21.07.2023 - 22:56 / awaytogarden.com

better beans, tough tomatoes, with prairie road organic seed

IF THERESA PODOLL of Prairie Road Organic Seed has her way with your vegetable-garden plan, it will include room for some really good beans, including oldtime ‘Blue Lake Pole’ for fresh eating (she calls it the “gold standard of pole beans”), and prolific, easy dry beans with Native American roots. There will be some really tough tomatoes, too, if your season is challengingly short.

All of it will be grown organically, starting with organically farmed seed, like in her family farm and home garden (below).

“Our seed system is brittle,” says Theresa, who farms in Fullerton, North Dakota, on the cusp of Zone 3b and 4a. Not brittle in the way a perfectly dry seed must be to store well over the winter for next season–but brittle as in ecologically and politically fragile, and potentially broken.

We’ve all heard: Years of industry consolidation by a few big corporations has reduced the diversity of seed varieties that remain available to farmers and gardeners. But the bright spot is that it has also produced passionate seed stewards–organic growers and breeders like Prairie Road who look back into history for worthy varieties to revive, and also ahead for the start of new ones, then care for them intimately to keep them strong.

Including, in the case of Prairie Road Organic Seed, some truly gorgeous beans with rich stories, and a collection of tomatoes that are somehow happy to produce even in North Dakota.

In our conversation on my public radio show and podcast, I learned about growing pole beans minus the bean poles; how prolific dry beans can be, plus expert planting tips and more. It’s all part of my ongoing seed series (the whole archive is here).

Read along as you listen to the Jan. 12, 2015 edition of my public-radio show

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