Free Plants!

From Simple Seed-Saving Techniques

Here's all the information and guidance you need to start saving seeds from your favorite vegetables, herbs, and flowers and grow even more plants next year.

Dozens of at-a-glance charts and over 300 step-by-step illustrations show you how to determine when seeds are ready for harvest, how to collect them, and how to store them. Plus, you get time-proven tips, the kind that only an experienced horticulturalist can share, for starting seeds right.

Seed Sowing and Saving is packed with solid advice and information that teaches you how to:

* Successfully harvest seeds from more than 100 common vegetables, annuals, perennials, herbs, and wildflowers

* Dry and store seeds, and test seeds for viability

* Sow seeds indoors to get a head start on the growing season

* Prepare soil and garden beds for transplants or direct sowing

Vintage pieces are set in scene in more than 410 photos. Whether from metal objects, old household items or circus caravans. Let yourself be inspired by great and unusual ideas.

Saving seeds to plant for next year's crop has been key to survival around the globe for millennia. However, the 20th-century witnessed a grand takeover of seed producers by multinational companies aiming to select varieties ideal for mechanical harvest, long-distance transportation, and long shelf life. With the rise of the Slow Food and farm-to-table movements in recent years, the farmers and home gardeners who have been quietly persisting in the age-old habit of conserving heirloom plants are finally receiving credit for their vital role in preserving both good taste and the world's rich food heritage. Kentucky Heirloom Seeds: Growing, Eating, Saving is an evocative exploration of the seed saver's art and the practice of sustainable agriculture. Bill Best and Dobree Adams begin by tracing the roots of the tradition in the state to a 700-year-old Native American farming village in north central Kentucky. Although Best shares tips for planting and growing beans and describes his family's favorite varieties for the table, the heart of the book are the incredible interviews with seed savers, predominately from Eastern Kentucky and from generations of gardeners who saved seeds to feed their families. These people have worked tirelessly to preserve and share heirloom varieties. This book vividly documents the social relevance and historical significance of the rituals of sowing, cultivating, eating, saving, and sharing.

Nearly twenty years ago Beth Miller moved with her husband and four young kids from suburban New Jersey to a 200-year-old Federal period house and barn in rural Maine. She didn't garden, she didn't keep chickens or bees, she didn't know how to preserve food, and she didn't know how to make soap or hook rugs. She embarked on a journey to learn these heritage skills that have been largely forgotten, and today she owns and operates Parris House Wool Works, a traditional rug-hooking company serving both crafters and end buyers. It is also a working village homestead and workshop where she practices and teaches heritage skills, including all aspects of gardening, beekeeping, rug hooking, preserving, and soap making. Seasons at the Parris House is separated into seasonal sections and includes historical context and homestead related activities for each season, plus instructions for a set of related projects and recipes.