Family: Chenopodiaceae (The Goosefoot Family)

Genus: Beta

Beets and Chard are usually biennial. In mild winter areas it is possible to obtain seed by planting in summer, and allowing the plants to over-winter; they will bolt to flower the following spring. In cold climates, the plants must be mulched or dug before the ground freezes hard and then stored to replant the following spring. Beet can be planted in the spring and will survive light frosts. Beet and chard are the same species. They easily cross and are wind pollinated.

Beet aka beetroot, red beet, mangel (Beta vulgaris)

BLEND- Beet Blend

A very diverse assortment of beets which include shades of red and purple, white, and yellow.  Selected primarily as an assortment of colors and shapes, all sweet and tender at early stages.  Roots may be small and round or long and rough.  We aim for the max in gene pool. Over-winter roots to grow seed the next year. We prefer to dig and root cellar the beets over the winter, plant them in blocks according to what crosses we want to make (or isolate kinds). This year, our blend will consist of a mix of commercial kinds. Our new crosses will be available in the fall 2010 mix. Pkt. (100 seeds)

Selection:  White Sugar Beet

We are beginning a project using sugar beets.  This one is a conventionally bred sugar beet that grows into a large root that typically contains 16% sugar. Pkt (100 seeds)

Culture and how to produce home-made sugar (or sugar syrup) from beet:

http://www.richters.com/newdisplay.cgi?page=InfoSheets/d1340.html

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/afcm/sugarbeet.html

Chard aka swiss chard, leaf beet, silver beet, beet spinach (Beta vulgaris)

BLEND- Swiss Chard Color Mix

We are not producing color chards at this time but we do bank the seed of commercial blends such as Rainbow and Bright Lights and a few color separates. Pkt. (50 seeds)

BLEND- Swiss Green Mix

A diverse assortment of green leaf chards with excellent broad white petioles.  This is very diverse containing many European kinds. Pkt. (60 seeds).

BLEND- Leaf Chards

These chards are less grown for their petioles or leaf stems than their leaves.  Leaf chards are also known as perpetual spinach in Europe and their are a number of strains that differ from northern Europe to the Mediterranean Pkt. (50 seeds)

web source on beets and chard:

http://nwrec.hort.oregonstate.edu/beetch.html

Genus: Spinacia

SPINACH (Spinacia oleracea)

Hardy Annual.

  HEIRLOOM CV- Sharp Seeded Spinach

We grow this variety mostly because of it's historical significance.  It was the spinach of Thomas Jefferson's time.  The seeds have prickly spines unlike most of today's varieties. Gives us great pains to harvest seed!  It is an easy bolter in the spring and we have found it a far better edible when sown in fall for an early winter harvest or to overwinter.  Hardy.  Pkt. (50 seeds)

  BLEND-  Spinach Mix

All round seeded types, quite a mix of leaf variations and plant characteristics that will allow you to select from and raise your own designer hybrid. Spinach produce seed at the expense of leaves during the long days of June so one has to get an early spring start or late summer start (or overwinter) to produce the best leafy plant for culinary use. When you plant the spinach and when you harvest will have an affect on your selections and make for a more adapted spinach for your needs. Select for lower bolting tendency and flavor. Pkt. (100 seeds).

web source on spinach culture:

http://www.hort.cornell.edu/gardening/homegardening/scene4c19.html

Atriplex hortensis L.

Orach

Mountain spinach, French spinach, Sea purslane, Butter leaves

Mix-Orach

Grown as a substitute for spinach in some regions.  It produced a rosette of triangular leaves of green or purple shades. Frank Morton and Frank Navazio, breeders in the northwest US have worked to produce some very beautiful selections that are becoming popular as folks discover orach is a fine salad green.  Like spinach it tends to bolt in hot weather. Pkt. (40 seeds)

Updated 2-10

Beet Seeds, Chard Seeds, Leaf Chard Seed, Spinach, Orach Seed