Kitsilano Seed Savers Network

Kitsilano Seed Savers Network The online hub for plant lovers and seed savers. Specializing Medicinal plants, rare, exotic seeds

🎯 Here are 10 Great and Easy DIY Gardening projects I found while scouring the web!I posted them in order of my preferen...
05/29/2026

🎯 Here are 10 Great and Easy DIY Gardening projects I found while scouring the web!

I posted them in order of my preference from 1-10, and am definitely going to build number one before next Spring, and probably number 2 as well along my side fence.
Have you done any of these? Or do you have others you think belong on the list?

ADD them below in the comments, and SHARE this post with other industrious maker-types.

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✅ PRO-TIPS: "Deep-Planting" Your Tomato Plants - How and Why do it.In a previous post I covered which types of plants c...
05/29/2026

✅ PRO-TIPS: "Deep-Planting" Your Tomato Plants - How and Why do it.

In a previous post I covered which types of plants can be deep-planted in the case of them having grown too "leggy" as seedlings. [Excerpt below with link for more]

IT IS SAFE TO "DEEP PLANT" SEEDLINGS FROM THE FOLLOWING FAMILIES:
▪️Solanum: (Nightshade Family) eg: Tomatoes, Eggplant, Peppers, Potatoes.
▪️Physillium/Lycium: eg: Cape Gooseberry, Tomatillos, Ground Cherry, Goji Berry, Petunia, Browalia, Datura.
▪️Lamiaceae: (Mint Family) eg: Basil, Rosemary, Sage, Savory, Marjoram, Oregano, Thyme.

Read Previous Post Here: https://tinyurl.com/KSSNetwork)

NOW: On To Planting Tomatoes... 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅
DEEP PLANT YOUR TOMATOES FOR A HEALTHIER PLANT AND BIGGER YIELD:

There is definitely a right way and a wrong way to plant tomatoes. To ensure that your plants are as healthy as possible, and to get the biggest yield possible, you’ll want to deep-plant them. Deep-planting sounds like a simple concept, and it is not hard to do, but why do it? When you deep-plant your tomatoes, the buried part of the stem shoots out additional roots, which help to stabilize the plant. This is no small thing for a tomato plant, which can get large and unwieldy. With a strong root base, the plant can support a larger stem and branches, which also means bigger tomatoes.

So, if you want a bigger yield and healthier tomato plants always "deep-plant" your tomatoes.
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In uncertain times, it is best to be prepared - for anything! 🎯
05/16/2026

In uncertain times, it is best to be prepared - for anything! 🎯

Some Rainy Day "Garden Hacks"🌧 🌧 ☔️Garden Secrets Revealed: Alien Abduction Is Real... Duct Tape in the Garden... Secret...
05/15/2026

Some Rainy Day "Garden Hacks"🌧 🌧 ☔️

Garden Secrets Revealed: Alien Abduction Is Real... Duct Tape in the Garden... Secret Tea Time... Night Time Cloches...The Dawn of a New Era...and more!

If you are gardening in an urban environment, cats, squirrels, raccoons and even birds can wreak havoc in your young Spring Garden. They can dig up, eat, move and generally make a mess of your emerging seedlings. It is always a good idea to plant a few extras in seed cells in case unexpected gaps occur, or several seedlings are dug up or eaten.

The Garden Hacks are explained in the photo descriptions. If you have any useful hacks of your own, please do share in the comments below

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OKRA vs. OKRA : "Ron Burgundy" challenges "Sweet Green Okra" to a race. ⏳Another KSSN - Sanctioned Race: Two varieties o...
05/15/2026

OKRA vs. OKRA : "Ron Burgundy" challenges "Sweet Green Okra" to a race. ⏳

Another KSSN - Sanctioned Race: Two varieties of Okra go head to head in identical growing conditions. Both types of seed were soaked 8 hrs prior to planting.
Both varieties need 100+ sun days, so I plant mine out mid-May and start harvesting the end of August. The more you harvest (and the smaller) the greater your yield will be. Cut the first central one off at 3 inches to promote more branching/flowering.

NOTE: The Sweet Green has one major advantage over the Ron Burgundy: it grows very happily in large containers. 🎯

Most people are surprised to see how beautiful Okra flowers are... they are, in my opinion, the most beautiful of the garden vegetable flowers. Close contenders in such a "beauty pageant" would be the Goji Berry flower, and the Litchi Berry flower.
What do you think? What is you favourite vegetable or fruit flower?

The Okra flower, scientifically known as Abelmoschus esculentus, greets us with an enchanting display of colours. Its petals span a spectrum from pale yellow to vibrant hues of orange and red, creating a visual symphony that effortlessly draws our attention. With its stunning vibrancy, the Okra flower proves that even the most seemingly ordinary plants can possess extraordinary beauty.

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If you "feed" your pollinators like bees and butterflies in the Spring, there will be more of them when your plants star...
05/12/2026

If you "feed" your pollinators like bees and butterflies in the Spring, there will be more of them when your plants start flowering. It's easy - just don't do anything and...🌼🌸🌺🌻🌹

That means more of everything you are growing. Increase your YIELD! your Garden's Beauty and support Biodiversity by NOT MOWING this May.

Food Sovereignty, Seed-Saving, History, and Growing Heirloom TomatoesWHAT IS AN HEIRLOOM TOMATO?An "Heirloom Tomato" is ...
05/05/2026

Food Sovereignty, Seed-Saving, History, and Growing Heirloom Tomatoes

WHAT IS AN HEIRLOOM TOMATO?
An "Heirloom Tomato" is the fruit of an "open-pollinated", non-hybrid cultivar of the tomato plant. (Solanum lycopersicum) Importantly for Seed Savers, heirloom seeds are "True-to-Type" - unlike the seeds of hybridized plants. So, the saved and planted seeds will produce fruit identical to the parent plant. Both sides of the DNA (from the male 'pollen' and female 'o**m') in an heirloom variety come from a common and stable cultivar. All Heirloom Tomato varieties are self-fertilizing and open-pollinating, so cross-pollination can sometimes occur if different cultivars are grown close to each other.

WHY GROW HEIRLOOMS:
Many heirloom tomatoes are sweeter and lack a genetic mutation that gives tomatoes a uniform red colour at the cost of the fruit's taste. Big Agriculture has developed and popularized many "hybridized" tomatoes based on bottom-line considerations. Varieties bearing that mutation have been favoured by Big Ag for consumers since the 1970s. Such tomatoes are NOT heirlooms, are usually hybridized and their seeds are rarely "true-to-type" - and often produce infertile seeds. So you cannot save and plant these seed at all.

WHY STORE-BOUGHT TOMATOES TASTE LIKE DISAPPOINTMENT:
The common tomato types sold in grocery stores have lower levels of nutritional density, carotenoids, and flavonoids. Carotenoids are naturally occurring pigments synthesized by plants and are responsible for the vibrant colours in fruits and vegetables. They also act as "anti-oxidants" when eaten. These alterations are designed to create a "consistently-sized", easily packed and long-storing fruit for increased revenue. However, this "economic trade-off" also results in a decreased ability to create complex sugars within the fruit, so simply put: "They don't taste amazing". (see first photo)

FOOD SOVEREIGNTY AND SEED SAVING:
In the past 40 years, we've lost many of our heirloom varieties, along with the many smaller family farms that supported heirlooms. The multitude of heirlooms that had adapted to survive well for hundreds of years were lost or replaced by fewer hybrid tomatoes, bred for their commercially attractive characteristics and longer shelf-life.

➡️ STARTING YOUR HEIRLOOM TOMATOES:
In the photos below, I show how I start my "Usual Suspects", from The Solanum family: The Dark Shaman Tomato, The Giant Turk Gokboru, The Sufi Supernova, and their exotic and weird cousin The Litchi Berry. (Solanum sisymbriifolium)

These are all open-pollinated heirloom varieties which I have been growing, trait-selecting, localizing and seed-saving in Kitsilano, Vancouver for the past 7 years.

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HAPPY STAR WARS DAY... "May the Fourth Be With You!" NOW, BACK TO THE GARDEN...Sometimes the biggest problem can be fig...
05/04/2026

HAPPY STAR WARS DAY... "May the Fourth Be With You!"

NOW, BACK TO THE GARDEN...
Sometimes the biggest problem can be figuring out WHAT to plant!
And of course The "Perennial Problem" is not having enough garden!
Are you looking for answers to such seemingly vexxing issues in you life?

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Focus On 🔎: "The Toon Tree" (Toona sinensis) Germinating and Growing from Seed.ABOUT:Toona sinensis (Chinese Toon Tree) ...
04/27/2026

Focus On 🔎: "The Toon Tree" (Toona sinensis) Germinating and Growing from Seed.

ABOUT:
Toona sinensis (Chinese Toon Tree) is a fast-growing, deciduous tree native to Asia, and prized for its aromatic young pink/red leaves, which are edible, savoury, and eaten as a "tree vegetable". It has brownish, scaly bark and is often used for furniture, timber, and as an ornamental plant (especially the "Flamingo" variety).

IN ASIAN CUISINE:
Toon leaves have a savoury, green, and earthy flavour suited for cooked preparations. The young leaves are eaten raw in some Asian communities, but they contain nitrates, which can be harmful to overall health. Nitrates are lessened in the leaves when blanched, resulting in most chefs and home cooks preparing the greens cooked.

➡️ See last photo for freshly harvested Toon Leaves

Toon leaves are popularly stir-fried, roasted, boiled, and deep-fried. The leaves add distinct, umami-like notes to dishes, along with a fresh, green taste, to elevate the overall flavor of a dish. Toon leaves are incorporated into variations of pesto and are mixed with fresh bean curd as a side dish. The greens can also be blanched and tossed with tofu, oil, and lemon juice for a fresh salad or combined with tofu, sesame oil, and salt.

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One of the most common activities shared by gardeners the world over... 🌎
04/27/2026

One of the most common activities shared by gardeners the world over... 🌎

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