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Our son LOVED snacking on the peas this summer, especially the Nieve de Sevilla snow peas. I get it, Nieve de Sevilla are sweet and super tender. And lucky for him they have a long harvest window, staying tender even as the peas inside begin to plump up. I originally got these seeds from my sister Katie, who purchased them at a market in Sevilla, Spain. There they were handed to her expertly and rustically wrapped in piece of newspaper with no variety name. I grew them out and loved them, and with no variety name I have been calling...

Hardneck garlic Classified as a marbled purple stripe garlic Great for northern climates but also widely adapted A hot and spicey garlic! Easy to peel cloves This is one of the prettiest garlic varieties we grow. I love the bright purple stripes and hefty, dense heads. Originally from Russia, this garlic keeps for a long time for a hardneck variety- 7 to 9 months! Medium sized heads are made up of a few, large cloves, usually 4-6. Bogatyr is closely related to another popular Russian heirloom- Metechi. This is a great variety for garlic and honey fermentation! Garlic is known in...

An EARLY Pickle and its ON SALE! I should’ve been writing about Kilis in early summer because it is ready to pick and pickle so early. I usually plant my cucumbers and then kind of forget about them in the early summer weeding frenzy. You really can’t do that with Kilis- they are ready before you expect! Kilis was introduced to us by Mehmet Oztan of Two Seeds in a Pod. When Giving Ground Seeds was first starting, we grew seeds on a contract for other established seed companies, and we grew Kilis for Two Seeds. This rare cucumber is...

Earlier this month I harvested our latest crop of Roveja or Wild Pea of Umbria. I love how colorful these small peas are, ranging from light purple to green to orange, they look like tiny speckled robin’s eggs. When I hold it in my hands, I know I’m holding a living, perpetuating fossil and a piece of history. This dry pea has been grown and wild-harvested since the Neolithic age by farmers and shepherds along Italy’s Sibillini Mountains, specifically on the Umbria-Marche ridge. There the pea was grown at high altitudes where it withstood the cold and harsh conditions. The...

Its Vigna unguiculata we are talking about! Cowpeas have so many names! As a seed company, its hard to know how best to list this amazing plant so that the most people find it. It’s also known as southern pea, field pea, red pea, or black-eyed pea. There is also a movement to rename cowpeas entirely to African Peas in honor of the continent and people that originated the cowpea. Whatever you call them, I’m convinced they are the most fun plant to harvest. Drying pods are easy to find, sticking out from the tops and sides of plants like...