I sort of wing it now that I’ve made it so many times (I do a lot of fermenting). I use a 2% brine, and ferment my peppers sliced into chunks along with a clove or two of garlic, for 4 weeks at room temp. Sometimes I’ve thrown in cherry tomatoes (the sugars speed up fermentation). After the 4...
Almost all. I’ve been mostly focused on keeping up with fresh seed. This year I’m planning to grow larger quantities so that I can try cooking some, plus some to share. I’ve only really cooked with Graines de Cafe as a dry bean. Although we do eat a lot of snap beans.
Yes, I’ve never had an outcross here either and I grow many varieties each year in close proximity. But then I have lots of other things blooming at the same time, like you.
I’m loving 2 of those in the grey/black grouping. The one I marked A is a really unique buff colour, imo. And B is a gorgeous blend of tones. Really beautiful!
@flowerbug I like the beans in the last photo - center bottom cup. Really nice mix of pinks and peach in a good sized bean. Have you cooked any of these to add to your records? OOh, also the second from the bottom on the far right is lovely!
Yes, I was just sort of thinking out loud. But your (plural) responses helped me think it out. I’d like to try out a lot of these (dried) beans for flavour, so I think I will plant out the ones with the best flavour reviews, as well as a couple pretty ones and some older ones. Plus the bean...
@heirloomgal I bought some copper wire so I can do some trials this summer with the little rods you had mentioned awhile back. Do you have a book or website that explained the concepts and technique?
I’m starting to get so excited about this growing season! I’m going to try winter sowing of a few flowers, but I’m agonizing over which beans to grow out this year. How does one choose, if the age of the beans isn’t an issue? Prettiest? Most useful? Rarest? I’m probably overthinking it, lol...
I got a new bean from Prairie Garden seeds (SK) that I’m excited to try. It’s my very first broad/fava bean (Vicia faba)! Apparently you can roast them as use as a coffee substitute.
I recently put all my squash seeds into my tracking spreadsheet and I have 34 varieties! I have the space but I’d have to bag blossoms if I want to grow more than one of each. Which I might do. If a squash is listed as open pollinated heirloom, I’m guessing it has more stable genetics and is...
I’m inspired to do more diverse seed-saving this year! I’ve always kept seeds from favourite peas, beans, tomatoes, peppers, spinach, herbs. But this year I’m going to branch out into squash and maybe cucumber, perhaps corn if i can get the timing right. Squash has always been a bit daunting but...
I’ll keep that in mind, @Decoy1 😁 I’m still fairly new so I don’t have quantities to share yet but maybe next year. I’m closing in on 200 varieties but @heirloomgal has me beat by a mile, lol.