If you are new to Freighter View Farms, here is where to start. Not the most recent posts — the ones that have lasted. The ones that hold up on a second read, that a stranger found useful or that a regular reader still mentions. These are the posts that capture what this garden and this place are actually about.
The Guides
The Complete Guide to Seed Saving for Beginners — The most thorough thing on the site. Everything from selecting the best fruit through the fermentation method through storing seeds through the spring. Written for gardeners who have never done it and want to start right.
Michigan Zone 6a Garden Planner — Month-by-month planting calendar for Great Lakes gardeners, with variety recommendations and the frost date math that runs everything else.
The Best Heirloom Tomatoes for Michigan — Five varieties tested across multiple seasons in Zone 6a raised beds. Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, Brandywine, Costoluto Fiorentino, Orange Accordion. Why each one earns its place.
When to Start Seeds Indoors in Michigan — The full timing calendar anchored to May 15th, with specific weeks for peppers, tomatoes, onions, herbs, and what not to start early.
The Stories
Searching for the Perfect Slicing Tomato Seed — A multi-year quest for the tomato that tastes like the ones in memory. The post that started the whole project.
The First Tomato Sandwich of Summer — Cherokee Purple, brioche bun, mayonnaise, salt. Eaten standing in the garden. The best thing I eat all year, and why.
Early Morning on the Bay: The Dance of the Cormorants — What the garden looks like at six in the morning when the bay is doing something worth watching.
Bonaparte’s Gulls on Saginaw Bay — The birds that arrive every November and what it means to watch them from the garden as the season closes.
The Enchantment of Frost — What happens to a garden after the first hard frost, and why it is worth going out to see it.
The Seasonal Posts
A Year in the Garden: 2025 — Month-by-month through the full growing season, from the basement grow lights in March to the seed envelopes in October.
Defying Winter: The Science of the Crowded Pot — On the particular stubbornness of growing things in February.
A Season Well Lived: Zone 6a Garden Review — The 2024 season in full — what worked, what failed, what I will do differently.
The Seed Saving Posts
The Zen of Seed Saving — On what happens to your attention when your hands are shelling dried beans in October.
Saving Summer: The Art of Collecting Zinnia Seeds — The easiest seeds to save and the best gift to give another gardener in February.
Saving Shishito Pepper Seeds — How I save the variety I have grown the longest, with notes on why I will never stop.
The Practical Posts
Capillary Mats and Grow Lights — The seed-starting setup that changed how the seedlings develop. Bottom-watering, why it matters, and what to look for.
Mastering the Art of Single-Stem Tomatoes — Why I prune to one leader, how I do it, and what it produces in a short Michigan season.
All posts are on the blog page. The guides are collected on the Michigan Gardening page. If you are not sure where to start, start with the tomato sandwich. Everything else follows from there.
Freighter View Farms | Chris Izworski 