Experiments, observations, and lessons learned

[digitS']

It surprises me every year.



The first day for the tomato seedlings to venture out to the South Window . There are about 7 seeds of each of these 6 varieties. Two more are in the cookie box with the eggplant. It is the same story there.

The seedlings of 2 varieties from purchased seed are yet to emerge. The one closest to the camera in the "tomatoes only" box is the purchased seed there – Yellow Jelly Beans hybrid. The other with the eggplant is heirloom, Kellogg's Breakfast. Neither has a single sprout appearing.

Both are a little old – the Kellogg's Breakfast are from 2020; the Jelly Beans are probably from the same year, (that dang Seeds n Such doesn't put dates on their packets). However, the other varieties are also likely from old seed. Every One of those 6 are from Saved Seed and Every One of those has most or all seed sprouted and growing.

I follow a very simple approach to saving tomato and pepper seed. The most serious part of the program is to start seed that is no more than 5 years old. Older and it sprouts but will likely be slower and, starting in these "community containers" means that there is competition for space and sunlight. It is not good if some plants are a week or more behind the others in getting a start.

Anyway, see how competitive the seedsaver (me ) is performing against the seed companies? Surprising to me! Try seed saving if you aren't already .

Steve

 

[heirloomgal]

I think there are layers to unpack in a neat observation such as this. Some of those layers, if not most, will likely remain ellusive but it's fun to speculate. I have great success with home saved seeds, with some species being extra demonstrative of the benefit. Peas, for example. The results from a row of home saved seed from the 2nd year versus the bought seeds from the 1st year planting, even if they weren't that old to begin with, can be mindboggling. I've had 5X the seeds by year 2.

Someone on the bean forum once mentioned that first year, newly received beans can be recalcitrant to grow well, and will produce a below average amount of seeds, but the seeds collected and regrown in the same garden from that original planting do remarkably better the following year.

Is it all attributable to old age? I'm not sure, but I'm inclined to believe not. Some watermelon histories tell of farmers whose practice was to not plant seeds less than 10 years old. And they carried the seeds around in a pouch for a time before planting the year they were to be grown, the belief being it activated some principle in the seed. They believed older seed, in some instances, was better. Were they on to something? Probably many secrets lurk in the being-ness of those seeds! Recently I have had the itch to plant the rest of my pepper seeds, but I'm taking the waxing of the moon into consideration this year, and now the new moon. Lunar cycles and seeds seem to have a relationship too, a factor the older generations seem to have taken into consideration.

 

[digitS']

The seedlings of 2 varieties from purchased seed are yet to emerge. ... Yellow Jelly Beans hybrid. ... heirloom, Kellogg's Breakfast

Only Today, the Kellogg's Breakfast showed up and only 1 of the 7 seeds, so far. This is 10 days later.

The Yellow Jelly Beans have been up and growing awhile but, they had a difficult experience this afternoon. Lined up with others that made a quicker start, I decided that it would be best to move everything out of the cookie box. So, the little guys went into the ponies with their bigger, more mature companions. They should be fine but there were a couple that only had cotyledons and I decided that the chances were not good enough to bother moving them to 4-.packs.

Fortunately, I guess, the Kellogg's Breakfast are not in a crowd and can be left for a few more weeks without being disturbed. (The limited number of plants in 2024 compared to the days of plant sales at the farmers' market causes me to look around after the transplanting and think, "Am I done? Really?! That's it?" Well, it makes them individually more valued .)

Saving seed and running against purchased seed every year – Worth the Try.

Steve

 

[Phaedra]

Great to find and get this thread back. Two lessons to share today:

1. This is a purple broccoli that supposed to crop last April, however, as I grew it too late, although it overwintered successfully (when others plants were killed by a consecutive 10-day hard frost), nothing to be harvested. I don't want to remove it, as it looks totally healthy and I don't need the space.

It survived another winter (this time, milder), and is ready to contribute a very wonderful harvest. Like all larger Brassicas, all the nodes on the main stem will create the side shoots - this one is the same.

So, it becomes a Monster-level purple broccoli and is ready to burst into many flower stems soon. I will take more photos and update later.

2. Is there a 'correct' time to plant spring bulbs?

Based on experiences or common practices, autumn is the time - Oct~Nov seems a great option. However, there are also advices to wait until several harsh frosts, especially for tulips, as the harsh frosts might help avoiding tulip fire, a fungal disease of tulips caused by Botrytis tulipae. So, the schedule could be delayed a bit until December, even January based on another group of experienced gardeners, as long as the soil is still workable.

But, what if you don't have time till end of February, is it still possible to enjoy the blossom of new varieties bulbs?

Yes, the answer is a 100% yes.

Most of the new varieties arrived at late Oct to early Nov last year, but I don't have time or motivation to plant them out. Totally 0.

I kept them in the unheated greenhouse as they are hardy and they need low temperature anyway. The winter is not that wet, but when the moisture level is too high, I did turn on the dehumidifier <-- another lesson learned from earlier tragedies.

When I finally made up my mind to do something in the garden, it's the end of Feb. Some bulbs touched the soil in mid March, and some even till the end of March. Is there still hope to see the flower?

Yes, this belongs to the late March group.

The earliest group (planted in Feb)

Depend on the varieties, some will flower earlier, but all of them are growing well.

Potted ones are also doing well and will bloom in another few days to a week, I guess.

Same for Hyacinth, most of the bulbs were planted in the late Feb to early March - they are on the peak now.

So, from my observation, as long as the bulbs are stored properly, even planting them in March isn't too late in my area.

The latest group that was potted in March

No more pressure to plant them in autumn. Besides, succession planting is also possible - some can be planted earlier, and the others later, for extending the seasonal interests. Of course, the local climate or weather conditions have to be considered.

 

[flowerbug]

...
No more pressure to plant them in autumn. Besides, succession planting is also possible - some can be planted earlier, and the others later, for extending the seasonal interests. Of course, the local climate or weather conditions have to be considered.

you may find out that they don't do as well the next season, but good luck and i hope they do.

i've not found any certain remedy for botrytis other than mulch and diverse bacterial and fungal populations to provide some competition. some years are worse than others, very much weather related.