When I opened my copy of Fisher’s Seeds catalog, I felt like I was taking a step back in time. And in a way I was.

I ordered my catalog months ago by sending $2 through the U.S. mail with a promise the catalog would be sent when it was ready in January.

The catalog has the same down-to-earth feel as the heirloom vegetable seeds it features on its black and white pages. There aren’t any fancy photos or glowing descriptions to distract a gardener.

Fisher’s Seeds was started in the early 1920s. Judy Fisher continues the family tradition of growing vegetables and flowers, saving seeds, testing them, and offering them to growers in and around Belgrade, Mont. Many of the open-pollinated varieties listed on the catalog’s pages were developed years ago by her uncle Ken Fisher.

These seeds are cultivars that do especially well in short-season and high-altitude gardens like those in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Colorado. The average growing season in the Gallatin Valley where Fisher’s is located is about 90-100 days. If you garden in an area with a longer growing season, you may get more than one harvest, according to the catalog.

Vegetable descriptions list the variety, the number of days to maturity, a short description, and prices by packet, ¼ pound, ½ pound, and pound.

There is a nice assortment of veggie favorites, like beans, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, greens, herbs, potatoes and squash. All the tomato varieties qualify as extra-early because they can set fruit in cool weather and mature anywhere from 50 to 60 days.

When gardeners place their orders, they know their seeds will be packaged by hand, one packet at a time at Fisher’s Garden Store before being sent by parcel post.

To get a Fisher’s Seeds catalog, send a check or money order for $2 to Fisher’s Seeds, P.O. Box 236, Belgrade, MT 59714 (406-388-6052).

If you send for a catalog this year, you’ll be on the mailing list to get a free catalog next January.

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