Japanese Black Trifele Tomato??

May 18, 2006 7:01 AM

Gardenfilter: I'm starting my garden this weekend and never had a real vegetable/herb garden. I'd like to grow some unusual/heirloom varieties of vegetables but wasn't together enough to order seeds, etc. Any Mass/Southern NH Mefites know of a garden nursery or greenhouse that has LOTS of variety for veggies for plants??
posted by beccaj to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

I used to live in the vt/nh/ma area and a place that sticks out in my mind is Five Acre Farm. Maybe it will have something you are looking for. It is located in Northfield, MA, across from the drive-in movie theater.
posted by o0dano0o at 7:11 AM on May 18, 2006

Try Wilson Farms in Lexington. They have an awesome grocery store, too.
posted by hsoltz at 8:10 AM on May 18, 2006

Last year I got brandywine tomato seedlings at a farmer's market, so look for a farmer's market. The brandywines were really good; I hope to find some again this year.
posted by theora55 at 8:14 AM on May 18, 2006

I'm in the northwest corner of the map, but I know that here there are many garden sales around this time of year - watch your local papers for them - someone should be selling organic starts. For heirloom seeds, consider Seed Savers. When you find stuff you like, save your own. Especially tomatoes - they are practically weed-like in the seed's ability to survive. We always get volunteers from our compost and worm castings - often they are the best/healthiest!
Have fun! Gardening is quite rewarding.
posted by dbmcd at 8:33 AM on May 18, 2006

Check here for a list of farmer's markets in MA, I've bought seedlings for herbs, tomatos and peppers at farmers markets in the last couple of years.
posted by darsh at 8:41 AM on May 18, 2006

Best answer: It's too late to plant most varieties from seed (there are exceptions, like greens, beans, etc, but anything significant should've been started indoors. For organic and heirloom varieties of vegetables that will grow in your area, I cannot speak highly enough about Fedco. They have online ordering as well as a print catalog. They do an annual tree sale which brings out people with seeldings to purchase, but that was in late April. You could call them to find out what, if anything, they might have for you beyond seeds.

Local to my area (Western MA in the pioneer valley), I really like Laurenitis on RT 116 in Sunderland and the Hadley garden center on rt 9 in Hadley. Laurenitis carries many varieties of tomatoes and peppers that go well beyond the two or three varieties that you might see at a typical garden center.
posted by plinth at 9:09 AM on May 18, 2006

Mahoney's nursery has lots of heirloom tomatos. I tried a couple last year with limited success.
posted by Gungho at 12:56 PM on May 18, 2006