I am announcing the launch of the Sweet Potato Network. Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t believe I’ve heard of such a network before. Let me explain what it is. The Sweet Potato Network is a Way for Growers to Help One Another. For years I’ve grown sweet potatoes and networked with Glenn Drowns …
Let’s think about seed companies and seed savers. Occasionally I hear comments from new gardeners which indicate that they consider seed saving to be to be in competition with seed companies or that seed companies are somehow against seed saving. Perhaps, somewhere, there is some seed company which doesn’t like seed savers, but I have …
Seed saving is a natural extension of gardening. There are lots of reasons to become a seed saver. For one thing, the seed saver gains access to WAY MORE variety, both in garden seeds and unique harvests. Starting out, like many new seed savers, I was enamoured with the huge selection of interesting varieties available. …
What is a “double standard tomato?” In Kinds of Tomatoes: What’s Best for You we defined a standard tomato as one which breeds true from seed, generation to generation (“open pollinated” would be a synonym), but there is another kind of “standard” in tomato nomenclature. This “standard tomato” refers to the kind of fruit a …
Have you ever been confronted with the question of whether to grow heirloom or hybrid tomatoes? When I hear it, I cringe, yet probably not for the reason(s) you might think. I do have a preference, yet phrasing the question like this, as I so often hear it, skews the issue. To truly understand this …
If you would like to provoke some really animated discussion in a group of gardeners, just ask for their idea of “the perfect tomato.” I can almost guarantee, if there are five gardeners in the room, they’ll provide you with at least SIX opinions! So what makes a tomato great? There are many characteristics to …
If you love tomatoes in any form and can garden, you’ll probably want to grow some yourself. Tomatoes are one of the most rewarding things to grow in a vegetable or container garden, and if you find you really enjoy growing tomatoes, you’ll eventually want to try growing them from seed. Some good reasons grow …
Barksdale Wax Pole Bean was one of the two first bean varieties I started saving seed from, back in 1984. In 1983 Jerreth’s grand parents obtained the seed from the Claude Barksdale family, who in turn got their seed from Aunt Lavera Halsclaw. Aunt Lavera was 101 years old when she passed the seed on …
Beans are probably the main crop which introduces gardeners to seed saving. They show a wonderful diversity in every way imaginable. Some beans have stunningly attractive seed, but bean crosses do sometimes turn up. A cross occurs when one variety of bean cross pollinates another. Some seed saving resources say that bean crosses are rare. …
Gardening is a passion for me. Back to my earliest memories, even before the term was coined, I have loved seed saving. For most of my adult life I have known that I am blessed and cursed “to be a seed saver.” It is a “curse” in that I know all too well what it …