Submission Deadline: July 9, 2009

The Hudson Valley Seed Library is looking for new artwork for the covers of its seed packs.
Last year, eleven artists were commissioned to create original pieces for the Seed Library’s Art Packs.  Each artist brought his or her unique style to the image he or she designed. Mediums included drawing, painting, collage, cut paper, ceramics, and photography. Last year’s artists received local and national exposure: on our website, in blogs, magazines, galleries, and in the homes of thousands of gardeners across the region and the country.

This year, HVSL co-founder Ken Greene will be looking for artwork that helps reflect the diversity of the heirloom seeds offered in the catalog. The Seed Library will be selecting up to 16 new artists for its 2010 seed packs. Please feel free to pass along the following guidelines, which describe eligibility and submission requirements and gives details of our selection process.  To learn more about HVSL and see last year’s artwork, visit www.seedlibrary.org. Thank you for participating; we look forward to seeing the creativity of the many seedy artists in and around the Hudson Valley.

Eligibility: Artists must be part of the greater Hudson Valley region. This includes most of eastern New York (including NYC), western Massachusetts, western Connecticut, and northern New Jersey. We’re willing to stretch a little bit, but please have some connection to this region. There are no restrictions as to age, experience, gender, sexuality, nationality, race, physical ability, or education. This is all about diversity.

Media: We are accepting all media except photography. Photos are acceptable as an element in a piece. (We do accept photos for use on our website. If you have a photo of a variety in our catalog, please submit it to mail@seedlibrary.org.  If we use it online you get free seeds!)

Timeline:
Submissions due July 9, 2009
32 Round 1 finalists contacted by July 10, 2009
Round 2 sketches due by July 17, 2009
16 Round 2 finalists contacted by July 19, 2009
Final artwork due by August 10, 2009

Awards:
Up to 16 artists may be selected to create artwork for seed packs. Artists whose work is accepted will be paid $100 each for their work. They will also be given credit on the printed packs as well as a bio and link on seedlibrary.org.

INTERESTED? HERE’S HOW TO SUBMIT ARTWORK:
Please email the following to mail@seedlibrary.org.
1.    Name, Address, Email, Phone
2.    Short one paragraph artist statement.
3.    One image that you feel best represents your style (250KB or less in size).
4.    Link to your website, blog, or other online sources related to your artwork. (Only if you have such links; otherwise these are not required.)

Note: The piece you select does not need to be plant related. It is more important for us to see the quality and personality in your work. Please keep your email 250KB or less. Do not mail large or multiple images. We have very limited bandwidth and will not be able to open your email.

Thanks!

Ken Greene
Hudson Valley Seed Library

We’re just now getting another (!) burst of heavy rain and we’re rooting for it. Why? With just another 1/2 inch or so of rain this will be the #1 wettest June on record, ever, with the last rainiest June occurring over 100 years ago. So, if we lose any crops, or the tomato blight is particularly bad, we can truly blame the weather. It’s harder to justify blaming the second rainiest June.

Despite the rain, many plants are doing just fine including our peppers. Here’s what we’re doing now that the peppers are getting ready to flower.

Seed Sense: Pepper Prowess

Gardeners can learn much of what they need to know about seed saving by becoming keen observers of their plant’s full life cycles. The best place to look to find out whether plants cross-pollinate or not (in addition to Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth), is the flower. Out-crossing flowers are “easy access” flowers, it looks easy for an insect to crawl in and get out.

Matchbox Pepper Flower

Their open form attracts pollinators, making it easy for them to carry pollen from flower to flower.  This means that they can cross pollinate between varieties. As the “hot gene” is dominant, sweet peppers that cross with hot peppers tend to inherit some heat. In order to make sure that the peppers don’t cross-pollinate in your garden, you need to isolate them from each other. There are a few ways to accomplish this.

Distance: If you search online or look at a few books, you would find that there is a wide variety of recommendations for how far apart peppers should be planted. Isolation distances range from 50 ft to one mile. It’s important to keep in mind the intended purpose behind the number. Smaller distances are more for home gardeners saving seed for themselves with limited space vs. larger distances for seed companies growing commercial seed on expansive farms. Many of the gardeners in the Seed Library have small gardens and can’t afford even 50 feet of separation between varieties.

Caging: We recommend caging peppers, and that’s just how we do it here on Seedy Farm. Caging is a simple way of preventing insects from visiting flowers between varieties. You can use your own creativity and simple materials to make an isolation cage. Cages can be made in any shape out of materials that let in sun and rain such as screening. We use row cover, which also has some insulating properties. The peppers love to be hot!

Hoop Caging: Here are some pics of the hoop-la before the thunder and rain drove us inside.

Simple wire hoops every 2-3 feet

Heating up under the row cover

Doug weighing down the cover with rocks

Here are some plans I found online for a DIY pepper cage.

http://www.realseeds.co.uk/isolation%20cages.html