Diane Ott Whealy , founder ofSeed Savers Exchangein Decorah , Iowa , is a passionate advocate for horticulture and seed economy , and at a lecture at theMinneapolis Spring Home and Garden ShowSunday , her type for the time value — even the necessity — of dwelling gardening hail through in a few quotes .
The signification of ‘ amateur ’ is one who cares .
Diane and Kent Whealy founded Seed Savers Exchange in the mid-1970s . Diane had grown up in Iowa farm land , where her granddaddy — the now famousGrandpa Ott — was a ego - instruct veterinary surgeon , farmer , barber and politician . Her grandmother ’s shopping list let in : flour , sugar , salt , coffee and acetum . Everything else they grew in the garden or put up on their land , and Diane turn up on sugared‘German Pink’tomatoes and other storeyed crops . As young homesteader , the Whealy ’s got the idea to preserve these seeds , which seemed to be slowly fading from the food market . The enthusiastic response from base gardener all over the body politic finally turned their idea into a business .
Diane Ott Whealy speaking to an audience at the Minnesota State Horticultural Society.
Genetic variety is an abstract concept , but you’re able to see what hereditary diversity means with the variety of people of color and shapes of tomatoes .
Pink one , fleeceable ones , stripy ones , oblong , round , tiny like a grape or as large as a melon vine , there are 4,000 multifariousness of tomatoes , many grown or developed in niche cultures and climates around the globe . While company like Seed Savers and organization such as the USDA andSvalbard Global Seed Vaultare preserving these varieties , that ’s not enough , Diane say . “ We need to grow these varieties . ” And , gardeners , too , can save seeds .
Heirloom love apple are the gateway drug to heirloom vegetables .
Aerial view of the Seed Savers Heritage Farm near Decorah, Iowa.
How do you get gardeners to produce a wide kitchen range of vegetables and fruits ? How do you stick in consumer to heirlooms . Start with Lycopersicon esculentum . Once you ’ve tasted an heirloom tomato , you thirst for other sometime - style , grown - for - taste perception - not - transport veggie . Peppers , edible bean , boodle , squeeze , melon vine , the selection are eternal , and it ’s not just vegetables .
While flowers may have been a sumptuousness in my grandmother ’s garden , now I think they are a necessary .
Concern about get enough pollinator and provide nutrient for beneficial insects is a motivating for many nurseryman . So Diane ’s garden has old - fashioned blossom and plenty of herbs to make certain those plants that need insects for pollination have them around . Some gardeners find their yards are too small or their efforts too little to make a conflict in Brobdingnagian issues like bear on plant diversity or protecting pollinator , but Diane does not concur .
The one affair we can still control might be our gardens .
— Mary Lahr Schier
