Get your garden started and help the Pinelands

You can plant your summer veggies from seeds: worry about lighting, temperature, moisture, dirt on the window sill, chasing the cat away from the tiny leaves.

Or, you can buy seedlings ready to plant from a reliable source.

This year, Pinelands Adventures, an organization that promotes up-close examination of preserved woods and bogs and float trips along rivers for children and adults, is selling certified organic seedlings of varied tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and herbs.

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The seedlings will be ready for pickup on April 21 and 22 at the Pemberton Road office of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance in Vincentown.

Don't ponder the decision too long. The deadline for ordering plants, either by telephone or online, is Feb. 28.

“We're optimistic,” said Rob Ferber, director of Pinelands Adventures for three years, explaining why they're calling the sale the “first annual.” He might have reason for the optimism. In the first six days of the sale, before a single ad was placed or a mention listed on social media, Ferber had gotten 17 orders, for 200 plants.

The seedlings will be grown at a small wholesale operation now run by Ferber's wife, Amanda McCutcheon, in Upper Pittsgrove Township in Salem County. “We bought the farm, called Philly Chile Company, in 1992 and got certification as organic,” Ferber said.

About half of the 23 varieties of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are heirloom varieties.

“All are the best of the best,” said Ferber. The farm doesn't sell retail. Customers are other farmers.

“It's a very small business,” said Ferber. Most of the seeds were purchased from companies that specialize in heirloom plants, including Fedco, High Mowing, Territorial Seeds and the Seed Savers Exchange.

“We have a special growing medium. It's not soil-less like you'll get with plants at the home center and a lot of other growers use peat. Ours is compost-based, so it's really soil and it's rich,” he said. The plants will be in three-inch plastic pots and ready to go into the ground.

But, hold onto that, said Ferber, because late April is too early to plant tender plants. “We always say May 1 to 15, but you still have to be careful and watch the weather. Not the weather on television either, because there they talk about Philadelphia and it could be 10 degrees cooler here in South Jersey,” he said.

Ferber suggests storing the plants, still in their pots, in a sheltered area, maybe inside the garage or against the house. It the temperature dips, cover them with straw or an upturned bucket or plastic milk jug.

He has tips for planting tomatoes, including planting them “very deep, not just to soil level in the pot. Those little hairs on the stem will all turn into roots if they're in the dirt, so stick them in deep,” he said.

His personal tip is to toss some crushed egg shells into the planting hole.

“The calcium is good for them. Just save your egg shells. Rinse them and then smash them up,” he said.

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Ferber said he expects most people to order the Rutgers tomato plant, which is not an heirloom variety but is the tomato that has “that real Jersey taste.” Heirloom varieties are Cherokee purple, Kellogg's breakfast tomato and his favorite, the heirloom pineapple tomato.

Also for sale will be the Jet Star tomato and Roma plum tomatoes. Plum tomato heirloom varieties are Amish paste tomatoes, Jersey Devil and San Marzano. “In Italy everyone uses the San Marzano for sauce,” he said.

The final choices for tomatoes are both small cherry tomatoes, the Peacevine and the heirloom Black Cherry tomato.

He encourages people to try the pineapple tomato, with yellow fruit and a red bottom. “It's not as prolific as the Rutgers, which is the tomato that made Jersey famous. The Rutgers is dependable, it's meaty but not mealy and has a considerable size, but the Pineapple is the tops. It's a little lower in acid. It's somewhat susceptible to cracking but it's better than others, and a great slicer, just perfect for a sandwich,” Ferber said.

Remember to stake the tomato plants, he said. “Try new varieties you haven't had before. You want your garden to be interesting and you want to be able to share something really good with your neighbors,” he said.

Eggplant seedlings for sale include Black Beauties, Snowy White and Ping Tung long eggplants.

Pepper varieties include California Wonder bell peppers, and the heirloom varieties of Jimmy Nardello frying peppers, Red Marconi and Yellow Marconi.

Hot pepper plant offerings are Long Narrow Cayene, Early Jalapeno, habaneros and poblanos, and the heritage Devil's Kiss cherry pepper.

Customers also can pre-order any of 14 varieties of herbs, including four kinds of basil, chives, cilantro, dill, marjoram, oregano, two kinds of parsley, sage, savory and thyme.

Each plant is priced at $3.99. Bring pennies. You'll have to pay sales tax.

Members of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance can pick up plants on April 21 from 3 to 6 p.m. Non-members have to wait until April 22, between 11 a.m. and 2 pm.

Ferber said he expects basil to be the best seller among the herbs.

“People just love basil,” he said, but cilantro is getting more popular. “They have to know that coriander bolts (goes to seed) early, so you have to reseed throughout the season,” he said.

Proceeds from the sale will go into the general fund of Pinelands Adventures to help subsidize visits by school children in more developed areas.

“We get the kids out in the wilderness for a three-hour tour. They study pond life, do some dip netting and canoeing. They'll do some team building exercises,” he said.

For more information

Organic seedlings of selected varieties of eggplant, peppers and tomatoes may be ordered from Pinelands Adventures either online, pinelandsadventures.org, or by phone (609) 268-0189 until Feb. 28.

All seedlings are $3.99, plus state sales tax, and will be available for pickup on April 21 and 22 at headquarters of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, 17 Pemberton Road, Vincentown.

Proceeds of the sale benefit educational programs of Pinelands Adventures.

More about heirloom plants

Heirloom tomato varieties may not look as pretty as hybrids, but drip from your mouth when you eat them.

Heirloom vegetables, grown from seeds not only harvested from one year to another but possibly around for generations, are growing in popularity.  The hybrid plants do not develop seeds that will give you produce the next year.

“A lot of the breeding programs for modern hybrids have sacrificed taste and nutrition,” says George DeVault, executive director of Seed Savers Exchange, a non-profit organization that saves and shares heirloom and other rare seeds.

“The standard Florida tomato is a good example. Instead of old-time juicy tangy tomatoes, it tastes like cardboard. It was bred to be picked green and gas-ripened because that's what was needed for commercial growing and shipping.”

Farmers who sell heirloom varieties at local farm markets don't have to worry about shipping concerns. Most take their produce to market in a pick-up truck, not a tractor-trailer. Their concern is only about taste.

“If you saved seeds from heirloom vegetables over several years, you'll select seeds from plants that performed best in your soil and climate,” said DeVault.

Those plants will be more resistant to local pests and diseases.

If you discover vegetables at a farm market or produce stand that leap in your mouth, ask the farmer to identify the variety and look for those seeds the next time you're planning a garden.

Heirloom seeds are cheaper to buy than hybrids and if you want to save some seeds to try next year, chances are they'll grow again.

Organic farming in New Jersey 

Organic farming is making steady march across the close to 1 million acres of land dedicated to agriculture or horticulture in New Jersey.

The farmer's or grower's choice to comply with organic certification regulations requires at least three years of preparation, including setting up buffer zones for crops and crop rotation.

“Twenty-five or 30 years ago, organic agriculture was a small part of the industry. It's driven by consumer choice. With more disposable income” consumers search out higher-priced produce, said Thomas Beaver, director of the division of marketing and development of the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.

Beaver's division is responsible for overseeing certification of organic crops, a process he described as “exhaustive. It limits your options for managing pests and weeds.” He emphasized that organic growing doesn't outlaw pesticides or herbicides or fertilizers. It just limits types that can be used.

Beaver says the Department of Agriculture maintains a neutral position of organic gardening, while acting as a resource for producers considering the switch. “Growers enjoy a price premium but it comes with a significant workload,” he said.

In 2015, the last year statistics were available, New Jersey had 75 certified organic farms growing on 2,349 acres. Those crops generated $11.3 million in sales, Beaver said.

“The acreage went up 30 percent (since 2012); the sales, up 43 percent,” he said.

In 2015, New Jersey was using 969,305 acres for agriculture or horticulture, according to report by the state's Division of Taxation.

Beaver said 93 percent of organic produce was sold locally.

There were no reports on organic gardens in private yards because those property owners do not have to comply with the certification process.

No synthetic additives, like artificial sweeteners, colors, and flavors, can be used in processing certified organic produce. Chemical herbicides used to extend the shelf life of produce and to reduce mold during the growing process are outlawed.

The Mayo Clinic, a non-profit organization committed to clinical practice, education and research, reports that 50 years of studying organic farming has not shown that crops are more nutritious than those grown conventionally.

The Healthy Living website reports the sale of organic foods in the U.S. grew from $1 billion in 1990 to $26.7 billion in 2012.

The organic certification is not the same as designations that produce or animal products are all-natural or hormone-free or free-range.

Whatever their source, all fresh fruits and vegetables should be washed before being eaten or used in cooking, according to the Mayo Clinic.