Joel Durant is the founder and sole writer of Natural Seed Bank. He started it in 2011 as a working seed shop and runs it today as a guide-first resource for growers across Canada and the US, pointing them toward seed and gardening suppliers worth buying from.He gardens in Port Hope, Ontario, in hardiness zones 5–6, and has written every one of the 100+ guides on the site himself — vegetables, herbs, flowers, sprouting, microgreens, seed saving. Some of it comes straight out of fifteen years in his own beds. The rest comes from reading university extension research, government agencies, and peer-reviewed studies until he can explain a crop properly, whether or not he's grown it himself.Founder & Managing Editor of Strategic Metals.
Growing Chia for Sprouts, Microgreens & Seed Chia (Salvia hispanica) is a true sage that pulls triple duty from a single packet of seed: scattered on a damp tray it becomes a mild, nutty sprout in under a week, grown…
Growing Curly Cress for Sprouts, Greens & Soil Curly cress (Lepidium sativum) is one of the fastest edible plants you can grow, and one of the most versatile — a single packet does four different jobs. Scattered on a damp…
Growing Lentils for Sprouts & Seed Lentils (Lens culinaris) are a cool-season annual legume and one of the oldest crops humans ever tamed — and one of the few you can grow three completely different ways from the same bag…
Grow fenugreek from seed for methi greens, maple-scented sprouts, microgreens, and seed — with North American climate timing, harvesting, cooking, and health uses.
Growing Flax for Seed & Fibre Flax (Linum usitatissimum) gives you several different harvests from one packet of seed: omega-3-rich seed you can eat, soak, or grow into microgreens; strong stem fibre for linen; and a cloud of sky-blue flowers…
Grow oats from seed at home — variety choice, when to plant by zone, harvesting at the dough stage, threshing and dehulling by hand, plus sprouts, oat grass, cover crop and oatmeal uses.
A complete guide to growing hollyhocks from seed — choosing varieties, sowing for first-year or biennial bloom, zone timing, controlling rust, companions, seed saving, and the plant's edible and historical uses across the US and Canada.
Growing Borage for Bees & Edible Flowers Borage (Borago officinalis) is one of the few plants that earns a spot in the flower bed, the herb garden, and the vegetable patch all at once. Direct sow it after your last…
Growing Buckwheat in the Home Garden Buckwheat is the fastest, most forgiving seed a home grower can plant. Sow it into warm soil and it germinates in three to five days, covers bare ground inside two to three weeks, and…
Growing Barley for Grain, Cover Crops & Sprouts Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is the most versatile grain a home grower can plant, and the same handful of seed does half a dozen different jobs. Sow it in a garden bed and…
