A Seed Saver's Garden

[flowerbug]

... I'm a bit of a brutish, knuckle dragger when it comes to my plants.

i have so little room to work with inside that if they won't finish up well enough outside then i have to let them go. so yeah, brutish, abrupt, etc. i explained my philosophy to the new guy at the garden club meeting that i'm a minimalist gardener. i try to do as little as possible with as little inputs as possible. it works within those parameters, but also there are just some things i don't really even try to grow any more (longer season greasy beans being one of them).

reliable within my season is what i'm after, a little wiggle room but not much.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Think I may change my corn planting plans. As dad has pointed out, by now, the trees have so overgrown the "vegetable garden" that is basically gets no sun; an trying to dig it and get through all the tree roots is getting impossible. So I'm toying with putting my corn as a ring around the rest of the stump garden. It isn't idea, in that I wont be able to do a block, but it seems the better alternative.

That means that I have many fewer spaces for corn plants than I thought. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, my plan for potting up each corn plant until it was too big to interest the critters was never going to be able to be scaled up to the vegetable garden's size (I neither have 100 large pots nor a cold frame big enough to store them until they were safe.

So doing the red dented kernels doesn't really seem to make sense. So instead, I've taken the extra squashed purple mini-dent kernels (the ones I'm not totally sure are not too malformed to actually be viable) plus a small sample of the other multi colored ,mini dent kernels and will sow them. If either works, great. If they don't I still have the rest of the mini dent to fall back on.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

May (emphasis on may) be able to add another tropical tree to my indoor garden if I am lucky. I was at H-mart today, restocking my supply of frozen pho broth boxes (the frozen one they carry is the only one I have found that is actually worth using to date, it's actually better than a lot of the actual restaurants around here,) and I saw they had mangosteens. In an of itself, this is not unusual (a lot of places that cater to Asian populations carry them.) It was a bit unusual they were about double the normal price, and loose (instead of in a little net bag) so I took a look at the display label. There I saw two VERY important words/phrases "Product of Mexico" (as opposed to Thailand) and "Fresh Produce". That is these are FRESH mangosteens, as opposed to the frozen and re-thawed ones I am used to seeing being offered. So, besides probably tasting a lot better, whatever seeds are in them might still be viable, and I could get a little tree. I don't even have to worry about it not coming true to seed, since ALL mangosteens are genetically identical (basically, they do make seed, but the parthenocarpic embryos ALWAYS outgrow the ones created by pollination and become the one that makes it. So even if a mutation DID happen (which it hasn't yet) it wouldn't be passed on, and the tree you got would basically be a clone of the one you got the fruit from (if I was in the tropics, and had access to an X-ray machine, it might be interesting to expose mangosteen pollen grains and egg cells to x-rays to induce mutations, let them cross, save the sexually produced ones via embryo rescue, and try an created some genetic variation while we still can (all being clones means that, when and if a disease shows up like Panama Disease did for bananas, the whole species and industry is basically doomed.

 

[heirloomgal]

The taste descriptions for mangosteens are glowing. I've seen those around but never tried them, I didn't know what they were. I think I had tuned them out mentally because they didn't look like something that would taste good. Mind you, I adore litchis and those don't really look palatable either. I think I thought mangosteens were a type of eggplant.

I picked up a little restaurant menu the other day at the suggestion of a friend. I don't ever eat out, since there are a few foods I really avoid, but she adamantly felt I should look at this one place. I noticed one of the entrees was 'achiote seasoned jackfruit', have you ever tried that? Other stuff I never heard of too like totopos, pico de gallo and something called crema. I saw tempeh on there too but I think this is one of the kinds of things I don't eat. Have you tried these different foods @Pulsegleaner?

 

[Pulsegleaner]

The taste descriptions for mangosteens are glowing. I've seen those around but never tried them, I didn't know what they were. I think I had tuned them out mentally because they didn't look like something that would taste good. Mind you, I adore litchis and those don't really look palatable either. I think I thought mangosteens were a type of eggplant.

I picked up a little restaurant menu the other day at the suggestion of a friend. I don't ever eat out, since there are a few foods I really avoid, but she adamantly felt I should look at this one place. I noticed one of the entrees was 'achiote seasoned jackfruit', have you ever tried that? Other stuff I never heard of too like totopos, pico de gallo and something called crema. I saw tempeh on there too but I think this is one of the kinds of things I don't eat. Have you tried these different foods @Pulsegleaner?

Some of them yes, some no, but I know what most of them are.

Jackfruit is a really, really big green fruit (about the size of a human torso) with edible flesh layers around the large seeds. it can be made to taste vaguely meaty, but on it's own, it is normally quite sweet and fruity (I usually describe it as being like a juicy banana).

Achiote is a spice, usually called Anatto in English. It's used in a lot of Latin American and Caribbean dishes dishes. opinion is divided on whether it has a taste (I think it does) but it DEFINITELY has a color, it dyes things bright tomato red. It's also the stuff that makes orange cheddar and other orange cheeses orange.

Totopos are sort of like nacho chips, flat corn based pancakes that have been quartered and made crispy.

Pico de Gallo is a sauce or dip, usually containing quite a lot of lime juice and chili peppers.

Crema is basically Mexican Sour Cream.

Tempeh is another meat substitute similar to tofu, but made of wheat proteins instead of soybean ones.

If you ever DO find mangosteens, one caution, NEVER let any of the bright yellow sap drops you may see on the surface of the skin get into your mouth, and if the insides are stained yellow, throw that fruit away. Mangosteen sap is poisonous, like its close cousin, gamboge. It makes a nice yellow dye or paint, but you do NOT want to consume it.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Mom wanted to go to Home depot today to get what she described as "cheap flats of plants to fill in" (not that such things still exist, as I could have told her, at this point, the plants at Home Depot cost pretty much the same per unit as at any of the nurseries (which also tend to have wider selections and healthier plants.)

Didn't see a lot of catch my eye (natch) but I did manage to scrounge up a few things. one Petunia with some interesting white spots at the folds in the corolla, some marigolds with a nice orange edged red look, some more marigolds I HOPE are yellow (ONE is, the one that was in flower, but as the other five are all still in bud, and EVERY other marigold they had was orange, red, or some combination of the two, I don't have deep hopes of the rest being yellow), two Zulu daisies, and a canna lily with an interesting red and yellow streak (I hope it's as fecund as the ones in the planters in Manhattan, then I'll have plenty of seed to make more of them...….or load my blunderbuss! (there is a reason the wild form of Canna lily is called "Indian shot"; loaded into an appropriate firearm, those seeds really CAN function as buckshot. Pirates used to use them when lead was in short supply.

I am probably going to stop by there again on Friday. Not to buy more plants.... to raid the parking lot! As we were turning out, I saw a small patch of unusually large field pansies (generally considered a weed, but I actually think they are pretty and would LIKE to have them growing on my property. So I'll probably swing back and grab a few plants while I can (I'd prefer to wait a bit and simply collect seed, but, once the flowers are gone, I'll have no way of seeing where they are and would prefer not to have to wander around a pretty big parking lot going from little dirt island to little dirt island all day.) Maybe if I can get these to mix with my other source (the burlap around the tree bases at Rosedale nursery) I can get some hybrid vigor going.

I have by now eaten a few of the mangosteens. They told the truth, they are a lot better fresh than frozen and re-thawed. The pits are in a wet paper towel at the moment waiting for planting (I can set up the peat pellets in a jiffy, but it turns out that, when fresh, it is a LOT harder to get the fruit remnants off of the seeds, they stick much further. And if I try and plant them with the fruit remnants still on them, I'm just ASKING for mold to kill all of them.)

As for the other sowed things, the Borneo Jungle cukes and sunflowers have already reached top off the box size. Look like I've got 15-16 cukes and 8 sunflowers to work with. I WAS going to give them some time in the cold frame, but, as they have already passed the stage where the critters will want to much on them (which is why I started them indoors in the first place) it probably makes more sense just to put them directly into the ground.

The Russian Netted Cukes are sprouted, but not yet at the "pop the top" transfer phase.

My dove tree seeds all rotted, which really pisses me off as not only were they fairly fresh, but I got them from Rarepalmtrees in Germany, which is supposed to be a major, professional company on the level of B&T world seeds (and cost a bloody fortune to get anything from). They already screwed me over on the last order (if they couldn't get the phyto, they should have contacted me, told me what they needed to get it, and then given me the option of canceling the order, not send it without the phyto knowing customs would seize and destroy it. And they DEFINITELY had no right to pocket the 25 euros I paid them FOR the phyto if no phyto was ever requested or issued.) If, on top of that, the seed they are sending is actually often already dead, maybe it isn't worth trying for that small seed lot import permit to start using them again.

 

[heirloomgal]

I had to look up 'blunderbuss' as I've never seen such a word. @Pulsegleaner I learn so much from your posts it's incredible!

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I had to look up 'blunderbuss' as I've never seen such a word. @Pulsegleaner I learn so much from your posts it's incredible!

I'm not sure if I'd qualify for MENSA (I did get about an 18 out of 20 on an online word association test they said was from them, but who knows if that was valid). But assuming DENSA (Diversly Educated, Not Seriously Affected) still exists, I'd be a shoe-in!

Incidentally, in one of my future time set stories I mentioned that, much like PETA has morphed into PETAL (People for the Ethical Treatment of All Lifeforms, same idea but also covering plants, fungi bacteria etc.) I mention that MENSA has turned into a society for Mad scientists, now called MENSREA* (I spent some time trying to find out what MENSA was an acronym for, until I found out it isn't an acronym at all, it was simply picked because of the allusions of the word (it means "table" in Latin).

*I'll save you another Google. Mens rea means "evil thought". In law, it refers to the initial intention or knowledge to do something "bad", as opposed to the action itself.

 

[heirloomgal]

There are 6 MENSA chapters in Canada, one of which is in my town. I've always been a little curious about that group, though their blog - surprisingly - isn't especially fascinating.

Phyto certificates. I'm not a fan of those, particularly in light of the fact that for much of the year here, nothing I buy at the grocery store is grown within the country. Nearly everything is imported, not just from the US but all over the place. Guaranteed, none of these suppliers are required to provide phyto certs for the seeds therein. Basically, I think they're a psy op! lol

 

[Pulsegleaner]

None of them are required because no one expects people to use those to plant anything. It's a loophole I have often exploited. It's not permitted to import unshelled soft shelled jobs tear seed (the kind people actually grow for food) into the US (don't know why). But it IS legal to import the shelled, polished kind sold for food, and, depending on the grade being imported, every now and again, a seed slips through the hulling and polishing machine unscathed, so I do have a little (or had, I sent mine to someone else doing more serious research into starting it here.)

It's sort of like a game, I try and find the leaks in the system and use them before someone in charge finds and plugs them. It's running before the wave. I SUSPECT I will live to see the day when the USDA demands 100% purity of all imported foods (simply because I believe that I will live to see the day when the technology needed to achieve that level will become both available and inexpensive enough to allow authorities to reasonably expect the growers and packers to use it.) But that isn't yet.