A Seed Saver's Garden

[Pulsegleaner]

The two plants that you harvested green cherries from- what variety was the parent plant? Green Zebra Cherry? I'd be curious to know the parentage of that variety.

The answer is I do not know. As far as I can tell, it worked out like this, about four years ago I dumped nearly ALL of my old tomato seeds (were talking about several POUNDS of tomato seed) into a pot to see if ANYTHING was still viable. Nearly all of it wasn't (we were talking seed going back up to twenty years old, with no special care taken) but one sprout did come out, and ended up producing round green spherical cherry tomatoes (which means it isn't Green Grape or a relative of that). All of the seed from that I put away, but I have vague memories of finding one last half ripe tomato at years end, putting it down on my bedside table until I had time to seed it and add it to the rest of the pack, and then promptly forgetting.

Fast forward to early this spring, when I was assembling seed for my test pots (where I try out any and all new and unknown things) While cleaning off my bedside table, I found a small, brown berry (I should mention at this point that my "bedside table" is in fact the end of my radiator, due to how my room is constructed.) I thought I was probably some sort of nightshade berry I had picked out of some bag of grains or spices, and added it to the mix.

As the spring wore on, two sprouts came out of that pot (well a lot of assorted sprouts came out, but it's these two we are concerned with) that, eventually, I realized had to be tomatoes (and which soon outgrew and shaded everything else) Eventually they produced fruit, and I waited for it to ripen. I KEPT waiting for a VERY long time (it was at this point I began to suspect they were green when-ripes, since the same thing happened with the first one).

Then about three weeks ago, my mom told me there was a frost warning for the night (it turned out she was wrong, but I didn't find that out until later) which led me to pick ALL remaining produce outside, including the tomatoes (this was not terrible, as it also coincided with me noticing that something was pulling the lower hanging unripe fruits off and eating them, so without that pick, I would have likely gotten less, or even nothing.) On the way back inside for picking was when I noticed the stripes (though, at that time, I thought they all had them, since, logically, all plants in that pot would have had to come from the same fruit.)

And that's how it stands, The fruits ripened (those that were mature enough to do so) and last night I opened them and ate them. I can't tell you the parent, because what I have this year is the unknown spawn of an unknown spawn. It could have come from ANY round green cherry I tossed in that first time (and there were several). I can't even work out which plant produced which, since one of them died the moment I removed all of the fruit (they do that around here).

 

[heirloomgal]

Pounds of tomato seed!?

 

[heirloomgal]

Chufa nuts, I think they might be a food of the future. I gave them no fertilizer, though I was generous with water and some shrimp compost initially. I think I harvested

6-8 pounds of them, at least fresh. The weight will probably drop as they age. But that comes to about a pound per foot. And the ones that I washed and was able to dry (on the box flat) tasted AWESOME. Just like coconut. Chewy tubers.

Now, if only there was an easier way of washing them, and ridding them of the tiny roots. Gotta be a catch somewhere!

Good for high blood sugar, high blood pressure, digestion, fights against several strains of bacteria like salmonella, e.coli, staphylococcus, even antibiotic resistant bacteria strains. So much more. Pretty happy this experiment didn't turn out to be just a fruitless lark. Food & medicine at the same time. Love it!

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Pounds of tomato seed!?

Probably. We're talking about an accumulation over 20+ years. Every packet I bought and didn't use, every tomato I saved seed from and never got around to re-planting. Really a tragedy, in retrospect (considering all of the odd and unique tomatoes I'd accumulated seed from, or gotten from others, that I have no way of replacing.)

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Few updates.
Unfortunately, it looks like I'll have to start from scratch next year with the Russian Netted cucumbers. The fruit I managed to get before the vine died for good wasn't old enough to have any mature viable seeds (I thought it might when I cut it, but by the next day all of them had collapsed flat, so they have no embryo.

The one horned melon I left out IS still going. Only I now suspect it's another Borneo Jungle cucumber rather than a horned melon, on the grounds that it doesn't appear to have any horns, and DOES appear to have some pretty noticeable stripes (a normal horned melon would have stripes as well, but I planted Horned Melon Rund, which, besides being round instead of oval, is supposed to be white skinned rather than orange, so it shouldn't be striped.)

Finally, to my surprise, one of the indoor orchids I bought at the supermarket actually has re-flowered! This is the first time any of them have done that since my C. amazonicum (that's one of the main reasons I loved that orchid so much; it would flower every three to six months without me actually having to DO anything except keep it watered and warm (and the radiator and cloche took care of most of that.)

My only regret is that it is THIS one that re-flowered, rather than the other one of this species (this one is nice, but I know it's the more common color combination, while the other one is a much more interesting red flowered version.)
Also, oddly, this time, all the flowers are upside down (or, since I know my orchid anatomy, actually right side up)

 

[flowerbug]

...Now, if only there was an easier way of washing them, and ridding them of the tiny roots. Gotta be a catch somewhere!

wow! nice harvest! how about a pair of scissors?

 

[heirloomgal]

wow! nice harvest! how about a pair of scissors?

They're pretty small, and there are thousands.....I'm tempted to blow the hose across them with high pressure, but I'm afraid I'll damage the outer covering and they'll go bad on me. On the other hand, they'd get really clean and might be fine. Not sure what to do. Always difficult to figure this stuff out when they are not commonly grown.

 

[heirloomgal]

Sesame harvest 2022. About 12 plants. Came to about 3/4 cup.

@Zeedman have you seen this before? I found these growing on the roots of my potted Morelle de Balbis?

I thought the stem marks of the Mini Bambino eggplants were kinda cute. Next seed harvest round I do these.

Melanzanna Rotunda. Seeds await.

 

[Zeedman]

@Zeedman have you seen this before? I found these growing on the roots of my potted Morelle de Balbis?

I've never seen roots such as those on Morelle de Balbis. They look like Jerusalem artichokes (a.k.a. sunchokes). Were any of those nearby? They would be very tall, sunflower-like plants, with small yellow flowers. The roots are very invasive, I wouldn't be surprised if they got in through the bottom of the pot.

 

[flowerbug]

They're pretty small, and there are thousands.....I'm tempted to blow the hose across them with high pressure, but I'm afraid I'll damage the outer covering and they'll go bad on me. On the other hand, they'd get really clean and might be fine. Not sure what to do. Always difficult to figure this stuff out when they are not commonly grown.

from the videos i've checked out they look pretty difficult to process but there must be a way the pros do it. keep looking...