A Seed Saver's Garden

[Pulsegleaner]

Well, the bad news is, we have a very early frost predicted for tonight, so I had to harvest ALL remaining vegetables and hope for the best with regards to getting seed back.

The good news is I FINALLY identified the mystery cherry tomatoes from the side, and it's actually one I can use! Looking at the fruits closely, it's clearly Green Zebra Cherry (I never noticed the streaks before, but they are clearly there.) HOW I got it I do not know, as I don't think it was one of the ones that has ever come up before. In fact the only guess I can give is that, in addition to the seed that make the green cherries three or so years ago, there was a Green Zebra cherry seed that actually managed to overwinter in the ground until the NEXT year, or the year after, and come up in a year when I was sowing other tomatoes in there. It then made one tiny fruit at year end which was the one I picked put on my radiator, forgot about, dried, and I found and thought was a nightshade berry (which is how it got sown in the pot this time). And at least SOME of the fruit is presumably far enough along to have viable seed (if I got viable out of the little nub from that year, I should have no problem, as most of these are WAY more mature.)

 

[heirloomgal]

Well @Pulsegleaner, I don't know how you've managed to save papalo seeds, but my plants are 4 feet tall, over 100 days old and STILL no seed heads anywhere!! The pepicha and quilquinna have given plenty, but it's papalo that's my favourite! I think at this point there's probably not much hope.

 

[flowerbug]

no frost warning here tonight! wish i could huff and puff and blow some warmth your direction! hope things come through ok.

 

[Alasgun]

@flowerbug, huff me some heat; my Strawberries would thank you!

 

[flowerbug]

@flowerbug, huff me some heat; my Strawberries would thank you!

i'd try but likely pass out from hyperventilating as that's against the prevailing winds and way over thataways. @heirloomgal is about on the same track of weather we are except a bit further north...

 

[heirloomgal]

no frost warning here tonight! wish i could huff and puff and blow some warmth your direction! hope things come through ok.

Thanks @flowerbug! My is warmed from the sentiment even if the garden isn't!

 

[heirloomgal]

One thing that I can't help but think of at this time of year is how generous plants are with their seeds. Yeah, I'd love if the beans and peas gave a wee bit more for the area they occupy, but those seeds are large & edible, unlike many, so in the end it works out.

Even the sesame plants, which don't appreciate the fall weather of upper North America, have been quite generous. The dried corn produced the biggest crop I've had yet; could be because I grew them on an old compost pile. The nicotiana flowers produced SO MUCH seed it's been incredible. Mind you, I really kept up with them, going out everyday to check for opening seed heads. Their seeds are SO tiny. Peppers all produced really well, probably since I had hardly any bells, which are often seed duds for me. I collected an enormous amount from the tomatoes this year. The family was not quite as ravenous as usual for tomatoes this summer. Eggplants did fantastic in pots, but I'm yet to see how much of the seed will be viable in the decanting. Will depend how mature they truly are, which looks so different variety to variety.

Many flowers were a challenge, and barely got seeds from the dwarf cosmos, linaria, persian cornflowers, annual forget me nots, blue flax, dwarf convolvulus. The scarlet flax and pheasants eye are yet to be determined, same with cerinthe. Godetia is looking promising. We'll see with the cotton plant. It's got big lime looking balls/seed heads? on it right now. Kenikir was a seed bonanza.

Still waiting on the fate of the watermelon seeds, the last of the lettuce plants, lima beans, chufa nuts, sorghum, the last soybean variety, the outdoor grown Tuscan Pimento peppers.

Could still be some happy outcomes on the horizon!

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Well @Pulsegleaner, I don't know how you've managed to save papalo seeds, but my plants are 4 feet tall, over 100 days old and STILL no seed heads anywhere!! The pepicha and quilquinna have given plenty, but it's papalo that's my favourite! I think at this point there's probably not much hope.

Well, maybe I just had a lucky year, same as with the watermelons.

no frost warning here tonight! wish i could huff and puff and blow some warmth your direction! hope things come through ok.

Actually, while in the car during out nightmare of an afternoon (rather not go into that). Dad clarified that they had just said it was going to go down into the 30's (not below freezing, just into the thirties. for the areas NORTH of us! and even THAT was a maybe! Of course, this was AFTER I did the harvest. But the critters were beginning to attack the tomatoes anyway, so it's probably alright. And at least the plants themselves didn't have to come in (by now, the bean plant is so big that I'll need Dad's help when it actually comes in.) Ditto the citruses; the sudachi is now so tall I'll have to put it on the ground and push it to get it in the door!

 

[Alasgun]

@heirloomgal i get tired just reading that list we talk a lot about “ if we’d just” in terms of adding things but fortunately; i just dont have it in me any longer to add much of anything. I sure do enjoy reading about you’r’s and others reports though. For me, the neat part is that there are getting to be so many more folks developing an interest in gardening.

 

[ducks4you]

The family was not quite as ravenous as usual for tomatoes this summer.

Lucky!!! I can't keep My family away from them!!
I threw away my first attempt (2022) of saving Cherokee Purple seeds. Didn't think I fermented them right. I took one of the growing collection of laundry detergent measuring cups and started fermenting again. I took 2 tomatoes that were rotting already. I have a nice, pink skum going, and it's on the steps outside. Been going for several days, so I will probably do the first rinse today and finish to start drying in a few days.