistant to Fusarium Wilt race 1 and powdery mildew. Plant this reliable snow pea from spring to mid-summer in rich, fertile soil.

Matures in 60 days. (Open-pollinated seeds)