A Seed Saver's Garden

[flowerbug]

No! It's real!!

eta: I mean, it's real according to this website. lol But creativity abounds in the world indeed.

Snow Mountain Garlic And Its Health Benefits

Kashmiri Snow Mountain Garlic is an aromatic spice with a unique taste. It is grown in the Himalayas. The garlic has unique properties, which make it different from other types of garlic. It is rich in Vitamin C, A, B complex, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Phosphorus, and Selenium. It...

www.kashmironlinestore.com

uh, just because it is on the internet doesn't make it real... i'll remain a bit skeptical about any claims from sites like the one you've cited, especially when full of medical claims...

 

[heirloomgal]

First butterfly pea bloom. We soaked it after it faded, and the water is deep, deep blue. Next blossom I should make some blue rice with it.

 

[Zeedman]

That doesn't really look like garlic. More like the bulbs that form under elephant garlic. I would question its species.

 

[Zeedman]

Below is, as far as I can tell the TOTAL crop (with them all being leafless now, I brought them in on the chance the second theory was the correct one. Bear in mind, the biggest of these is pea sized (that's as big as they get)

Is there something about this variety that makes it desirable? Have you ever tried/grown Perlzwiebel? It too gets tiny pearl/pea sized bulbils; but when those are grown, they form a 1/2-1" central bulb, and a cluster underneath of the tiny bulbils (bulblets?). I am growing a fairly large crop of them this year, I'll try to post a photo.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

they don't look like there is much of a tunic on those so i would say from guessing based upon other similar species that it probably isn't meant to be a storage crop other than left in the ground. from what i read it should be zone 4 safe so NY should not be too cold for it if you're in the central to southern parts. mulch it also a bit IMO.

Zone 4 means zone 4 in the GROUND, not in a big pot. Even at it's size, it can, and will freeze solid over the winter.

Is the Mountain Garlic you're growing the same as the 'Snow Mountain' garlic that comes up when I do a google search? The one from Kashmir? Grows to 30 feet tall?

No, that's different

eta: Interesting that there is a variety of garlic called 'solo' or 'only child', and possibly also called Jammu garlic (not sure if this is a different one). Each plant bears a single clove. I kind of like that idea. I've never been a fan of all that peeling.

all "solo" or "Chinese One Clove Garlic" is is a kind of common garlic that makes a single clove (called a round) its first year (as many hard necks do). They just found one that makes a big enough one they can sell it. Plant that in the ground, and, in a year or two, it will "break" back into a normal head.

Is there something about this variety that makes it desirable? Have you ever tried/grown Perlzwiebel? It too gets tiny pearl/pea sized bulbils; but when those are grown, they form a 1/2-1" central bulb, and a cluster underneath of the tiny bulbils (bulblets?). I am growing a fairly large crop of them this year, I'll try to post a photo.

What makes it desirable, to me at least, is the same thing that made the other wild garlics I'm trying next year desirable; conventional garlic doesn't seem to like it (few alliums do, except the natural crow garlic weeds) here so I am looking for alternatives. Also, any "wild" allium is likely to be low maintenance once it is established, which is a bonus. A lot of my choices are based on try to find some way around the nearly nothing grows here problem.

 

[heirloomgal]

all "solo" or "Chinese One Clove Garlic" is is a kind of common garlic that makes a single clove (called a round) its first year (as many hard necks do). They just found one that makes a big enough one they can sell it. Plant that in the ground, and, in a year or two, it will "break" back into a normal head.

This is what I had read, that it is selected that way over time. I had no idea though that it would revert back to a regular head of garlic. Sheesh @Pulsegleaner, the esoteric knowledge that you have is wild. I had no idea about any of these alternative types of garlic. It's all so interesting.

 

[heirloomgal]

Garlic Cake. On the topic of garlic, I'd eat this garlic cake.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

This is what I had read, that it is selected that way over time. I had no idea though that it would revert back to a regular head of garlic. Sheesh @Pulsegleaner, the esoteric knowledge that you have is wild. I had no idea about any of these alternative types of garlic. It's all so interesting.

One thing I'd LOVE to try one day is Allium tunecelli, the ACTUAL: wild ancestor of domestic garlic. But, as it is now severely endangered due to local overharvesting, I'd say my odds of that are about equal to tasting that species of Ferula some scientist found he thinks just might be the long extinct silphium (which is also endangered and protected.)

 

[Pulsegleaner]

First cuke picked. No longer sure it actually is Russian Netted, since it doesn't look like it. I'd say it was Lemon, but it (and all of the others) are a lot flatter. Guess I'll have more info tomorrow evening when I eat the flesh (at this point, it is possible to take the seeds out to save and still eat the flesh).

If it ISN'T Russian Netted, I'm not sure what I'll do, as I know of no other source for seed I can use. Trade Winds, who I used the first time, doesn't carry it anymore, and pretty much every other place I have seen offering it actually seems to be offering Brown Russian (which is a fine cucumber, but not the same). All of the fruits on the other plants seem to be be changing to the same color, so whatever the first one is, all of them seem to be.

The only other new piece of info I have Is that I have harvested the first two pods off the long beans, and I am now confused. I'm SURE the ones I planted back there were the speckled seeded ones with the pink fungicide on them. But both of the pods I picked yielded seeds that are solid buff in color, with no marks.

What makes this more confusing is that, while I HAD some long bean seeds that color, I don't recall PLANTING any of them. The other long beans (the ones in the corn patch, that have yet to flower or set pods, are white seeded). I could have sworn all of the buff ones broke before I got them into the ground. I suppose I'll have to wait until a second plant produces seeds to compare.

It also seems that, while this long bean has no problem making full size pods here, it DOES have a problem fertilizing itself. While both pods were what I assume is full length (from my elbow to my fingertips, or easily 18 inches) there were only six actual seeds between the two of them. Lot's of aborted seeds, but very few good ones (like with a lot of long beans, once the seeds are ready you can sort of see where they are even before you open the pods, the bulge out a lot there, so I should be able to check fertility for the others easily.)

 

[heirloomgal]

First cuke picked. No longer sure it actually is Russian Netted, since it doesn't look like it. I'd say it was Lemon, but it (and all of the others) are a lot flatter. Guess I'll have more info tomorrow evening when I eat the flesh (at this point, it is possible to take the seeds out to save and still eat the flesh).

If it ISN'T Russian Netted, I'm not sure what I'll do, as I know of no other source for seed I can use. Trade Winds, who I used the first time, doesn't carry it anymore, and pretty much every other place I have seen offering it actually seems to be offering Brown Russian (which is a fine cucumber, but not the same). All of the fruits on the other plants seem to be be changing to the same color, so whatever the first one is, all of them seem to be.

The only other new piece of info I have Is that I have harvested the first two pods off the long beans, and I am now confused. I'm SURE the ones I planted back there were the speckled seeded ones with the pink fungicide on them. But both of the pods I picked yielded seeds that are solid buff in color, with no marks.

What makes this more confusing is that, while I HAD some long bean seeds that color, I don't recall PLANTING any of them. The other long beans (the ones in the corn patch, that have yet to flower or set pods, are white seeded). I could have sworn all of the buff ones broke before I got them into the ground. I suppose I'll have to wait until a second plant produces seeds to compare.

It also seems that, while this long bean has no problem making full size pods here, it DOES have a problem fertilizing itself. While both pods were what I assume is full length (from my elbow to my fingertips, or easily 18 inches) there were only six actual seeds between the two of them. Lot's of aborted seeds, but very few good ones (like with a lot of long beans, once the seeds are ready you can sort of see where they are even before you open the pods, the bulge out a lot there, so I should be able to check fertility for the others easily.)

Speaking of fertilizing itself, do you know how Butterfly Peas get pollinated? a.k.a get viable seeds from them? Last year I had 2 plants (next to each other) and no pods were formed once the blossoms fell. This year unfortunately I only have the one plant. I'd like to collect some seed since the seeds from Richter's are either old or the species is a sporadic germinator. I think fresh seeds would be better to get an earlier start. Online searches turn up only convoluted and contradicting answers.

I noticed something odd about my corn today. Usually when I've grown any kind of corn the cob numbers per plant are more or less the same. I took a patient look today and saw that the cob numbers are really diverse - some have 4 cobs, some have 1. I have a couple thoughts about this; the corn itself 'Rootbeer' is a selection from 'Cassiopeia' and maybe there is some variability in there? Could that be? Seems odd to me. The other thing is I've watered them with a hose standing at the front of the patch and no question the front received more water overall for the past 2 months. It's the plants closest to where I stood watering that have mostly 4 cobs each. Whereas the back of the patch which got the least seems to have many plants with one cob each. The middle seems to all be less than 4, but hard to tell since at 1 foot apart each way I can't get in there to really check. The last thing is that the front of the patch is nearest my fertilizer pole and no question that those plants closest to it all have the 4 cobs, the middle to back of that patch is totally out of the range of the pole. This is a new experience for me with corn. Very strange.