It’s hard to find a gardener who doesn’t love checking out new seed varieties and anticipating the abundant and tasty harvest they promise. The photos and descriptions are tantalizing and the names intriguing. Who wouldn’t be curious about a pumpkin variety called ‘Abominable’, a pepper named ‘Frodo’, or a tomato tagged ‘Dancing with Smurfs’? With so many seed varieties to select from, narrowing down the choices can be challenging. In January this year, a team of EDG volunteers had a lot of fun picking out varieties for our spring and summer crops.
How Seeds are Selected
Seed selection starts with a garden plan, taking into consideration the space available for each type of crop. Once decisions are made about which crops to plant and where to plant them, choosing the right varieties becomes the focus. The Demo Garden is the perfect place to try out some of those new and different seed options while continuing to plant those varieties that have proven to be reliable. Planting more than one variety of each crop makes it possible to directly compare them in terms of growth and productivity.
Time to maturity is important in determining which summer crop varieties to plant. The soil must be consistently warm (over 55 degrees) for the time specified in the variety description to produce a crop. The climate in the Indian Valley Organic Farm and Garden where the Edible Demo Garden is located provides a long enough growing time for most summer crops. However, varieties requiring more than 120 days to maturity may not achieve full production before the weather turns cool.
Seeds planted in the Edible Demo Garden must be organic certified. Organic seeds are from plants grown in compliance with federal standards which exclude the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and genetically modified technologies. Seed choices for the Demo Garden are often based on the descriptions provided by organic seed companies and it’s up to the volunteers to determine which varieties seem well suited for the garden conditions and promise the best taste.
Planting the Seeds
On February 27th, the new MMG training class got hand-on practice in seed starting. Seeds are planted in a starting soil mix in flats of cells with 2 or 3 seeds per cell. Supervised by EDG volunteers, the trainees planted 60 cells of cucumbers (‘Armenian’, ‘Crystal Apple’, ‘Jin Yang’ and ‘Early Fortune’) and 90 cells of sweet peppers (‘Pusztagold’ and ‘Bacskai Feher’), along with 30 cells of green onions and 72 cells of lettuce. The class will have the chance to take some of the cucumber and pepper starts home to plant in their own gardens where they can assess how well they grow in our different microclimates. The planted seeds are now germinating in the greenhouse.
Starting plants in the greenhouse gives them an advantage and allows better timing for optimum crop production. They are not ready for transplanting outside until they have developed at least one set of true leaves. The first set of leaves to appear are embryonic leaves called cotyledons. They look different from the plant’s typical foliage. True leaves are the more recognizable leaves that develop above the cotyledons. The time required for seedlings to be ready for transplanting varies. Beans can be ready in 3 to 4 weeks while peppers can take more than 8 weeks.
New Varieties in the Demo Garden
EDG volunteers look forward to growing the new seed varieties they have selected for the summer. The seeds have been ordered but not all have been planted. ‘Dancing with Smurfs’, an indigo-colored cherry tomato, along with ‘Altai Orange’ and ‘Woodstock’ are among the new tomato varieties. Two new melon varieties, ‘Sweet Freckles’ and ‘Farthest North Galia’ will be tried in the garden. The ‘Pusztagold’, and ‘Bacskai Feher’ peppers, now germinating in the greenhouse, are small, sweet Hungarian type peppers. Last summer’s pepper crop included an overabundance of hot peppers, so it’s sweet peppers in demand this year.
Starting with seeds is rewarding. There is the pleasure of choosing seeds from the many available varieties and the joy of nurturing them and watching them grow into tiny plants. It’s even better when the veggies and fruits turn out to be as yummy as the seed descriptions promise.
Click here for more information on planting from seeds.