Category: Seeds

747: All About Grexing, A Seed Chat

A Seed Chat with Bill McDorman. – This is the May 2023 Seed Chat with Bill McDorman and Greg Peterson discussing a gardening concept that involves mixing seeds on purpose before planting with a goal of cross-pollination. A Grex is a mixture of varieties growing together and encouraged to cross-pollinate. The seeds from those crosses are grown out again and again. Instead of crossing two parents to create offspring, the breeder crosses dozens. The word Grex means ‘flock’.

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740: Companion Planting, a Seed Chat

A chat with an expert on Seeds. -This is the April 2023 class discussing seed and plant selection. Join Farmer Greg and Bill McDorman as they explore what it means to companion plant, and it depends on what you want to accomplish. From a permaculture perspective, can also be called the whole systems perspective, companion planting looks at every aspect of your ecosystem.  This brings into play guilds, pollinators, planting things that thrive together and avoiding things that don’t like each other and building ecosystems that work together. 

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734: Seed and Plant Selection for Challenging Gardens

A Seed Chat with Bill McDorman. – Join Farmer Greg and Bill McDorman as they explore all the magical places to grow your garden. Restricted by where you can plant your garden? How do you optimize difficult spaces to plant your favorite vegetables? We will help you navigate challenges with…

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728: The Impact of Seeds and Planning

A Seed Chat with Bill McDorman. – This is the February 2023 live Seed Saving Class discussing the impact of seeds and planning. Bill and Greg Peterson give an overview of how to save some basic seeds and how to plan your garden for seed saving. No, you don’t need acres of land, pollination…

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717: Hassena Kassim on Seed Saving

Growing and saving seeds. – Hassena Kassim returns to talk about the recent growth she is experiencing since moving from Arizona to North Carolina about 5 years ago. She explains how growing and saving seeds for Sow True Seeds led her to the Organic Seed Alliance seed school and what…

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715: What Is Happening In the World of Seeds

A Seed Chat with Bill McDorman. – This is the December 2022 class discussing what is happening in the world of seeds. Bill recently returned from the 9th Session of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in New Delhi. He shares what he learned about how the…

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713: Kathy Jentz on National Seed Swap Day

Promoting Biodiversity in Our Gardens and Farms. – In This Podcast: Kathy Jentz started National Seed Swap Day to officially celebrate and encourage something farmers and gardeners have been doing for hundreds of years – trading seeds. She chats with Greg about the origins of the event, what happens…

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710: Grain Culture

A Seed Chat with Bill McDorman. – This is the November 2022 class discussing Grain Culture! Heritage and ancient grains are taking center stage in all kinds of gardening programs and on tables across the country. Find out why these grains are easier on bellies, easy to grow and a lot easier to process than you may think.

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705: How Do You Store Your Seeds

A Seed Chat with Bill McDorman. – “How do you store your seeds?” is the most asked question we get in all our educational programs. Our quick answer: keep your seeds cool, dark, and dry. That is the mantra. But there are a few other tricks of the trade to make sure that your seeds will germinate year…

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701: Seed Starting Challenges (with Kari Spencer)

A Seed Chat with Bill McDorman. – There is nothing more satisfying than getting a jump on the gardening season by starting seeds in flats or in the ground. What do we need to know to be successful? Soil composition, temperature, moisture and light all determine whether we are jumping…

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