So many gardeners these days love to grow special heirloom variety plants for many different reasons. I get it, heirlooms have a lot of great qualities. But, what about their not-so-great qualities? Growing heirloom seeds can come with disadvantages like pest and disease susceptibility, slow development, low fruit production, labor intensiveness, and their ability to…
One of the things that I look forward to the most at the beginning of the gardening season is purchasing seeds. There are always so many to choose from and I always try to grow something that I’ve never grown before as a fun experiment. But, if you’re anything like me when I first started…
These days, there are so many different labels on seed packets that it’s hard to know what exactly they all mean, especially when we see the non-GMO label. GMO seeds are seeds that have been genetically modified to produce a desired trait within that plant. GMO seeds are only available commercially and therefore not something…
Something I think about from time to time is what I would do if I could no longer get food at the grocery store due to some unforeseen circumstance. It’s easy to get caught up in the doom and gloom thoughts of the world’s crises. Luckily, I have a seed library that helps ease my…
So you decided you wanted to try saving seeds. You followed all the steps, stored the seeds properly, and planted them in the garden come springtime. But, when your saved seeds finally reached maturity, the plants looked nothing like the plants you grew last year. What happened? Well, you probably saved seeds from a hybrid…
For the last couple of years, we’ve grown so used to unpredictable weather that we now sow nearly all of our seeds indoors. But, for those crops that need to be directly sown in the garden, like turnips, potatoes, radish and lettuce, there are a few tricks to improve germination rates outdoors. In this article…