A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

Tinga flowers are open! They're quite a bit bigger than I thought they would be.

Oh, and it looks like the Syrian Oregano has been throwing its seed around, there are at least seven more tiny plants scattered all over the patio (three in cracks in the patio itself, four in the long pot closest to the oregano pot).

I found the tinga peas so odd looking when they sprouted, mostly because the stems are quite brown for a plant. They reminded me immediately of those little sea snakes or worms that pop up from the ocean floor.

 

[Alasgun]

“Sand lance” ~ the little worms that pop up from the Ocean floor.

Many times our troll caught King Salmon would be full of them.

 

[heirloomgal]

“Sand lance” ~ the little worms that pop up from the Ocean floor.

Many times our troll caught King Salmon would be full of them.

Aha! So that's what those are!

 

[heirloomgal]

Small miracle today, we finally got rid of the stump! The weight in/weight out differential on the dump's scale registered it was 400 pounds. We all piled into DH's suv to help him with poles to wedge it off the trailer, but seconds after we got out a stranger, who was also dumping tree bits just ahead of us, approached DH with a handshake and smile, saying, 'would you like a bit of help with that?' When I saw the 2 of them struggle to wrangle it off the trailer I realized how absurd it was to think I'd have been able to be much help with that! It was a divine thing, this man appearing & offering his help so freely, and we actually stood and talked for over an hour after the fact. We'll probably see him again soon as he invited us to his home church, which is really close to us, one I've never been to.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Technically had my first harvest today. The seeds on the coriander went gold, so I decided it was time to harvest (well, okay some still had a bit of a green tinge, but since they had all literally split on top due to the rain, and we have more rain coming, I thought picking them a little green was probably preferable to them finishing off in the pouring rain and getting moldy before I could get to them.

Everything else looks more or less steady, for better or worse. I STILL can't figure out why the black common beans are doing so poorly compared to the brown and mottled brown ones, and why the white aren't doing anything AT ALL. They're all the same age, so they should all have more or less the same viability. Also only the black ones are really getting attacked by the eating critters. Could the black ones and the white ones have tastier leaves and seeds?

 

[heirloomgal]

Technically had my first harvest today. The seeds on the coriander went gold, so I decided it was time to harvest (well, okay some still had a bit of a green tinge, but since they had all literally split on top due to the rain, and we have more rain coming, I thought picking them a little green was probably preferable to them finishing off in the pouring rain and getting moldy before I could get to them.

Everything else looks more or less steady, for better or worse. I STILL can't figure out why the black common beans are doing so poorly compared to the brown and mottled brown ones, and why the white aren't doing anything AT ALL. They're all the same age, so they should all have more or less the same viability. Also only the black ones are really getting attacked by the eating critters. Could the black ones and the white ones have tastier leaves and seeds?

Tastier leaves? Could be? The colors of seed to reflect different chemical realities in the plants it seems; I know I've read that white colored bean seeds have less antibiotic properties/resistance to pathogens that other colors. Maybe there are other co-relations that only critters detect.

Wow, your coriander formed seeds already! My goodness, you & I really do have different growing conditions! I only put my seeds in the ground this afternoon! To be fair I guess, I could have planted them awhile ago, the weather has been very good these last few weeks.

 

[heirloomgal]

8 more pole beans to put in as seeds, and 6 tall growing pea varieties to be planted + all my greenhouse peppers need to be potted up to regular containers - and almost the whole garden is in. Woop woop! My gosh it seemed to take forever to get the garden in this year. Lots of projects were undertaken so that was always competing with getting plants and seeds in.

The selection of plants this year was a little different than usual; I planted way more potatoes than I usually do, and in the end I planted quite a few cabbages, lots more carrots than usual and even some leeks - all things I can't save seed for. But until we cut down the last two trees that must go, one of which that shades part of my veggie garden in late afternoon/early evening, I don't want to risk putting anything in those places. I also planted much more beans than I usually do. My area for planting increased quite a bit this year with my new soil delivery, so I had more room to play than I usually do.

And it deluged tonight for an hour, a lot came down. But it was quite dry out there with the winds these last few days and the heat, so I hope that everything will be okay. I worry about long periods of rain - especially as a bean grower. But I can't even remember when it rained the last time like this, and things were quite dry. It may be a rather needed moisture delivery, I just don't want it to stick around. The forecast says it may be a few days, with 40%-60% odds. Fingers crossed, with all those bean seeds out there. Thank goodness most of the precious ones went in as transplants which can handle this rain much better.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Tastier leaves? Could be? The colors of seed to reflect different chemical realities in the plants it seems; I know I've read that white colored bean seeds have less antibiotic properties/resistance to pathogens that other colors. Maybe there are other co-relations that only critters detect.

Well, I generally assume white seeds and white flowers often (though not always) indicate lower amounts of those anti-pest compounds that make the seeds less tasty/more toxic. That was one of the reasons I was interested in trying to grow white seeded horse gram; it seemed to be one of the few legume crops where white was possible but had not already become the industry standard. I'd like to do the same for the wing bean, but it seems that, there, light tan/cream seems to be the best one can do, same as with soybeans.

Wow, your coriander formed seeds already! My goodness, you & I really do have different growing conditions! I only put my seeds in the ground this afternoon! To be fair I guess, I could have planted them awhile ago, the weather has been very good these last few weeks.

Well, you have to remember I planted mine indoors at least a month ago. The plant was already fully bolted, flowering and forming seeds before I even brought it outside. Plus different varieties mature at different rates (if there is a slo-bolt, there are presumably ones that bolt faster than normal as well.) Remember I just picked this founding seed out of a bag, I have no idea what kind it is.

There are now a fair number of pods on the fava. Some would be almost full size if I was growing small fava beans (the "horse bean" type they like in parts of the Mediterranean,) but I know I planted full size, so they have a LOT more growing to do.

Oddly, no sign yet of growth in the purple pincushion pot. Maybe I held the seed too long. If I did, at least I can be comforted to know that the fact that still sometimes shows up in the coriander means I can get fresh supplies if I am patient. Maybe I'll check the others next year, while there is still a chance some of them are good (though, to be honest, if the glue thistle seed DID prove to be dead, I wouldn't feel all that bad. Finding out what it was was fun, but I can't honestly say it's something I feel a deep need to grow again. There are plenty of other thistle like flowers with bigger blooms, and THEY don't leave my hands sticky when it's time to harvest seeds.)

 

[heirloomgal]

Seemingly not connected to gardening...but it is! I was checking my dog trainers facebook page and she had posted about one of her senior Malinois (14) that nearly passed away last summer, and has several problems going on that come with his age. She bought him a PEMF bed to help him; I'd never heard of it. She said it stopped all his issues from progression in one year of use, every second day, and actually increased his ability to be active. I looked closely at the product and realized - she's electroculturing her dog!

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[Alasgun]

We have slept on “earthing sheets” for years; kinda opposite principals though.
We do remember earlier years while the Magnet thing was in vogue; don’t hear too much about it now days.