Who can participate?

Everyone! This includes gardeners and farmers, senior citizens and youth, beginners and experts.

Our agreement

This project is a research program, not a seed giveaway program. Gardeners must agree to manage their seeds in a responsible manner and report their results to NDSU. They must agree to grow, harvest, and taste the vegetables. They must submit their results to NDSU. For our part, we have made the trials simple, educational, and fun.

Selecting trials

Each trial is a comparison of two varieties. Seed packets contain enough seeds to plant a 10-foot row of each variety. Thus, if you choose to participate in the mizuna trial, you will receive enough seeds to plant two 10-foot rows of mizuna.

In 2010, each family will be able to participate in up to 5 of 40 or more trials being offered for testing.

Is it hard to evaluate varieties?

Laying out the plots is easy. You will receive planting instructions along with your seeds, row markers, and a 10-foot string with your order.

NDSU is not looking for complicated data. For each trial, we simply wish to know which of the two varieties germinated best, was most healthy, produced higher yields, and produced the best tasting vegetables. We wish to know which of the two varieties you prefer and which (maybe one, both, or none) of the varieties do you recommend to other gardeners in North Dakota. Click here to see a completed evaluation form (PDF, 100 KB).

What will we do with the results?

Upon receiving the results of gardeners (typically soon after the frost), NDSU will compile the results and send a final report summary (see 8-page 2008 summary (PDF, 732 KB) to all gardeners along with a certificate to recognize their valued participation. An on-line report is made available (see the 62-page 2008 report (PDF, 2150 KB)

The results will be used to develop recommendations for gardeners in North Dakota (PDF, 118 KB) and distributed via University publications and broadcasts.