How To Landrace Garden Vegetables

The purpose of this blog post is to summarize key information from Landrace Gardening: Food Security through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination by Joseph Lofthouse. That link will take you to its Amazon page, while my book review is here. I'm starting some experiments in this, so I'll be referring to the process a lot in future gardening posts. I figured it would be easier to simply offer a link to this post, rather than explain it every time. 

How To Landrace Garden Vegetables

Landrace: A locally-adapted, genetically-diverse, promiscuously-pollinating food crop.

1. Save seeds from your favorite varieties. Local adaptation is only possible if you are saving your own seeds.

2. Plant two or three varieties close together to encourage cross-pollination. Can be heirloom, open-pollinated, or F1 hybrid seed.

3. Save seeds from the veggies you like best. Replant these next growing season.

4. Repeat every year. Best results come from local community grown and shared seed. 

The book goes into some detail as to which veggies are best for this and which are more challenging. I'll be following those principles and will explain them as I go, but for this post, I just want to have a brief how-to to refer to in future blog posts. 

How To Landrace Garden Vegetables © June 2021

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Landrace Gardening: Book Review and Giveaway

Landrace Gardening: Food Security through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination

by Joseph Lofthouse

Last week, I mentioned reading a book that has completely inspired me. Here is the book review I promised, along with how to win a copy.

Landrace gardening will probably be a foreign concept to most gardeners, even those of us who have adopted organic and permaculture gardening techniques. Landrace gardening is a new paradigm in food production. Joseph Lofthouse does an excellent job of explaining this paradigm, and has the experience to back it up. The reader quickly understands that this isn't just theory, this is reality. 

The first chapter, "Survival of the Fittest," is an introduction to what landrace gardening is, how landrace seeds differ from commercially produced seed, and why it yields better results. 

Chapter 2, "Freelance vs. Industry," details the history and politics of food production and the shifting balance between small-scale versus centralized trends. The author beautifully illustrates the dichotomy we now find ourselves in as a result of these opposing philosophies.

Chapter 3 is titled "Continuous Improvement." This is where the author makes his case for genetic diversity through landracing: reliability, productivity, better tasting food, less stress—for both the garden and the gardener! The information in this chapter is framed in personal experience, and gives the reader an understanding of how doable landracing a garden is.

The next chapter, "Heirlooms, Hybrids, and Landraces," explores the meanings of these terms, and for me, challenged a number of assumptions I've had about heirlooms and especially hybrids. In this chapter Joseph explains the problems with heirlooms and how to use hybrids to increase genetic diversity, as well as what to watch out for. 

Chapter 5, "Creating Landraces," starts getting to the nitty-gritty of the book. The previous chapters equipped the reader with "why," now we start learning "how." We learn what kinds of seeds to use to get started, how to find them, and how to plant for desirable crossing. This chapter also explains which hybrids are useful for landracing and which are not.

The goal of landrace plant breeding is to create crops that thrive in our own gardens. Chapter 8, "New Methods and Crops," explores some of the techniques and possibilities of landracing garden seeds. It's filled with many, many examples, which further equip the reader for success.

Chapter 7 is titled "Promiscuous Pollination." Initially, I thought this was just a cutesy title, but promiscuous pollination is a real thing! Discusses the aspects of pollination, outcrossing, and mostly-selfing. Lots of examples clarify these subjects to the reader's advantage. 

Chapter 8 discusses food security. It stresses the importance of community, inbreeding vs. diversity, crop cloning, full season growing, multi-species diversity, and foraging. Again, the many examples from the author's observations and experience are treasured added value. 

Chapter 9, "Landrace Maintenance," explains how to maintain a large genetic base for healthy landrace crops. Discusses adding new genetics, keeping older genetics, the value of larger populations, selection, and crossing. 

Chapter 10 deals with "Pests and Diseases." If landrace varieties are more productive, then are they more resistant to pests and diseases? In this chapter, Joseph discusses how he deals with pests and diseases, and how he encourages and selects for resistance.

Chapter 11, "Saving Seeds." The goal here is to breed plants that become localized to the growing conditions in any particular garden. Saving seeds as a landrace gardener alleviates the isolation issues that are difficult for people who are trying to maintain purity in highly inbred cultivars. Discusses dry and wet harvesting, seed viability, and best storage conditions.

Chapters 12 through 16 take a detailed look at five common farm and garden crops: tomatoes, corn, legumes, squash, and grains. Each discusses advantages and problems of growing, breeding, and selecting seed for the many varieties existing within each group. Also contains tips on cooking and storing. The author's talent for plainly explaining technical information really shines in these chapters.

Chapter 17, "Landrace Everything," begins to extend the landrace concept beyond grain and vegetables: chickens, honeybees, mushrooms, and trees. Once again, this chapter contains good information and tips for extending a landrace program.

The appendix contains a quick, easy-reference summary of the book, and a very handy chart entitled "Ease of Developing Landrace Crops." It guides the reader as to the ease or difficulty of landracing various crops including which F1 hybrids to avoid. 

In his preface, the author says, "The take-away message from this book is a message of hope." And it absolutely is. So, if you are a discouraged gardener, frustrated with germination failure and poor performance, then this book is for you. If you are interested in food security and diversity, then this book is for you. If you are looking for a practical way to "do something" to address the world's many problems, then this book is for you. 

Joseph's book is available at Amazon.com, but between now and Friday, Permies.com is hosting a giveaway for 4 paperback copies of this book! This link will take you to more information about the giveaway and specifics for entering. 

Landrace Gardening: Book Review and Giveaway

© June 2021 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

A New Paradigm for Gardening & Seed Saving

Paradigm - A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality.

Paradigm shift - A radical change in thinking from an accepted point of view to a new one.

I've always striven to be a good organic gardener: compost, mulch, and no chemicals. I've incorporated permaculture, natural farming, and regenerative agriculture techniques into my gardening, and tried to expand my understanding of soil chemistry and soil biology. Even so, there's been a subtle common theme throughout my gardening blog posts for the past several years: poor germination. I've wracked my brain trying to figure this out. What have I been doing wrong? Is it the soil? The growing conditions? Our southern heat? My compost? Not enough water? The cats using the garden beds as litter boxes? I haven't been able to figure it out and it's been discouraging.

The other day, I received a review copy of a new book and read this:

"When I plant seeds obtained from the industrialized seed system*, it is common for 75% to 95% of the varieties to fail."

Joseph Lofthouse, Landrace Gardening: Food Security 

through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination

There it was—in stark black and white—the thing that I haven't even wanted to admit to myself, seed failure! What a relief to know I wasn't alone. And now, thanks to Joseph's new book, I'm beginning to understand. 

*First, I'd like to clarify something. By industrialized seed system, he's not just referring to commercially produced hybrid seed. He's referring to seed that has been selectively bred for genetic "purity" through the deliberate, now standard process of isolation and inbreeding. It can be hybrid seeds, but the same process is how heirloom and open-pollinated seeds are produced.

The result of this seed breeding system is the hundreds of beautiful garden seed varieties that we drool over in seed catalogues. But therein lies the problem. All those varieties come at the cost of an extremely narrow gene pool and loss of vigor and adaptability. I deeply appreciate the desire to preserve our heritage species and varieties, but by doing so we are losing life-saving biodiversity in our seed supply. The more gene specific the vegetable variety, the less it is able to adapt to a different growing region.

This is what I've been experiencing in my own garden. When I compare my early gardens to the germination rates of the past couple of years, it's obvious it's become a significant problem in only a few years.

This isn't just a problem for the home gardener. This is a commercial problem as well, and on a global scale. How many times have you heard that modern industrialized agriculture is the only answer for producing enough food to feed the world? That organic farming can't do the job? The reason why this is believed is found in this article from Independent Science News, "Stuffed or Starved? Evolutionary Plant Breeding Might Have the Answer." Here are some of the key points:

"Today, much of “institutional” plant breeding, . . . has as its objective industrial agriculture (the only one that according to some will be able to feed the world), . . . (and) is based on the selection . . . of uniform varieties."

"One of the reasons for the difference in productivity between conventional agriculture and organic farming is that, in the latter, lacking suitable varieties, the same varieties are grown that are selected for conventional agriculture; these varieties find themselves in a completely different situation from the one for which they were selected, and therefore produce less."

Industry's answer is genetic modification and more chemicals. Except that it isn't fixing the problem. The real answer? (from the same article).

"The method consists in creating plant populations by mixing seeds previously obtained by crossing different varieties, and letting them evolve . . . This offers the possibility of adapting the crop both to long-term and short-term climate change, but also to control weeds, diseases and insects without resorting to pesticides."

Joseph Lofthouse calls these landrace seeds. 

"Landrace: A locally-adapted, genetically-diverse, promiscuously-pollinating food crop. Landraces are intimately connected to the land, ecosystem, farmer, and community. Landraces offer food security through their ability to adapt to changing conditions."

Joseph Lofthouse, Landrace Gardening

What Joseph's book is offering, is a new gardening paradigm. In it, he provides a clear explanation and practical plan for the home gardener. My book review is here. If this information is as exciting to you as it is to me, then you'll definitely want this book. You can get it at Amazon.com.

A New Paradigm for Gardening & Seed Saving 

© June 2021 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Seed Bombs

I've been a fan of Masanobu Fukuoka ever since I read The One-Straw Revolution five years ago. I've blogged about modifying his grain planting method for seeding my pastures. Another of his ideas is coating seed with clay before planting. I've thought this would be an excellent way to hide the seed from birds. And goats! But I never quite understood how I'd do it. Then I watched this video on how to make seed balls and seed bombs. Last month, I finally made some for seeding several small bare soil areas in the pasture. So, here's my first attempt.

Mix of pasture seeds.

Because it's for winter pasture, my seed mix contained cool weather grasses, legumes, and forbs: crimson clover, arrowleaf clover, hairy vetch, purple top turnip, annual ryegrass, wheat, oats, winter peas, rape, radish, white clover, perennial rye, timothy, brome, echinacea, chicory, and oregano.

Here's what I needed to make them.

Seeds, compost, and clay.

The mixture calls for equal parts of each.
How do you like my southern red clay?

And enough water to dampen.

Mixing and testing if it can be shaped.

Formed and pressed into balls (bombs).

My yield was roughly 4 pounds worth.

These could be dried and saved for later or planted immediately. I went out and dropped them onto various bare spots as soon as I was done because the forecast was for rain.

Seed bomb on a bare bit of soil.

The clay protects the seeds and gives them soil to get started in. The compost feeds them. Here they are several weeks later.

Has anyone else tried this? It would be a great activity to do with kids! Like mud pies but better! Kids would have fun planting them too.

Seed Bombs © October 2020 by Leigh 

at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Seed Shortages(?) and One Solution

I've picked up some buzz from around the internet that because of the pandemic, so many people have been trying to purchase online and mail-order seeds that demand is exceeding supply. I don't know if that's true, or if it's sensationalism to put people into another dither and get hits. That's not my point! The reason for this blog post is to pass on a potentially useful thread I found at Permies.com.

"Harvesting seeds from your groceries"

I realize there can be many objections to this, but the article is well written and addresses problems and concerns. It's well worth a read by those of you looking to either start or expand your own gardens.

The thread was started five years ago, but comments and ideas have been added to it since. You don't have to be a Permies member to read it, only to comment.

If you have more ideas for gardening when seeds are in short supply, please share in the comments of this post!

Seed Shortages(?) and One Solution © April 2020 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Garden 2012: Seeds

My collection of seeds from 2010 & 2011,
I also still have a few from 2009

I've inventoried my saved seeds, I've perused the seed catalogues, and I've doodled some on graph paper. I think I'm ready to make this year's seed orders.

My seed collection is expanding a little every year, and I have a couple of year's worth of saved seed. My ultimate goal is to be totally seed sustainable, but there are still some things I need to learn. Plus I am still experimenting with varieties and various plants.  Based on the seed viability charts, I'm hoping to be able to rotate both what I grow, and the seeds I save. I'm thinking this will give us the greatest variety in the longrun, and help me avoid accidentally crossed seeds. Here's what's in those jars, containers, and shoe boxes pictured above:

• Amaranth, Golden Giant
• Basil, sweet
• Beans (both green & dried)
• Black Turtle
• Hutterite Soup
• Kentucky Wonder
• State Half Runner
• Beets, Red Detroit
• Broom Corn
• Broccoli (undecided on which is best)
• DeCicco
• Waltham 29
• Buckwheat (just a handful)
• Calendula
• Cantaloupe, Hales' Best
• Carrot, Scarlet Nantes
• Corn
• Stowell's Evergreen (sweet)
• Truckers Favorite (field)
• Cosmos
• Cowpeas, Ozark Razorback
• Cucumber
• Marketmore 76 (we like this one best)
• National Pickling
• Lettuce
• Oakleaf
• Parris Cos
• Marigolds (several varieties)
• Melon
• Hales Best
• Green Nutmeg
• Okra, Clemson Spineless
• Peas, Wando
• Peppers, Chinese Giant
• Popcorn
• Calico
• Japanese Hulless
• Pumpkin, Small Sugar (hasn't done well)
• Radish, 
• Cherry Belle
• unknown (! probably crossed in spite of myself)
• Squash
• Acorn, Table Queen (winter)
• Buttercup (winter)
• Butternut, Walthams, (winter)
• Tomato (didn't save Brandywine 'cuz we didn't think it was as tasty as Rutgers)
• Roma
• Rutgers
• Turnip, White globe purple top
• Watermelon, Small Sugar (gonna try bush type this year)
• Yarrow
• Zinnias, several varieties

The fun part is figuring out what I want to order. In the past I've always tried to divvy my order amongst all the seed companies I want to support. Each year though, I order less because I've saved more. Now, all that shipping & handling adds up. This year I figured out which two companies carry everything I want, from the ones that send me catalogues that is.

I've ordered from Shumway since the 1970s. Even though they don't carry organic seeds, and don't necessarily specialize in open pollinated seeds, they still have a good selection of heritage seeds, plus carry things others don't, like mangels, sugar beets, collards, bulk farm seed (pasture grasses and legumes, and field corn).

• Buckwheat, 5 lbs (for weed control?)
• Collards 
• Vates (for the goats)
• Morris Heading (for us)
• Elderberry bushes, 2 (adding to my elder bush hedge)
• Sugar beets, Bucklunch (for the goats)
• Strawberries, 50 (to replace those lost by the wire grass)

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

• Beans, long, Red Seeded Asparagus (testing another variety)
• Celery, Tendercrisp (celery was Dan's request)
• Cushaw, orange (instead of pumpkins)
• Oats, hulless (for us, will plant hulled for the critters)
• Sorghum, Mennonite (for animal feed until we get a sorghum press)
• Summer Savory (2nd try)
• Summer squash, Tatume (still experimenting with varieties)

In addition to these, are the seeds I bought on clearance last fall, from Sustainable Seed Company:

• Beans, Dwarf Horticultural Taylor (for drying)
• Eggplant, Florida Highbush (another 2nd try)
• Peppers (expanding varieties)
• Habanero Orange 
• Tampiqueno
• Poppies, Flanders Red (childhood reminiscences)
• Tomatoes, Amish Paste (just to try another variety)
• Watermelon, Bush Sugar Baby (bush to save bed space)

I've also finally figured out where I want to plant some Jerusalem artichoke. Rather than mail order these however, I will just buy them at someplace like Whole Foods. Same with my potatoes. Mine did lousy last year, so I'll start all over with Red Pontiac seed potatoes, which we love and are locally available.

Everything else will be grown from saved seed, with the exception of sweet potatoes, which I'll grow from slips. Of the two varieties I planted last summer, Vardaman did the best, so I'll use it for the slips. I did consider a different variety of field corn, Hickory King. When I researched grinding cornmeal, it was highly recommended for that purpose. However it boasted large kernels and since I also use mine for chicken feed, I decided to stick with the smaller kerneled Truckers Favorite. I have no complaints about the corn bread it makes, and I have plenty of saved seed from last year's harvest.

The next step is figuring out what will go where! More garden fun. :)

Garden 2012: Seeds © January 2012 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

2010 Seeds Saved & Seed Saving Goals

Here is my list of saved seeds for this year [UPDATED: Nov 22]

Amaranth, Golden Giant
Beans, 3 types:

• Black turtle
• Kentucky Wonder
• State 1/2 Runner

Black Turtle Beans

Broccoli, DeCicco
Buckwheat
Calendula (aka Pot Marigold)
Cantaloupe, Hale's Best
Corn, Stowell's Evergreen
Cosmos

• traditional white & lavender
• yellow

Cucumber, National Pickling
Dill, Bouquet
Lettuce, Parris Island Cos Romaine

Parris Island Cos Lettuce

Marigolds, mixed
Okra, Clemson Spineless

Clemson Spineless Okra

Onion, Yellow Rock (I have my suspicions that this isn't OP however)
Peppers,

• Serrano - saved from boughten peppers
• sweet, Chinese Giant

Popcorn, Japanese Hulless
Pumpkin, Small Sugar
Radish, Cherry Belle
Sunflower, Mammoth Grey Stripe
Turnips, White Globe Purple Top
Tomatoes, Roma
Watermelon, Sugar Baby

In addition, there are some things that have yet to go to seed: Detroit beets, radishes (Pink Beauty & China Rose), and Watham 29 broccoli in the fall garden, plus the Fordhook Swiss chard I planted in the spring. The rutabagas and parsnips I planted aren't up yet, so we'll have to see about those. Some of these are biennials, so I'll have to wait until their second year to get seed. And hopefully, I'll manage to collect from seed from the sweet basil seed heads I gathered. I didn't bother with seeds from the other herbs because they are perennials.

On top of that, I still have seed I didn't plant this year, which hopefully will still be viable when I plant them next year:

Cabbage, Late Dutch Flat - need to start the seed in January
Chard, Ruby Red
Chicory
Corn,(field) Truckers Favorite - for feed and cornmeal
Cowpeas, Ozark Razorback - for another feed experiment
Creeping Thyme
Garden Huckleberry, Solanum melanocerasum
Garden Peas, Wando
Ground Cherry (husk tomato)
Mangels - for feed, may still get these in.
Salsa value pack from hometownseeds.com. Contains about a gram each   of: anaheim chili peppers, cilantro, jalapeno, onion (sweet spanish), sweet   pepper, tomatillo
Spearmint
Tomatoes, Rugters (though I still may get some from these)

Mine is a modest list, but one I'm pleased with. Last year I saved only 8 types of seeds, so this is a huge expansion for me, 26.

My goal, like many other gardeners, is to save all my own seed. This has largely to do with our personal goals of becoming as self-supporting as possible.  Also, I confess that I'm concerned about the integrity of our seed supply especially in light of mounting evidence concerning the dangers of GMOs, and the FDA's refusal to acknowledge them. Besides the problem of cross-contaminated seed, the USDA now wants to allow GM seed under the legal definition of "organic." I don't know about you, but this bothers me. (If you're still uncertain about the safety and legitimacy of GMOs, read The Institute for Responsible Technology's GMO Dangers and The Council for Responsible Genetics FAQs. Also, if you listen to a lot of Public Radio, you've probably heard opponents of GMOs referred to as "denialists." Please be aware that Monsanto is a supporter of public radio, so a certain amount of GMO loyalty is to be expected. Read this, for more information.)

I don't know if that last paragraph qualifies as a bona-fide soapbox (of which I don't mount many on this blog), but, these are my concerns and a strong motivator for me in regards to having a self-sustaining homestead.

In terms of reaching my goal, I figure it will be several years before I can fulfill it, as I'm still experimenting with vegetable varieties and adding new crops. One thing I'm realizing about sustainable gardening, is that seed saving means more that a simple gather and plant cycle. It also means preparing for failures, either crop or seed. For example, this year I barely managed to harvest enough tomatoes for the amount of pasta sauce I needed, because I had disease problems. At first, I wasn't sure I wanted to save those seeds. When my plants made a comeback, I planned to save some of that seed, but only managed the Romas. To prepare for a recurrence of something like this in the future, I need to be saving more than a year's worth of each kind of seed. I need my own personal seed bank, if you will.

There are a lot of books written on the subject of seed saving, and I do have a gist of the basics, which include storage conditions and seed viability. For me, it will also mean good organization. I store my saved seeds in recycled envelopes, placed in alphabetical order in an old shoe box. Seed of larger quantity (corn and beans) are kept in recycled jars).

I store that box in the refrigerator during the heat of summer.

Last year I wrote the type and variety of seed, year gathered, and planting dates on each envelope. This year I will add an expiration date based on that particular seeds viability.

Unfortunately, seed viability isn't an exact science, and depends on a number of factors. That's why there is so much variance in the viability charts. Keeping the seeds dry and cool is the most important factor. This is one I doubt I've fulfilled very well, considering that we didn't have AC last summer with it's soaring temps and humidity. When in doubt, I can test viability before planting.

Lastly, some links to viability charts. As mentioned, you will notice they aren't the same. But at least they give us a gist of what to expect in our seed saving under ideal storage techniques.

Hill Gardens of Maine
Iowa State University Extension Service
Growing Taste - 2 charts, one by years, one by vegetable
Virginia Cooperative Extension

Do you save your own seeds?

2010 Seeds Saved & Seed Saving Goals © November 2010 by Leigh at http://my5acredream.blogspot.com/

Seed Giveaway

And the winner of the Seed Giveaway is.....

Bibliotecaria! Congratulations.

Testing For Seed Viability

My seed orders have been sent off, and my saved seeds are safely stashed away. In going through my seeds though, I discovered that I had some old seeds tucked away, collected from several years ago. I'd forgotten all about them.

Still, I wondered if the seeds (echinacea, marigold, and leek) were viable and decided to test them.

I placed ten seeds (echinacea in the above photo) on three layers of damp paper towel.

I rolled the paper towel up and then rolled that in an old wet wash cloth.

This was placed in a plastic bag and labeled. I set it aside in a warm place.

After three days I took a peek. The leek seeds (above) had sprouted, six of them, giving me a 60% germination rate. The echinacea and marigolds hadn't sprouted, but not to worry. Echinacea takes a good 10 to 12 days anyway. [It should be noted that after several days I did remove the damp rag, as it was beginning not to smell so good. The seeds remained moist in the damp paper towels.]

Unfortunately, even after more than two weeks, neither the echinacea nor marigold seed had sprouted. The marigolds were labeled 2007, so that wasn't a surprise. I'm not sure how old the echinacea seed is, probably about the same. Obviously it needs to be replaced.

Happily, my Baker Creek Heirloom Seed catalogue just arrived in the mail! Now I can do a supplemental seed order to pick up anything I missed previously, including replacing my dead seeds. :)

Testing For Seed Viability text and photos copyright 11 February 2010 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Spring Seed & Nursery Orders

While waiting for all the ice to melt, I completed my seed and nursery orders. Some things were mail ordered, and some purchased locally. Here's my list:

• 1 Jubilee blueberry bush
• 1 O'Neal blueberry bush
• 25 Eversweet strawberry plants (everbearers)
• 25 Allstar strawberry plants (June bearers)
• 3 Caroline red raspberry bushes
• 1 pkt sage seed
• 1 pkt sweet basil seed
• 1 pkt thyme (Thymus vulgaris) seed
• 1 pkt creeping thyme (Thymus serphyllum) seed
• 1 pkt dill seed
• 1 pkt oregano (Origanum Vulgare) seed
• 1 pkt fennel (Zefo Fino) seed
• 1 pkt Lavender (Lavendula augustifolia)
• 1 pkt yarrow (Achillea millefolium) seed
• 1 pkt bergamot (Bee Balm, Monarda didyma) seed
• 1 pkt anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) seed
• 1 pkt spearmint (Mentha spicata) seed
• 1 pkt Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia) seed
• 1 pkt pyrethrum (Chrysanthemum coccineum) seed
• 1 pkt parsley (Petroselinum crispum) seed
• 1 pkt. nasturtium seed
• 1 pkt hollyhock seed
• 1 pkt Butterfly flower seed
• 1 rosemary plant (Rosmarinus officinals)
• 5 horseradish plants
• 3 Rosa Rugosa bushes
• 1 California white garlic bulb
• 1 pkt Hale's best cantaloupe seed
• 1 pkt sugar baby watermelon seed
• 1 pkt Little Marvel pea seed
• 1 pkt Roma tomato seed
• 1 pkt Rutgers tomato seed
• 2 sets Yellow Ebenezer onion sets
• 1 pkt Yellow Ebenezer onion seed
• 1 pkt Cherry Belle radishes
• 1 pkt China Rose winter radish seed
• 1 pkt Chinese Giant sweet pepper seed
• 1 pkt American Purple-Top rutabaga seed
• 1 pkt Fordhook Giant Swiss chard seed
• 1 pkt mesclun mix seed
• 1 pkt Late Flat Dutch cabbage seed
• 1 pkt buttercup squash seed
• 12 Bush Porto Rico sweet potato plants
• 4 lbs Red Pontiac potatoes
• 1/2 lb black turtle bean seed
• 1/2 lb white half runner bean seed
• 1 pkt Scarlet Nantes carrot seed
• 1 pkt Stowells Evergreen sweet corn seed
• 1 pkt Japanese White Hulless popcorn seed
• 5 lbs Truckers Favorite field corn seed
• 1 pkt Colossal Long Red mangel seed
• 5 lbs buckwheat seed
• 1 lb White Dutch clover seed
• 1/2 lb Ladino clover seed
• 1 lb Orchard grass seed

This list doesn't include seed I saved from last summer's garden:

• Clemson Spineless Okra
• National Pickling Cucumber
• Casaba Melon (from a seed saving neighbor)
• Waltham Butternut Squash
• Acorn Squash
• Small Sugar Pumpkin
• Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans
• Mammoth Gray Sunflowers

Nor seeds yet to save (hopefully) from the fall garden:

• Detroit Dark Red Beet
• Paris White Cos Lettuce
• Danver's Half Long carrot (though I may switch to the Scarlet Nantes)
• DeCicco Broccoli
• Purple White Top Globe turnips

From whom did I order?

• Stark Bros. Nursery - have ordered from them before. Good prices and good selection.
• Gurney's - for the $25 coupon. Plus I've ordered from them in the past with no complaints. They sell mostly hybrid seed, so it was hard to come up with an order.
• Henry Fields - also for the $25 coupon. They were helpful because their catalogue highlighted varieties that do particularly well in the south.
• R. H. Shumway - the bulk of my order. They sell mostly open pollinated seed, and no known genetically modified seed or plants.

This should hopefully do it for fruit bushes and plants. All varieties chosen are supposed to do well in the south. Some I won't be planting until next fall. All are open pollinated so unless impulse or disaster strikes, I shouldn't need to buy too many seeds next year. I still plan to expand my herb gardens however, so I will definitely be looking at that next year and will probably pick up herb seeds or plants before this summer's over.

To me it seems like a rather overwhelming list. It's certainly the most I've ever bought, but it's also the first time I've had a place to plant fruits and perennials. I just have to keep reminding myself that it's all an investment in the homestead!

Spring Seed & Nursery Orders copyright February 2010 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/