by growing smaller, quick-maturing plants in high-density spacings.
Most modern vegetables have been bred to suit this method. Many new
varieties can't forage and have become smaller, more determinate,
and faster to mature. Actually, the larger, more sprawling heirloom
varieties of the past were not a great deal less productive overall,
but only a little later to begin yielding.

Fortunately, enough of the old sorts still exist that a selective
and varietally aware home gardener can make do. Since I've become
water-wiser, I'm interested in finding and conserving heirlooms that
once supported large numbers of healthy Americans in relative
self-sufficiency. My earlier book, being a guide to what passes for
ordinary vegetable gardening these days, assumed the availability of
plenty of water. The varieties I recommended in [i]Growing
Vegetables West of the Cascades[i] were largely modern ones, and the
seed companies I praised most highly focused on top-quality
commercial varieties. But, looking at gardening through the filter
of limited irrigation, other, less modern varieties are often far
better adapted and other seed companies sometimes more likely
sources.

Seed Company Directory*

Abundant Life See Foundation: P.O. Box 772, Port Townsend, WA 98368
_(ABL)_
Johnny's Selected Seeds: Foss Hill Road, Albion, Maine 04910 _(JSS)_
Peace Seeds: 2345 SE Thompson Street, Corvallis, OR 97333 _(PEA)_
Ronninger's Seed Potatoes: P.O. Box 1838, Orting, WA 98360 _(RSP)_
Stokes Seeds Inc. Box 548, Buffalo, NY 14240 _(STK)_
Territorial Seed Company: P.O. Box 20, Cottage Grove, OR 97424