The next time you open a packet of seeds to plant, consider the journey the seeds took to get to your garden. Thanks to the work of dedicated seed companies like Renee’s Garden, more flavorful and better growing veggies, herbs and flowers are available to gardeners every year.
Veteran seed expert Renee Shepherd, who founded Renee’s Garden in 1998 and prior to that in 1985 started Shepherd’s Garden Seeds, spends a minimum of two years trialing plants before introducing them to her customers. The process, which starts with identifying varieties of interest and then growing them and trying them out, ensures that the seeds she carries produce the best possible results.
To choose her seeds, Shepherd starts by identifying potential varieties in one of two ways—from seed growers or observing what is trending in the food world.
“Every year at the end of January, big seed growers from all over the world meet with seed vendors and producers to discuss new, promising introductions,” says Shepherd, who is introducing for the 2016 season a split petal 19th century heirloom nasturtium that she found through an English seed grower.
“We also look at what’s trending in the food world,” says Shepherd, author of three cookbooks books, including her latest, The Renee’s Garden Cookbook: Delicious Recipes for Everyday Cooking With Growing Advice for Kitchen Gardeners. “For instance, kale has been very popular in recent years, so we added some cut-and-come-again varieties of the vegetable this past season. The same goes for root vegetables, which are being used by more and more chefs. For that reason we’ve added plants like celeriac (celery root) and parsnips and will be adding rutabaga.”
This coming 2016 season Shepherd is also carrying Hestia Brussels sprouts, which produce a high yield of crunchy, bright green sprouts, as well as beans for containers known as Mascotte and Five Color Rainbow Beets.
Rather than focus on quantity, Shepherd always pinpoints quality. All of the plants undergo a rigorous trial process, which includes being grown out in conditions likely to be found in home gardens. The plant trials take place in central California and on the east coast in Vermont. If the plants thrive and produce well, then Shepherd tries cooking with the vegetables and herbs and making bouquets with the flowers.
“Many plants grow well in perfect conditions. By growing them in various microclimates that you would find in the backyard and on two different coasts, we make sure the plants will thrive in just about any garden,” says Shepherd, who uses all organic gardening practices. “It’s not enough, though, for the plants to thrive. The resulting herb or vegetable must be tasty, and flowers should make beautiful bouquets.”
Shepherd also doesn’t sell vegetables or herbs just because they’re a novelty. “They have to taste delicious, and we try to add varieties in beautiful, rich colors, because the more color, the more antioxidants in the vegetables and the more nutritional benefit.”
Shepherd and her crew keep a database of everything they have growing, including where the original seed came from, why they’re growing it, how it grows and how well it tastes. Their growing experiences with the plants also enables them to offer detailed growing advice, which is included on their decorative seed packets.
Julie Bawden-Davis is a garden writer and master gardener, who since 1985 has written for publications such as Organic Gardening, Wildflower, Better Homes and Gardens and The Los Angeles Times. She is the author of seven books, including Reader’s Digest Flower Gardening, Fairy Gardening, The Strawberry Story, and Indoor Gardening the Organic Way, and is the founder of HealthyHouseplants.com.
