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Alliance of Native Seedkeepers Brewed in Colerain, North Carolina The practical library

The practical library

Growing Guides & Planting Advice

Find crop guides, planting calendars, seed-starting help, soil guidance, pest diagnosis, harvesting information, and practical seed-saving instructions.

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Searchable. Find the crop, problem, story, or update you need. Complete. Browse every published article with working pagination. Rooted. From a Native-led seed company in rural North Carolina.

Growing Guides by Crop

120 articles in this topic

Tomato plants trained vertically through a metal trellis
Pests, diseases & troubleshooting

Disease-Resistant Heirloom Tomatoes: What Resistance Really Means

Disease resistance is pathogen- and race-specific, not general immunity, and heirloom, open-pollinated, hybrid, resistant, and tolerant describe different traits. This guide explains common tomato resistance codes, how to verify the original claim, why a code may fail under field conditions, and how to select varieties from a confirmed disease history. It adds trial design, disease portfolios, sanitation, rotation, irrigation, recordkeeping, claim audits, and seed-saving limits.

By Frank J. Cain22 min read
A red tomato with both shoulder rings and a crack extending downward
Pests, diseases & troubleshooting

Why Tomatoes Crack and Split: Radial Cracks, Concentric Cracks, Rain, Watering, and Variety

Tomatoes crack when fruit expansion exceeds the skin's ability to stretch, often after a dry period followed by rapid water uptake. This guide distinguishes radial, concentric, and fine skin cracks and explains the roles of ripeness, fruit shape, variety, canopy, rain, irrigation, root restriction, and temperature. It provides a watering and mulch plan, breaker-stage harvest strategy, post-rain grading system, loss calculations, and field tests for reducing cracked tomato losses.

By Frank J. Cain22 min read
Assorted tomatoes in red, pink, yellow, and dark colors with herbs and flowers
Seed saving & varieties

Types of Tomatoes: Choose by Plant Habit, Fruit, Space, and Use

Determinate tomatoes set much of their crop in a concentrated period and are easier to cage compactly. Indeterminate tomatoes keep growing and fruiting until frost. Cherry, slicer, paste, storage, dwarf, and micro tomatoes describe fruit use or plant scale, and these categories can overlap.

By Frank J. Cain26 min read
French Breakfast radishes with elongated red roots and white tips
Seed saving & varieties

Types of Radishes: Spring, Daikon, Watermelon & Winter Storage

Small spring radishes mature quickly in cool weather. Daikon and other long radishes need deeper loose soil. Watermelon radishes require more time and space. Winter storage radishes are grown for larger roots, strong flavor, and longer keeping quality.

By Frank J. Cain5 min read
Young red and green lettuce seedlings establishing for a fall garden
What to plant now

What to Plant in August in the Mid-Atlantic and Upper South

To decide what to plant in August, count backward from local first frost, add time for heat-delayed germination and shorter days, and choose crops that establish in warmth but mature in cool weather.

By Frank J. Cain8 min read
Lemon bee balm, Monarda citriodora, flowering in stacked purple-pink whorls
Seed starting & germination

How to Grow Lemon Bee Balm from Seed: Monarda citriodora

Surface sow lemon bee balm in warm conditions, keep the fine seed evenly moist, thin early for airflow, and expect this annual Monarda to flower in its first season.

By Frank J. Cain5 min read
Assortment of colorful dry beans representing different harvest uses
Seed saving & varieties

Types of Beans: Bush, Pole, Runner, Lima, Cowpea, Soybean & Dry

Bush beans are compact and produce in a concentrated window. Pole beans climb and often yield longer. Runner beans are a distinct species with showy flowers and cool-weather preference. Lima beans, cowpeas, soybeans, snap beans, shelling beans, and dry beans are defined as much by harvest stage and kitchen use as by plant shape.

By Frank J. Cain12 min read
Colorful flint corn ears showing varied kernel colors and patterns
Seed saving & varieties

Types of Corn: Sweet, Flint, Flour, Dent, and Popcorn

Sweet corn is harvested immature for eating fresh. Flour corn has soft starch suited to grinding. Flint corn has a hard outer layer. Dent corn combines hard and soft starch and develops a dent as it dries. Popcorn is a specialized flint type whose moisture and hull allow kernels to pop.

By Frank J. Cain19 min read
Seed-starting tray filled with growing medium and ready for sowing
Pests, diseases & troubleshooting

Seed Germination Troubleshooting: Why Seeds Do Not Sprout

When seeds do not germinate, confirm the normal time range, then check moisture and oxygen, crop-appropriate temperature, depth and light, dormancy, seed storage, and disease.

By Frank J. Cain10 min read
A diverse assortment of dry corn, bean, and garden seeds
Seed saving & varieties

Heirloom vs. Hybrid vs. Open-Pollinated Seeds: What the Terms Actually Mean

Open-pollinated varieties can reproduce with relative consistency when properly isolated and selected. Heirloom usually adds a history of continued use, while F1 hybrid seed comes from a deliberate cross and does not reproduce uniformly in the next generation.

By Frank J. Cain5 min read
Kale, collard greens, and Swiss chard displayed side by side
Seed saving & varieties

Kale vs. Collards vs. Swiss Chard: Flavor, Growing & Harvest

Kale and collards are forms of Brassica oleracea and share many pests, crop-rotation needs, and cool-season traits. Swiss chard is Beta vulgaris, the same species group as beets, with different pests and family relationships. All provide leafy harvests, but they are not interchangeable in crop planning.

By Frank J. Cain5 min read
Monarch butterfly feeding on native swamp milkweed flowers
Seed starting & germination

How to Grow Milkweed from Seed for Monarch Habitat

Match milkweed species to the site first, then fall sow or cold-moist stratify the seed, sow shallowly, transplant young, and build habitat beyond a single host plant.

By Frank J. Cain6 min read
Brown garden slug crawling across a leaf with irregular feeding holes
Pests, diseases & troubleshooting

Slugs and Snails in the Garden: Identification, Habitat, and Seedling Protection

Treat slug pressure as a source–route–seedling problem. Confirm the pest after dark or with refuge boards; map the damp shelter feeding the outbreak; then protect the most vulnerable seedlings. Use hand removal, clean barriers, or label-directed bait only where fresh damage continues.

By Frank J. Cain9 min read
Assorted heading cabbage, savoy, conehead, Napa cabbage, and bok choy
Seed saving & varieties

Types of Cabbage: Heading, Savoy, Conehead, Napa & Bok Choy

Heading cabbage is dense and versatile. Savoy has crinkled leaves and a tender texture. Conehead forms pointed heads that often mature efficiently. Napa cabbage and bok choy are Asian brassicas with different growth and harvest habits, so they should not be treated as identical to European heading cabbage.

By Frank J. Cain5 min read
Buttercrunch butterhead lettuce forming a compact green head
What to plant now

Types of Lettuce: Looseleaf, Butterhead, Romaine, Crisphead & More

Looseleaf lettuce is harvested leaf by leaf or as a cut-and-come-again crop. Butterhead forms soft heads. Romaine forms upright hearts. Crisphead needs a longer cool season and careful timing. Summer-crisp types bridge some of the gap between leaf and head lettuce.

By Frank J. Cain5 min read

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