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We are also so excited to finally be offering Showy Milkweed!Showy milkweed is a Western native wildflower famous for being the host plant of the monarch butterfly. Host plant simply means that monarch mamas lay their eggs on or near milkweed plants so that hatching caterpillars can feed on the milkweed leaves. Milkweed leaves are slightly toxic and impart this toxicity to the feasting caterpillars- giving them their primary defense mechanism. Milkweed flowers are stunningly beautiful and attract a wide variety of pollinators- not just monarchs.  Being a native wildflower it is drought tolerant and appropriate for dry gardens.  Contrary to what...

Tomato Spotlight:  Old Fashioned "Green Shouldered" TomatoesGreen shoulders are typical of some progressively-ripening heirloom tomatoes.  This means there is a bit of green remaining near the stem end of the fruit even when the tomato is completely ripe.  Because chlorophyll is present in the fruit, photosynthesis is happening within the fruit right until its picked-  therefore enhancing flavor and nutrient profile of the ripe tomato. This trait has been bred out of many modern varieties, but the flavor of these outstanding heirlooms with their little green shoulders is unbeatable!Check out:  'Black Brandywine', 'Orange Brandywine', 'Mortgage Lifter', 'Pink Brandywine', 'Red Vernissage', and 'Green...

Our ‘Struttgarter’ onions have an incredible shelf life! Not only are they deeply golden, with a tremendous flavor and oniony bite- they’re one of the longest keepers we’ve tried. Treat them right and you’ll have onions from harvest until April!Many onion varieties store quite well given the right conditions. Optimal onion storage can be achieved with just a few simple considerations.1. Preharvest dry down- Planning for onion storage begins at the end of the previous summer. Cut-off watering as soon as the outer four leaves begin to dry down after the onion has completed bulbing. Drying down starts at the...

Paper seed catalogs and seed packets are necessarily brief in their descriptions of crop varieties. I appreciate these descriptions when I need something quick and dirty, and there is a poetry to succinctly conveying the most important things about a variety in a short space. I'm surprised, though, that even with the advent of web-based seed catalogs and theoretically unlimited space, seed growers still don't provide more than a few sentences of description on the growing and eating particularities of varieties they sell. There could be a lot of reasons for this, a main one being that they simply don't...

Drying corn for storage If you live in a dry climate like mine, corn can be air-dried for use as popcorn, flour corn, or seed. Allow the corn to dry down on the stock for as long as possible. I usually harvest mine before the first fall rain. The corn itself can be dried on the ear, but the husk can hold and attract moisture so much be removed before drying or risk the corn molding. Place on a wire or slatted table in a ventilated, preferably sunny area with enough space between the ears to allow about airflow. Check...