A Seed Saver's Garden

[flowerbug]

...
Nicotianas are bulking up with more flowers, and very sticky buds! Like touching super tacky glue. Each time I collect a seed pod I need to scrub my hands after. Mercifully, these are easy as pie to collect if I'm vigilant. I see the odd bug seemingly stuck to the buds, I can't help but wonder if it kills them.

it might, also may be a way of getting some extra fertilizer... if venus flytraps. sundews, pitcherplants, etc. can figure it out then others may too in yet other ways...

 

[heirloomgal]

Busy, busy, busy!



Pink Hollyhocks. Love these weirdo spaceship seed heads.

Galapagos Wild

Count Dracula. Production was great for small pots.

Dead Viking peas. I started with 25 itty-bitty seeds! It's amazing how some seeds can multiply themselves.

Qiyanai-Huang. Dwarf variety.

Pepicha seedhead ❤. A little miracle!

Red Inca Berry pepper. Another one with great production. My neighbour will turn these into hot pepper jelly for us.

Black from Tula, potato leaf version. IMHO one of the best black tomatoes out there, with the possible exception of True Black Brandywine.

Kaiser Alexander. Crackle city.

Holstein cowpea. It's been nearly 90 days, but finally it's making pods.

 

[heirloomgal]

Pepper progress. The last ones to ripen.

Piazinho

Aji Omnicolour. Nearly there.

Tabasco

Bird's Eye

Buena mulata

The turtle, Jasmyn Risse. Turn red please!

Found a great if temporary use for the second swing. Drying radish pods.

Cocarde lettuce seeds!

Cicerchia pods. They got smothered by the radish plants, but they still made a goodly number of pods. Will grow this one again next year without bossy neighbours.

Papalo flower.

 

[ducks4you]

My asparagus beans are essentialy cow peas and look Just like your cow peas.
I read to harvest them when they are the width of a pencil, but I discovered that they can get tough when that thick and during a drought here, even when I water them.

 

[heirloomgal]

My asparagus beans are essentialy cow peas and look Just like your cow peas.
I read to harvest them when they are the width of a pencil, but I discovered that they can get tough when that thick and during a drought here, even when I water them.

Oh! I didn't know that! So are 'yardlong beans', 'asparagus beans' and 'cowpeas' basically the same thing? They do seem to grow similarly now that I've grown my first one. Well, I've actually grown pretzel cowpeas a few years ago but they were so odd they didn't seem to fit any growth category.

 

[heirloomgal]

Sugar Plum Raspberry
I don't know if it's supposed to be shaped like this, I'll have to research it. Not what I expected.

Yellow Pigeon Hearts

Kingfisher daisies are going to seed. They go from little puffball to floating air fuzz in a blink of the eye!

There is hope for the limas!

Corn finally drying up?

Pod set for Sunset Runner; not bad. Hard to beat last year's Piekny Jas. There were so many unfertilized blossoms I draw the conclusion that this one really doesn't like heat. Some have been more tolerant, but not this one.

First teparies.

Two small pots for eggplant Melanzzana Rotunda, and I can't complain about its production. However, it seems nearly impossible to distinguish from Striped Turkish. Might be the same.

Here we go again.

 

[Phaedra]

I also started saving seeds this year, and may I ask some questions about seed saving here in your thread? Thanks in advance.

First, about tomatoes, do you always ferment the seeds first? I know why it is suggested to do so, but not sure if it is 100% necessary.

The second is still about fermentation - is it also necessary to do this for eggplants and squashes? This is my first-time saving eggplant seeds, which are pretty clean compared to tomato seeds. I never fermented squash seeds in the past, but they hardly failed.

The last question is about the "slightly" damaged seeds, especially for beans. I collected a lot of field bean seeds this year, some of which are slightly damaged by the worms. I also did some research and realized those damaged ones can still germinate but might have a weaker growth later. What is your experience with this? I mean, will the plant robustness be influenced that much?

Much appreciated.

 

[flowerbug]

i don't think fermenting is required once the seeds are viable, but some people do it because it can make a difference in disease spread and microbes. to me, nah, not going to bother with it. squash seeds dry perfectly well spread out and rotated a few times (after i've squeezed them apart from any flesh - i don't rinse or wash them at all). once they are dry if you want them cleaned you can rub the remaining bits of shiny coat and flesh away and they look nice enough and they store fine that ways as long as they are dried enough.

i have no experience with eggplant or tomato seed saving as all the plants that grow here are either volunteers or they're plants from the greenhouse. Mom wants to know that what we plant is what she wants to grow.

 

[ducks4you]

@heirloomgal IS the expert, here, but I will chime in. YES, you have to ferment tomato seeds. I did that last year, I am harvesting from the tomato plants that grew from those seeds. I swear that every seed planted sprouted bc I treated the seeds correctly.
I live in a very humid climate and, after fermentation and rinsing I dried my Cherokee Purple tomato seeds for a good 3 months before storage. They have to be thoroughly dry.
ALL of my research suggests that yes, again, you must ferment squash seeds, and thoroughly dry them out for any yield.
I did, however, pour out pumpkin seeds that I had simply dried out and Didn't, in the sweet potato bed that I planted in several weeks ago. I am not looking for a harvest from them, simply to fill in and suppress weeds. They are thriving.
You can get enough squash/melon seeds, IMHO, from a single fruit.

 

[ducks4you]

@heirloomgal , I'm gonna steal your bean drying out method!
I was about to burn some of those paper box lids. Now, I'll wait and use them for harvesting bean seeds.