I received a great email today from a gardener I helped mentor last year. We met for three hours, mapped out her year garden plan and she took off running! Her garden prospered last year, and I'm happy to hear she is ready to dig in for 2010. Here is her question, along with my answer:

My question for you is about the dates on seed packets.  Are seeds only good for one year?  Should I not be using any of my leftover seeds from last year?  My Fedco seeds from last year are specifically stamped “09”.  Many of my Seeds of Change seeds from last year have 2010, or even 2011!  I’d love to use up these seeds, but wanted to see if “09” seeds were done for....I even have seeds that have a “sell by” date of 12/09.  Would they be OK to plant?

PLANT THOSE SEEDS! Certain families of plants have longer seed lifes than others, but definitely plant them and see if they germinate. If nothing sprouts in 2 weeks, they are 'bad' seeds. But the odds of that happening are 50-50, so definitely give them a go. I planted seeds from 2007 last year with success.

Also good to note......any left over seeds should be kept in glass jars with lids, sealed and held in a cool dark cupboard. This will extend their life from year to year!

Seed saving is a front runner for one of my most favorite things about gardening and growing food. I love to let plants linger to the point where they produce seed - a complete lifecycle that is fascinating. Typically, I'm forcing fast rotations to maximize food production, however, so I seldom get to enjoy the process first hand. Someday........when I have gobs of space and I find my very own urban garden share, I will have a seed garden. Dreamy.

Until then, I'll forever be a groupie to the seed growers of the world. Check out this video of the well-versed Frank Morton - a seed breeder in Oregon and a fellow member of the Organic Seed Growers And Trade Association (OSGATA ).

When you ‘build’ your soil, the end goal is to create a healthy and productive soil that is healthy and nurtures plant growth. Healthy soil is made up of a complex ‘web’ of bacteria, microorganisms and more.  Healthy soil teams with worms, bugs, insects and microscopic matter that we can’t see.  Worms channel down and create air pockets – important for the flow of oxygen to plant roots and to facilitate water flow and absorption.  Plant roots do this, as well. Compacted soil halts both of these necessary processes. (A great reason to NOT walk on your veg beds, btw.)

So, how to set out soil building?  In a word, MULCH.  Mulch is officially a protective cover for your soil. Mulch can be one of many materials – compost, paper, hay, cover crop, black plastic and more.  It is meant to reduce evaporation and insulate the soil as well as aid in erosion prevention and weed suppression. All that from one little step.  Dude…….mulch is important, trust me.

If you do not currently have a cover crop in your vegetable beds, no need to fret but plan on planting some next fall.  For now, you can mulch your garden with grass clippings and compost.  Grass clippings work well, as they will start to decay rapidly.  This decaying process invites decomposers and microorganisms to your soil.  We want this to happen.  Pending the lack of grass clippings this year, add a 1-inch layer of compost.  If you have homemade compost, GREAT – if not, buy a few bags from the local nursery or have a yard delivered for big areas.  (It’s smart to share a yard of compost with neighbors and share in the cost – cheaper that way!) Once you have the compost evenly distributed, cover this with a layer of brown leaves.  This layer will invite decomposition (though browns decompose much slower than a green, like grass clippings) and help build your soil.

Here is a great step-by-step to sheet mulching , a process started by Jon Rowley at the Interbay P-Patch.  While it’s best to start late fall, it’s a great read to help understand the process.

Making your plans for 2010?

 Be sure to explore space-saving measures such as adding container plants outside of your bed (zucchini's do well in pots & are too large for small urban beds) and vertical gardening .  Winter is a great time for strategizing!

It is widely accepted that moving members of the nightshade family through your garden and following crop rotation is a must.  Typically, it is recommended that tomatoes (and other nightshades like potatoes or eggplant) should only be planted every sixth growing cycle - that's about every year and a half if you grow intensively.

With that I received an email recently from an urban gardener planting in her parking strip.  She has been planting tomatoes in the same spot for 3 years and just this year encountered a problem.

"We converted our planting strip into a vegetable garden with the neighbor and have in the past had great success with fruit and veggies.  Last year our tomato crop got a disease where they would come in and the tops would turn brown.  We were told it was a soil issue and we’d have to replace all the soil before planting tomatoes again, which is fine.  I also think despite planting clover, we didn’t do enough to prepare our soil this year.  Do you have a tips sheet for winter garden prep that you could share or a link to a legitimate and locally appropriate site that might be able to offer guidance?"

It is hard to diagnose a plants diseases without actually looking at the plant or watching the disease advance, but there are alot of resources online.  Read here and here to check out some information and make assessments if you've experienced a similar problem.  Hopefully these will inspire you and educate you as to why rotating crops is so important, particularly in our small urban gardens.

Here is a breakdown of how and why to avoid soil borne disease, from the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service.  It's a great site to bookmark for the future!