Garden Lover answers:

It depends on the produce. Green peppers are not ripe peppers, so the seeds will be immature. To get pepper seeds you need to use a ripe (red, yellow or orange) pepper

Tomatoes – you can use the seeds, but you need to ferment the seed first, then dry them, which takes about 2 to 3 weeks to do properly, so you don’t get seed born diseases.

Dried beans will work. Potatoes will work, but get only organic as the non organic kind have a sprout inhibitor and tend to have more diseases (seed potatoes are certified disease free)

Strawberries and raspberries do not come from seed, but from plant divisions and runners.

Leafy greens are harvested before they go to seed.

Melon seed would be viable, but these are almost always hybrid AND they are not grown in isolation so the seed would not only be hybrid, but would have crossed with any other melon varieties grown within 2 mile.s This means that what ever grew would be nothing like the melon you got the seeds from. This would be true of zucchini, cucumbers and all winter squash as well.

So in theory you could grow a garden this way, but few if any of the crops would come back true because most everything is hybridized and since none of these crops were grown for saving seed you would have a lot of crosses on top of the hybrid crossing.

If you want to experiment go for it, if you want a garden from which you can eat the food (by this I do not mean any food you harvest will be inedible, it won’t. I am saying you probably won’t get a lot to harvest) – buy seed.

Garden Lover answers:

Mother Earth News’s Honor Roll of seed companies offering a good, varied selection of open- pollinated vegetable and flower seeds, as well as untreated and/or organically grown seeds:
1. Baker Creek Heirloom Seed http://www.rareseeds.com/
2. Bountiful Gardens http://www.bountifulgardens.org
3. Cook’s Garden http://www.cooksgarden.com
4. FEDCO Seeds http://www.fedcoseeds.com
5. Heirloom Seeds http://www.heirloomseeds.com
6. High Mowing Organic Seeds http://www.highmowingseeds.com
7. Johnny’s Selected Seeds http://www.johnnyseeds.com/home.aspx?ct=HG
8. Natural Gardening Co http://www.naturalgardening.com
9. Nichols Garden Nursery http://www.nicholsgardennursery.com
10. Peaceful Valley Farm Supply http://www.groworganic.com
11. Salt Spring Seeds http://www.saltspringseeds.com
12. Seeds of Change http://www.seedsofchange.com
13. Seed Savers Exchange http://www.seedsavers.org
14. Seeds for the South http://www.seedsforthesouth.com
15. Seeds Trust http://www.seedstrust.com
16. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange http://www.southernexposure.com
17. Sow Organic Seed Co ( from Park Seed Co) http://www.organicseed.com
18. Territorial Seed Co http://www.territorial-seed.com
19. Underwood Gardens http://www.underwoodgardens.com
20. Victory Seeds http://www.victoryseeds.com
Source: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2005-04-01/Finding-Great-Garden-Seeds.aspx

Garden Lover answers:

While there is a good chance that your local nursery has some organic seeds or organic plants for sale, I do not know of a particular place in NYC to suggest.

The best place to get such seeds in mail order. There is a larger list above, but you might want to start here: http://www.fedcoseed.com http://www.johnnysseeds.com, http://www.rareseeds.com, http://www.seedsavers.org.

All of these places have both organic and conventionally grown seed as well as lots of heirloom (heritage or open pollinated) seed.

Garden Lover answers:

I made two raised beds with cinder blocks…22 blocks (44 total) @$1.34 each, made around 32 Sq ft garden, plus the two holes in the blocks can be planted, too.

If I remember correctly, it took 6 maybe 7 bags of planting mixture at 2 cu ft per bag around $4-$5 a bag. You can buy organic certified mixtures, which were around $13 a bag. All material came from home depot and Lowe’s. Next year’s cost will be much less because you have the garden in place – just add new soil or compost as needed and the seeds or young plants…

As far as what you can grow, any of the local nurseries will know what grows in your area.

Garden Lover answers:

Most likely botrytis mold, which is caused by cool, humid, stagnant air. Prevention is easier than cure… brighter light, good air circulation, and let the soil dry a bit between watering.

If you start over, use new soil mix and trays, if you can, to prevent contaminating the new crop.

Good luck!