The Genetic Diversity of Watermelons

September 16, 2013

...d up at the National Heirloom Exposition. Note the vibrant (and tasty) red seeds. Navaho watermelons are sometimes called “winter melons” since they can be stored for a few months. Another watermelon I tasted at the Exposition was a yellow fleshed variety called Orangeglo. It was probably the sweetest and tastiest watermelon I’ve ever eaten. The problem with supermarket watermelons is not due to the seedless vs. seeded issue. Seedless watermelons...

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Saturday Linkages: Passive Cooling, Cats and Three Mules

Mr. Homegrown

September 28, 2013

Saturday Linkages

1 Comment

...film, BIKES vs CARS – WE ARE MANY on @Kickstarter http://kck.st/1f7i1Xj @homedepot @lowes: 2/3 of our food crops need bees! Stop selling bee-killing pesticides! #BeeAction @foe_us http://www.beeaction.org Your Future in Farming & Homesteading: FREE 3-Day Webcast Event! (Oct. 1-3, 2013) http://permaculturenews.org/2013/09/25/your-future-in-farming-homesteading-free-3-day-webcast-event/ … For these links and more, follow Root Simple on Twitter: Fol...

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Why is My Squash Bitter?

Mr. Homegrown

November 8, 2013

Gardening, Seeds, Squash Baby, Vegetable Gardening

6 Comments

...of the Cucurbitaceae family, one of the most difficult vegetables to save seeds from. Cucurbitaceae have both male and female flowers and lots of wild, inedible relatives. Cross pollination is what Cucurbitaceae want to do. If you want to save seed and you take the precaution of taping up the flowers, bumblebees and solitary bees can chew their way through the tape to get at the pollen. In short it’s really easy to breed a freak Frankensquash or...

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Dry Climate Vegetables

Mr. Homegrown

April 17, 2014

Gardening, rainwater harvesting, Vegetable Gardening, Water and Power

20 Comments

..., we’re in the midst of a terrible drought. And unfortunately, most of the seeds we buy for our vegetable gardens are adapted to require lots of water. One solution is to find veggies that have reseeded accidentally without supplemental irrigation. Here’s a short list of reseeding rogue veggies from our garden that have thrived with just the small burst of rain we got last month. New Zealand Spinach The one I’m most excited about is New Zealand sp...

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Matt’s Wild Cherry Tomato

Mr. Homegrown

March 5, 2013

Gardening, Tomatoes

14 Comments

...tt’s Wild Cherry was obtained in Hidalgo, Mexico by Teresa Arellanos de Mena, a friend of agronomy professors, Dr. Laura Merrick and Dr. Matt Liebman. Johnny’s and other sources describe it as a small current sized tomato that readily reseeds. Johnny’s Select Seeds carries it, and I’m considering giving it a try to supplement the tomatoes that reseed themselves in our garden. Let us know in the comments if you’ve tried Matt’s Wild Cherry or have t...

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