Osborne Seed Company Variety Trials

Small scale flower growing is on the rise with many dedicated flower farmers paving the way for locally sourced flowers at farmer’s markets, wholesale markets, boutiques, weddings and even flower-only CSA boxes. This past winter Linda, a customer service sales representative here at Osborne Quality Seeds, was invited to the Pacific Northwest Cut Flower Grower’s Meetup in Corvallis, Oregon. On this trip, she met micro-scale flower farmers on...

As farmers we care deeply about what we grow and how we grow it. We carefully cultivate each plant to reach its prime, hoping for the best flavor and the best yield we can get. With so much to manage, sometimes one of the most important factors in a successful harvest gets overlooked: the soil.

Radicchio is part of the chicory family and is a crunchy, bitter yet sweet, leafy green that grows wonderfully in the winter (above 25◦ F temperatures) and throughout all other seasons. Radicchio are native to Italy and was cultivated to provide nutritious greens during the winter time. Radicchio is characteristically bitter, but when grown in the right slots (time of year), they have a wonderfully balanced flavor of sweet and bitter flavors...

We asked some farmers what their favorite & least favorite parts about growing were. To our surprise, the answers varied and we were quite interested in the diversity of the answers. Stay tuned over the next few weeks as we report their answers to you, and keep in mind that we want your input too! See more details at the bottom of this blog post for how to send us your story. #AskAFarmerFor this week in Ask A Farmer, we sat down and asked Rob...