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Posts Tagged ‘Heirloom’

Top Heirloom Gardening Choices

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

People grow heirloom vegetables for a single reason – they taste great. It is not right that heirlooms are prone to problems and difficult to grow. For hundreds of years people have saved seeds and have cultivated these plants and they are still grown today. Apart from the remarkable taste, most of them are disease- resistant.

Top ranking heirloom varieties.

- Cucumber – you can stake on the Lemon Cucumber. These yellow cucumbers are real treasure. You can pick them when they are small, the size of a lemon, and eat them as a fruit. No need to be peeled – the skin is thin and tender and the inside is juicy and crisp. These vegetables are suitable for a wide choice of pickles and salads.

- Bean: Romano and Blue Lake – these types are the best choice of gardeners with limited space. These are extremely prolific plants which are not fussy to grow.

- Eggplant -eggplants vary in size, taste, colour and shape. There are even types of eggplants which could be used unpeeled, like Violetta di Firenze. They love the heat and the sunlight which makes their taste really outstanding.

- Lettuce -Red Salad Bowl is the star here. Despite looking beautiful in a salad bowl, it is valued for its fresh taste and crisp leaves.

- Garlic – Hardneck varieties are very easy to grow, easy to peel and store for almost half a year. Spanish Roja is especially favoured for its taste. Softneck garlic varieties are prized for their excellent taste and the lack of unpleasant aftertaste typical for garlic. Garlic is very easy to plant with no concern for cross pollination – you just have to save the garlic bulbs for the winter and replant them in spring.

- Hot pepper- the star here are the Bulgarian carrot peppers. They hold up well in cooking and are used for a variety of pickles or just eaten raw in salads. They are not extremely hot and they resemble a small carrot in form.

- Sweet pepper -the most frequent choice of gardeners are the Italian frying type peppers Jimmy Nardello. These plants are prolific and able to produce large crops. They are bushy and tall and sometimes they need staking.

- Zucchini – these vegetables are very simple to plant and grow and with wide range application in cooking. The amazing variety of forms, colours and tastes could be compared only to that of the eggplants. The round-shaped Ronde de Nice is perfect for stuffing. It is predominantly grown for home consummation because shipping them to stores is not allowed by their tender skin.

- Melon-the leading vegetable of heirloom gardening is the Moon and Stars Watermelon. The fruit and even the leaves are dotted in light yellow. It is from where the name of the crop comes – the moon-shaped fruit and the yellow stars twinkling on it. It’s flesh is juicy and sweet.

- Tomato – there wouldn’t have been such interest in heirloom vegetable growing, if it was not for the tremendous taste of the tomatoes.

Growing asparagus

Gardener’s Handbook ebook

Shelf Life of Seeds

Monday, October 6th, 2008

Average number of years vegetable seeds will remain viable if properly stored.

STORE SEEDS PROPERLY
Keeping seeds dry during storage is most important. Moisture causes seeds to rot. See to it that moisture from the air or any other sources does not get into the seeds. A simple, inexpensive but efficient storage container can be made out of a canning glass jar with an airtight lid. Get a clean jar. Make sure it is dry. As a precaution against moisture, put a layer of powdered charcoal (dessicant) on the bottom of the jar. One-half inch thickness is sufficient. If silica gel or calcium chloride is available, these should be substituted for the charcoal. Place the seeds in an envelope so they do not get in contact with the charcoal; place in a jar and cover tightly. Low temperature prolongs the life of the seeds. With this method of storage, seeds can be kept without significant germination loss.

Asparagus – 3 years
Beans – 3 years
Beets – 4 years
Broccoli – 3 years
Brussels Sprouts – 4 years
Cabbage – 4 years
Carrots – 3 years
Cauliflower – 4 years
Celeriac – 3 years
Celery – 3 years
Chard,Swiss chard – 4 years
Chicory – 4 years
Chinese Cabbage – 3 years
Collards – 5 years
Corn – 2 years
Corn Salad-(mache) – 5 years
Cress – 5 years
Cucumbers – 5 years
Eggplant – 4 years
Endive – 5 years
Kale – 4 years
Kohlrabi – 3 years
Leeks – 2 years
Lettuce – 6 years
Muskmelon – 5 years
Okra – 2 years
Onions – 1 year
Parsnips – 1 year
Peas – 3 years
Peppers – 2 years
Radishes – 5 years
Rutabagas – 4 years
Salsify – 1 year
Scorzonera – 2 years
Sorrel – 4 years
Southern Peas – 3 years
Spinach – 3 years
Squash & Pumpkins – 4 years
Tomatoes – 4 years
Turnips – 4 years
Watermelon – 4 years

Source:
http://www.angelfire.com/pe/kennys/p11b.html

Non Hybrid, Heirloom, Open Pollination, seeds for survival food growing

Monday, October 6th, 2008

Here are some the US sources for Non-Hybrid ( Heirloom ) seeds thanks to Hero4Hire4 and 411man.

Can I use seeds from my local store for long term storage?

Not recommended. The seed supplied in most garden shops and grocery stores are selected and sold for only this current year’s planting. In fact, Agricultural regulations require all seed packages to show date of season packed to protect the consumer from purchasing outdated seed. Storing outdated seed is not a wise preparedness strategy. The germination (ability to sprout and grow) decreases over time and is greatly impacted by moisture content of the seed and temperature of storage. Research shows that long term storage seeds need to be precisely dried to their scientific optimal moisture content to maintain their germination and guarantee seed viability. The two most critical factors for long term storage is temperature (heat decreases germination and cooked seed will not grow) and moisture (too wet starts the germination process or rots the seed, yet without the necessary moisture the growth process can not begin.)

What are Non-Hybrid seeds?

Non-Hybrid seeds are open-pollinating seeds that grow and reproduce true to variety. Our ancestors used these type of seeds for generations as they were very reliable and productive. Modern agricultural methods have produced hybrid or cross pollinated varieties of seeds. When these specialized seeds are collected and replanted, they do not reproduce true to variety and are sometimes sterile. 100% Non Hybrid seeds allow the self reliant gardener the opportunity to collect seed from his mature plants and save for next season. This process becomes a perpetual garden and becomes your life-time supply of garden seed. Think of the money you can save by buying seed just once.

What are Hybrid Seeds?

Hybrid seeds have been genetically altered or cross-pollinated to resist certain types of plant diseases or produce a more attractive uniform looking fruit. The major drawback to hybrid seeds is the need to purchase new fresh seed every year since the altered plants cannot reproduce seed that is true to the parent plant or the fruit of the hybrid variety may be totally sterile, not reproducing any plant whatsoever. To use an analogy, many hybrid seeds are like crossing a horse with a donkey. You get a mule which is sterile and can’t reproduce more mules.

1) Green People

http://www.greenpeople.org/seeds.htm

2) Seeds of Change

http://www.seedsofchange.com/

3) Organica Seed

http://www.organicaseed.com/

4) Heirloom Seeds

http://www.heirloomseeds.com/

5) The Ark Institute

http://www.arkinstitute.com/

6) The Natural Gardening Company

http://www.naturalgardening.com/shop/index.php3