Meet Nick. He’s never met a plant he can’t manage to kill. The Wild Center is trying to turn him from the World’s Worst Gardener into a full-fledged green thumb. And we need your help!
Think you know the best soil? The best pots? Raised garden bed or window sills? Submit your best gardening tips and tricks below and follow along on Facebook and this page for all of the plant progress.
Want to join Nick in becoming a certified green thumb? Get your Hudson Valley Seed Co. seeds today over at The Wild Supply Co. Plus, all proceeds support The Wild Center’s mission.
Get Your Seeds
Herb Seeds
Chives: A patch of chives delights all of the senses. The sight, smell, touch, and taste of chives—even the sound of the hollow stems popping open when snapped in half—all are full of intense energy. The green shoots are the first to come up in the spring, and can be used in warm winter tonic to ward off cool days. Be sure to let your chives flower though; they are a wonderful, oniony edible flower.
Cilantro: Cilantro is wonderful to have on hand: chop some up and toss in vegetable soups, or in curries, or on stir fries. Note that cilantro must be sown in succession in order to have an extended harvest. By nature, cilantro provides a brief harvest window of only a few weeks before bolting. Keep on sowing to keep on harvesting.
Genovese Basil: Yes, you can make pesto with a food processor. But why not spend a half hour on some breezy, summery day making it the old-fashioned way—with a mortar and pestle? (Ah, now you know where that word comes from!) No time for pesto tonight? Not to worry: this variety is also the ideal basil for stews, soups, and sautes.
Gigante d’Italia Parsley: The most popular herb in the Western world, parsley has a bright, unmistakable tang that unites and amplifies the flavors of any dish. This large-leaved, heavy-yielding variety is wonderful in gremolata: chop finely, then mix with lemon zest, garlic, and olive oil; salt to taste.
Pollinator Seeds
Milkweed: Monarch butterflies, with their strikingly streaked caterpillars, emerald- and gold-foiled chrysalises, and tiger-striped wing patterns, are one of the most beloved of all butterflies. Grow Milkweed, the butterfly’s primary habitat plant, to create a monarch sanctuary in your own backyard.
Pollinator Petal Patch: Why do flowers come in so many colors? One theory is that the colors attract pollinators. Includes New England Aster, Plains Coreopsis, Penstemon, Indian Blanket, Evening Primrose, Wild Bergamot, Milkweed, and Ohio Spiderwort.
Salad/Lettuce Mix Seeds
Bloomsdale Spinach: Best as an early spring crop or for fall harvests. Abundant Bloomsdale produces large, super-savoyed, substantial leaves. Grow as a mature spinach plant. Named after the Abundant Life Seed Foundation Farm, where this variety started in 2002.
Metta Lettuce Mix: We named this lovely lettuce mix “Metta” to express our love for it, to embody the good will of sharing seeds, and to help our customers feel connected to our little seed farm in this beautiful corner of the world.
Ultimate Salad Bowl Mix: Best eaten raw as young leaves; most are cut-and-come-again types. Colors range from light greens to dark reds, from speckles to stripes. Consider planting USB at your garden’s edge to create a decorative and edible border. Contains arugula, Ruby Red Chard, Tres Fine Endive, mescaline mix, Mibuna, Gourmet Lettuce Blend, Green Salad Bowl Lettuce, Parris Island Lettuce, Red Salad Bowl Lettuce and Royal Oakleaf Lettuce.
Edible Flower Mix: When we think of eating from the garden, we tend to think of fruits, roots, greens, and herbs. But flowers are nature’s most intricate candies. Contains Arugula (let flower!), Nasturtium, Chinese Pinks Dianthus, Borage , Chervil, Tall Blue Cornflower, Tangerine Gem Marigold, and Royal Carpet Alyssum.
Garden Favorite Seeds
Tri-Color Bean Blend: Contains Provider Push Green Bean, Royalty Purple Pod Bean and Yellow Wax Bean. All 3 are high-yielding snap bush varieties that produce beans at the same time, making a tri-color bean harvest a breeze!
Piracicaba Broccoli: Piracicaba does not win prizes for the size of its main stalk, which is on the compact size. But it certainly takes the cake for its productivity and flavor of its florets, which it yields in great abundance all season long.
Dark Star Zucchini: Dark Star Zucchini was bred for uniformity, drought resistance, and yield. We love the open bush habit of the plants, making fruit easy to spot at the perfect harvest stage. Its slender, dark green look; subtly sweet, tender taste; and prolific nature make it irresistible in nearly every summer meal.
Tomato Seeds
Paul Robeson was a famous African-American opera singer, linguist, athlete, and civil rights champion who stood up to the infamous McCarthy committee in the 1950s. This Russian tomato was named in his honor. It is spectacular: richly colored, exquisitely flavored, a joy to savor and to share. The gardeners who selected this variety saw potential and nurtured it, with the same reverence that Black artists, activists, and gardeners use to build a bridge toward justice that spans the generations.