SCOOBY asks: How do I grow my own garden (food)? Best place to purchase seeds?
Hello,
I’d like to learn to grow my own organic food, where’s the first place to start? Where do I find the best value for organic seeds? Any info. is appreciated. Thanks!!
The answer voted best is:
Answer by jessica G
pretty much any seed will grow but burpee is a good brand.any seed is organic as long as you dont use any kind of hormones to feed them and make sure you have nice healthy tilled soil to start and plenty of sun. of course this time of year is too late to plant most things. good luck=)
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thomas doubleday research association. 100% organic with rare & unusual veg. & fruit like yellow tomatoes, yellow raspberries etc.& a variety of plants that are no longer popular due there shape. google them, they are brilliant.
the first place would be working on the land you are going to grow this crop, what you want to grow.what kind of soil you have. you can get seeds any where online
http://gardening-tips-idea.com/HowtoStartaGarden.html
good luck
Mother Earth News’s Honor Roll of seed companies offering a good, varied selection of open- pollinated vegetable and flower seeds, as well as untreated and/or organically grown seeds:
1. Baker Creek Heirloom Seed http://www.rareseeds.com/
Forums:http://idigmygarden.com/forums/
2. Bountiful Gardens http://www.bountifulgardens.org
3. Cook’s Garden http://www.cooksgarden.com
4. FEDCO Seeds http://www.fedcoseeds.com
5. Heirloom Seeds http://www.heirloomseeds.com
6. High Mowing Organic Seeds http://www.highmowingseeds.com
7. Johnny’s Selected Seeds http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/search.aspx?organic=1
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/home.aspx?ct=HG (Video library)
8. Natural Gardening Co http://www.naturalgardening.com
9. Nichols Garden Nursery http://www.nicholsgardennursery.com
10. Peaceful Valley Farm Supply http://www.groworganic.com
11. Salt Spring Seeds http://www.saltspringseeds.com
12. Seeds of Change http://www.seedsofchange.com
13. Seed Savers Exchange http://www.seedsavers.org
14. Seeds for the South http://www.seedsforthesouth.com
15. Seeds Trust http://www.seedstrust.com
16. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
http://www.southernexposure.com
17. Sow Organic Seed Co http://www.organicseed.com
18. Territorial Seed Co http://www.territorial-seed.com
19. Underwood Gardens http://www.underwoodgardens.com
20. Victory Seeds http://www.victoryseeds.com
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2005-04-01/Finding-Great-Garden-Seeds.aspx
From Dave’s Garden: “These 30 companies are currently the most highly rated within our entire database. Each of them is listed here because of feedback from their customers.”
http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/
Videos on gardening:
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-a-compost-pile (compost)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY6OcCke7qM&feature=related (raised beds)
Garden Girl, Patti Moreno, has great garden advice on her videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PEgqSdxDrM&feature=user (growing strawberries)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlQaOsDZuBQ&feature=related (verticle gardening)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWzU0x9zmxE&NR=1 (Four-Season Gardening)
Dave Epstein offers step by step vegetable growing advice on Growing wisdom:
http://revver.com/video/1082361/growing-cucumbers/
Starting a vegetable garden:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vymivy-7KTg&feature=related
Expert Village offers garden advice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLSskFxT1kA&feature=related (Square Foot gardening)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrzXh8mIS4s&feature=related (view vegetables in a square foot garden)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ry7fW0VQ3M&feature=related (tips for organic gardens)
For organic garden inspiration, I love reading Organic Gardening & Mother Earth News magazines. Organic Gardening also has a forum:
http://forums.organicgardening.com/eve/
Gardenweb has several forums, including regional forums.http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/organic/
Garden Guides
http://my.gardenguides.com/forums/forum/213
UBC Botanical Garden Forums.
http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/forums/
Good luck!!! Hope this is helpful.
Start small. A 10′ x 10′ garden is plenty big enough the first year. plant only what you like. Realize there is a difference in when crops like to grow. Things like spinach. lettuce and cilantro like cool spring weather. Tomatoes, zucchini and peppers like hot summer weather. Do not try to start seedlings the first year, buy them from a locally own nursery (they will likely not be organic, though more and more places to offer organic seedlings. You can order organic seedlings on line) Start a compost pile ASAP. Figure out now where you want your garden. It should be in a sunny spot away from trees, especially black walnut trees.
Over the winter find an organic agriculture conference in your area (these are almost always sponsored by your regional organic association. In Ohio it it OEFFA, the Ohio Ecological Food and farming Association). These always have home gardening workshops and a trade show where you can find vendors selling the seeds and supplies you need.
you will need some gardening equipment such as a wheel barrow, a potato fork, a stirup/shuffle hoe, a garden rake, a leaf rake and some trowels. you should be able to find all of these items at any hardware store
my favorite place to buy organic seeds is Johnny’s Selected seeds http://www.johnnyseeds.com. they are pricey but the best quality in the USA and the catalogs are a wealth of growing information. I also love Fedco Seeds http://www.fedcoseeds.com. Seed savers exchange has one of the biggest certified organic and heirloom seed offerings in the world and are good folks to deal with.
Also consider buying a chest freezer, canning supplies and a good dehydrator to make it so you can put up your bounty for winter (a very important but too often overlooked part of growing a food garden)
Henry Field’s is a very good source of seeds and starts, and they do have a web site. You’ll want to keep in mind what kind of soil you’re growing things in, though.
If you want to build a raised bed- Also a good idea because it spares your back and reduces weeds- Invest in a book titled Lasagna Gardening.
Good luck!
The first place that you start with a garden is in the soil> Choose a sunny location, where you have access to a water source, and start digging! Turn over the soil and add manure,mulched up leaves etc. Smooth it all out very level and remove any rocks or weeds that are raked up. Then, make little trenches( furrows) and on the hump of dirt in between the furrows form a little dip. This is where you will be planting your seeds or plants. The best thing to do is buy baby plants from your local hardware store, I always plant a row of the same by seed.This will make it so that you have a little of the vegetable throughout the growing season instead of all at one time.GOOD LUCK!
I love the list that Angel gave but I also wanted to suggest going to yahoo groups and join Gardening groups. There are tons of resources there.
Here is one
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vegetablegrowersplot
to really gain some self sufficiency you could try using some “heirloom seeds” or select some “pure breeding” strains.
basically if the seeds from a plant can be replanted & the subsequent generations “comes true ” to that strain type (having the same taste,colour,size,yield) it breed’s pure. a lot of seed is a cross between 2 different strains. this produces a more robust plant, usually outperforming both parent strain’s. this is termed hybrid vigour or an F1 hybrid.
But here’s the catch – the seed you collect from an F1 hybrid will NOT be like THE F1 parent. it will probably be a bad version of one OF the F1’s parent’s. unlike true breeding seed.
Heirloom seed is true breeding. they are strains that just aren’t used much any more (or @ all) because the are others more commercially viable. for example uniformed sized, slightly higher yield,drought tolerance,colour,shelf life,etc.
the modern varieties of today were created from these “heirloom seeds” &this is where they get the name – if something goes wrong with our modern strains (say a new fungus) we will need to be able to go back to these seeds. but the people who grow ’em love ’em. ther’s info on the net & quite often a local club or net work.
anyway with this info maybe you might decide to be self sufficient right down to your seeds. then you’ll only have to buy them once.
(i’m kidding there’ll alway’s be a new strain to try enjoy)