Department
Seeds
Saving heirloom tomato seed at the kitchen counter, seed exchanges in northern Minnesota, first true leaves, the seed library at the public library.
Two Rows of Corn and the Distance Between Them
On a small farm in southern Vermont, the experiment of saving open-pollinated dent corn seed when the neighbour's field is half a mile downwind.
Seed Drying on a Screen Porch
Why the post-harvest week matters as much as the growing season, and how one grower in upstate New York lost a year of pepper seed to a closed pantry door.
The Tea Pea of Coleraine
An Irish heritage pea, nearly lost in the 1980s, kept alive by one family and now back in the seed exchanges of three countries.
Isolation Distances for the Home Saver
A practical look at what your neighbour's squash patch is doing to your saved seed, and what to do about it on a fifth of an acre.
The Hartford Public Library Seed Room
On the second floor of the main branch, a converted card-catalogue cabinet now holds four hundred and twenty varieties of vegetable and flower seed, free to any library patron with a card.
What the First True Leaves Tell You
Two weeks after germination, the seedling becomes itself. A close look at the diagnostic moment in the propagator.
The Northwoods Seed Exchange in March
A community hall in Ely, Minnesota, two hundred and eleven gardeners, and a folding table that has been the centre of a regional seed economy for thirty-one years.
Saving Brandywine Seed at the Kitchen Counter
A small house in Northampton, a chipped Pyrex bowl, and the four-day ferment that turns a summer tomato into next year's garden.