Expert Interview #1 and Sweepstakes #1 - Ira Wallace, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

Growing a garden from seed can produce tasty rewards, like these juicy and sweet Sun Gold cherry tomatoes!

As one of the co-owners of the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (SESE) co-op, Ira Wallace is extremely knowledgeable about seeds, particularly when it comes to the edible plants that predominate in the SESE catalog.

As Ira's biography details, she has had a wealth of experiences from her early days volunteering at Florida's Sarasota Succulent Society, to her learning experiences on a kibbutz in Israel, an organic farm in Denmark and a cooperative community in Canada where she became a certified plantsman.

In addition to her work at SESE, Ira serves on the board of the Organic Seed Alliance, writes for Mother Earth News and helps organize the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello (September 14-15 this year).

So given this busy schedule, we're thrilled that she agreed to an interview with GardenofAaron.com so that we can share Ira's expertise with you now in our first Expert Interview:

(FYI -- I asked Ira these questions a couple of weeks ago and just found time to publish the blog post now, so please take into account that her answers were provided in mid-July. Apologies for the delay in publishing them!)

GardenofAaron.com: Your website says that you carry more than 700 varieties of vegetable, flower, herb, grain and cover crop seeds. Are all these seeds organic and how do you choose which varieties to carry?

Ira Wallace: Over 400 of our varieties are USDA certified organic and many of the remaining varieties are grown sustainably by small part-time farmers and gardeners committed to seed saving and preserving heirloom varieties. We work to help more seed growers get certified organic and to help more certified organic farmers add seed production to the mix produced on their farm.

We trial all of our varieties on our farm here in Central Virginia. Many of them are family heirlooms sent to us by customers like Shronces' Deep Black peanuts or varieties developed by southern universities or extension stations like Tropic tomato from Florida or the nematode resistant Carolina Wonder pepper.

We also like to offer the fruit of successful on-farm and amateur breeding programs like the Cross Continental Breeding program that Craig LeHoullier and many others are working on. Brett Grosghal at Ev'nStar Farm has given us some great Winter Hardy Greens. Frank Morton at Wild Garden Seeds does amazing work with lettuce. Folks love his Wild Garden lettuce mix. The USDA gene bank has been really helpful for getting seed samples of older varieties no longer available commercially to try. From those and other sources we offer the best from our trials in the Southern Exposure catalog.

GardenofAaron.com:  Is it too late to plant some additional garden crops in the Southeast?

Ira Wallace: Actually, this is a great time to plant crops. You can still plant summer crops like summer squash, cucumbers and zucchini, but you would want to plant a variety that matures quickly, like Yellow Crookneck squash (55 days to maturity) or Spacemaster cucumber (60 DTM). 

GardenofAaron.com: How about planting fall crops?

Ira Wallace: It can be hard for organic gardeners to get seedlings started in the middle of summer, particularly due to pressure from insects. I like to cover the seedlings with a floating reemay cover. Of course, it doesn't look pretty, but that's why I group all my seedlings into a dedicated bed where I can keep them watered and protected with the reemay. Then when the temperatures cool down and the plants are more established, I transplant them throughout the garden.

As the weather cools, these crops grow fantastically well with little pressure from insect pests that are less active in the colder weather. I always get much larger, nicer heads of broccoli and cauliflower in the fall than I do in the spring.Other seeds to sow in a rich bed with afternoon shade from tall crops like corn or staked tomatoes and beans are cilantro, cabbage, broccoli, collards, salad greens, Chinese cabbage, Asian greens, beets and carrots. Wait until it is cooler in late August or September for arugula, kale, spinach and lettuce.

I use the seedling bed covered with floating row cover for many types of seedlings, except root crops which are better sown in place because they do not transplant well.

GardenofAaron.com: What about waiting until the weather cools - here that could mean into October - to plant fall/winter crops?

Ira Wallace: The problem with waiting that long is that the plants really won't grow much during the winter. But if you plant something like Bloomsdale Spinach, it should overwinter well in the South, especially if it is well-mulched, and then grow really well in the springtime as the weather warms up. Bloomsdale is a particularly good variety for over-wintering since it grows low to the ground, which affords it better protection from hard freezes versus the types of spinach that grow more vertically. On the other hand, autumn is the time to plant crops like garlic and onions that you would then harvest the following May or June.

GardenofAaron.com: Speaking about mulch, what sort of mulch do you like to use in your garden?

Ira Wallace: I like to use straw, particularly because it has few weed seeds. We also use hay sometimes. As for wood chips, we use those mostly on the paths between the beds.

GardenofAaron.com: And then do you turn in the straw to act as a soil ammendment?

Ira Wallace: We do! We like to add as much organic material to the soil as possible. We turn in the straw and we also grow cover crops like buckwheat that we turn into the soil. Here in Virginia, those beds where we have gardened for a number of years have been transformed from red clay soil into brown gold.

GardenofAaron.com: How about fertilizer? Do you use any type of fertilizer in particular in your gardens?

Ira Wallace: We used to use a lot of chicken manure, but then we realized that we were raising the level of phosphorus quite a bit, so we don't really use much of that anymore.

Mostly nowadays we just use amendments like earthworm castings or mushroom compost that we can get from an organic mushroom growers.

I would encourage gardeners to see if they can find interesting and unusual fertilizer sources nearby. For example, one of my gardening friends is able to get okara, which is a byproduct of tofu production. Okara is naturally high in nitrogen and can make a great soil amendment to an organic garden.

GardenofAaron.com: Are there any particularly interesting or unusual varieties of seed in your catalog that you think gardeners might find exciting?

Ira Wallace: We have these really neat seeds from a plant called an Egyptian Walking Onion. These are perennial onions that are quite hardy to zone 4. You can eat the green stalks anytime and dig the onion bulbs themselves in fall and winter, using what you want and replanting the rest. But you actually don't even have to dig the bulbs at all, because the stalks themselves produce aerial bulblets!

GardenofAaron.com: Thanks for your time and your advice, Ira! We hope you'll participate in an interview again in the future!

Sweepstakes Notice! 

Ira Wallace has generously offered to have Southern Exposure Seed Exchange be our first GardenofAaron.com sweepstakes sponsor.

One lucky winner will receive Five (5) Seed Packets of his or her choice from among those seed packets priced at $4 or less in the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange catalog. This covers most of the 'regular' size seed packets in the catalog, which is one of the most exciting and diverse mail-order catalogs that I have seen. The SESE seed catalog includes vegetables, flowers and herbs, many of them unusual heirloom varieties you may not find elsewhere.  

To be eligible to win, all you need to do is subscribe to the GardenofAaron.com email list and post a comment below saying what (if anything) you are hoping or planning to plant this autumn.

Update 8/2/2012 - When you sign up for an email subscription, FeedBurner (which manages the email list) will send you a verification request. You must verify your email and activate your subscription by 8/7/2012 at 11:59 p.m. Central time to be eligible to win the sweepstakes.

Sweepstakes Rules (with apologies for all the legalese):

- No purchase necessary to enter. A purchase or payment of any kind will not increase your chances of winning.

- Contest only open to persons 18 years of age or older who are residents of the contiguous United States

- Winner can choose any five available seed packets in the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange catalog with a listed retail price of $4 or less each. 

- Prize includes shipping and handling from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange to winner's mailing address in the contiguous United States.

- Total maximum approximate retail value of this prize is $25, although prize value may be lower depending on seed packets chosen by the winner.

- This sweepstakes began on Wednesday, August 1, 2012. The contest will run for one week. To be eligible to win, you must have signed up for the email list and posted a comment by 11:59 p.m. U.S. Central time on Tuesday, August 7, 2012.

- On Wednesday, August 8, 2012, GardenofAaron.com will choose one (1) winner from among the eligible entries by using a random number generator website. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Winner will be notified by email (if the commentator's profile contains an email address) or via a posting on GardenofAaron.com (if the commentator's profile does not contain an email address). Winner will have 72 hours from the time of being contacted by email and/or GardenofAaron.com blog posting to respond and confirm acceptance of prize.

- To receive the prize, winner must agree to allow GardenofAaron.com to identify his/her comment as the winning comment.

- To receive the prize, winner must also acknowledge that acceptance, participation and use of the prize is solely at his/her own risk and therefore must unconditionally and forever release, discharge and agree to hold harmless GardenofAaron.com, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and any of their officers, directors, employees, agents or contractors from any and all claims, judgments, costs, damages, losses, expenses and liabilities relating to any claim now or hereafter with respect to any death, personal injury, property damage, pecuniary loss or other loss, damage, cost or expenses suffered by winner or any third party as a result of the sweepstakes or the prize awarded.

- GardenofAaron.com will have sole judgment and discretion in selecting a winner and awarding the prize. GardenofAaron.com will not be liable for any technical malfunctions or typographical errors that result in the disruption or corruption of the sweepstakes. In the event that tampering, fraud, technical failures or other problems prevent the sweepstakes from running as planned, GardenofAaron.com reserves the right to cancel the sweepstakes or limit entries to those legitimately received before any action was taken and/or award the prize in such a manner as may be deemed fair and equitable by GardenofAaron.com in its sole discretion.

- Once winner has fulfilled all conditions and confirmed acceptance of prize, GardenofAaron.com will share the winner's contact information (name and email address) with Southern Exposure Seed Exchange so that winner can claim his/her prize of five (5) seed packets.

- In the event that winner does not fulfill all conditions or does not accept prize in writing within 72 hours of notification, winner will forfeit the prize, which will then be re-awarded using a subsequent random drawing.

- If you have any questions about these sweepstakes rules, please contact GardenofAaron.com for clarification.

- This sweepstakes is void where prohibited by law.

Harvest #4 - Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes and UBT (Unidentified Black Tomato)

Sun Gold cherry tomatoes ripening on the vine

I planted five varieties of tomatoes this year - Sun Gold, Riesentraube, Black Cherry, White Rabbit and an UBT (Unidentified Black Tomato -- well, not unidentified by the seller, but I didn't write down the name when I bought it at the farmers market and promptly forgot it by the time I was ready to label it).

Of these five, the White Rabbit (purchased online via mail order) died practically immediately. Its stem was broken in transit and it never recovered. The seller, whom I contacted immediately upon receipt of the plant, never even bothered to respond. This experience has soured me on buying tomato plants via mail order, despite all the amazing-sounding varieties available. I'll be sticking to farmers markets or nurseries from now on.

Anyway, Riesentraube (which translates to "Giant Grape") is humming along and growing nicely, though all its tomatoes are still green. I'll post Riesentraube photos at a future date. (I'm encouraged by the success that Margaret Roach has had with Riesentraube, as chronicled on her A Way to Garden blog.)

Black Cherry, purchased at the farmers market, has sulked and refused to grow since being planted. I suspect it may not be happy in its raised bed.

That leaves Sun Gold and the UBT.

The UBT produced a number of smaller-sized-than-regular-tomatoes-but-bigger-than-cherries and then has basically stopped growing at maybe 12 or 15 inches tall.

UBT (Unidentified Black Tomato), looks ripe but isn't really

The half-dozen tomatoes turned black but they still seemed really hard to the touch. I don't have much experience growing tomatoes, but I was concerned they might be unripe.

So I turned to that Voice of Experience (my momma) and asked her what she thought. Her sensible advice? Pick one and see if it was ripe.

So I picked one UBT and one Sun Gold tomato for a tiny tomato amuse bouche:

UBT and Sun Gold, just picked and freshly rinsed

I then sliced them open, so that my wife and I could share equally in this tiny harvest:

Sliced Sun Gold and UBT. Notice that the Sun Gold looks pleasingly ripe. Not so with the UBT.

Uh oh. That UBT didn't look ripe at all on the inside.

And in fact the taste was distinctly green tomatoish. (The crunchiness of the green tomato with the black skin and a slight sourness actually also brought to mind the experience of eating a plum.)

The Sun Gold of course was delicious. These photos are slightly old, but despite our record temperatures in Middle Tennessee and the ongoing drought, the Sun Gold has continued to produce new tomatoes with a bit of supplemental water given twice weekly. I'm impressed and certainly plan to plant more Sun Golds in the future. I can see now why they are a favorite of home tomato growers.


Dear Readers:

Has your tomato harvest begun?

Which varieties are performing best for you this year?

If you have photos of your thriving tomato plants online, please post photo links!

Shots in the Garden! (June 3-9, 2012)

Bee on Russian Sage

I think I remember now that the coneflowers I planted last year are Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower). It takes a long time for the flower to open, but once it does, the flower lasts for a long time and slowly evolves through different stages. 

This is an Echinacea purpurea flower that has been open for a long time. I haven't counted the days, but perhaps as long as two weeks? The individual flower petals are fading, but the central part of the flower and what I presume are its spiky seeds are getting bolder, more dramatic and more sculptural each day.

Four stages of flowering on a single Purple Coneflower plant. 

Let's move over to the vegetable and herb garden. Chocolate mint is growing in its own pot. Yes, the leaves really do taste and smell like a combination of mint and chocolate! Mint has a reputation for being invasive and as you can see, this plant has put out rhizomes in attempt to colonize new ground. Being in a pot, the rhizomes have been forced to take a circular path.

The Sun Gold cherry tomato plant has lots of fruit, but none of them are ripe enough to pick yet.

Spanish Musica pole beans are boldly climbing their trellis made from an upside-down tomato cage staked into the ground. 

I like the name of this cucumber variety from Kitazawa Seeds: "Progress". The seedlings have emerged next to a makeshift 'trellis' I created from a roll of hardware cloth. I'm hoping the plants can be trained onto the trellis to keep the fruit off the ground and help keep the plants healthy. Last year, my cucumbers produced heavily but succumbed to powdery mildew. Progress and the other cucumber variety I planted ("Southern Delight", also from Kitazawa) are both supposed to be disease-resistant varieties. 

The Natchez crape myrtles have started to flower!

The peeling bark on the Natchez crape myrtle adds another layer of visual interest. 

I like to post photos of my gardening triumphs, but I think that sharing information on my failures can be equally instructive. This is/was Lamium maculatum, also known as Spotted Deadnettle. This particular variety is/was "Red Nancy". Lamium is supposed to form a nice groundcover in partial shade settings. Some sites even warn that the plant can become rampant or invasive. I would say this is the opposite of invasive, at least in our Middle Tennessee garden.

Back to a more cheerful photo. This sweet alyssum is thriving in the same bed where the lamium flopped. We sowed some sweet alyssum seed this year, but also purchased purple, pink and white seedlings at a local nursery. Our success rate was not great with the seedlings, but the white ones seem to have done best of all. Based on my experiences last year, I hope that alyssum will flower all summer, attracting small beneficial insects like hoverflies and parasitic wasps to the garden. I may need to give the plant a haircut in the middle of the summer, but then it should bounce back and flower strongly in the fall until frost. We'll see if these expectations are fulfilled!

The David Garden Phlox is almost ready to bloom!

Half a zinnia is better than none! Why only half? I suspect the gold finches. I'm not sure if they eat the petals or probably just dislodge them while going after the seeds. Either way, they leave intact the yellow 'crown' that surrounds the pink globe on these improbably beautiful flowers.

We started with blue and let's finish with blue. This is one of the Rozanne perennial geraniums, still covered in flowers.