Companion Planting for a Healthier, Happier Garden
Strategic planning is part of any good garden design, and companion planting is one of the best strategies to help gardeners do more with any space, no matter how big or how small.
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How to Cook Amaranth
Discover the versatility of ‘Green Leaf’ amaranth in this blog post! Learn about its delicious, nutrient-packed leaves and seeds, and try a flavorful recipe for amaranth leaves in coconut milk. Perfect for salads, stir-fries, and more, amaranth is a tasty addition to any meal.
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John Swenson on How to Grow Garlic
John Swenson, garlic aficionado, offers five tips for growing happy, healthy garlic. Since the 1990s, John has donated 150 varieties to the organization’s seed bank, including his beloved ‘Samarkand,’ a “moderately spicy” hardneck he came across in Uzbekistan.
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Heirloom Collard Trials
Discover the rich history and diverse performance of heirloom collard greens through the 2020 Heirloom Collard Variety Trials. Learn how 250 gardeners and farmers across the U.S. evaluated 18 unique collard varieties, with insights into taste, yield, vigor, and adaptability. This collaborative project celebrates the preservation of Southern food traditions and highlights the ongoing efforts to conserve rare seed varieties for future generations. Explore trial results and find the perfect collard variety for your garden or farm.
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How to Grow Collards with Ira Wallace
Discover expert tips on growing healthy, vibrant collard greens with Ira Wallace, a collard connoisseur and seed-saving advocate. Learn her top five tips for cultivating collards, plus get two delicious recipes, from Brazilian Garlic Collards to classic Southern-style greens. A must-read for gardening enthusiasts and collard lovers alike!
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Q & A with Jessika Greendeer, Seed Keeper
“The corn is one of my greatest teachers,” says Jessika Greendeer, a Ho-Chunk Nation tribal member from Baraboo, Wisconsin, and a Deer Clan member who serves as a seed keeper and farm manager for Dream of Wild Health. The Minneapolis-based organization works to recover knowledge of and access to healthy Indigenous foods, medicines, and lifeways.
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Indigenous seeds return home
“You can’t have food sovereignty without seed sovereignty,” says Jessika Greendeer, former seed keeper and farm manager at Dream of Wild Health in Hugo, Minnesota. “That is why this work is so important.” The “work” to which Greendeer refers is seed rematriation, a growing movement Rowen White, founder of Sierra Seeds, explored in the Heritage Farm Companion, Seed Savers Exchange’s member magazine. “In the Indigenous seed-sovereignty movement, we have begun to use the word ‘rematriation’ as it relates to bringing our seeds home again,”
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Q&A with Craig LeHoullier, SSE Tomato Advisor
Craig discovered a passion for heirloom tomatoes when he joined Seed Savers Exchange in 1986 and today serves as SSE’s tomato adviser.
He has named and popularized many well-known tomatoes, including ‘Cherokee Purple,’ and in 2005 added amateur tomato breeding to his garden resumé. He continues to co-lead a space-limited breeding project, responsible for creating 125 (and counting) new compact growing varieties for space-challenged gardeners.
Exchange Spotlight: Steve Strickler
It’s a fact—the Exchange remains a vibrant source of unique, awe-worthy seeds because of our passionate listers and their distinctive interests. One such lister is Bloomington, Indiana, resident Steve Strickler, a grower of state record-breaking produce.
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Exchange Spotlight: Julie Sheen
Julie Sheen is a farmer, growing and sharing seed adapted to the Mountain West through her seed company, Giving Ground Seeds. In the past, Julie has also shared seeds via the Exchange, our gardener-to-gardener seed swap.
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