A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

Carminat looks like a purple-podded filet bean. At present, two pole filet beans (Emerite and Fortex) alternate as my main crop snap bean. That looks like a possible candidate for addition to that rotation... if it turns out to be stringless & freeze well.

I tried Fortex last year, and I thought it was a wonderfully textured bean with a great flavour. Production was really, really low for seeds compared to the others, for me, though. And that isn't because I ate too many of the pods.

 

[heirloomgal]

Gardening in the burbs.

One thing that seems to be consistent year after year for me is the presence of somewhat unusual wildlife in my gardens despite the prevalence of yards in my area with mostly lawns, and no gardens. I do back up onto a forested area, but even in my front yard the wildlife arrives. I probably notice it so much because I'm in the burbs. Snakes and toads especially. Being in a major mining area, where acidity and such is a result, both snakes and toads were a very, very rare sight for decades. But without fail they show up to hang out under plant canopies. We had a mother snake (at least I think it was) living next to our driveway in a hidey hole with her offspring. I actually felt bad the day my daughter nearly stepped on her in the front lawn (in bare feet), and she slithered like a lightning bolt to get away and fell right through the sewer grate. And there is always a partridge that shows up every September to live for a week in the garden, pecking at seeds I imagine. He never actually scoots off when I go into the garden too, he just stays in a different row away from me. I can hear him crunching through dry plant material, as we walk the paths simultaneously. The spring robins that perch on my trellis's and fertilize so much of those areas. It adds up. I'm not thrilled with the brutality of it all, since there is a lot of killing going on, the robins in particular, but I accept it for what it is.

It's a side perk of having a garden that I didn't know I'd get, but which I actually quite enjoy as well. My own little micro ecosystem.

 

[flowerbug]

I tried Fortex last year, and I thought it was a wonderfully textured bean with a great flavour. Production was really, really low for seeds compared to the others, for me, though. And that isn't because I ate too many of the pods.

that's my experience too. i can grow them, but i don't get too many seeds from them.

 

[Zeedman]

I tried Fortex last year, and I thought it was a wonderfully textured bean with a great flavour. Production was really, really low for seeds compared to the others, for me, though. And that isn't because I ate too many of the pods.

Fortex is exceptionally slow to go from snap to seed. That's a good thing for eating quality, but it makes seed saving a challenge in short-season areas. More often than not, dry seed here is a race with frost... probably an even bigger challenge for you, @heirloomgal . I've never had a complete failure, but there were times I was out harvesting everything remotely ripe the night before the freeze. Fortex is my main crop snap this year, but no seed saving. Under those circumstances, I plant them late intentionally, so that canning will (hopefully) occur in cooler weather.

I plant chard late for the same reason; but I'll have to do some canning tomorrow anyway, because there's enough okra to make a few jars of pickled okra. Probably many jars to follow in the next month.

 

[flowerbug]

...
It's a side perk of having a garden that I didn't know I'd get, but which I actually quite enjoy as well. My own little micro ecosystem.

out here in the country with a large drainage ditch going through our property and having a bit of a hedge (with yet another large drain going under it) we always have wild life around. not bears, but pretty much everything else native to our area wanders through at some time or another.

we used to have more pheasants and bob whites when the field to the south of us was not being farmed. also the neighbor hunted the pheasants down quite a bit and since then we have a few that come around but not nearly as much as before.

snakes are usually around. i'm always glad to see them, they like the mice and chipmunks and we always have pretty healthy populations of those in all these rocks and decorations, plus Mom has set up hotels for them (in how she does things) so that makes it even more likely they'll be around...

toads and froggies are also always welcome. we went a number of years after they started mosquito control in between seeing baby toads, but a few years ago there was a good hatch at last and i saw the tiny ones hopping around and was so happy they'd recovered. froggies (including the tree frogs) have not been around as much, but with this really dry spell we had during the spring i didn't expect much. there are a lot of blue herons about and i know they do eat a lot of frogs.

the creatures that surprise me the most here (but they shouldn't) are the crayfish. we do have a pretty high water table (especially in the late winter and spring) most seasons and i also have spots where i trap and hold back some water.

 

[baymule]

Gardening in the burbs.

One thing that seems to be consistent year after year for me is the presence of somewhat unusual wildlife in my gardens despite the prevalence of yards in my area with mostly lawns, and no gardens. I do back up onto a forested area, but even in my front yard the wildlife arrives. I probably notice it so much because I'm in the burbs. Snakes and toads especially. Being in a major mining area, where acidity and such is a result, both snakes and toads were a very, very rare sight for decades. But without fail they show up to hang out under plant canopies. We had a mother snake (at least I think it was) living next to our driveway in a hidey hole with her offspring. I actually felt bad the day my daughter nearly stepped on her in the front lawn (in bare feet), and she slithered like a lightning bolt to get away and fell right through the sewer grate. And there is always a partridge that shows up every September to live for a week in the garden, pecking at seeds I imagine. He never actually scoots off when I go into the garden too, he just stays in a different row away from me. I can hear him crunching through dry plant material, as we walk the paths simultaneously. The spring robins that perch on my trellis's and fertilize so much of those areas. It adds up. I'm not thrilled with the brutality of it all, since there is a lot of killing going on, the robins in particular, but I accept it for what it is.

It's a side perk of having a garden that I didn't know I'd get, but which I actually quite enjoy as well. My own little micro ecosystem.

Your garden is a welcome refuge for the wildlife in your neighborhood. I’m glad you are enjoying it. Keep up the good work!

 

[heirloomgal]

Picked my first cob of corn today, to see where the maturity level was at. It was planted sometime during the end of the 1st week of June. It's called 'Blue Jade'.

I was hoping it would cook up blue, as some internet sites suggested they do, but unfortunately it didn't. The seed I planted was definitely blue though, so it may take on that colour later. But it was absolutely sweet, tender and delicious. Excellent quality and the cob was filled out really well. In fact, I think I could have harvested a week ago. Now the tough decision of how much to eat....and how much to leave for seed. It's a dwarf variety, so the cobs were small, but it was ready in 60 days. I also never fertilized, and watered fairly minimally.

'Black Russian' fava beans. So many reasons to love favas, and a few reasons not to. They can handle cold and frost so they can go in pretty early, and blackened dry pods were complete a few weeks ago, though there are many more left to harvest from the 15 plants. But this variety did not handle heat nearly as well as the 'Crimson Flowered' variety I planted last year.

Some of this year's plants did not fully develop their beans either and just seemed to Peter out. And at one point they attracted aphids, partly my fault as I waited to prune the tops. I think this is a crop that is worth trying in partial shade. Possibly there are several crops that would do well in partial shade in a hot summer, including tomatoes and beans.

'Large Manitoba' shell peas, new seed crop for 2021. Did not do especially well with this seed crop last year as I didn't realize how dwarf the plants truly were and earwigs had a field day. Much better go of it this year, keeping them high above the ground during the dry down period. I don't think this variety would ever do well in ground, the pods just hang far too low to be safe from insects and rot. But they were fabulous in a window box planter. Few more pods yet to come.

 

[digitS']

. And at one point they attracted aphids, partly my fault as I waited to prune the tops. I think this is a crop that is worth trying in partial shade.

Pruned tops? Is that to prompt setting pods?

I can imagine that aphids would be more attracted to tender growth but hadn't thought of pruning to discourage them. Aphids and intolerance to heat was why I quickly gave up on growing broad beans.

Hey, HeirloomGal, do you know Richmond, Quebec. It is a small town in eastern Quebec. My grandfather was born in Melbourne, a little community near Richmond. He grew up near Toronto (Hamilton) and, shortly after his family moved to the coast of British Columbia, he immigrated to the US. That was in 1904. I was just looking at an online copy of his immigration papers and hadn't realized that he entered the US at San Francisco. It was up here where he met a local girl and married. Their first children were born here before the family moved first to Oregon and then to California. (A sun worshipper, he had written on his papers that San Diego was his destination. About 40 years later, he came a little closer by moving to Laguna Beach .)

Steve

 

[heirloomgal]

I haven't heard of Richmond @digitS' ; I lived in Quebec for a single year in the Eastern Township of Waterville. That is pretty much the only part of the province I'm familiar with. Funny how in my grandparents generation the US / Canadian identity was much more interchangeable, and it was quite common for 'Canadian' families to have family members who moved to the USA so were 'American'. My grandfather's brother moved to the US as a young man, so became an American, and some distant cousins, so even my family was the same. Now it seems a little different, a little less fluid somehow.

Pruning tops, yes to encourage pod set and discourage aphid temptation. Favas are like the Dobermans of the garden world, for me anyway. My dog trainer is so good at what she does, she has 10 dogs, 6 of which are Malinois - bred for human aggression and very high demand generally. Having more than even one is usually considered not in the realm of possible. She doesn't have poodles, or collies. Her skill set is such that she takes on those that are the greatest challenge. I guess my skill set ain't that great, my favas have shown me! My Doberman would eat me.

 

[heirloomgal]

Just by chance I walked by the potato patch today and saw a shiny black thing. Looked a bit closer and couldn't believe it - potatoes ready to be picked! So excited! Strange though, that's pretty early!

'Purple Magic ' variety. Made potato salad with them, and they turned indigo blue in the steamer. The texture was perfect, not starchy or crumbly, just smooth. I had read on the box that they make good new potatoes for potato salad, and they were right! It was the best potato salad I've ever made! (And it didn't make the mayo purple )

This one we rubbed the skin off with our hands.

'Keystone Giant' I don't know what it will taste like, but it looks just like the picture that I picked it from. Will harvest this week.

The taste of the 'Spoon' tomato is so good, I'd actually call it extraordinary. The 'pop' of flavour is like a little explosion!

'Purple Teepee' bush bean. Was a nice purple bean, but not quite as good as the 'Carminat' pole beans.

Another shocker today - some ripe tomatillos. They split because of the rain unfortunately, but they were ready to eat. @Zeedman I'd certainly be curious to get some insight into these as I know you grow tomatillos. The taste is hard to describe... ..ground cherries came to mind right away but also a strong flavour of tomatoes. The one I tried years ago was sour like a granny Smith apple. This was so different, and not so firm. It was actually sticky to the touch. Very unusual.

'Gold Harvest' soup pea. Not especially productive as the vines grow only to 3 feet, but the seeds are distinctive. Impossible to mix these peas up with the others. Very large dried peas too.

My new trellis is finally completely covered! There are only 7 vines planted on the whole structure. The bees buzzing about the flowers is crazy!