A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

THANK GOODNESS the tomato squeezing is almost complete. Pictures for them are all done too.
I finished the last big round tonight and now I want to.
That was A LOT of tomatoes to process! From here on out, there are all the jars that will need to be dealt with when they're done fermenting, the longkeepers (which won't be ready for processing for awhile) and a little box of not yet ripe fruits and that's all she wrote for 2024 tomato seeds. I do not want to even LOOK at a tomato needing fermenting for another year! Those nasty little flies are just starting up right now too, so it's good timing to be finished. Feels great to be at the end of that task. Saving tomato seeds is the least fun of all the seeds, except for the fact that tomatoes have a ridiculous amount of seeds in them and my inner chipmunk just loves that. Most other veggies are stingy with seeds compared to them.

I've started seriously shelling dried pods the last 2 nights to help keep the bean flat mayhem under control. Pods are wonderfully crisp having been in my sunroom for the last couple weeks. Ooooh, so many lovelies. I should slow myself down so I can relish the process for a longer time! It's uber satisfying. You never know when you grow a new variety of anything just what exactly it's going to be like, even if you've seen pictures and read descriptions. No matter how much I think I know what things will be like, I always get surprises. I love that about the hunt for new varieties to try. Sometimes the ones you think you'll like the best actually turn out to be the ones you were on the fence about growing! And I love surprises.

Corn is really drying up now, which is nice. I put the cobs out in the sun every morning and bring them in at night. Don't want any mouses et. al. raiding me. To my astonishment my Palmarosa grass *seems* to be just starting seed heads. I find it hard to believe, this grass seems much like lemongrass which doesn't set seeds. But there are distinct tops on the grass now. Hoping.

Al the peas are bagged up as of today, and will be shelled later. No rush and I'd like them to be dry-dry when I shell them out. The brown paper bags really do a good job drawing out moisture. Went lurking in the pole bean rows for more dried pods with DS today and collected quite a bit. Things are looking good.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Lucky day hunting yesterday. Picked up a few more rice bean bags (my lunch spot was right next door). Not only did I add a bit to my supply of red with mottle, tan, cream, tan with mottled etc., I actually found one or two that seem to be legitimately black, which is a MUCH rarer to find seed color than any of the above, something life second rarest (first is one of the forms of pinto coloration, but at that point, you are really in "once in a blue moon" territory).

Then when I was at the other market, I saw there was a package of coriander with a few of those unknown purple flower seeds in it, and since I exhausted my supply this year without any coming up (I held the ones I had collected too long, and they must have died). I grabbed it. Gong through, I found some of those, and some other minors. Then something decent sized and mottled rolled out. I checked and yes, it was a vetch seed of some sort (which for this particular type of coriander, is the rarest and most desirable find from my POV.)

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I don't believe it!

I was pulling out some of the dead corn stalks today (both to give the still living ones more room and have the dead ones dried out in time to be Halloween decorations, and I actually DID get an ear. It's just one, and there's only three kernels (oddly, it looks like there were only three cupules as well, so that ear is technically fully pollinated, but it's SOMETHING, and two of the tree do have the sharp stippled pattern I was trying to get.

 

[heirloomgal]

I don't believe it!

I was pulling out some of the dead corn stalks today (both to give the still living ones more room and have the dead ones dried out in time to be Halloween decorations, and I actually DID get an ear. It's just one, and there's only three kernels (oddly, it looks like there were only three cupules as well, so that ear is technically fully pollinated, but it's SOMETHING, and two of the tree do have the sharp stippled pattern I was trying to get.

View attachment 68740

Looks like the kernels are well formed. I can see the stippling on the front facing kernel too!

 

[heirloomgal]

The last of the tomato pics.

For anyone who has ever wondered while looking into tomato varieties if 'Early Siberian' and 'Siberian Red' are the same tomato (which I did) here is the reality:

These look like red eggs held sideways.

I much preferred Early Siberian.

I had very low expectations for 'Alasksan Fancy' and it turned out to be a top 10 tomato. They do stay firm for awhile off the vine, but they produce in buckets, go all season long and are early to boot. Tastes great too and some are just big enough to be sliced.

'IPK LYC 859 El Salvador', terrible name for a tomato! But humungous yielder of red juicy bullets. Given how juicy they are I wouldn't lump them in with the saucing tomatoes. They taste like regular tomatoes, not roma types.

This, sadly, was one variety that barely eked out an existence mosty due to poor location as well as neglect. But I still will have plenty more seeds than I started with to try again - 'Madagascar'. Some consider it a longkeeper which is why I tried it. Love the mix of colors on the skin.

'Kron Prince', the tomato with a pointy end. I would classify this 100% as a sauce tomato, it's way to firm for fresh eating as far as I'm concerned. I haven't opened up many but I bet there is some hollowness in them. Vine produced a lot considering it was laying across the ground all summer. That the fruits remained unblemished despite that is also telling.

'Zhiraf' longkeeper tomato - from almost no seeds left to tons of fruit. Surprisingly, none of them have turned color yet. This is the longest *keeper* of the *longkeepers* for sure. There is definitely a technique to growing these storage tomatoes and I'm only just beginning to grow them so there's stuff I need to figure out. The Grappoli d'inverno tomatoes are definitely not going into storage, they've gotten so ripe that I'll need to harvest seed asap. Clearly, those need to be started later in the year and be harvested green, or only slightly blushing. 'Golden Treasure' and 'Ramillette de Mallorca' seem to be holding the next best but I can see them slightly changing colors too. I think it's a fair conclusion to draw that if you truly want to keep them to February they need to be started probably 4 weeks (instead of the standard 8 weeks) before plant out. I'm curious to see what these will look like in a month. Photos show they turn dark peach.

Another year where the 'Jokester of Peppers' has some fun with me. All the in ground peppers put in what I consider prime real estate spots did terribly, and ALL the ones given the dregs of spare space look like this. I almost think I should start growing more bell peppers in the ground, they do better than in the greenhouse!

 

[heirloomgal]

I found the GROSSEST thing at the top of one of my corn ears last night that I was peeling - a big fat worm eating the kernels. UGH. It was the only cob with a hitchhiker like that and I AM GLAD because it was revolting. Strange, I've never seen one of those before. I wonder if growing sweetcorn, as oppose to popcorn, draws them?

A mouse got into the greenhouse last night and chewed a couple peppers. They are more interested in the seeds really, they seem to chew threw the flesh only to get to them. So, I'm going to start shutting the door tight at night and hope that they don't hide during the day in there waiting.

GORGEOUS seed drying weather today, 27C/81F but it felt much warmer when the sun came out from behind the clouds. Everything is nice and dry outside, and the beans are not showing any signs of sclerotinia which can appear at this time of year with typical fall rains. Knock on wood, it's dry for mid September - perfect for drying seed pods & heads. I haven't even felt the need to cut pole bean vines this week at the ground level to rush them. It will be nice for a solid week, which the beans need.

The 'Feuille de Chene Blonde' lettuce is making puffy heads!

I forget the name on the tag for this pepper. It's cute though, it's like a fall decoration!

I think this is one of my favorite peppers this year 'Cuzquerio'. It's size of fruits, the production and the maturity is good for plants that went in 1/10 the size they should have been. Haven't tasted it yet, so that's the last test.

I wasn't sure if these would ever mature they were so tiny as transplants, but here we are. 'Chili Negre'. This variety seems to have excellent yields no matter if grown in the ground outside or in a pot in the greenhouse.

There was a number of crosses in the pepper seeds I ordered this year, but I guess it could also be that the company is offering not fully stable varieties too. They have thousands of varieties for sale. This one was a house 'Valentine's Day' pepper, it was supposed to be smaller and a lilac purple turning dark like these are. It is certainly different with the anthocyanin and how the colors change and progress with variations in both sunlight and maturity.

The amaranth is taking over!

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Tasted first "formal" "cucumber" today (the first one's stalk died early, causing premature ripening, so that was not a valid assessment.)

For a "cucumber" that isn't really a cucumber (it's a cucumber melon, I assume), it DOES have a decent cucumber flavor. However, I'm definitely going to have to peel the next one, as the skin is quite rough and hard (it's melon like qualities are strong enough it has more of a rind than a skin).

Also, if what I planted was some form of Dosaki, it shrunk a lot. Dosakis tend to be fairly large fruits (I've seen ones that could sub for a child's Nerf football). What I'm getting is about the size of a chicken egg, and they don't seem to get any bigger after that. I'm used to my veggies becoming a bit undersized due to less than ideal conditions, but not by THIS much!

 

[heirloomgal]

Tasted first "formal" "cucumber" today (the first one's stalk died early, causing premature ripening, so that was not a valid assessment.)

For a "cucumber" that isn't really a cucumber (it's a cucumber melon, I assume), it DOES have a decent cucumber flavor. However, I'm definitely going to have to peel the next one, as the skin is quite rough and hard (it's melon like qualities are strong enough it has more of a rind than a skin).

Also, if what I planted was some form of Dosaki, it shrunk a lot. Dosakis tend to be fairly large fruits (I've seen ones that could sub for a child's Nerf football). What I'm getting is about the size of a chicken egg, and they don't seem to get any bigger after that. I'm used to my veggies becoming a bit undersized due to less than ideal conditions, but not by THIS much!

I googled dosaki, to see what that is. Never heard of it! On the one hand, given that it's technically a melon it reminds me a little of some palm sized melons I grew about 10 years ago, Queen Anne's Pocket Melon and there was another one, I think it was called Tigger. However, those had zero flavor, not even cucumber-ish. Apparently, you can cook these dosaki the way you can cucumber. When I worked in the Ayurvedic clinic they used to cook cucumber, it was good.

 

[heirloomgal]

The visitors trademark. Hope I frustrated their strategy.

Signs of seeds in the palmarosa grass. I think.

I need more hours in a day to get as many things done as I need to. Some of the pepper plants REALLY need to be harvested and seeded. However, despite feeling both behind and rushed I'm glad I got many of these rare peppers to seed maturity. Lots turned out to be keepers. This is 'Verato' - from Estremadura Spain, for making paprika.

'Targu Mures' , another paprika making pepper, this one from Transylvania. It is apparently good for Northern climes, and after trying it I'd have to agree that it's a good fit. Yield is great for a pot that didn't get much food or attention, just water.

I love pepper season! I made a version of Aloo Gobi tonight for supper with red peppers, it was really good. DH bought some new turmeric and the taste & quality is really good, no hint of bitter in there. One of the most wonderful discoveries I have ever made in the herb world is the use of coriander that has gone to seed. I actually now like it better than in leaf form, the taste is so much more complex and nuanced when it is far into making seeds. The little green 'berries' taste excellent and give a delicious pop of flavor against the vegetables. I use a fork and drag it through the stalks over the dish to get them off because they're attached quite firmly and pulling doesn't do it.

'Aji Mochero'. I know that these plants can grow quite tall, most aji's do, so it came as a surprise that they still put out a good crop of peppers despite my really testing the limits of their containers. 2 or 3 plants to a smallish window box risked my having no peppers at all, but they each adjusted and fruited as best they could. Wilder type peppers really are stellar plants.

As a rule I avoid 'market' type heirloom tomatoes, because I don't like hard tomatoes. And as the summer went along the 'Oldendorf Red' tomatoes seemed to fit the 'market tomato' bill though the lady I got seeds from never mentioned that. But, I have to say now I'm glad there are some nice long holding tomatoes still around that can be sliced for sandwiches. I seed saved most everything else. They have softened quite a bit at this point, as the others did, and are turning out to be beautiful specimens. The plant certainly produced a heck of a lot of fruit. These were much bigger than I expected too, apple sized. This variety was developed in Oldendorf, Germany by the foundation Kultursaat.

I revisited one of my old favorite breeding projects this summer, the Cross Hemisphere Dwarf Tomato Project. Being a real fan of chlorophyl tomatoes, I tried out 'Dwarf Parfait' and it was a parfait indeed. I should have weighed them the tomatoes were so big, but there was just no time. This is a full size dinner plate so you get the idea. Delicious. I also bought some Dwarf Jeremy Stripes seeds and they didn't come true sadly, but did produce a little bucket of big red lunkers that tasted good.

I cut open one of the 'Kholkhoznitsa' tomatoes too. So many tomatoes this year, I'm struggling to try them all. Very nice indeed. Oddly, I can find no online hits for this tomato. I'll need to check with my source for the spelling, I may have it wrong. All big pink clunkers. A raccoon stole one the other night from the box and ate some of it, leaving me the mangled rest. Those raccoons are also having midnight parties with the last of the cherry tomatoes. Every morning I wake up to find dozens of them everywhere around the base of the pots.

 

[flowerbug]

I don't believe it!

I was pulling out some of the dead corn stalks today (both to give the still living ones more room and have the dead ones dried out in time to be Halloween decorations, and I actually DID get an ear. It's just one, and there's only three kernels (oddly, it looks like there were only three cupules as well, so that ear is technically fully pollinated, but it's SOMETHING, and two of the tree do have the sharp stippled pattern I was trying to get.

View attachment 68740

life is tenacious!