Gardening with Clay Soil

Learn how to improve soil quality in your garden by understanding soil structure, texture, and the benefits of organic matter. Explore tips on using mulch, cover crops, and selecting plants that thrive in clay-like soils to create healthier, more productive gardens.

Photo of Dorene Pasekoff holding bowls of tomatoes.

Stewardship Stories

Dorene Pasekoff ADAPT Spotlight

Celebrate the passion behind Seed Savers Exchange’s Community Science Program through the inspiring stories of volunteers like Dorene Pasekoff. Discover her journey from community gardening to farming and seed saving, and learn how she’s helping steward heirloom varieties for future generations through the ADAPT and RENEW programs. A tribute to biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, and the love of growing.

A large tour group gathers in an apple orchard.

Recipes

Apple Recipes from Beth Dooley

Explore delicious apple recipes from Beth Dooley’s kitchen using heritage apples from Seed Savers Exchange’s Historic Orchard. Try her Apple-Cranberry Cobbler and Pan Roasted Apples with Maple and Hazelnuts, perfect for any season. Discover the flavors of carefully cultivated apples and create your own orchard-inspired dishes!

Varieties

Discover Rare Apples at Seed Savers Exchange’s Historic Orchard

Explore the rare and historic apple varieties growing at Seed Savers Exchange’s Heritage Farm orchard, including Gano, Golden Russet, and Virginia Greening. Learn about their rich history, unique flavors, and how you can help preserve these 19th-century apples for future generations.

A pile of papers organizing information about different potato varieties

Stewardship Stories

Curzio Caravati, SSE’s own ‘Johnny Potato Seed’

Meet Seed Savers Exchange member Curzio Caravati, self-described “horticultural researcher,” caretaker of rare potato varieties, and founder of the Kenosha Potato Project (KPP)—an initiative to augment the work of Seed Savers Exchange, the U.S. Potato Genebank, and others to safeguard the genetic diversity of the potato, one of the most important crops in the world.

A close up of a pile of large, black and purple-dappled runner beans

Stewardship Stories

Seeds, Resurrected

In the summer of 2018, Seed Savers Exchange regenerated, or “resurrected” three rare seed varieties from the collection, including a runner bean, black oats, and corn.

A large garden with many plants with a red barn in the distance

Varieties

Community Scientists Make A Difference

The 2018 community science programs, consisting of 80 Seed Savers Exchange members, helped us take another giant step forward in preserving our collection.

Four red peppers, a group of pepper seeds and a small jar of pepper seeds on a small blue styrofoam plate

Stewardship Stories

Amy LeBlanc: Seed Saver, Preservationist, Educator

Amy Frances LeBlanc, a lifetime SSE member since 1996, truly embodies the mission of SSE to promote and preserve our garden heritage.

Many small orange butterflyweed flowers in clusters surrounded by their stems' foliage

Learn

Prairie Flowers for Pollinators

Scott Leddy, a habitat-restoration practitioner well known among naturalists in the Midwest, has devoted the majority of his life (more than three decades) to restoring the bluffs and prairies surrounding Rushford, Minnesota, part of the Driftless Area of the Midwest.

A close up of a leafy green lettuce plant with some splashes of bronze color

Varieties

Members Help ADAPT Program Shine

The year 2017 proved a success for Seed Savers Exchange’s new Community Science programs. Myriad SSE members answered the call to participate in one (or both) of the programs—ADAPT and RENEW.

Articles