Thanks Red Badger.
Posted on 06/20/2016 10:37:51 AM PDT by Red Badger
Goodness how delicious, eating Purple Straw.
Very interesting-I grow veggies and herbs without chemical insect control or fertilizer, and only eat meat from free ranged livestock-so I’m very much in favor of having access to heirloom/non-GMO seeds for planting-while they won’t work for feeding the masses, they are fine for those who want to grow their own healthy food on a small scale...
Worth a Gardening Ping?
Bountiful Gardens has several varieties of heirloom grains available. The biggest selection I’ve seen outside of the federal seed bank: https://www.bountifulgardens.org/
I ordered 16 varieties to test this year, although stuff came up and I’ll have to plant them next year instead. Some of those older varieties are kind of cool.
(Yes, I’m a plants geek.)
The interesting part was about using a System of Crop Intensification to improve yields.
Thanks Red Badger.
Hi GE! I’m seconding Ellendra’s garden ping suggestion! Pretty kewl, huh?
In a different article I read that for their efforts, Brian Ward and Clemson U. were given dibs on ALL the seed that Sustainable Seed Company had in stock. Looks that way.
Thanks for the link. I appreciate that!
Heirlooms usually have much better flavor. They don’t ship as well and and sometimes are less disease resistant so big growers will go with the hybrids. But for a personal garden they are the way to go.
I spend more effort improving my soil than anything else. Makes for much stronger plants.
There’s a veritable gold mine in those seeds’ DNA..................
Thanks!
There certainly is
I’m all for heirloom of whatever food crop.
But, as someone who grows a *LOT* of heirloom vegetables, many heirloom plants won’t grow in certain regions.
Thus, some areas *MUST* grow hybrid food crops.
I live on the high ground within a few 100 feet of a river, which flooded a few weeks ago leaving lots of muck and silt when the water receded. As soon as the trail dried, I went down in my 4x4 and gathered a couple of buckets of the stuff, brought it back and put it on my tomato, Serrano and zucchini plants-I noticed over the weekend that the plants have triple the number of blossoms they did before, and the tomatoes are setting 6 and more fruits at a time. I don’t know if it was the fish s*** in the river muck, but it certainly didn’t do any harm-I will have tomatoes to eat and enough to barter along with my fresh herbs for free range eggs and goat’s cheese from a neighbor...
Certainly true of tomatoes, beans, peas, peppers, chilis ...
I am a transplant to South Carolina and failed miserably at trying to grow gardens with plants suitable to Ohio. An elderly neighbor directed me to heirloom varieties native to the Carolinas. Problem solved.
That muck is probably loaded with minerals and organic matter. You can see from how your plants responded that it was a good idea.
My base soil is tough adobe clay with virtually no organic matter. I have a compost pile and a small worm farm to generate organic material, nothing plant based goes to waste. My biggest issue right now is midnight raids from thieving animals.
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