I’ll make this brief so we can get to the good stuff, which is Free Seeds.
Something happened a couple months ago when I started getting death threats for writing this blog. I had my own “put up or shut up” moment and realized that, in writing here, despite what I’d been telling myself about how this blog was just my hobby, I had accidentally created for myself an awesome job, and I had two choices: quit and lick my wounds because sometimes people are jerks, or respect this gig for what it really is.
After the douche-waffle thing, I took a few weeks off and really thought about what the hell I was doing here. In the end I decided that, if the Universe hands you the opportunity for your dream job, you take it and you work hard and you don’t complain. That snapped me out of a kinda anti-consumerist delusion I’d been operating under, this idea that I would be a complete fraud if I got compensated at all for the inordinate time, effort and expense it takes to make this blog happen.
So, anyway, long-story-short, now I have a sponsor. No – I have the best sponsor. When you are a little advertising shy like me, it helps when your first and only sponsor is a small, friendly, super-ethical seed house that believes in the exact same things you do.
Meet High Mowing Organic Seeds
High Mowing Organic Seeds is my new sponsor. They are a 100% organic, GMO-free, farm-based seed house. They are located in Vermont, and grow and trial many of their varieties in-house, but also have partner organic seed growers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Vermont, and New York.
I love them, and here’s why. High Mowing is doing something really important – they are aggressively developing more varieties of seeds that are successful for organic growers. That matters for two reasons.
The Selfish Reason – Organic Adaptation: You know how people talk about how heirlooms are awesome because they have become adapted to certain conditions over generations of seed-saving? Well, the organic thing is no different. Seeds grown from organically grown plants carry genetics that make them better adapted to successful organic culture in the garden or in the field.
Conventionally grown seeds come from plants that probably grew well with a lot of help from high doses of very strong chemical fertilizers, fungicides and herbicides. But you aren’t growing your veggies that way, so why buy seed that is adapted to that culture when organic seeds are more likely to thrive under the backyard organic conditions you’re providing?
The Big Picture Reason – Look, most people growing vegetable seeds are decent folk, but the regulations regarding what can be sprayed on seed crops is far more lenient than what exists for crops grown for human or animal feed consumption. Because of this, it’s pretty easy to spray stuff on your seed crops that you’d never be able to spray on your food crop. The Oregon Department of Agriculture, as an example, grants Special Local Need (SLN) pesticide registrations for crops grown for seed. These give the grower carte blanche to spray…um, basically whatever…as long as they include this message on the wholesale tag:
“This seed was produced using one or more products for which the United States Environmental Protection Agency has not established pesticide residue tolerances. This seed, in whole, as sprouts, or in any form, may not be used for human consumption or animal feed. Failure to comply with this condition may violate the requirements of the Federal Food and Drug Administration, the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and other regulatory agencies.”
That’s just not very comforting, is it?
Stuff like this makes me feel like insisting on organic growing methodologies from seed-to-sandwich isn’t nearly so paranoid as it might seem. And that’s where High Mowing comes in. 100% organic seed production means none of their products are part of the problem, and – in fact – by pushing more seed crop land into organic production, supporting their seeds is nudging acreage towards the solution.
Win Free High Mowing Organic Seeds
Okay, back to selfish…High Mowing is starting off their sponsorship here at NW Edible with a bang by giving away one of their 100% Organic Garden Starter Collections to one lucky reader.
The High Mowing Garden Starter Collection includes 10 seed packets of adaptable, easy-to-grow, organic vegetable varieties (I’ve grown most of these very successfully in the Pac NW) and – bonus!- it comes in a fab, reusable box.
This collection includes one packet each of:
- Provider Bush Bean
- Detroit Dark Red Beet
- Danvers 126 Carrot
- Marketmore 76 Cucumber
- High Mowing Mild Mix
- Gourmet Lettuce Mix
- Cascadia Snap Pea
- Cherry Belle Radish
- Sweet Basil
- Dark Orange Calendula
This collection is valued at $27.50. One lucky winner will get the whole collection for free.
To enter to win, leave a comment on this blog post telling me what vegetable you have the most trouble growing. (Mine is carrots, which is why I am excited to see if this rust fly resistant carrot lives up to the hype.) The winner will be notified by email.
Contest open until Thursday, January 9th at 8:00 PM PST. Contest open to US residents only due to shipping regulations.
Thank you to High Mowing for sponsoring this giveaway. I encourage you guys to go check out High Mowing and request a free catalog. See if you like what you see.
Good luck everyone!
Update: Contest now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered, and to High Mowing for sponsoring this giveaway. Congratulations to winner Joy D, who said, “I started gardening in a field claimed as a community plot for gardeners. Therefore the root veggies were/are the hardest. (I could find no one with a rototiller. When I was a kid my Dad was busy with his rototiller every day after he came home from his job until dark. Helping everyone he could to get a good start in their gardening.)”
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Aside from the fact that we had horrendous rain in N Florida last summer, I guess I’d have to say I have a miserable time growing cukes. I’ve tried all varieties, but my garden seems to host a myriad of nasty critters that decimate the vines and fruit.
I have trouble with watermelon. We’ve tried planting several varieties and we always end up with Mealy Melon.
Well done on the sponsor!! You deserve it!
My soil has become incompatible with my growing anything. I am now in the process of adding soil minerals and mineral corrections so my soil will actually encourage growth! Right now, nothing is growing very well!!
Cabbage…going aquaponic see if that helps…love the blog…great day!
I never seem to be able to get spinach to turn out, which is unfortunate because it’s one of the few greens I like.
Spinach does best for me in the NW as an overwintering crop, it’ll start growing in very early spring and has some time to size before it inevitably bolts as the days lengthen fast.
Green beans. Ahh, they drive me crazy!
I live in SE Alaska. A temperate rainforest with huge mountains, dripping with glaciers coming right down to the ocean. Beautiful, but tricky for gardening. Peaty, acidic, wet, cold soils. A fairly short growing season but lots of cloudy days and rain and few summer temperatures above 60 degrees. So there are lots of things I can’t grow – tomatoes, cucumbers, corn – but I should be able to grow beets and I can’t. The carrots grow like gang-busters right next to the beets but the beets just sit there like they are on strike. Others grow beets – why oh why can’t I?
I have trouble growing lots of things, but the most frustrating for me is beets.. simply because they are my favorite.
Cherry tomatoes! I know my plot is a bit shady, but I’ve grown a few (very few) full sized tomatoes (nothing tastes as good as your own, huh?), but thought the solution would be cherry tomatoes. I’ve never managed to have one plant survive. Congrats on your sponsor! I love it when folks do the right thing. I shall certainly support them and spread the word!
the most is melons ,or anything squash bugs take to
Brussel Sprouts. I love them and struggle growing them.
I have a hard time growing peppers. Also have a hard time with peas which are my favorite 🙁
My local slugs are excessively attracted to any cucubitae – and almost always eat any seedlings through their stems – even if put in a 4ft high plastic barrel! Last summer I did finally manage to get a couple plants through that vulnerable time and they did bear great considering that they were so late that they started flowering in September.
(Vancouver Island Canada)
Nick
I have trouble with squash. Evil squash bugs took over and destroyed my plants and deer ate my blossoms.
Squash/zucchini, darn vine borers. I attack my plants with a pocket knife to get them and some of my plants have survived the surgery.
I had the most trouble growing carrots and watermelon, of all things!
Peas, it seems I can never get them in early enough. Maybe this year. That is the great thing about gardening.
My broccoli always flowers before it is fully grown.
Last year I struggled with hot peppers, 8 plants and about the same amount of peppers. Spinach always seems to bolt before it gets a decent size here too, in upstate New York.
I always hear the tomatoes are the easiest to grow. However, I have not had any luck. I live in Florida where the bugs and worms attack my tomatoes. I also have problem growing spaghetti and butternut squash. They never seem to get Any bigger than 5”.
Hmm, I have gotten almost everything except for lettuces to grow, though nothing really seems to produce edibles. I can get my carrots to grow about an inch long, which worked really well to make soup stock, and my herbs will sometimes take off… but the tomatoes and the cukes so far, those things that would be incredibly handy to grow for canning and pickling, will grow up then produce 1 or 2 flowers then fizzle out even after some tender loving nutrient rinses. I work with container gardening on my apartment balcony, so it may be the not so optimal conditions, but lettuces should at least perk up, right? Right?
I have the biggest trouble with squash. They grow wonderfully here in Colorado, but the squash bugs think so too. Even when I’ve tried to stop growing them for a couple of years or rotate the crops, they still come… Here’s the order of what seems to be tastiest to them in my garden: Yellow summer squash, Striped Zucchini, Green Zucchini, pumpkins, winter squashes, then in a pinch, they’ll get curious about my cucumbers and watermelon. Pure evil…..
I too have carrot growing issues. Hoping this year will be better!
I tried (and failed) to grow Pok Choy last year. But I’m not giving up! I LOVE High Mowing Seeds! Thanks.
In my area the trick to Pac Choi is starting them in late summer, well after the solstice, or they bolt immediately.
I can’t seem to grow carrots!!!! Maybe it’s my soil, thinking about trying them in a raised bed……
I’ve had the most difficulty with pumpkins and squash. This year, the pumpkin vines flowered, but that was all….very disappointing. Congrats on the sponsor!!
I have had trouble in the last 2 years with melons. I only get one or two per plant and they grow to full size or ripen. It’s very frustratingg because we love melons and would love to have home grown ones.
I seem to have more trouble with cukes. But I still try every year!
This post Really resonated with me! Thank you so much! I totally understand the effort that goes into creating a blog with any kind of value…and it’s hard not to question why you’re doing it when your time could be spent doing a “real” job. Bravo to you for signing up with High Mowing seeds! Your endorsement means a lot, and I will definitely check them out!
As for difficult veggies, for me in the PNW, anything the voles & aphids enjoy – potatoes, carrots, brassicas … and although I plant plenty of chard, I’ve seen them clipped off right at the base (at least I could harvest the leaves!). Oh, and then the blight often gets my tomatoes late in the season. Ask me again why I write a gardening blog? Lol.
I love High Mowing Seeds!! Awesome giveaway!! Cucumbers and myself have an on going battle…
Last year was my first garden… so at this point I am not really sure as I dont have anything to compare it to. However my corn did not turn out as well as I’d hoped.
Squash bores love my zucchini and squash! I’ve given their allotted space away to better performers in recent years. I’m curious about growing Jerusalem artichokes this year! Waving hello from Charleston, SC!
I have the most trouble with broccoli, peppers and eggplant. We made a large PVC frame covered with clear plastic for tomatoes, which makes all the difference in the NW.
I can never grow peppers – they never do anything!
Cucumbers! I try try as much as possible to be self suffcient, one thing I love is relish, I make many types but love dill pickle relish on sandwiches and on the side to meats but have had no luck in growing cucumbers (as is the plants don’t even get large enough to bear fruit). I do compensate by making zucchini relish but along with relish love cucumbers in salads, stuffed with things such as chicken salad, marinated and tossed on top of an already cooked stir fry….the list goes on forever!
Broccoli. Gets eaten by something or other every time. 🙁
I have difficulty with cruciferous veggies…..broccoli bolts, cauliflower and brussel sprouts just never head up…..plus they are the only ones I have pest problems with.
I’ve only really grown a couple of things so far. Started super small last year. My beets and turnips were nothing to write home about (but it may have been my fault – with soil in my “raised” bed being too shallow). Anyway, I’m planning to get a little more adventurous and already have the High Mowing catalog! So no matter what, we’ll be eating High mowing produce in 2014, but it would be wonderful to start off with a giveaway. And awesome to hear you recognize a fork in the road and be so intentional in your decision!
I’ve been plagued by squash bugs three dang years in a row! Luckily there are many farmers markets in my neighborhood to get my zucchini fix.
I cannot grow beets and carrots They sprout and then just stop growing and the bugs eat them. terribly discouraging.
Oh no…I had such a hard time growing cabbage this past year. It just wouldn’t form heads. I’ve heard maybe it was a nitrogen issue…Would love these seeds!
we have a hard time with tomatoes bc they either dont turn red or the squirrels steal them!
I have the most trouble growing the french butter lettuces my husband adores. Not because it’s actually hard to grow, but because the neighborhood squirrels will do absolutely anything to get their paws on gourmet salad fixings!
We’re in a circle cut out of a forested spot in the PacNW, with thousands of hungry mouths around. So we grow our salad greens in hanging baskets suspended (basically at eye level) from two parallel (one above the other) horizontal, 10′-long copper pipes that are attached by closet rod supports to a high, south-facing wall of our house. Nobody messes with them.
The spacing between the hanging baskets can be adjusted as needed. The house wall reflects much-needed warmth. And the plants’ leaves stay clean, so we can graze. Yum!
great tip!
Lately I have no sprouts on my Brussels! What’s up with that? I planted them way early from seeds and they grew into monsters but no sprouts, how disappointing! Love to garden, always up for the challenge!
I’ve had good and bad experiences with most them. When a plant fails to thrive I immediately assume the soil needs something. I think the biggest failure to date was an artichoke I transplanted that just stayed the same size all summer until it got covered in aphids and died.
Recently the drought has played havoc with the corn and tomatoes. And the squash bugs got my 6 varieties of summer and winter squashes last year so that I did get quite a few summer squash but only like 5 spaghetti squash, but 1 pumpkin (only because I accidentally picked it way too early and let it ripen in the house) and no acorn and no butternut squash, though I had 4 plants of each winter squash.
I love High Mowing Seeds! Used them last year for the first time. I had a lot of trouble with my pumpkins, though. We just got too much rain and the vines rotted. Tomatoes also did awful.
Congrats on your new sponsor! I have been purchasing seed from them for several years, and they are the best:-) I have been reading your blog off and on over the past few months and feel it is one of the best. congrats to you in the success of your blog!!!!…ignore those that are “haters”….just move on and keep on doing what you do well and enjoy your blessings:-)
I planted four Zucchini plants. I got a lot of flowers but only four zucchini. What’s up with that… what’s up with that? Love your blog
I love High Mowing – I believe it was the first seed catalog I ever ordered from. And I’m lousy at growing true lettuces (can pull off “green” without a problem).