A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

I think I overshot with the peppers this year. (Sorry, bad lighting).

Better germ rates than I expected..

The pruned Zavory and Habanada peppers, with new top growth.

(better lighting-)

Purple serrano's. Time to clip flowers.

The Anaheim responded especially well to pruning.

The Peruviano Arancio pepper has come up in height and girth since March 5.

17 days later

 

[Branching Out]

Wow. Such beautiful dark green colour on the leaves. What do you feed them?

 

[heirloomgal]

I've been giving them Muskie fish emulsion, though I ashamedly admit not as often as I should be giving it. But when I transplanted the bigger ones I gave a bit of bone meal (burnt the smaller ones a bit, oops) and I do feel like that has had an effect. I've been following the suggestions on Atlantic Peppers seeds' site to up my pepper game. I think I'm even going to clip flowers once they go outside for awhile as they suggest.

I really struggle to keep care of the ones at the back of the lighting tho - they always dry out. I actually found a few aphids on those stressed out ones today in behind the others. Thank goodness for neem oil!

 

[Branching Out]

I have never heard of Muskie fish emulsion, but it seems to promote gorgeous deep green leaves. Mine are no where near as green as yours are. I , however, am green with envy.

And by the way, our grow light shelves are free standing, and placed a few feet away from the wall. It allows me to walk around and inspect (or water) the plants on both the front and 'back' side. It's kind of a handy feature. We didn't plan it that way; it just sort of happened to be a good spot to place the shelving unit. The lowest shelves are only accessible from the front; I typically place my smallest plants there, so it is not a big deal.

 

[heirloomgal]

I have never heard of Muskie fish emulsion, but it seems to promote gorgeous deep green leaves. Mine are no where near as green as yours are. I , however, am green with envy.

And by the way, our grow light shelves are free standing, and placed a few feet away from the wall. It allows me to walk around and inspect (or water) the plants on both the front and 'back' side. It's kind of a handy feature. We didn't plan it that way; it just sort of happened to be a good spot to place the shelving unit. The lowest shelves are only accessible from the front; I typically place my smallest plants there, so it is not a big deal.

Centred shelves, that's a great idea! I wish I had more space to allow for a centred shelf so I could inspect from all sides.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I'm getting a little edgy on how long Sacred Succulents is taking with my order. All of those Eastern European wild onions and garlics are presumably to be sown as early in the spring as possible to get their chill, and if they aren't here in a few more weeks, it may actually be too WARM for them. I know I can fake out the cold stratification with some time in the fridge, but if they are plants that are supposed to be DONE by the time the warm weather starts, then putting out the seedlings only to have them all fry in the summer heat is sort of a waste.

The Russian Netted cucumber are also on a time bind now, I didn't realize how CLOSE sowing season for those is. Cucumbers, of course I can always direct sow in a pinch, but I tend to not like to put direct sown plants and started plants next to each other (the starter's advantage in size can sometimes lead to them crowding the direct sown out.) At the same time, if I hold EVERYTHING until the seed shows up, I risk it being too late for ANY cucumbers.

Same with the peas and any other cool weather plants; there is a razor thin line here between "still too cold for anything to make it outside" and "too warm for any cool weather crop to make it full cycle before dying in the heat." and the cold frame can only fudge it so far.

 

[Jack Holloway]

@heirloomgal Your peppers are looking great. You are a gardening guru.

 

[heirloomgal]

@heirloomgal Your peppers are looking great. You are a gardening guru.

Thanks for the inspiration Jack! I think I've been in a pepper slump for a few years but I'm carving a new groove this year.

 

[Jack Holloway]

Thanks for the inspiration Jack! I think I've been in a pepper slump for a few years but I'm carving a new groove this year.

I asked a neighbor today if I could grow a couple/three pepper plants at his house, so I can have some isolated seed from them. My yard guy worked yesterday and today cleaning up some areas in the front where I can have a few semi-isolated plants, so I should have some seed to send you this fall.

 

[heirloomgal]

What a seed season! This is my second year spending a few evenings each week from Jan to late spring packing up seeds for requests from the exchange. I've plugged the seed exchanges quite a bit but I can't help but gush a little more. I've had some requests from young people, just out of high school, looking for seeds so they can start their own breeding projects, Lofthouse style. I think his ideas are really catching on with the young people. One of the kids requesting seeds specifically asked for anything I had which was crossed! I thought this was especially neat since in 2022 I found a few crosses in the network beans, some of which I hadn't really planned to go forward with, not yet anyway. It felt great to find some of those seeds a home where they will be extra appreciated because crosses was what the young grower was after, which is certainly the exception to the rule with beans. These wise young souls are worried about the future, and being in especially inhospitable growing zones (like zone 2), want to create hardy varieties that are well suited to their difficult conditions and short season.

I have had such fun talking with Mr. Minkey too, he's such a funny and nice man. He offers so many tomatoes on the exchange! I just love, love, love his accent. I got a surprise request from something called the 'Yellow Deli' which I had never heard of before, but eventually I realized that these are the folks featured in a new movie in the theatres right now. That was a surprise! Again, such lovely & warm people to talk with.

While I think the day will soon arrive when there will be no more seed exchanges, with all the free online selling platforms out there etc. - I am going to enjoy it while it lasts!