A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

Don't be surprised to see some Chinese lanterns emerge next year. I fought that battle a few years ago. Thought I had them wiped out, but apparently some roots went dormant, and the battle resumed the following Spring.

The wild ground cherries that popped up in my rural garden were even worse, spreading 5-6 feet from my fence line in one year. Since I've abandoned that plot, I'll never know how long it might have taken to eliminate them (or not).

They GO DORMANT!!? Noooooo......
Well, they never really were happy in the front yard so maybe that will help my cause?

 

[heirloomgal]

They destroyed the entire planter of 'Chili Negre' peppers!

Either they can get in at night now even though I'm routinely shutting the door, or they are going in during the day. Ugh. I really liked these and had hoped for a lot of seed. At least I had 2 outdoor plants and mice won't raid those probably for fear of owls. I picked them just in case.

On a more positive note, which I prefer to focus on, I had started to believe that I'd never get seeds from the Lagos Spinach because they didn't seem to be drying, and I saw no evidence of seeds ripening anywhere. So I picked two bouquets of the 'flower' heads for DD's birthday table to use as a decoration. I went to throw them away yesterday and as I pulled the flowers out of the vase black *dust* fell everywhere! They WERE SEEDS! I guess even though I harvested the flowers when there was no sign of seed life, they dried in the vases (which had no water in them) and I was able to shake out my first seedheads!

AND the tinga peas are STILL flowering! The only downside to this plant I think is there is no trellis big enough for it. Few people have trellis for peas that are over 10 feet, and this one flopped over as you can see in the pic because it just got too tall. That trellis is 8x8 feet, plus its off the ground about 2 feet and it grew 2 feet above the top before it fell. So, it is a bit big. There is some shade in that spot, maybe that didn't help.