Gardening with Heirloom Seeds

by Lynn Coulter
(Douglasville, GA)

Gardening with Heirloom Seeds, by Lynn Coulter

Okay, I'm taking a deep breath before I give you the full title of my book--it's a long one:
Gardening with Heirloom Seeds: Tried-and-True Flowers, Fruits, & Vegetables for a New Generation (Univ. of NC Press, June 2006).

Still with me? Hope so! My book describes 50 wonderful antique species that gardeners have been growing for at least 50 years. Some of these plants may be familiar. Heirloom veggies, for example, include the 'Black Beauty' eggplants sold in most grocery stores, or the 'Rutgers' tomato starts you often find at nurseries.

Others are less well-known, but they're great plants that perform beautifully in most gardens. For example, I love 'Moon and Stars' watermelons, which practically disappeared from the commercial seed market in the 1920s.

If we don't save and share our seeds, some of these older varieties may disappear altogether. That would be a real loss, not only in terms of our genetic heritage, but also in the taste and flavor of food crops, and the beauty and perfumes of old flowers.

My book is packed with growing tips, quotes from heirloom gardeners, over 130 color photos, and reproductions of drawings from antique seed catalogs. There are even lined margins on some pages, so you can keep a journal about where you found your heirlooms, and how they performed in your garden.

You'll also find a listing of some 50 seed sources in the back, along with addresses for historic gardens open to the public.

Happy gardening!

Lynn

Click here to see Gardening with Heirloom Seeds: Tried-and-True Flowers, Fruits, and Vegetables for a New Generation