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Hey folks, 

This is just a short episode I felt that I needed to put out after the Tomato episode and my talk with Sebastian Cocioba. I wanted to do an introduction to the Open Source methodology/philosophy for gardeners. I’ll cover what “Open Source”‌ is, as well as my history with it and its intersection with gardening.

Open Source Links

• What is Open Source
• Overview of the GNU‌ system.
• SDF.org

Open Source Gardening Links

• Open Source Seed Initiative
• OSSI‌ Pledge
• Farm.Bot
• The Grow Room
• Issues with Plant Utility Patents

Thanks for listening, you can contact the show at http://www.teajaysgarden.com/.

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In this episode I review Backyard Market Gardening: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Selling What You Grow by Andy W Lee and Patricia L Foreman. It is a primer and basic instruction manual to small scale market gardening. Its, yet another, used book I’m reviewing, this is the 11th printing. I also talk a little bit about what I’m doing with the show. 

Please follow the show on 

Mastodon https://mastodon.social/@troyjoe

Twitter https://twitter.com/teajaysgarden

And you can contact the show at http://www.teajaysgarden.com/.

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For week 44 of the gardening year I’m interviewing a longtime friend of mine Sebastian Cocioba owner of New York Botanics LLC and atinygreencell on Instagram. Sebastian is a “bio hacker” who’s goal is to increase the general level of education about Genetics technologies. 

A few things. First, I’ve tweaked the show format, moving to a single segment a week. Trying to squeeze in three segments every episode just wasn’t possible with the current demands on my time. I also apologize that there was no Week 43, I had been out with a minor back injury and producing that week was clobbered by my return to work. The audio quality bounces around just a little bit, I have to replace a piece of equipment so hopefully I’ll have this resolved in time for the next show. 

• Crispr
• Agrobacterium
• Gene Gun
• Spermadine
• Myo Tomato
• School of Visual Arts
• crelox
• Community Labs
• Ghost Orchid

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I apologize in advance for the audio quality of this episode. I‌ was dealing with a dodgy microphone and some parts of my audio has static, but this is only here and there during the interview and its otherwise acceptable. I have it fixed, it won't continue into future episodes. 

In this episode I give an overview of the domesticated tomato, my feelings on the term "Heirloom", I have a talk with Patrina Nuske Small and Craig LeHoullier about Dwarf Tomatoes, and I review Craigs book Epic Tomatoes. 

Here are some tomato varieties mentioned in the Interview Portion

• Wherokowhai pronounced fer-dow-co-fi
• Uluru Ochre
• Kangaroo Paw Red
• Sweet Scarlet Dwarf
• Dwarf Golden Gypsy
• Dwarf Firebird Sweet
• Dwarf Wild Fred

Craig LeHoullier and Patrina Small links

• Epic Tomatoes
• Dwarf Tomato Project
• S2E4 THE DWARF TOMATO PROJECT -- FREE THE SEED! PODCAST
• Tomato grower Petrina Nuske Small, from south-east NSW, talks about the new tomato variety she has bred.

General Links  

• Seed Savers Exchange
• Tomatoville
• Open Source Seed Initiative
• Father of modern tomato breeding
• PFAF‌ Entry on Tomatoes

Seed Suppliers who carry Dwarf Tomatoes in the US

• Victory Seed Company
• Heritage Seed Market
• Tatianas Tomato Base
• Sample Seed Shop
• Tomatofest
• Fruition Seeds

Thanks for listening, you can contact the show at http://www.teajaysgarden.com/.

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This week I get into my year at the Learning Garden, have a great chat with Suzy Buttress of The Casual Birder Podcast, and I review a couple of books on Straw Bale Gardening. I have to apologize, near the end of the Podcast accidentally called Patrina Small by the name Patricia. 

After speaking with Suzy Buttress I was still unable to work out the hawk that made an unscheduled appearance in the podcast, but in the process I did stumble onto All About Birds. Its linked to the Cornell Universities Merlin App database.  Here is a link to her appearance on the Hummingbirds Episode of the Varmints Podcast. 

Here are the birds mentioned in the interview care of All About Birds.

• Collared Doves
• White Winged Pigeons
• Sharp Shinned Hawk
• Coopers Hawk
• Morning Dove
• Black Phoebe
• Californian Towhee

And here are some links to other things mentioned in the interview.

• Humming Bird Calls
• Structural Color
• Aotearoa's extinct bird calls
• Thousands Of Feral Lime Green Parakeets Call Bakersfield Home
• Silent Spring

Wrapping up the podcast I review the following books.

• Straw Bale Gardens Complete, Updated Edition: Breakthrough Method for Growing Vegetables Anywhere, Earlier and with No Weeding 2nd Edition by Joel Karsten
• Growing Vegetables in Straw Bales: Easy Planting, Less Weeding, Early Harvests. A Storey BASICS® Title Paperback by Craig LeHoullier

Thanks for listening, you can contact the show at http://www.teajaysgarden.com/.

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Wrapping up Seed Saving Week we are talking about plant breeding experiments you can do provided you have the space and time. And I Cover the University of Wisconsin's Fast Plants, which don’t require much time or space.

Resources

• Saving Sun Gold Pg. 151 Epic Tomatoes
• Dwarf Tomato Project
• BREEDING NEW DWARF TOMATOES craiglehoullier.com
• Wisconsin Fast Plants of the University of Wisconsin: Homepage

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In this episode we get into the realm of Self Fertile Fruits and Vegetables. Self Fertile crops rarely deviate from the mother plant since it is often usually the father crop as well. Crosses of self fertile crops often have to be done manually  and as such they are great plants to get started with Seed Saving. 

Resources

• Pollination of Vegetable Crops
• What are Self-Pollinating Vegetables?
• This Bee Gets Punched by Flowers For Your Ice Cream | Deep Look
• Hermaphroditic Flower Performs Gravity Defying Dance to Fertilize Itself
• Google Doodle celebrates Mexican-American botanist and explorer Ynés Mexía

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Landrace Gardening is gaining some traction. As part of Seed Saving Week we’ll dive into the world of landrace breeding and seed saving, and why it might be the easiest way to save seed. 

Resources

• Landrace Gardening: Survival of the Fittest
• SECTION B. LANDRACES B.1. Introduction fao.org        

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In this episode I’m going to shed some light on the world of Heirloom Fruit and Vegetable cultivars. I will also stumble excessively on the distinction between a Variety and a Cultivar. Heirloom and open pollinated varieties are perhaps the best choices for saving seed and amateur breeding experiments so I wanted to hit them early on. 

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This week I’m going to tackle plant breeding and seed saving. I’m sure in future episodes I’ll dig into these topics alot more, but for now I wanted to dive into the basics. This episode covers some preliminary plant genetics to serve as a primer for what I’ll be talking about the rest of the week. 

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