The Orchid Garden

looking for a heritage seed listing

Question:

(BISSONNETTE, ROBERT) writes:

My favorite source is SEEDS OF CHANGE in Santa Fe, NM. Not only are they preserving Heritage seeds, but they’re sticking to open-pollination, and organic growing practices!

Response:

Try the Seed Savers Exchange. I think it’s in Decora Iowa.

Response:

: Can anyone tell me where I might find a listing of heritage seeds : of North America (flowers and vegetables)? Thanks in advance. :                                         Bob you can also try the Thomas Jefferson Center For Historic Plants      Monticello, P.O. box 316, Charlottesville, Virginia 22902 will — larry martinelli                            opinions are mine, and only mine

Response:

The problem is that this area will be in full shade, since the rear of the house faces due north.  I am guessing that I can grow lettuce and parsley there, but what about onions, New Zealand spinach, other herbs, etc.?   Anyone got good ideas for veggie/herb plants that have a chance of surviving in full shade?

Being in Ohio may make a difference, but I have had great success with shade growing a few vegatables here in CA.  I originally did this because my weather (zone 16, Sunset Western Gardening book) is a microclimate and is subject to wild temperature fluctuations during the year (some winter days will be 50 degrees, some 75 or 80 degrees, same with summer.)  I had a hot spell right when my lettuce was reaching perfection  it was 80+ for seven days in October and it bolted after the first day.  So, I moved all my lettuce to the shade. Works great. I also grow radishes, carrots, Brocolli (the heads aren’t big, more like side shoots, but quite tasty), Cauliflower (fertilize plenty and keep bugs OFF!), Brussel Sprouts (the sprouts are quite small, about 75% store bought size) and an artichoke (hasn’t born anything yet, it was a very small plant when I bought it, but it is thriving). I grow the artichoke, Brocolli and Brussel sprouts next to a fence in between my house.  It is about 8ft. to 10 ft. wide and only gets about two hours of sun in the late afternoon.  The carrots, lettuce, Cauliflower and radishes are grown with eastern exposure  but they *never* get full sun (well, maybe an hour just after the sun rises). They do rather well in that location.  I have a detached garage, it looks kind of like this:                     Sun Rises here in winter                        * |    ||              |    |   |           |              |    | F |           |              |    |   |           |  House       |    ||  Garage   |              |    |   |           |              |    | V |           |              |    |   |           |              |                  |              |              |   (sun/heat lovers here)                            |             |                            |             v                            |                    SOUTH                            | |                                         WEST Where F=flowers, V=vegetables. The place for the artichoke, brocolli and brussell sprouts is on the left of this drawing, in between the house and the fence. I don’t know how much all of this will apply to your situation, but seeds are *very* inexpensive (don’t buy nursery brocolli or cauliflower  too many bugs  my seeded brocolli and seeded cauliflower is 100% bug free  I was lucky to plant them in widely separate areas). Did you also know that cauliflower is *sweet* with a slightly lemony acid taste?  I didn’t!  Until I ate my first fresh cauliflower.  What a delight. Now, If I can only get crop rotation down to keep vegetables in constant supply Oh, and I could give advice on onions if one thing hadn’t happened I’ve got a gopher with a taste for onions.  It ate all six of my western exposure onions (where the WEST is above  maybe 3 hours of sun  due to a fence in the way and the house in the way).  Just 3/4" holes in the ground where the onions *were*.  I hope the gopher’s wife wouldn’t kiss him that night! I sent private email as well, but wanted to make an addition to my post  perhaps a small amount of supplemental lighting would work? None of my "shade" vegetables sees more than three hours of indirect sun each day  a few normal (read cheap) flourescent tubes may do the trick.  (I use the flourescent tubes for my seedlings in lieu of more expensive fullspectrum lights and such…if I were growing orchids, I would splurge, but for seedlings, normal flourescents seem to be just fine).  They’d have to be pretty low to the ground, though. Nathan D. Lane, VP Triicon Systems. Lompoc, CA  (805) 7331849 NaN != 6, 6 == 1.  I am not a number, I am a free list! I’m a programmer  my computers are more valuable than my cars.

Response:

Can anyone tell me where I might find a listing of heritage seeds of North America (flowers and vegetables)? Thanks in advance.

Seed Savers Exchange publishes a book:  Garden Seed Inventory This is an index of commercial seed companies in North America, many of which are small companies that grow heritage plants.  Over 400 pages of cultivar listings by crop, with cross references to a list of seed companies.  Reasonably priced.         Seed Savers Exchange         Rural Route 3, box 239         Decorah, Iowa 52101

Response:

Can anyone tell me where I might find a listing of heritage seeds of North America (flowers and vegetables)? Thanks in advance.                                         Bob

Response:

Filed under: Growing Orchids

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