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by Melissa Norris

Intro to Heirloom Seeds

Gardening, Raising Your Own Food

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Intro to Heirloom Seeds Pioneering Today Podcast #3 www.melissaknorris.com

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Heard the term heirloom gardening and seeds? Wondering what exactly heirloom plants mean and why they're beneficial for your food supply and garden?

We'll discuss:

  • The 3 characteristics a plant must have to be considered heirloom
  • History of heirloom seeds
  • Basics of seed saving
  • Where to get heirloom seed
  • Major benefits of heirloom plants
  • Best type of heirloom plants to begin seed saving

I look forward to sharing with you. Please email me at melissa(at)melissaknorris(dot)com with questions or comments. I’d love to have a readers show where I answer your questions. Or leave your question in the comments section below.

For further information on heirloom gardening, check out these articles as well!

Where to Buy Heirloom Seed

List of Heirloom Varieties to Grow in Your Garden

10 Unique Heirloom Vegetables to Grow in Your Garden

Natural Weed Control & Heirloom Flowers

5 Reasons You Need Heirloom Seeds

How to Save & Store Heirloom Seed

Heirloom Seed Saving & Gardening

Grow Your Own Food In-Person Worksop

Saturday May 20th

$349

An intimate and hands on workshop

At Norris Farmstead

Click Here to Learn More

Melissa Norris

Melissa K. Norris inspires people's faith and pioneer roots with her books, podcast, and blog. Melissa lives with her husband and two children in their own little house in the big woods in the foothills of the North Cascade Mountains. When she's not wrangling chickens and cattle, you can find her stuffing Mason jars with homegrown food and playing with flour and sugar in the kitchen.

Read more about Melissa

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Comments:

  1. Leslie

    I haven’t been able to listen to your 2nd podcast but did get to listen to this one. I love the idea of pollinating your own garden. I think I’d feel like a little fairy with my paint brush. LOL It was interesting to hear about how your family came to the area on a flat bed truck. Even though I’m so close to NC, I have never (knowingly) eaten Tarheel beans although my grandmother grew October beans.

    Reply

  3. Amy

    I have decided to go heirloom with my garden this year. I do want to save seeds for next year but I don’t think I want to bother with hand pollinating (at least not yet!). Do I have to worry about that if I stick to just 1 variety of each veggie? Also do you know of a good resource that can tell me which varieties will do well in my area (SW Washington)?

    Reply

    • Melissa Norris

      Hi, Amy,

      As long as they don’t cross pollinate, you’re fine. For example, some varieties of winter squash will cross-pollinate, but if you just do one of each kind of vegetable you’re fine. Though most times tomatoes and beans don’t cross pollinate. To be on the safe side, plant two varieties of beans at opposite ends of the garden. You can also stagger plant, so that the blossoms aren’t open at the same time, for things like summer squash and winter squash. There’s a great book called Seed to Seed that goes into full on detail. If you get the Baker Creek Heirloom Catalog, they talk bout which areas things grow good. I’m in Northwest WA so things that do well in cooler weather and short growing season are what I look for. Let me know if you have more questions and I’ll do my best to answer. Congrats on an all heirloom garden!!

      Reply

  8. Podcast Seed SavingMelissa K. Norris

    […] to know the real difference between heirloom, hybrid, and GMO seeds? Here’s my intro on Heirloom Garden seed. You can also get my free e-book Heirloom Gardening Guide-Plant to Save Money here. Can you tell […]

    Reply

  11. Astrid Otey

    I couldn’t listen to the pod-cast but I have learned a bit about cross-pollination when/while growing my own gourds.

    One thing to keep in mind is that cross-pollination can come from your neighbor’s plants too if they are growing a different variety of the same family than you are. Even wild varieties that grow in your neighborhood can cross-pollinate, like Queen Anne’s Lace (aka “wild carrot”) can cross-pollinate your own heirloom carrots. Who would have thought, right?

    One way to prevent this is to keep a -sometimes huge- distance between the plants, but most people don’t have a lot of room. For instance, lettuce needs about 25 ft between varieties and peppers could be up to 500 feet and then I’m not even talking about the cabbage family (about 1 mile) and beets (needs about 5 mile distance between varieties).

    Now these distances are simply not possible for a home gardener as I am so another possibility is planting different varieties at different times. Then, as the blooms open for one variety and pollination takes place, the other variety is still growing and not yet blooming.

    As to pollinating yourself, I’ve done that for years with my gourds since they cross-pollinate real easy but I don’t care because sometimes different shapes work great for my crafts; go out with my little paintbrush and a flashlight and it does make you feel like a little fairy just as Leslie said. For gourds I have to do that after it gets dark because that’s when gourds bloom, making it all the more a magical experience 🙂

    Reply

  12. Lynda

    I was lucky enough to get some of your Tarheel beans. Thank you very much. When can I plant my beans here in southeast Texas. Is it best to let the ground warm to a certain degree? Our last chance of frost is coming up quickly here so I don’t see a problem with that. Can the beans be started inside first or is it best to plant in the ground? Thanks. Lynda

    Reply

    • Melissa Norris

      Hi Lynda,

      Beans are best direct sown, they don’t like to be transplanted. I’d wait a couple of weeks after your last frost chance, for beans, you want the soil temperature to be about 60 degrees Farenheit.

      Reply

  13. Cheryl Doroha

    Hello Melissa. Just came across you the other day looking for ways to organize seeds. Loving what I’m seeing so far. I filled out the form for the free planting chart above, but did not get it. I would Love to get this as I’m new to being in charge of a garden & want to do the best I can. Thank you

    Reply

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