Variety

One of the things that still shocks me about gardening is the incredible assortment of different varieties available of things that, to most people, are just one thing. And not just of lettuce and potatoes, either. Territorial Seed Co. lists 35 different types of garlic. Thirty five! Do they all taste different? Look different? It seems that way, yet if I walked into a fancy grocery store and asked for "Ontario purple trillium garlic" I'm guessing I would get some funny looks. And then there's red onions. Did you know there are different kinds of red onions? (as well as multiple types of white and yellow and scallions?)

There are also the things we know have varieties, but it turns out that those varieties are just categories, too. "Heirloom tomato" actually refers to an almost infinite number of varieties. Here are a few of my favorite names (today):
- Yellow perfection
- Green zebra
- Delicious (duh?)
- Kellogg's breakfast (in our garden now)
- Pink accordion
- Tiger-like
- Cosmonaut Volkov
- Striped cavern...

It goes on. If you have some procrastinating to do, check out Baker Creek's tomato options and just imagine the possibilities.