Sowing the seeds of success: tips for smart seed selection

Extension Out Loud

Episode Transcript: PAUL TREADWELL: Welcome to Extension Out Loud, a podcast from Cornell Cooperative Extension. I'm Paul Treadwell. And it's that time of year. Seed catalogs have arrived. The days are slowly getting longer. And we look, with longing and hope, to our backyards, anticipating the day when we can finally plant the first seeds of the season. And so many seeds to choose from, as we flip through the pages and browse websites-- a cornucopia of potential boundless in its diversity and promise. Knowing what seeds to choose can feel overwhelming. But to help us sort through the options and decipher the nuance of growing zones, soil types, and more, I'm joined by Stephen Stresow of Cornell's Garden-Based Learning program. We talk about a number of resources that can help you plan and plant your garden, so be sure to check the show notes for links to those resources. And Stephen, if you could just introduce yourselves to our audience and let them know a little bit about you. STEPHEN STRESOW: Hello, everybody. My name is Stephen Stresow. I am a master's student here at Cornell University working with the Cornell Garden-Based Learning and Cornell Small Farms program. A lot of my research focuses on sustainable vegetable management. I should mention I study plant science. So it's really fun to go from the morning lectures on molecular biology and how plants think and do what they do and then to do some of the more community outreach-based things with these different programs at Cornell-- so really has the best of both worlds. PAUL TREADWELL: Great to have you join us. We're here today to talk a little bit because it is that time of year when we start thinking about seeds, just wanted to get some basic information about seeds and selecting seeds for your garden. I know that seed catalogs have started to show up. And if you flip open any random seed catalog, you're going to be-- I find myself both dazzled and overwhelmed by the selections. So I have a seed catalog that has, what, 50-some odd different varieties of tomatoes. So if I'm getting ready to think about starting my garden, what are some of the key things to look for when I'm looking at different kinds of seeds? Can I ask that question? STEPHEN STRESOW: Yes. That is a great question. And I too find myself overwhelmed a lot of times. And I have a multipronged answer. One, it's a great question, as part of my master's work is taking a lot of these different information, varieties, then putting them into a seed catalog just for New York state for New York gardeners so they can select varieties that have already been tested-- tried and true. The second part is it's all about right plant, right place. What makes a good variety in upstate New York is going to be different from what makes a good variety in Georgia or in Texas or in California. So one of the first things that you want to think of is your space-- your actual garden-- because there's some varieties that are going to grow really great in containers as opposed to directly in the ground. And that could just be for space requirements. That could just be some plants are smaller and more compact. So that's the first thing you want to think of. And then the second thing that you want to think of is your garden itself. Not just the space, but how much shade do you get? How much sun do you get? On those seed packets, does it say that this plant must have a trellis, or that you have to do anything special with it? And if you're a beginning gardener, you might not want to have to deal with trellising your bean plant. So if you don't have that much time, you might want to go with a bush variety instead of a pole variety-- same thing with tomatoes. And on that note with space, that goes on choosing the plants that you personally like to eat. If you don't like hot peppers-- you don't like jalapenos-- why would you want to grow them? And then...