Just Throwin' This Out There.....

I've been thinking of the topic of hybrid vs. heirloom seeds. I often wondered what the effect of all the genetic engineering on our seeds has done to our health. I understand "hybrid" to mean they've genetically crossed the seeds somehow to make the plants more disease resistant (and tasteless I might add), but you cannot take the seeds produced from that vegetable to perpetuate more plants. I understand "heirloom" to be seeds you can propagate from what is grown. Is this right?

That said, I'd love to learn how to propagate seeds from what I've grown...you know....taking a tomato and saving the seeds for the following spring to start and plant.

How about it....any thoughts out there?
Alisa

sorry to be posty mcposter woman but does anybody have an extra tomato cage? im one short! on that note, kroger at graceland has pepper and tomato plants for only $.50 right now. i bought three! :)

Host needed for the next meeting

Would anyone be willing to host the next garden club meeting? It will be Sunday July 13th in the evening and our speaker will be Randy Sanders a local expert in indigenous plants. He will have a slide show of the native plants that grow at their farm. The only requirements are that you have a backyard we can all hang out in and live in the Clintonville area.

Any takers?

Gardening Hotline

Did you know that there is a hotline you can call to get help with gardening questions? I just read about this in Sunday's paper


OSU Extension Franklin County Master Gardeners offer a
gardening hotline throughout the growing season.

Gardeners may call 614-866-6900, extension 209, and leave
a detailed message about their gardening or plant question.

Master Gardeners will research the questions and return
calls Monday and Wednesday of each week between 10:30 a.m.
and 12:30 p.m.

a few questions

Does anyone have any idea what would bite off all the stems of a jalapeno plant? Whatever it was apparently didn't like it, as the stems are just laying all around where the plant was.

Also, is anyone using any organic fertilizers? We enlarged our garden this year, so part of it is brand new to growing veggies -- the plants in this area seem a little too pale compared to the rest of the plants.

Thanks!

update on hostas

to anyone whom i have given hostas to: how are they doing? i transplanted some at my parents house and i hope yours met a better fate than theirs! they are going the way of the buffalo, and quickly!

Does anyone have...

any starter cherry tomato plants or maybe some that came up from last year that you are getting rid of? I purchased this hanging tomato "plant" from a kid who came to my door...he told me it was an actual plant. When he delivered it, I was a bit shocked...it was a bag and some seeds. It obviously is too late to start these seeds. I would just go to a garden center and pick some up, but I really need some smaller plants to fit in these holes in the bag.

Contest- Ohio Gardening Guide

Sign up to win a Ohio gardening guide.
(Check rules: contest might only be available to Time-Warner customers?)

FYI

Thanks to all who made the group great last night. I'm still thinking of all the interesting info that was shared.

Two notes:

http://www.lehmans.com/ has the pressure canners.

This Week Northland newspaper reports a new farmer's market will be starting at the corner of 161 & Cleveland July 8-Oct 28.

compost help...

last night at the meeting, jared showed everyone his non-stinky compost bins...& jenny mentioned that composts done correctly shouldn't smell. so wes & i (heidi) are wondering why ours reeks! obviously, we are doing something wrong, but what could it be? we put vegetable & fruit leftovers in (no meat or dairy) & grass clippings every once in awhile, sod dug up for beds. we've had this about a year (since we moved here) & it's a large black compost box (w/ a lid). we've had composts before at other houses & they didn't smell & we are doing nothing different. except we have a closed lid bin instead of an open 'pit' as we've done before...

any suggestions? we are not the most well read of composters, so i'm sure it would behoove us learn a bit more about it (before we start growing the toxic waste plant in westerville in our backyard), so book suggestions are welcome also.

-heidi

Neighbors' Day Today

... at Shepherd's Corner, a 160-acre organic farm in Jefferson Township west of Waggoner Road

See todays's Dispatch article "Tending God's Green Acres" It says that, " Sisters of Shepherd's Corner, an ecological ministry, welcome suburban neighbors."

flickr group

if you'd like to see pics or post pics of your gardens- come by the newly established flickr group. you can mark your photos with notes and descriptors of different things of interest within the photo.

if you'd like to post to the group email me at: mokonkwo [at] gmail [dot] com

got bunnies?

Yesterday at the garden store,
a man buying flowers and I started talking about pests.

FYI, he mixes 4 parts water to 1 part hot sauce and sprays this on his ground-level petunias and other plants that bunnies eat. He claims this works until it rains at which time, he goes outside and reapplies the mixture.

Thanks to the Pennsylvania Game Commission for use of this photo.