Community project: Focus crops in Europe

[Laura]

Hello all,

The going to seed meeting in Croatia is over and I am exited to announce that we decided as a community to start a focus crop project.

So what does this mean?

We have selected 6 crops that we want to focus on in 2026 with the following goals:

• seed increase

• increase diversity and quality of our crops

• create a focus and ressource for new members

• create adapation gardening success stories (pictures!)

• generate data that can be used as proof of concept for adapation gardening

We chose the following crops:

• beets (Beta vulgaris)

• tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum)

• lettuces (Lactuca sativa)

• fava beans (Vicia faba)

• Squash (Cucurbita maxima and Cucurbita moschata)

• Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)

We feel that these are a good mix of crops, some more exotic than others and every aspiring landrace gardener should find something of interest on this list.

Who can participate and under what conditions?

All European members of GTS are invited to participate in the project. We would expect that you grow at least 1 of the 6 proposed crops. Document your growing process with many beautiful pictures. A picture tells a 1000 words and can show successes (and failures) much better than desriptions…

Additionally, you should be willing and able to save seeds of your selected crop(s) and share a part of them with the community.

How will this be organised?

Every crop will have a coordinator. This person makes and moderates a dedicated thread for the crop and maintains interest during the year by posting updates, questions and motivating others to do so. In order that the threads are easily found we propose that they are tagged with the tag focus-crops-europe.

The coordinator may or may not be an experienced grower themselves.

Every participant grows their crop like usual, with the methods and inputs (or lack thereof) that they like to use. They select plants for seeds according to their breeding goals and gather enough seeds for themselves and for the wider community.

At the end of the season (winter 2026/2027), we will pool the seeds together. This way, we can increase the diversity of our plants and profit of the work our colleagues do, while giving back to the community as a whole.

It would be great if the sharing could happen in person, for example at the going to seed meeting 2026, but this remains to be seen.

EDIT 13.11.2025: Where will the seeds for the season 2026 come from?

Some people will now doubt use their own seeds because they are already working with the crop. Wether we will distribute some seeds specially for the project will depend on the crop, the coordinator of said crop, who participates, if there is even a need…So, this will be discussed after the applications have run their course and we have a coordinator for every crop.

Crops coordinators so far:

Watermelon: @ThomasPicard

Beet: @malterod

Squash (Moschata and Maxima): @Laura

Fava beans: @isabelle

Still Looking for Crop Coordinators for:

Lettuce and Tomatoes.

How can you participate?

If you want to participate, just post in the thread with which crops you would like to participate and you are on! If you change your mind later and want to drop one crop or take another one up, you always can, until the growing season has begun and as long as you will participate with 3 crops (EDIT 14.11: We are discussing this rule, tell us what you think!)

List of participants per 27.11.2025:

Lettuce: @stephane_rave @mare.silba @Hugo @malterod @Bore @mtttthwww_vdp, @Saskia, @Evelyne, @jackpeppiatt, @Anita

Fava: @Laura @stephane_rave @mare.silba @Hugo @Bore @mtttthwww_vdp, @Tanjaeskildsen, @Jacek, @isabelle, @WojciechG , @rsalzman

Tomato: @Laura @ThomasPicard @stephane_rave @Bore, @Evelyne, @Tanjaeskildsen, @Jacek, @Anita, @WojciechG

Beet: @marcela_v @mare.silba @malterod @Bore, @Saskia, @Evelyne, @jackpeppiatt, @Jacek, @Anita

Watermelon: @ThomasPicard @marcela_v @Hugo, @Evelyne, @jackpeppiatt, @Jacek, @rsalzman, @lenaic

Squash: @Laura @ThomasPicard @mare.silba @Hugo @malterod @mtttthwww_vdp, @Saskia, @Evelyne, @jackpeppiatt, @Tanjaeskildsen, @Jacek, @WojciechG, @lenaic, @Soeren

Crop threads:

Fava: FAVA BEANS 2025-26 european focus crop

Beetroot: BEET - 2026 European Focus Crops

Squash: SQUASH (Maxima and Moschata) 2026 european focus crop

[mtttthwww_vdp (Mr. Plough)]

I would like to participate with the favas!

I could also join the squash project!

Lettuce, I would also like, though I have not yet had success saving the seed. Late summer/autumn gets cool and humid here (Finland) and the seed heads tend to rot, rather than dry out and form the white, fuzzy ‘pappus’. But I’ll try again next year.

[Hugo (Hugo Morvan)]

Hello Everybody , hope you’d like to read and join what Laura said.

@JesseI (Finland)
@malterod (Copenhagen, Denmark)
@Tanjaeskildsen (Mallorca)
@Richard (Mallorca)
@mare.silba (Croatia)
@marcela_v (Croatia)
@ThomasPicard (France)
@Hugo (Bourgogne, France)
@isabelle (Bretagne/Limousin, France)
@Susanwakeman (Lake Geneva, Switzerland / Divonne, France) with additions from @Laura
@Chloe.G (Alsace, France)
@mtttthwww_vdp (Finland)
@polarca (Luleå, Sweden)
@malterod (Denmark)
@Soeren (Denmark)
@Logan (Denmark)
@ChrisF (Marburg, Germany)
@seedsaver (Ireland)
@eArthur (Poland)
@marcela_v (Croatia)
@mare.silba (Croatia)
@Richard (Mallorca)
@Arnopikar (France)
@Jacek (Bonn, Germany)
@Hugo (Bourgogne, France) - Event in Antibes 1-6th of October 2024
@malterod (Copenhagen, Denmark) - Event on the 20th October 2024
@Hermann.Werner (in DK)
@Tanjaeskildsen (in DK)
@malterod (Copenhagen, Denmark) - Exchange with gardeners 18th November
@ThomasPicard (France, Dordogne) - Event in Angers 10-11th December 2024
@isabelle (Bretagne/Limousin, France)
@Markus (Nordjylland, Denmark)
@Hermann.Werner (Copenhagen, Denmark)
@polarca (Sweden) - after mid January
@mtttthwww_vdp (Finland)
@Rosma (Finland)
@Tanjaeskildsen (Mallorca) - January
@Richard (Mallorca)
@Shao (Mallorca)
@mare.silba (Croatia)
@marcela_v (Croatia)
@Saskia (Netherlands)

[Soeren (Søren Holt)]

I can participate with squash. I grow a developing landrace of C. moschata. Startet many years ago by Joseph Lofthouse. Vivi Logan also added to it. Since then, I’ve been adding Basque and Russian cultivars. I slowly select for long thick neck, semi-shade and roedeer friendliness (rampant growth). It’s my impression, that 2 out of three of my goals are irrelevant for other gardeners.

[Hugo (Hugo Morvan)]

One third of farmers in France is retiring coming 5 years, hunters are desperately looking for new members, in USA it’s difficult for growers in the outback to grow without high fences etc.. So good goals! Semi shade is interesting as well to me, i’d love to use pumpkins to kill grass off further in some spots. But hey i’m not most growers so chapeau Soeren!

[Laura]

@mtttthwww_vdp welcome aboard! Added you to your prefered crops!

@Soeren Your goals actually sound very interesting to me, since I also have hungry deer around! What other crops would you like to participate in? (since we would like that each participant has at least 3 of the crops…)

[Soeren (Søren Holt)]

I don’t grow the other crops for different reasons.

Apart from roedeer, my garden is also a vole habitat. Both species lived here before I arrived, so I’m not going to fight them. Besides, they bring a lot of joy.

My kitchen garden is corn, high-grown squash and garlic. Some years I grow cardon, and 10% survives to harvest. I introduced Apios, and the are eaten, but survives for a small delightful crop.

But then I pick a lot of fruit and berries, both unripe and ripe. By fermentation I can eat unripe apples, plum, jostaberries, red and black currants.

Instead of tomatoes, I pick rosehips, cherry plums, hawthorn berries and plums.

Hops are very productive, and I’m mostly the only one eating it.

If one crop is not enough, just cancel my participation - I will understand

[Laura]

Søren, your garden sounds delightful and I like your attitude. As you surely know, there are many people here on GTS who are very into growing fruit and other perennials who will no doubt appreciate every post about your garden. (me, for example)

In the focus crop project we want to join our forces and really focus on these 6 crops. We believe this will be easier if every participant does more than one crop. So, as much as we appreciate your enthusiasm, it isn’t possible for you to take part at the moment.

But I am sure that your deer-proof squash will be very appreciated in the Serendipity seed swap

[Tanjaeskildsen (Tanja)]

I can participate with moschata and fava beans, the rest I cant get a seed crop from as for instance my garden is covered in wild chard which will cross with the beets, or I grow citron melon for storage that will cross into the watermelon etc..and tomatoes simply wont grow well in my garden😅

[Saskia (Saskia van Bon)]

Great idea! I’d like to participate with beet, lettuce and moschata.

[Evelyne (Evelyne Antinoro)]

I would be happy to partecipate with lettuce, moschata, Maxima, beet, tomatoes and watermelon. I was never able to grow really good watermelon but I will try again next year. I am growing beet since 4 years and it is self seeding now.

[Laura]

Hoi Tanja,

well tomatoes don’t grow well for me either, but I am still going to try in the hopes that maybe, maybe I can still make progress…What about the lettuce? Would that be a crop you could work on?

[Laura]

@Saskia Thank you for participating, added you!

@Evelyne Welcome on the project, added you to the list as well!

[Tanjaeskildsen (Tanja)]

I have some tiny self seeding everglades tomatoes that I can contribute with, but otherwise I don’t think Ill dedicate much space to them next year. It’s a lot of work for nothing in the return, and I tried all lofthouse varieties even wildlings and hundreds of others, so I have lost hope a little.
Lettuce I should have planted by now to get seeds for next year, so those are too late. Unless chicory lettuce will count in that category but its a different species…

[Laura]

Well, I think self seeding can be a very valuable trait that I would love to have in tomatoes, therefore we welcome your tomatoes contribution! Welcome abord, Tanja

[Jacek]

Hi everybody, I can do the favas and moschatas or maximas.

I tried watermelon for the first time this year, but the plants I had stayed small and didn’t set fruit. I can try again in more prepared beds next year as I still have some seed.

I could also do the beets. I have a few plants that survived this year. Maybe they will set seed next year.

I will most likely grow some tomato plants next year.

[Hugo (Hugo Morvan)]

Hi Evelyme. Great to have you on board! So many interest from Italians last year at the Antibes ‘Sow your Resistance” conference, but language barrier remains a thing for many. Are you ok with English? I believe there are buttons on this forum to change language… Maybe @stephane_rave could say something about that. Our member who organised most of Croatia conference @marcela_v is somewhere in Italy this week, maybe somebody knows where it is? Anyway welcome,welcome,welcome, benvenuto!

[Laura]

Hi Jacek, I added you for the crops you mentioned. Welcome to the project!

[stephane_rave]

Use the Google Translate tab at the top of the page… or right-click Google Translate > Translate.

[malterod]

I get really excited so see more members joining this project. I think it can push us more in a direction of growing together as a community.

I want to add that choosing a crop does not mean you need to have previous good experiences with the crop. It does mean that you are committed to putting in more focus on that crop next year and some effort in documenting how it goes. In fact, gathering proof of concept could also mean solving some problems people have growing lettuce, fava beans or beets where they are, for example..

The question for each of us is are we willing to put in a bit more energy than we otherwise would do in exploring and documenting how 3-4 of these crops could adapt to our conditions. And that way make new stories that are more relatable for people curious to adaptive agriculture.