By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

The other day my dad and I were talking about the time he saw the best tomato plants in town.

He used to work for the Board of Health in Louisville, Kentucky and used to inspect the sewage treatment plants.

In the plants there was an area where they would place the sludge or solids that do not dissolve in the sanitation process.

In this sludge, tomato seeds and corn kernels remained and were remnants of what the human body will not digest. Through this nutrient rich sludge, tomato plants would grow abound but the fruits of these plants could not be consumed.

From this discussion we bounced to the direct ways, we in the past, have saved our tomato seeds. In the past few years, Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

When I was an Agriculture Science Educator I had the great honor of growing tomato seeds that had been sent up with the Space Station.

What a great honor and experience it was for my students and myself.

No one really knew what being in a weightless environment would do as far as tomato plants and their fruit.

But my students and I were about to journey into uncharted gardening plots with our Space Station tomato seeds.

The experience and experiment that took place with students that cannot even see the stars was indescribable and one I will never forget. The project was not just testing tomatoes and the effects of weightlessness but also Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Gardening in recent years has become a popular hobby and a way of stretching the food budget.

But items used for gardening sometimes can be gathered for free by reusing or re-purposing but normally they require money.

Below is some of my money saving tips that I have learned through many years of raising tomatoes.

Containers

Assorted containers are any tomato gardener’s friend. These can be as varied as buckets, hanging baskets, planters, and bags of soil to name a few. Discount stores, at the end of the season sales, and peoples’ refuse are great places to look for containers.

Another technique to save money is by creating your own Topsy Turvy planter. This type of planter requires a container with a hole in the bottom and a means to hang it with such as a handle or chain. But Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

As the previous blog covered seed saving and seed tape there still exists a time-tested concept that every gardener knows.

You start out with good quality plants you end up with good quality produce.

This is a simple concept that is sometimes forgotten but is easily solved through proper choice of seeds to save.

Mother Nature has developed a beautiful system, which only chooses the perfect seeds. This process in a sense is natural selection or in this case human selection. We pick the most beautiful fruit that is prefect in every way for our salads, sandwiches, and sauces. This process can even be observed by the non-gardener by just watching people in the produce section sniff, squeeze, knock, and roll the produce.

We the hunters and gathers are looking for Read the rest of this entry »

By Jenn Mercer

During the holidays, many people enjoy getting together for cookie exchanges.

The idea is simple and the logic impeccable.

When you make a batch of cookies, you get a lot of one kind of cookie.

If you want two kinds of cookies, you need to make two batches (mmm… no downsides here). But — if you want a dozen different kinds of cookies, your kitchen is going to be trashed; you’ll have cookies coming out of your ears, and your jeans will have suddenly shrunk two sizes.

As I tried to decide what kinds of tomatoes to grow this year, I realized I had a similar problem. Even the most expensive hybrids usually have 12 seeds to a packet. Why not have a Seedling Exchange?

As with a cookie exchange, laying out a few ground rules in the beginning can avoid a lot of disappointment later.

• Decide if this will be a strict tomato exchange or if other herbs and vegetables will be welcome. Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

Jorge writes:

“Hi. I am interested in storing seed long term (more than 5 years) Could you point me in the right direction? Thanks!”

Hello Jorge. Tomato seeds can generally be stored up to 10 years and still keep a germination rate of 50%. Victory Seeds says that the typical length that they will keep is 4-7 years.

They have a great picture tutorial on how to save your tomato seeds.

You start by fermenting the seeds for a few days in Read the rest of this entry »