Seed Savers Exchange has pulled together a few suggestions for your holiday gift list; you’re sure to find a perfect (and affordable!) gift for every gardener, seed saver, food enthusiast, and flower lover in your life.
Seed Savers Exchange marks 50 years in 2025, and there’s a lot to celebrate—including 16 new seed varieties in our special-edition catalog (seven exclusively from the SSE collection).
Cauliflower is a biennial crop belonging to the species Brassica oleracea, and requires a generous amount of space in the garden, especially in its second year of growth. Start cauliflower seeds in early spring and overwinter the plants to save seeds the following year.
For some folks, harvest season brings hours and hours of canning, freezing, and drying to preserve crops for the colder months ahead. But if you’re looking for a crop that stores well all on its own, look no further than winter squash! Winter squash are versatile, nutritious, and can store for months.
The 2025 Seed Savers Exchange Catalog proudly offers more than 600 unique, open-pollinated varieties, but its cover showcases only two—the delightfully delicious ‘German Pink’ tomato and the mighty yet majestic ‘Grandpa Ott’s’ morning glory (with the historic barn at Heritage Farm providing the backdrop).
Hand-pollination of squash ensures that the plants produce true-to-type seed and that the flowers are not contaminated by the pollen from another variety when the required isolation distance is impractical. Because the large male and female blossoms are easily distinguished, hand-pollinating squash can be easy for gardeners of all skill levels.
In absence of isolation, hand-pollination ensures that the corn plant’s flowers are not contaminated by pollen from another variety. Hand-pollination prevents hybridization and ensures that the plant produces seeds that are true-to-type.
So maybe it doesn’t spark the excitement of National Doughnut Day (June 2) or National Chocolate Ice Cream Day (June 7) or even National Selfie Day (no, you haven’t missed that—it’s June 21). But here at Seed Savers Exchange, we think National Weed Your Garden Day—observed annually on June 13—has a whole lot going for it too.
Did you know you can still plant in your garden in June? Odds are good you’ve already transplanted your tomatoes and peppers and harvested lettuce or other greens to serve up fresh for dinner. Yes, your garden has sprung to life, but if you’re interested in more than just weeding and watering, plenty of crops are still ripe for planting in many regions of the United States.