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.