US: OSU Master Gardeners grow grafted vegetables at The Oregon Garden

Once a week from June 14 to mid-September, Harry Olson and Tobie Habeck commuted from Salem to Silverton to tend a U-shaped plot at The Oregon Garden. As they weeded and watered, the duo would hear docents tell their trams full of visitors about the little-known grafted vegetables overflowing from the raised beds and spilling onto the mulched aisles.

The two longtime Master Gardeners with the Oregon State University Extension Service would look at each other and smile. This was why they toiled. People need to know, Olson said, about these vegetables that have garnered so much attention around the country, including stories in USA Today and the New York Times. The plants are a combination of the hybrids and heirlooms we love attached by hand to the roots of vigorous plants in a process similar to grafted roses, fruit trees and grapes.

Tomatoes were first to the grafting table. The new version of the old favorite hit the market in 2010. The next winter, Olson sat down with Territorial Seed’s catalog, opened the front page and stared at the photo that showed a non-grafted and a grafted tomato side by side.

Click here to read the complete article at oregonstate.edu.