Perennial Seeds May Need a Winter - Dormancy Germination varies by plant type. Perennial seeds often contain germination inhibitors, abscisic acid, dormin, waxes and other oils. This is nature's way of ensuring seeds germinate when conditions are optimal. The techniques below are for perennial seeds only, do not use these techniques on annual or bi-annual plant seeds. Annual plant seeds generally have a shallow dormancy and do not need a winter to germinate, they only live one season. In the wild, dormancy is broken by spending time in the ground through the winter so that its hard seed coat is softened...

Coral Vegetable Farm’s market garden was established in late 2008, near Luana, Iowa, on the edge of the Driftless Area, by Lezlie Ceran. The farmette is located on rolling prairie, with excellent soil for crops, deep, rich and made from Loess, blown into the region eons ago. For eons more, the prairies grasses made the soil deep and good. It is a beautiful region. I have enriched my soil with rotted dairy manure from a neighboring farmer for 5 years, so it is really nice and full of healthy humus, and rich in micro-nutrients. My market garden is about 7,000...

Plant 264 onions in less than a minute, here is how. The Paper Chain Pot Transplanting System The paper chain pot transplanting system is a unique, ingenious, and highly efficient means to transplant vegetables, flowers and herbs. It is unlike any standard transplanter used in the US or Europe. It has no motor and is pulled by hand. It allows a single person to transplant as many as 264 plants in less than a minute. This is accomplished while standing upright and eliminates the countless hours spent kneeling, crawling, or stooping. The system relies on planting into paper pots that...

By Kevin Meehan, owner Turtle Run Farm and Carolina Farm Stewardship Association member. The [alfalfa] meso has changed our farm big time, We have got a batch going now for spring planting. Every year, all the local organic farmers meet for the split up of the feather meal truck in Pittsboro, NC, go home and dump the stuff on our fields. One day about 12 years ago, I decided that the feather meal smelled so horrible (and smelled even worse when it rotted) that it and every other bad smelling thing would be forever banned from Turtle Run. It was...

When should I start my vegetable seeds in the spring and when in the fall? What plants go well together, which should I plant together?  Funny you should ask. At Restoration Seeds we wanted an easy way to see at a glance how to plan the whole year on one sheet of paper. Here is the result, the Restoration Seeds Garden Guide. You can download one for free, enjoy. You can order a Garden Guide printed on card stock from our store. Font side: Sowing Calendar, light green shows when to start indoors and dark green when to sow directly or...

One size does not fit all when it comes to potting soils. It is easy to make your own, allows you to customize soils to the plant's needs and save some money not buying bagged potting soil. This is only a quick guide. For a thorough discussion, read The Medicinal Herb Grower volume I by Richo Cech, see Richo's chapter on Potting Soils. Most seeds sprout best in fast draining soils that course water over the seed, the seed imbibes water and the soil drains before the next watering. These short cycles of watering, draining and resting create an expansion...

Fully ripe disease-free tomatoes are the best candidates for seed saving. Seeds can be saved casually by squeezing them out in a paper napkin and air drying them but fermentation is a better route. Fermentation removes germination inhibitors and the gelatinous sheath from seeds, and it may treat some seed-borne diseases. Properly stored tomato seeds may remain viable for over six years. Step-by-Step Tomato Seed Saving 1. Rinse tomatoes in water to remove dirt before harvesting seeds. Cut off open or damaged parts of fruit. We collect tomatoes in 5 gallon buckets then fill them with water. Cleaning any dirt off becomes...

By Andrea Springmeier Seed Savers Exchange Every gardener and seed saver, from time to time, may discover a lost packet or old jar of seed which could hold the potential for an amazing crop of beautiful, delicious vegetables, or hold nothing more than a season of disappointment.  In order to help you determine just how likely one possibility is over the next, you may want to test the germination rate of the questionable seed before you find yourself wasting hours of labor and precious garden space on something that won’t return the flavor. A germination test can be used to...

Permaculture as a holistic system of DESIGN, based on direct observation of nature, learning from traditional knowledge and the findings of modern science. Embodying a philosophy of positive actions and grassroots education. Permaculture aims to restructure society by returning control of resources for living: food, water, shelter and the means of livelihood, to ordinary people in their communities, as the only antidote to centralized power. Permaculture also aims to stop interrupting nature's succession as conventional farming and gardening do by switching the emphasis from annual plants to perennial herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees. One can joyfully spend a lifetime studying...

For gardeners and small market farmers - Organic standards prohibit the use of synthetic herbicides but allow a range of physical tools and natural herbicides as elements of an integrated organic seed management program. These are usually used with cultural controls such as crop rotation and cover cropping. If you are a conventional vegetable farmer or avid gardener wanting to transition to organic, grab a cup of coffee or tea; this series of videos will give much of the information and supplier resources you need to grow organic. A note not to cultivate your soil until it has sufficiently dried...