The Real Dirt

Spring is around the corner, which means it is time to plant. Starting from seed can be a gratifying and economical way to grow many edibles and ornamentals, but choosing seeds can be confusing.

The Covid pandemic accelerated a movement to backyard edible gardening that had been underway in this country since the mid-20th century. But the idea of the cultivated edible landscape goes back much farther, to the first colonists in the 1600s.

When a plant produces seeds, gardeners celebrate the soon-to-be future plants. Seeds are a result of plant sexual reproduction. Plants can also reproduce by non-sexually cloning themselves. For example, some plants make a mass or crown of shoots from their roots or stems.

It's the time of year when gardeners begin planning their summer gardens and starting seeds indoors to get a head start on the growing season. No better time, then, to think about how amazing, enchanting, magical, and mysterious seeds really are. They can be densely nutritious or fatally poisonous.

Winter is a great time to plant a native pollinator garden. Pollinators are the buzzing, flying creatures responsible for the formation of many of the fruits and vegetables that we humans love to eat.