seeds Archives - Page 2 of 6

Another purple beauty we can't get enough of.

Favorite Seeds for 2018

We're like kids in a candy store when it comes to seeds, aren't we Gardenerds? As we do every year here at Gardenerd, it's time to pick our favorite seeds for the coming season. This year we're featuring the color purple (again- can't help it!), and a couple of unusual challenges for more advanced gardeners. Let's get to it: Black Nebula Carrot We're suckers for anything purple or black. We've grown Pusa Asita in the past, and the yield has…

Post author:Christy
Post published:February 7, 2018
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:6 Comments

Tomato seeds being soaked to remove the membrane around them.

Ask Gardenerd: Saving Tomato Seeds and Blight

A question came in to Ask Gardenerd from Jeff Bremer this week: "This is a two-part question: 1. I save seeds from each year's tomato crop to plant the following year. I can never get all the "meat" of the tomato off the seeds. How do you clean these seeds? 2. Can early blight be transmitted through tomato seeds? Thanks, Jeff " Great questions, Jeff. Let's start with saving tomato seeds. Saving Tomato Seeds Saving tomato seeds is relatively easy,…

Post author:Christy
Post published:September 5, 2017
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:2 Comments

The Garden Seed Saving Guide by Jill Henderson

Review: The Garden Seed Savers Guide by Jill Henderson

If you like your books short and sweet then you'll love The Garden Seed Savers Guide: Easy Heirloom Seeds for the Home Gardener (Groundswell Books) by Jill Henderson. It's under 65 pages and gives you a basic guide to saving seeds for a range of crops, from lettuces to beans, from broccoli to squash. After lessons in seed nomenclature, pollination, and isolation distances, Henderson organizes the book into plant families to address specifics about saving seeds across a species. She…

Post author:Christy
Post published:August 1, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments

Tesuque is the traditional pepper used for making chili powder in New Mexico.

Spring Seed Favorites for 2017

Oh, the gardenerd's dilemma. So many seeds, so little space. We're not here to help, we're here to commiserate. In fact, we're here to feed the monster. Here are our seed favorites for 2017: Seed Favorites for 2017 Blue Jade Corn Blue Jade Corn seeds can be grown in containers! Small-space gardeners need corn, and Blue Jade is one of the few sweet corn varieties that can be grown in containers. Be sure to plant enough for pollination (3x3 block)…

Post author:Christy
Post published:March 7, 2017
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments

The pumpkin (ours anyway) was only about 8 inches in diameter.

Harvesting Silver Edge Pumpkin Seeds

I fell in love with Silver Edge pumpkin seeds the moment I laid eyes on them. This Mexico native squash wins every beauty contest when it comes to seeds. They're enormous, they're exotic and they have a shiny SILVER EDGE! What could be better? Well...this: they taste delicious. Silver Edge pumpkins are not grown for the flesh, which is allegedly unpalatable, they are grown for the seeds. Traditionally used in pipian sauce, a green mole-type sauce without the chocolate, Silver…

Post author:Christy
Post published:September 6, 2016
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:4 Comments

Side shoots form tiny heads of broccoli you can harvest for at least a month.

Ask Gardenerd: Saving Broccolini Seeds

This terrific question came in from an inquiring mind this week: "Last spring I had a very tasty crop of Broccolini. I was impressed enough to save seeds at the end of the season. I've since learned that Broccolini is a cross between Italian Broccoli and Chinese Broccoli (a form of Kale). Was my seed saving a waste of time? If I try and plant these seeds, will they revert to one of the two parent plants? - Ed Callahan"…

Post author:Christy
Post published:August 23, 2016
Post category:Blog Sage Advice
Post comments:1 Comment

Anna Peach's Hawaiian Black Kabocha squash seeds.

Favorite Seeds for Spring 2016

It's that time, gardenerds. Let seed-starting commence. You have your favorites, your tried and true varieties that you grow every year. So do we, but we get bored easily so we're always looking for new varieties to test out in our gardens. Each year we discover new heirloom and open pollinated varieties that we haven't grown before. 2015 was a year of generosity. Many seed companies gave away free seeds and we took full advantage. Here are our favorite seeds…

Post author:Christy
Post published:February 24, 2016
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments

Radish seeds are medium sized, so you won't need a very small screen.

Harvesting Radish Seeds

Locally adapted seed is an important ally in the garden. Seeds you save and plant again become more adapted to your climate, water conditions, soil, etc. Each time you save seed and then grow it out properly, that seed improves. Here are tips for harvesting radish seeds. Last winter we ran out of Purple Plum radish seed, so when we spotted one of our large roots bolting to seed at the end of the season, we seized the opportunity. Technically,…

Post author:Christy
Post published:May 5, 2015
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:6 Comments

Honey Nut from Renee's Seeds

New Seed Favorites for 2015

Now that we've finished combing through the pile of seed catalogs that came in the mail over the holidays, we've made our list of new seeds we'll be planting this spring. It's a Gardenerd tradition to share our new seed favorites for each year. Let 2015 be no exception. Several of our selections came to us via seed saving: Marina di Chioggia David King at the Seed Library of Los Angeles handed out wedges of Marina di Chioggia squash last…

Post author:Christy
Post published:February 4, 2015
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:2 Comments

One of many carrot seed heads

Saving Carrot Seeds

Carrots are fun to grow at home and if you're lucky, some of them will bolt to seed at the end of the season. Then, if you grew an heirloom or open pollinated variety, you can save those carrot seeds. Saving carrot seeds is considered a job for more advanced gardeners, because the threat of cross pollination is high. Short growing seasons also complicate things (you may need to harvest roots in fall for replanting in spring in order to…

Post author:Christy
Post published:July 29, 2014
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:3 Comments