"Good Simple Food"

100% Certified Organic Vegetable Seeds
Germ-tested, fat and viable
Open-Pollinated (seed saver friendly)
Vacuum packed to last at least 3 years (store in fridge)
Easy to grow

Contains one packet each:
Beans, Provider Bush (30 seeds/pkt)
Beets, Pronto Red (100 seeds/pkt)
Carrots, Chantanay Sweet Redcore (300 seeds/pkt)
Corn, True Gold Sweet (150 seeds/pkt)
Cucumbers, Marketmore (30 seeds/pkt)
Greens, Mixed Cooking (3 g packet of Chard, Fordhook giant; Kale, mixed; Spinach, revolution.)
Greens, Mixed Salad (3 g packet of Mizuna; Lettuces, leaf mixed; Arugala, roquette.)
Onions, Valencia Keepers (100 seeds/pkt)
Peas, Cascadia Pod (50 seeds/pkt)
Squash, Summer Bush Zucchini (30 seeds/pkt)
Squash, Winter Honeyboat Delicata (30 seeds/pkt)
Tomatoes, Crimson Sprinter, Medium Red (80 seeds/pkt)

The Basics of a Good Vegetable Garden

Just about everybody knows what’s needed to grow a good garden:  Sun, water, fertile soil and good seeds.  In organic agriculture many farmers say “First grow your soil, and then let the soil grow your crops!”  There’s a lot of wisdom in that simple statement.  Fertile, live, vibrant soils produce food that is full of nutrients.  Adding organic compost or composted manure to the soil before planting is always a good idea, and will produce pest-resistant, healthy plants that yield big for the kitchen table.  After your bountiful harvest, cover-cropping with soil-building plants like oats and peas is a great way to put the garden to bed for the winter.  The cover crops sequester many of the remaining nutrients from the soil and hold them through the winter.  When you till the garden again in the spring, the soil is re-enriched by the breakdown of the cover crop (carbon plus nitrogen = healthy soil!).  It’s all about being on top of the seasons and taking advantage of the sun and rain. When the robins start pecking, time to start planting!  When the rain is coming, time to plant seeds and set out your transplants.  When the sun shines, that means its time to cultivate around your plants, removing weeds and loosening the soil up to the stem of each plant.  Give the plants plenty of room to grow—tomatoes that shade each other will produce little fruit!  Carrots planted a hair’s breath away from each other will produce carrots that look like hairs! A single bean planted at good spacing from the next bean, composted nicely and cultivated from time to time, will generate beans a thousand fold!     

In the spring, as soon as the soil can be worked, prepare the garden area by removing grasses, tilling or spading or forking deeply, mixing in organic compost, then raking the surface to form a fine seed bed.  The recommendations for the specific garden vegetables found in the “Hoedown” survival packet of organic vegetable seeds is given according to the seasons, starting well before the last frost.  Read on!

Start the tomatoes indoors in pots, in a bright window or in the greenhouse.  Tomato seeds are best sown 5 to 6 weeks prior to the last frost date, and can be worked up in successively larger pots until transplanting.  Space plants at least 2 feet apart in every direction.  Caging them will help support the vine and keep the fruit off the ground.  To produce the best-tasting fruit, choose a very sunny location and water deeply and infrequently.

Peas are best planted directly into the garden a few weeks before the other common spring vegetables such as beets and carrots.  For peas, choose a sunny, moist location where there is mellow garden soil (make sure its been at least 6 months since the last application of compost).   Peas must not be planted too deeply--do not be fooled by their large size--they're pansies about germination and don't like to push through too much dirt.  Each pea seedling is precious--do not thin them!  Instead provide a trellis (chicken wire is really the best) stretched between a couple of 4-foot wooden stakes or fenceposts, located directly above the seedlings and along the row.  Don't dally about the trellis--if peas don't start climbing early they tend to stunt!  Keep the rows at least 3 feet apart, and weed very carefully so as not to injure the fine roots of the peas.  If you catch the season correctly, peas can provide a great deal of food in season.

Once your peas are up, start thinking about planting beets, carrots, cooking greens, salad greens, and onions directly in the garden.  Make shallow furrows about 2 feet apart on the soil surface, sprinkle in the seeds and barely cover with soil, then tamp securely and keep the new planting evenly moist until germination.  Cultivate between the rows to remove any weeds before they get big enough to compete. When the seedlings develop their second set of true leaves, thin them out to give sufficient room for the development of the mature plant. 

In the late spring, after the soil has truly warmed up and all danger of frost is passed, sow the beans, corn, cucumbers, and squashes directly in the garden. You may also wish to plant more of the cooking and salad greens at this time in order to assure ongoing harvest into the summer.

Corn is best planted in a block of at least 3 rows, with rows 2 feet apart. Planting in this manner assists in pollination and development of full ears. Make the furrows about 4 inches deep, sprinkle composted chicken manure in the bottom of the furrow, drop the corn seeds (1 every 4 inches or so) in the furrow, then cover with soil and tamp securely. Water thoroughly after planting, but then hold off on the water until the corn shows above the ground-hot, sunny, dry days provide the best conditions for germination, and a hard crust on the surface makes it difficult for crows to pull up the seedlings. After the seedlings reach 3 inches or so, thin them to a foot apart, and cultivate frequently and shallowly, pushing soil up around the plants as they mature (in order to give them more wind resistance).

Beans are best planted in rows near the corn, as they benefit the corn with their nitrogen-fixing roots. Beans must be kept carefully weeded in order to assure uninterrupted growth and ease of picking the green pods.

Squashes and cucumbers are best planted in hills. Mound the soil generously (about 3 feet across and 6 inches tall) and plant 7 to 10 seeds in each hill. After germination, thin the seedlings to 3 per hill, and cultivate frequently to deter weeds. These plants must not be over-watered, as too much water can rot the fruit. Keep the summer squashes and cucumbers picked at early maturity, as they taste better that way, and the plant will be stimulated to produce more flowers and fruits.

Click on the Honeyboat Delicata Squashes to buy the Hoedown Seed Set:

Winter squashes should be left to mature on the vines and are usually harvested right after the first light frost. Make sure to cut the stems, leaving a stem nub on each fruit, in order to disallow formation of mold at the stem scar. Wash the squashes with cold water, dry them in the sun, then store in a cool, dark, and dry place. They develop sweeter flesh if allowed to cure for a week or more before eating.

In these days of higher food prices and deterioration of the earth’s ecology, there is really nothing better you can do, to feed yourself and bolster the earth, than to grow your own food.  The exercise, the positive attitude of the gardener, the food for worm and crow—the uplifting relationship to the entire web of vibrant life—this is the hidden advantage of growing your own food!