The crops
Collards, mustards, okra, sweet potatoes, peanuts, watermelon, peas (purple-hulls, crowders, black-eyes), and a yard tomato or two. These are the staples of the Southern Black home garden.
Heirloom seed sources
Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance, Truelove Seeds, and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange all stock Black-cultivated heirloom seeds. Avoid hybrid seeds for staples you want to save year over year.
Schedule
Greens go in October for a winter harvest. Okra, sweet potatoes, and peanuts go in May after the last frost. Watermelon and crowder peas in June.
Save your seeds
Most of these are open-pollinated. Save the largest, healthiest specimens each year. Pass them on within your family — that's how heirloom traditions stay alive.