Gardening Resources and Links
Publications of Gardening Tips
Garden Tool and Supply Sources
Informative Gardening Publications
How to save seeds of common vegetables
ATTRA Publications-Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA) offers the latest technology on gardening and farming organically.
Co-op Extension Publications Website -Many publications about every horticultural and gardening subject.
Community Action Coalition
CAC is the organization that oversees Madison's fourteen other community gardens. They put out a newsletter for all of Madison's community gardeners, and have a startup program for groups interested in establishing new community gardens in Madison.
Master Gardeners-Dane County Co-op Extension
The Master Gardener Program offers a series of in-depth workshops that qualify participants as "master gardeners". Although the focus is on non-organic methods, they offer a wealth of knowledge on everything from fruit culture to care for house plants.
Contact:
Ann Munson
UW Extension
1 Fen Oak Ct.
Madison
224-3721
MG Program linkOlbrich Gardens
Most Madison gardeners have already been to Olbrich, but did you know they also have educational workshops on many gardening subjects?
Seed to Supper Project
This is a group dedicated to preserving Italian heirloom vegetables by saving their seeds.
Seed Companies
Seed Saver's Exchange
Seed Saver's is an incredible organization dedicated to preserving the diversity of vegetable, flower, grain, and fruit varieties in humanity's cornucopia. Their Heritage Farm in Decorah, IA houses seed banks featuring 25,000 varieties from all over the world, and around 2000 varieties are grown out in their gardens ever season. These gardens are maintained using organic methods. The farm is an amazing place to visit and is only a three hour drive from Madison. They sell many unique varieties of cultivated plants through their mail order catalog and at their store in Madison. Because Seed Saver's is a non-profit, by supporting their seed business, you are supporting their seed saving efforts.
SSE is a seed bank and a seed seller but its strength is in the Exchange, which consists of thousands of gardeners who collect, save, share, and keep alive heirloom varieties that would have long ago vanished if not for their work. You can become a member of SSE and trade seeds with or buy seeds from other members and recieve Seed Saver's publications. Their yearbook lists over 11,000 varieties available through members.
Jung's Garden Center
This store is just down the street from the gardens. Jung's offers a wide selection of inexpensive vegetable and flower seeds (no organic seeds) , some organic pest control treatments, and garden tools. Most of their seeds are hybrids. They also sell bulbs and fruit and berry plants.
1313 Northport Dr.
Madison, WI 53704
249-8120Fedco Seeds
Fedco is a cooperative business that buys seed from major suppliers and sells it from their catalog. They have more organic seed available each year. Fedco seed is inexpensive, and their catalog features gardening advice and is decorated with beautiful ink prints from old seed catalogs. Troy Community Farm orders many of its seeds from Fedco.
Johnny's Seed Company
Johnny's is a respectable source for quality seeds, some of which are organic and most of which are hybrids. They also offer good quality tools for organic gardener. They are a popular seed source for CSA farms.
Jung's Garden Center
See above listing in Seed Companies
Peaceful Valley Farm Supply
Peaceful Valley has a wide range of gardening tools and supplies, many of them specific to organic and small-scale gardening methods. This is a good source for organic pest control. They also sell vegetable seeds in small and bulk quantities. The only drawback is that if you're ordering a lot shipping can be expensive.
Lee Valley Tools
I just found Lee Valley recently. They have an incredibly extensive line of gardening tools and supplies, most of them high quality. If you can't find something somewhere else, they will probably have it. Everything from copper plant tags to long life hoses to raised bed kits. No seeds. Shipping is free.
Gardens Alive!
Gardens Alive! is a great source for organic pest control. I haven't actually tried their stuff, but they seem to offer the cutting edge of organic pest control technology.
Harmony Farm Supply & Nursery
Harmony is a good source for organic pest control treatments.
