How to save tomato seed

...ash crossing with melons and who knows what not. It depends on the type of vegetable you want to save seed from–as well as what else you’re growing around it. Tomatoes, however, are a pretty safe bet for seed saving. They are self-fertile, and the structure of their flowers makes cross pollination difficult. Our seed saving Bible, Seed to Seed, says that there are only three types of open pollinated tomatoes that you can’t save seed from (without...

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Hexagonal Raised Vegetable Beds: SketchUp Saves the Day

I must again sing the praises of SketchUp, the free 3d modeling program that has been incredibly useful around the Root Simple compound. This weekend it was time to design some new raised beds and I didn’t want the usual rectangular configuration. SketchUp allowed me to quickly draw up a plan and estimate materials. Using SketchUp’s protractor tool I figured out the angle I needed to cut the wood. I suppose I could have looked up the angles of a...

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A White House Vegetable Garden

...rnia’s Chez Panisse. Waters asked then president Bill Clinton to grow some vegetables at the White House. Clinton responded, “send me the seeds Alice” only to renege on the idea, claiming that it would interfere with the historic and formal White House garden plans. But what about that White House putting green? San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom broke ground this summer on a kitchen garden at city hall. Former mayor “slick” Willie Brown responded l...

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Matching Your Waste Stream to Your Composting Method

...t be added like citrus and onions. Conventional compost pile If you have a vegetable garden and want to grow organically, you’ll need to generate a large amount of compost. This is a great way to deal with yard trimmings, grass, manure, and food waste. Advantages: makes the kind of high quality compost needed in large quantities for a vegetable garden. Disadvantages: a lot of work, can’t be added too once the pile is built, may require car trips t...

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