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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Tomatoes always end up with either disease, or pests. Despite using resistant kinds, or mulch to prevent soil / rain splash, or early morn watering, or rotation, I am just jinxed. Always get some, but then when crop should be coming in, the plants start going downhill.
Ha ha ha – it’s easier to say what vegetables I *don’t* have trouble with! So far, kale and salad greens are the exception to that, growing even in our last yard that was a horrible shady valley, and now I have a patch of garlic and arugula that seems to be doing well. This year I’m not going to try so hard for tomatoes and basil, since my partner is experimenting with growing those hydroponically in the basement, and they always lead to heartbreak. Instead, I’m going to focus on peas and beans, carrots, potatoes and the dark leafy greens.
spinach! I don’t know why I have so much trouble with this veggie, but I could eat spinach every day and, as luck would have it, I can’y even get to germinate most of the time.
Beets! I do not know why, but I have so much trouble with beets! They grow to about 3-4 inches in height, and then just stop. It seems like something they need is missing in my soil. It really bums me out, because I LOVE beets.
I just ordered a seed catalog from High Mowing yesterday! I have not ordered from them before, but have heard great things, so I thought I would check them out.
Erica, you do such a service for so many people here! You deserve to have a sponsor, and it is beneficial for you, your sponsor, your readers, and our beautiful green earth to promote sustainable, conscious businesses. Thank you for all that you do!
Lucky Me, I just found your site and I am in L-O-V-E! I’ll probably be here all day too.
Ok, so corn….corn hates me….Northcentral Montana is nothing like gardening in MS or GA. I am having trouble acclimating to the north….Zones 7–8 to Zone 4 it’s only been 6 years….LOL
Thank you for the entertainment and opportunity.
~Ash
I’m still new to gardening, and container gardening only so far, so I haven’t really successfully grown anything. I can count my total tomato harvest for the past 3 years on one hand, but I’ve actually harvested those!
Seeing as how I inherited a totally sleezy slutty p patch (yes it has every disease and pest you could imagine and getting rid of them all defies any visit to ANY garden doctor), my worst trouble in said patch has been eggplant or lack there of. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTs of pretty flowers, GORGEOUS flowers, umm but zero eggplants. And to rub it all in, my neighbors’ plot??? Eggplants growing no problem! what the???
thanks for the opportunity to win the http://www.highmowingseeds.com Organic Seeds giveaway. I have to admit I love their catalog, drooling over all the hunky earth friendly men gardening they splash through it, doesn’t hurt my eyes at all. was that slutty? maybe the p patch is wearing off on me, ha ha oh and congrats on the JOB.
What do I have the most trouble growing? Brussels sprouts, I have tried 3 different years and haven’t mastered them yet. I think pests are getting them, but I won’t give up until I get my very own fresh brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving!
Carrots are my challenge. Some of the same variety go gangbusters, others literally planted right next store do nothing but put out a spindly orangish mini-root.
Brussels Sprouts!
Without a doubt – non cherry, non grape Tomatoes! From sunscald to BER to late blight to tomato hornworms, I’ve been attempting to grow different types of toms for about three years with nothing more to mark my efforts than a few handfuls of beautiful cherry maters and some very ugly San Marzanos 🙂 That being said, it was all in containers. This month, I am moving to a home with a very large, very empty yard that is SCREAMING to be planted this spring. I could use those seeds. I’ve been following you for at least a few years now and have learned so much, Keep up the GREAT blog!! I love the inspiration!!
Watermelon. I’ve gotten plants with tons of leaves and teeny tiny melons and then it freezes. *sigh* I have the same issue with peppers.
(PS I grow Danvers carrots and have never had a disease issue *knocks on wood*. Even when I forgot to transplant them to the garden I got carrots- only 1/2″ long but sweet as could be and cute as buttons.)
Beets—I love them but I can’t seem to grow them much bigger than a large marble.
And sadly I’ve had tomato problems the past few years—not sure what I’m going to do with that.
All vegetables…I’ve never grown anything! That’s going to change this spring though. Thanks for the giveaway!
I cannot grow cucumbers. Everything else I can handle, but cucumbers have me stymied.
Just starting so I am gung to have trouble with everything!
Can’t for the life of me get decent broccoli and I ALWAYS end up with powdery mildew on my cukes.
Tomatoes. They grow out of control, but the fruit is disappointingly slow to ripen and most of it rots green on the vine! Ugh!
Brussels Sprouts (aphids!), and my carrots always look beautiful, but taste like wood.
Not to mention all those things that get nipped by frost – melons especially!
Broccoli and carrots. Well, carrots any bigger than my pinky anyway.
eggplant!
I don’t even need to win, I’m just happy to hear about a new awesome seed company. But since I would like the seeds…I have trouble growing tomatoes.
I have had the most trouble with growing broccoli/cauliflower. It seems the bugs either get to them first or I wait too long to pick them in hoping that the heads will get bigger and they don’t- they just go to seed!
1) The hardest thing for me to grow is carrots, too. Mine are always puny and not very flavorful.
2) You absolutely deserve to earn money for the work and effort you put into this blog. It reaches out to so many people and teaches us some wonderful things.
3) Thanks for introducing me to High Mowing seeds. I had never encountered them before your blog. (I think that proves this advertising thing is beneficial for the both of you.)
Erica, you are awesome. Haven’t tried growing anything of my own yet (gasp, I know) because I don’t have a garden yet (double gasp). We’ve got plans for raised beds though, so it’s only a matter of time now. 🙂
Beets in the summer. The beet flies always get them. Beet greens are a winter only treat for us!
I have the worst luck with daikon radishes. They grow great, but become bug hotels and inedible. 🙁
Onions! I have never been successful at growing them 🙁 which is a shame because we eat tons of them!
Beets me! 🙂
Beets is our favorite food and I have a lot of trouble growing them here in this North Carolina red clay dirt.
Carrots for me too. I get maybe 3 a year!! 🙁
tomatoes – We grow in the deep south. Just when they start looking great, heat + super high humidity kills them.
Carrots for me too!
We really struggled with broccoli (little green worms everywhere) and kale (flea beetles, I think). Super frustrating given our Willamette Valley climate, which I know is great for those two crops. But what you’re saying makes a lot of sense; I hadn’t realized that if I’m using seed created to withstand pesticides that I then don’t use, my plants are super vulnerable. I’ll be looking for different seeds this year!
There can be drawbacks to living where a ton of commercial crops are grown – pests for those crops know the area. 🙂
The little green worms are most likely cabbage moth caterpillars. They are endemic. The most organic method to grow a totally clean crop os to crop under lightweight remmay – that stops the moth from reaching the plant to lay eggs. The other option is periodic sprays with the organic, targeted insecticide BT. It is highly effective – a couple sprays over the growing season will typically knock back the caterpillar population. BT is one of very few insecticides I’m comfortable with – do some research and see how you feel about it.
My bell peppers never get big–I have much better luck with banana peppers.
Congratulations on the sponsor 🙂 I imagine that was a difficult decision, but as long as you already know they have a great product I think it can only be a win-win relationship. My biggest challenge has been carrots, going to try some additional soil amendment this year and give it another try.
I have big trouble growing cilantro and green chillies. I keep wondering to see the bunch of cilantro lying around in my grocery store all the time. I just can’t get them to grow healthily. And green chillies.. I transplant them and they just won’t grow. 🙁
The last two years I have had a terrible time growing zucchini.
Absolutely, hands-down, the plant I have the most difficulty growing is corn. I have horrible pollination rates. Last year I only saw a handful of kernels on each ear. It was a total bust! I also have a difficult time knowing when to harvest it, so it’s either over or under done when I pick it. Fortunately, my chickens don’t care, one way or another, so it’s not a total loss. And, I use the stalks and husks for mulch, after grinding them up. I’ll keep trying to grow it, though. I just love fresh corn on the cob!
I enjoyed your writing and when someone is passionate about what they do you can really feel it. I grow everything. What crop do I have a hard time with? It Depends. Some years it’s the carrot, other times it’s tomatoes or squash. I’ve been tested by beets and challenged by an unruly patch of strawberries. Every season in the garden is different. If I had to pick one crop that consistently gives me a hard time, I’d have to go with Brussel sprouts.
Thanks and keep growing!
Renee
I have had no success growing eggplant in Oregon.
I’m going to go with beets, since I just can’t get them to grow past seedling stage. I also can’t grow anything in the pea family, but that’s not my fault. The evil slugs eat them down to the ground no matter what I do to try to stop them. 🙁
Beets and carrots are my nemesis. Actually, I applaud you for obtaining sponsors such as High Mowing Seeds, and if you sign on others that are of the same caliber, I say more power to you. The more the word gets out about responsible companies producing fine products the better. If you can do so with a great blog and make some money at the same time, that’s wonderful in my book.
I’m new to growing my own foods, but I tried strawberries last year and had no luck!
Large tomatoes are nearly impossible in my Seattle garden, but the odd one is squash–anything with vines that comes up in my P-Patch withers and dies (while the next-door neighbors’ gardens are all producing more than they can handle).
I have never been able to successfully grow broccoli. I’ve managed a couple of small florets. I wonder if my zone (7b) just isn’t great for it because I don’t think I’ve known anyone locally (thinking about my grandparents, neighbors, and friends’ grandparents with big backyard gardens) who has had a hearty crop of broccoli.
Strawberries. The plants do great, spread and thrive; but the fruit is pathetically slow and the earwigs arrive in droves the minute it shows.
Potatoes are driving me nuts. I can’t get back much more than I put in the ground to start with. Urgh!
I’ve kept my gardening pretty small the last couple years, so i haven’t tried a huge variety yet. But one thing that has surprised me is radishes. I’ve had a really hard time with them.
I can’t grow peppers. My green pepper plants never have more than one scrawny little pepper on them. The jalapenos are covered in peppers, but they have no flavor.