Saladette.com
Home of Lezlie's Seeds
My personal page, updated February 2013
If you need to reach me other than by email, you can call me on my cell phone,
at 563-537-0062. Please call me only if you really need to. I prefer
email, but I do realize it can be problematic at times.
I became interested in and began working with tomato
varieties when we planted a garden literally 100% full of pink
Brandywines, the seeds coming from Fetzer Vineyards in Hopland, CA,
in 1998.
One plant came up different. It had small pink saladette tomatoes, hence
it's name, with great flavor and creamy texture, just like a larger
Brandywine. I was so enthralled, I saved the seed. It came true from
seed the following year and has every year since. This was my first pet seed
project.
I then began collecting books on vegetable breeding, and
I loved Livingston's account of his work with tomatoes in the 1800's. I have followed
his methods when selecting my plants and seeds, and it has worked for
me. I also rely on Carol Depp's book, "Breed Your Own Vegetable
Varieties".
I began growing, every year, 2 shapes of red, 100%
Italian tomatoes with open-pollinated seed from Italy via Australia in
1997 or 1998. A number of years ago I planted some of my original seed from
1997, and one plant came up an obvious cross of the two. I kept seed
only from the very best single fruit on the plant. Planting that seed, I
selected one offspring that had perfect fruits as the foundation plant.
Today, Surprise is a beautiful, round-fruited tomato, with firm red
flesh.
I introduced red Currant tomatoes into our garden one
year, and we got Mt Hood Cherry from those genes. Mt Hood came up in a
patch of red currants, although obviously quite different from them, as
I noticed the plant right away and began to watch it. It is larger
fruited and a deeper red than currant tomatoes, but a beautiful plant
with absolutely gorgeous leaves. Very vigorous and productive, it needs
to be caged. I am still working with Mt Hood, but it's a great
little tomato, if you like to experiment.
I also saved seed from a sort of triangular fruited
tomato in our garden that we believe to have been Stupice, and from that
we got our pear and plum tomato lines, crossed with Principe Borghese
and Yellow Pear. Siskiyou Plum has good, sprightly flavor, with green
seed gel, and the Teton pear is a sweet one with meaty texture, larger
than the regular red pear. Siskiyou is very productive with many
clusters of 5 fruits and is great for fresh salsa. Teton Pear does have
some susceptibility to blossom end rot.
I also adopted the heirloom pole bean Caseknife, white seeded, in 2001
and have grown it every year. Since then I have adopted a
continually-growing-larger collection of
pole beans, growing several kinds each year.
Starting this year, I am adopting some heirloom lettuce varieties, too.
I have no formal education in biology, plant science, or anything to do
with commercial agriculture and farming. My interest in agriculture and
farming, self-sustenance and pioneering skills, has been life long, and
I am self-educated. I was also a Certified Master Gardener through the Cooperative
Extension Service of U.C. Davis since 1993, to 2008. I find working with seeds and
maintaining rare varieties extremely rewarding.
There is no miracle
greater than germination and seeing that seedling heave itself out of
the soil anew, each Spring. I love gardening!
About Me
Hello, my name is Lezlie and I am from Northern California, but now I
live in NE Iowa on a small farm. I have
been gardening all my life, and it continues to interest me like no
other hobby. The miracle of seeds sprouting into bountiful plants
fascinates me anew, each year. I drool over seed catalogues. I planted
my first seeds at 3 with my mother, and I began growing my own veggies
before age 13.
I'm 52 years old, a
mother of three grown children, and grandma to 2 young granddaughters. I
have a fat, older cat, Missy, and two younger Iowa farm cats, Julie and
Felix. Felix likes to "help" me do things in the garden, and Julie is a
ferocious vermin-killer in the garden.
Since 2008 I have developed some major health problems that sometimes
affect my ability to garden, but 2011 was uneventful and I had a good harvest.
I am fairly politically correct when it comes to food, I don't use
pesticides in the garden unless I absolutely have to, and then I go
organic. I fertilize with aged cow manure each Fall and the same farmer
rips and disks the market garden ground for me. My housemate uses his own 40 hp
tractor, too, to help me.
I can many jars of food each Fall, and I brew my own beer, wine, and
hard cider. My larder is ready for any SHTF scenario, and all the
neighbors agree they will come here for the last party.