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Posts Tagged ‘seeds’

Recently my friends have been asking me for a good place to buy organic and heirloom seeds and plants. I thought this was a great topic, so here are my favorite 7 suppliers.

Johnny Seeds Offers a wide selection of seeds and plants. They have heirloom, organic, fruit, herbs and vegetables for your garden. They have OMRI-approved pest and disease controls and fertilizers. This is one of the larger seed suppliers in the world, and they are employee owned.

Miller Nurseries -J.E. Miller, Dept 4102, 5060 West Lake Road, Canadaigua, NY, 14424- They have dozens of strawberries, raspberries, fruit, and shade trees. Over 60 varieties of apples, many old-fashioned “heirloom” apples. Winter hardy blueberries. 39 varieties of grapes, including wine making varieties. They have a wide variety of unique fruits such as Pawpaw, Persimmon, Kiwi, Honeyberry, Asian Pears, Cranberries and more.

Bountiful GardensBountiful Gardens sells untreated open-pollinated seed of heirloom quality for vegetables, herbs, flowers, grains, green manures, compost and carbon crops. Offering Bio-intensive and Grow Biointensive sustainable organic seed. Specialties: Rare and unusual varieties. Medicinal herbs. Super-nutrition varieties. You may be interested to know that Bountiful Gardens is a non-profit organization and a project of Ecology Action which does garden research and publishes many books, information sheets, and research papers, some in other languages. Ecology Action operates a research mini-farm in Willits, CA and promotes the GROW BIOINTENSIVE method of food production which teaches people in 130 countries around the world to grow food and build soil with less work, water, and energy by natural methods. Find out more at www.growbiointensive.org

Fedco Fedco Seeds, is an excellent source for cold-hardy seeds and plants especially adapted to the demanding Northeast climate. Each year they observe hundreds of varieties, selecting only the best for inclusion in their catalogs. Through their product lines and cultural hints, they encourage sustainable growing methods. They offer a large selection of certified organic cultivars and regional heirloom varieties. We buy products from all over the world. Fedco is a cooperative, one of the few seed companies so organized in the United States. Because they do not have an individual owner or beneficiary, profit is not their primary goal. Consumers own 60% of the cooperative and worker members 40%. Consumer and worker members share proportionately in the cooperative’s profits through their annual patronage dividends.

A Few Good Seeds Vegetable seeds,Fruit plants or seeds. Specialties: Heirloom Vegetables. All of their plants and seeds are grown without any chemical inputs. Their goal is to test and adapt vegetables for our regional climate and growing conditions.

Territorial Seed Company Currently they find themselves in good company “capital-O Organics”, excited about taking leadership in advising the evolution of organic agriculture from a movement into a mainstream market. There are 20 full-time and 25 seasonal employees locally, strategic alliances with universities and European plant breeders, and a zillion worms making compost and plant teas. They are experts in Organic and Biodynamic seeds and plants.

Willhite Seed They have over 400 varieties of seeds including watermelon, cataloupe, cucumber, bean, corn, okra, peas, squash etc. They have a wide selection of of unusual Indian seed.

Gardener, What of Your Compost Heap?
By Trevor Dalley

To the making of composts there is no end.

Where it is possible to make compost, this is the best material of all for the gardener to use. All kinds of green material and garden waste can be incorporated in the heap including annual weeds. Grass Mowings, Hedge Trimmings, Pea, tomato and Bean haulm, old flower stems and so on.

If a proportion of manure can be obtained, this also should be included in the heap, though it is not absolutely essential. Poultry manure, if included, should not exceed 20 per cent in bulk and should be applied in layers not more than an inch thick. A thick layer of poultry manure will prevent air from circulating and retard the break-down of the heap. It is often possible to obtain industrial or semi-industrial organic waste (waste from eating establishments and hotels) that, if incorporated in reasonable proportions, can be of great value.

Seaweed is probably the most valuable of all, and other materials which I have used include water-weed from rivers and canals, decayed sawdust from the old sawmills and waste coffee, cocoa residues from various industrial processes, also we have used hemp not the type that some people smoke, (if you tried to smoke this type you would have to roll a joint the size of a telegraph pole to get any sort of buzz) we only use the type for making rope.

Fresh fallen leaves have a delaying effect on the break-down of the heap and it is better, therefore, to allow them to rot by themselves for a year or two and then to incorporate them in the compost heap.
I find that the Garden Compost Heap should not exceed four feet square and about three feet high, but they can be made of any desired size.

If the Compost Heap is made to wide or to high, there will be a lack of air and the majority of the necessary bacteria will not multiply. The Garden Compost Heap should be built on soil rather than on a concrete base or on gravel. If it is built on grassland, it is better to dig out the top 4 inches of the grass. In any case, there should be a loose layer of hard, woody material to assist aeration.

Baled Straw is the best material to use for the walls; it provides a neat, convenient method of making the heap and enables the compost to decompose fully right up to the walls and assists the retention of the heat of decomposition. After the bales have been used two or three times and have started to disintegrate, the Straw Bale can itself be incorporated in the next heap. Many Garden Compost Heaps, however, are made without any retaining walls at all.

Quicker results and more even decomposition will be obtained if the raw materials are mixed and shredded before being put on to the heap and there are several shredding machines on the market which are very efficient. Where no shredder is available, dry materials should be mixed with fresh green matter in alternate layers. Straw Bales of any description should be thoroughly wetted. The layers should not exceed 6 inches in thickness and should be a good deal less in the case of Grass Mowings and any other material that will form a mass which the air cannot penetrate.

A light sprinkling of topsoil or good de-composted compost should be added at every twelve inches of height to introduce bacteria into the heap. A sprinkling of lime dust in the form of crushed chalk at a rate of one ounce to every two square yards may also be added along with the topsoil.

Layers of Well Rotted Farmyard Manure in the Garden Compost Heap will act as an activator, but whether there is Manure in the heap or not, I always use an activator usually herbal based as I find this speeds up decomposition.
The final covering of the Garden Compost Heap can either be an inch or two of topsoil or a rough thatch of straw, slopped to carry off the rain. In large Garden Compost Heaps, vertical air holes are necessary. They should be spaced at 3 feet intervals down the centre of the Garden Compost Heap.

If the heap seems to be drying out, the outside should be wetted. Try to wet evenly and avoid saturation. There may be a certain amount of leaching from the bottom of the Garden Compost Heap if no retaining wall is used. In such a case it is well to spread a thin layer of sawdust, peat or other absorbent organic matter round the base of the Garden Compost Heap. This material can be incorporated into the next Garden Compost Heap that is made and will add to the value of the finished compost.

The process of decomposition will be greatly accelerated by turning the Garden Compost Heap once every 3 to 4 weeks after building. If so desired the Garden Compost Heap can be treated again with an activator during the turning process but this is not essential. Garden Compost Heaps made chiefly of fresh green material will often break down quite successfully without any turning at all but where the material is very dry and made from straw one turn is practically essential.

It is most important that the high temperature at the centre of the Garden Compost Heap should be obtained, otherwise annual weed seeds may survive and be reintroduced all over the garden. It is advisable to purchase a soil thermometer and make sure that the Garden Compost Heap reaches a temperature of no less than 40 degrees Celsius. If the Garden Compost Heap does not heat up, the reason is probably that it has been built to slowly.

The remedy is to turn it and add fresh green material; also adding chicken dung pellets will help. There is no objection to incorporating diseased vegetable matter in the well-made Garden Compost Heap that heats up properly. In fact, there is considerable evidence to prove that such a Garden Compost Heap becomes a breeding-ground for bacteria that will fight the disease, and that the resulting Garden Compost Heap, when applied to the soil, will give resistance to, if not immunity from, the disease concerned.

This seems to be particularly true in the case of Tomatoes, and many gardeners insist that the compost that they use for their Tomato crops should contain as large a proportion as possible of old Tomato haulm.
Garden Compost-Making is an art that has to be acquired. It is, however, not a difficult art and any Gardener with a reasonable amount of common sense can quickly learn it.

It is also, quite frankly, something which we know more about now than lets say 100 years ago mainly because of the advancements in modern scientific research. What I do think is that some gardeners make much to heavy weather of Garden Compost-Making. It need not be anything like the laborious a job as many people think, providing the Garden Compost Heap is sited in the right place as to avoid unnecessary transport of materials.

Trevor Dalley has been growing and preserving his own fruit for 40 year, most of the preserves are sold in his Organic Farm Shops in Herefordshire England. Did you find those tips on Organic Food a way of Life useful?

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Trevor_Dalley
http://EzineArticles.com/?Gardener,-What-of-Your-Compost-Heap?&id=1718320

Save Money by Propagating Your Own Plants
By John Yazo

Plant propagation is a method of plant reproduction. There are two major techniques that can be used. Sexual and asexual plant propagation. The difference between these to types are that sexual is when a plant is reproduced through a seed and asexual is a method that is used when the reproduction of a plant is done with a plant that doesn’t produce seeds.This process of asexual plant propagation includes methods like cuttings, layering, division and grafting.

Learning these different methods can be very rewarding and give you the ability to reproduce new plants from the existing plants that you already have in your house or yard. These methods of plant reproduction are easy to do and can save you a considerable amount of money.

Plant propagation gives you the ability to supply your garden with the amount of your favorite plants you always wanted and to have enough plants to share with your friends and neighbors.

The creativity with the propagation of plants is endless. You can propagate flowering plants like roses with one or more other variety to produce multicolor flowers on the same plant at the same time to fruit trees to produce more than one type of fruit on the same tree. Your imagination is the limit. Experiment for yourself and see what you can produce. You will be surprised how easy and much fun it can be.

There are many hybridizers that have patents on there plants and the reproduction of these plants are illegal for a specific period of time without written permission of the patent holder.

A environment friendly and healthy way of gardening. Organic Gardening is away of gardening in harmony with nature. Growing a healthy and productive crop in a way that is healthier for both you and the environment.

John Yazo

http://www.organicheirloomgardening.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Yazo
http://EzineArticles.com/?Save-Money-by-Propagating-Your-Own-Plants&id=1763664

Propagating of Plants From Seed
By John Yazo

Plant propagation by the method of seed is also known as sexual plant propagation. It is the least expensive, easiest and quickest way to produce a large amount of plants quickly.

This is a method that is a essential part of heirloom gardening. The seeds are open pollinated and are saved year after year from that years parent plant. This helps to create for a healthier plant when good organic gardening practices are used. Planting from the same plant generation after generation helps to strengthen the plant, making it healthier and better adoptable to the area.

The proper care needs to be taken when harvesting and storing the seeds. The seeds need to be saved from the healthiest plants to avoid disease from being carried to the next generation. When purchasing seeds each year the plants don’t get the opportunity to adopt to the area that they are planted. Commercially sold seeds are produced under controlled conditions and it is very unlikely that the conditions are going to be the same in the garden that they get planted.

Once the seeds are harvested they need to be properly dried. If they are not dry before they are stored they will mold and rot. These seeds will no longer be any good for planting. The properly dried seeds then need to be stored in an airtight container and a then labeled. Most seeds will keep for up to five years.

When the time comes to start planting you should use the oldest seeds that you have stored first. If you have any doubt that the seeds are to old you can simply do a germination test on then. This is a simple test and can be done by soaking a few seeds and then placing them on a damp cloth in full sunlight and they should germinate in seven to fourteen days. You should always store more seeds than you need so if you have a year with a bad crop you wont run out and have to start all over from bought seeds.

Some seeds have a tough exterior shell and you can use a technique call scarification to help the seeds germinate. This can be done by two methods. The first is soaking the seeds for twenty four hours before planting to soften the exterior shell or by the second method of scratching or cracking the shell to allow moisture to penetrate the shell.

There are also other seeds that need to go through a low temperature change in order for them to break out of there dormant state. This period of going through this temperature change is known as stratification.

With the proper potting soil mix, atmosphere and lighting propagation with seeds is a simple and easy way to produce the plants you will need for your gardens.

A environment friendly and healthy way of gardening. Organic Gardening is away of gardening in harmony with nature. Growing a healthy and productive crop in a way that is healthier for both you and the environment.

John Yazo

http://www.organicheirloomgardening.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Yazo
http://EzineArticles.com/?Propagating-of-Plants-From-Seed&id=1766025