There actually are some gmo seeds on the market that consumers can buy. According to Fedco ( where I get most my seed) Burpee golden beet is a Gmo? I have been growing that for years not knowing. It's germination and growth rate was slow. I now use detroit golden and golden mangel an heirloom seed. I cannot imagine that using treated seed has a noticable impact on the soil or the plant it produces. It's a religion, like Mac vs Pc. and organic is the pasword these days. I grow my stuff organically because I get free manure and I like what it does to my otherwise marginal soil. I also don't like handling chemicals and spraying them on the food I eat or give away. I use neam oil for aphids and it works ok, nothing for root maggots, just plant a few extra plants for the bugs etc. I have less than an acre in cultivation so managment is fairly easy. I also grow under various types of mulch, a winner all the way from my way of thinking. I had the opportunity to chat with a fellow that travels the world resurecting sick forests with proprietary enzymes he has created. He also tests soil and vegitbles with frequency devices he created in his labs to determine health. A healthy vegitable will sit on your kitchen counter for a long time and dehydrate, an imballanced one will rot fairly fast. It was indicated to me that some of the worst vegitable frequencies come from all chemical fertilized and all organically fertilized gardens and the combination of the two fertilezers produced the best produce, for what is is worth. The debate is likely to go on for some time.

Hi Antoinette, We seem to be on parallel paths! I moved from California (SF bay area) to Pennsylvania late last year and this is my first year with a really large garden in a totally new climate. I also went completely overboard with Heirlooms, particularly squash, beans and hot peppers. And tomatoes. Oh, lets face it, I went overboard with everything. Really, who needs six different kinds of onions? Apparently, me. Partially, this year is to trial different heirlooms, partially to save seed for next year. I hate to be the barer of bad news, but you (and I) will have a tough time keeping your varieties seperate unless you have a REALLY large plot. I don't, so I'll be doing a lot of blossom bagging/taping. I believe everything you listed will cross (including carrots, onions, etc) to some degree or another. Your best bet is to buy the book "Seed to Seed" by Suzanne Ashworth. It is AWESOME. It will tell you the distances you need to seperate varieties by and other methods if you don't have distance. From your list, corn in particular will be difficult (but not impossible). Squash is relatively easy, just tape the blossom and hand polinate (details in the book). Beans can sometimes be seperated by tall flowers to limit crossing, but your scarlet runner and painted lady will cross very, very easily with each other (but not your other beans) Buy the book! You'll be happy you did. And best of luck with everything. I had to smile - your list looks so much like mine. I think the limited space in California has made be go a little nuts now that I have room :) Bellatrix

Jay, Did you check the flowers to make sure you had both male and female flowers? Every now and then I'll have a pumpkin plant that will set only male or only female flowers. I don't know why. Normally the male flowers set first, followed by the female ones but every now and then all I see is male flowers. With two plants, though, I'd be surprised if they both set only flowers of the same sex in your garden. With the female flowers, they are only viable and receptive to pollination on the first day they open, so if you are going to try hand pollinating them, catch them on that first day, preferably in the morning. Other than the nitrogen excess that George mentioned as a possibility, I can't think of anything else except this: --a lack of bees or other pollinators to accomplish the task of carrying pollen from the male flowers to the female flowers, or --excessively dry soil. I have found that in a period of the worst summer drought conditions, the plants can stop producing if the soil gets too dry. They do flower but fruit doesn't form. It is as if they somehow "know" there isn't enough available moisture to make the fruit grow so they don't set any. Last year I guess I wasn't watering the Seminole pumpkins enough in July and early August and they went about a month without setting any new fruit. Then I wised up and watered them heavily and they exploded into bloom and set fruit like crazy. George, What bean varieties are making you crazy? With me, it is Insuk's Wang Kong. I got flowers and beans the first year from seeds I got from you at the last spring fling we had at the park in OKC, but not the next year. I bought seeds of it from Remy's seed company this past winter and am going to try again. I will plant half my seeds in spring and save the other half to plant in summer for fall. On the beans that aren't flowering for you, is there a chance they are day-length sensitive and our day-length is too short? Dawn

Those hull-less pumpkin seeds make a great soup - dry and crush them up and add as a thickener. Along the lines of almond or other nut soups. I've been dallying with growing sweet potatoes around here for the past few years. Its a hot-weather plant, with a generally longer growing season, so a 'challenge' for me. I've tried in both garden soil and containers. Started slips in small pots then transplanted. I ended up with an impressive total biomass of sweet potatoes, but pretty much a whole lotta small ones and not very many big ones. I chalked this up to the transplanting - seems to have shocked the plant into sending down multiple roots which led to multiple wee potatoes. It also might be a good idea not to plant them in heavy clay soil like I did, but then if all you have is clay soil.... :-) A 5 gallon container full of loose potting soil, kept moist and in the sun, fed occasionally with a bucket of water where compost was soaked overnight, gave a pretty impressive basket full of good sized sweet potatoes. Cost effective? probably not. But fun, and the leaves are entirely edible when cooked like spinach, and its not an unattractive container plant.