066 Saving Seeds and Seed Libraries with David King

Want to know how you can save your own vegetable seeds? Develop your varieties? Start your own seed library? We talk to David King of the Seed Library of Los Angeles about these topics and more. During the podcast David mentions a few resources including the Organic Seed Alliance and Carol Deppe’s book Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties. David blogs at LA Garden Blog and also can be found at The Learning Garden. If you want to leave a question fo...

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Is Purslane the New Kale?

...rslane (Portulaca oleracea) could soon be ready for its fifteen minutes of vegetable fame. We planted some this year in our summer vegetable garden and I’ve used it in a lot of salads this week. Purslane is a common weed in North America. We’d love to be able to forage it in the neighborhood but, for some reason, it only tends to appear in unappetizing locations: usually the gutter (I think it needs a bit more water than what falls naturally from...

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Direct Seeding vs. Transplants

...Willits a few years back. Jeavons transplants everything. One of the best vegetable gardens I ever grew was done following his instructions to the letter. But I’m not big on double digging, nor do I look forward to the twice a year transplanting chores. Look what’s growing in the new raised beds–nada! This year I tried to direct sow the summer garden instead of growing trays of seedlings and I have to say I’m not getting good results. A week of t...

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What I’m Growing this Winter

...ltivata Sel. Ortolani” One can never have enough arugula. It’s my favorite vegetable. This year I’m trying Franchi’s arugula “Coltivata Sel. Ortolani.” Franchi sells both “cultivated” and “wild” varieities of arugula (confusing, since the “wild” varieties are actually cultivated). Cultivated varieties tend to be milder and less sharp in taste. I like them both. Franchi highlights certain varieties by featuring them as “Selezione Speciale” which is...

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