A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

I have stripped the leaves from plants after all the pods are well filled out also. I think I told @heirloomgal about this. She might have gotten this from me. Usually I have already harvested some dry pods from those plants as well. There usually are no more pods on the plants filling out or still maturing seed. I also go to the soil level and sever the plants from their root system. Shuts the water uptake right off. Speeds up the drying of the pods. Mostly I do this on pole beans if I'm getting concerned about the amount of pod drying that has occured and how close I think it might be to our first frost date.

Think about the farmers soybean fields you may have seen growing. About this time of the year the leaves yellow and drop to the ground. What does that do? Exposes the pods to the sun and allows air to circulate through the vines. Enhances drying of those soybean pods. Our Phaseolus beans are a bit slow in doing this so when the seed has matured I speed up the process by stripping off the leaves and exposing all the pods to the sun and air circulation.

Yes, I learned that trick from you @Bluejay77 on LEBN.
I'm finding that it is effective in directing the remaining plant energy to pod maturity instead of maintaining leaf integrity. Still a bit chicken to cut them all at ground level to eliminate water uptake, I think many should probably be further along, but some that were 3/4 done dried up real fast when I cut those. Maybe 2 or 3 days.

 

[heirloomgal]

I doubt it Ridge'. Rattlesnake pole beans have dropped seeds and volunteered in my garden.

I have a little story about Chinese Lanterns .

I put some in the distant garden. I think that they are lovely ...

After growing nicely one season, they escaped into a path. Maybe I shoulda dug them up but didn't - tilling over them, repeatedly. The next year, they were back. And, the year after! By this time, I was skeered of their invasive nature here. This year, they seem to be gone ... probably out-competed by the purslane ... Wikipedia notes "In various places around the world, it has escaped from cultivation" and references China. It was never able to sneak into the lawngrass but I have never thought of this as China, climate, etc. Maybe Mongolia

Steve

Yes, they can be invasive in certain conditions, notably rich and moist soil. In my case they are in an often dry spot, with significant competition. They have decreased in number for me over the years sadly, I'd like to keep their numbers up. I've always wanted to try the berry in them, but after thinking for so many years (wrongly it turns out) they're poisonous I always forget in fall during that small window of perfect ripeness.

 

[heirloomgal]

If the pods are filled out and are mature, does a frost or freeze harm the seeds as far as germination and future growing? Or does it just kill the plants so the seeds dry out? Is there any reason to not eat the seeds? I'm talking about beans here.

I've generally been so cautious about bringing in pods before frost that I haven't had much opportunity to test the parameters of this. But, I have seen pods that seemed dry come through looking perfect with perfect looking seed, and beans not done maturing yet get soggy and flaccid, almost 'wet' looking after a frost. In those cases any further bean seed maturing ended.

 

[heirloomgal]

I can't wait until there is room in the house for us humans.

But the bags are better than these were. Lol

 

[flowerbug]

Unfortunately, you most definitely will. Freezing outside is not like the snap freezing commercial growers do to vegetables. The process is slow enough to allow very big ice crystals to form. So when they thaw again, they are basically mush.

i'm not talking about eating them fresh, but after cooking, which mushes them somewhat anyways. i guess what i've done here and not had a problem with the texture must be after a light frost as i don't remember them being mushy, but i'm also not eating them raw. shellies or beans picked for fresh eating are usually steamed for some time, shellies may be cooked longer (depends upon the skins and how tender they get). by the time the frosts start showing up there's not a whole lot in any of the bean gardens to pick for fresh eating anyways. this year i only have one pole bean and it isn't a snap bean so i won't be sampling that one.

 

[flowerbug]

...

But the bags are better than these were. Lol
View attachment 43890

at the end of the season i have a large stack like that next to the bookcase and kind of wedged in the corner so it doesn't all fall down. i've had very good luck finding flats that will nest inside each other so i've cut down on the space that it all takes now.

what is funny is that the hummingbird comes by and sees those bright colors and thinks perhaps they are flowers or a feeder or something. almost every day they come by and look.

must be nice to have a whole house to work with for space like that as i try to keep all my bean mayhem in this one small room. it gets fun at times dancing around the piles.

 

[heirloomgal]

at the end of the season i have a large stack like that next to the bookcase and kind of wedged in the corner so it doesn't all fall down. i've had very good luck finding flats that will nest inside each other so i've cut down on the space that it all takes now.

what is funny is that the hummingbird comes by and sees those bright colors and thinks perhaps they are flowers or a feeder or something. almost every day they come by and look.

must be nice to have a whole house to work with for space like that as i try to keep all my bean mayhem in this one small room. it gets fun at times dancing around the piles.

Not quite a whole house, since there are 4 humans - and a dog that thinks he's a tank! Those bags I posted above have been plowed through by him several times already, and yesterday there was bean pod 'confetti' flying everywhere as he flipped up into the air one of the flats. (Only one thankfully, so it was fine)

But nobody complains, amazingly, even when I hog up public areas of the house, furniture and occasionally shelves in their rooms . So I'm thankful for their patience and the secret ❤ I think they all have for the seeds. They've really enjoyed meeting up with me at Seedy Saturday and the whole enchilada that comes with that. (Especially checking on the cash box behind the table. )

My son has asked occasionally though, "Mom, why are you so into hoarding seeds?"

 

[flowerbug]

...
My son has asked occasionally though, "Mom, why are you so into hoarding seeds?"

if you never could give any away or never planted any that would be hoarding - otherwise you're just a very dedicated collector and seed saver and enthusiast and gardener and ...

 

[heirloomgal]

LOTS of rain today. Thank goodness I checked over plants well yesterday. This may be the time to start ground cutting the last beans as I think the rain is predicted to last for some time. Rains still cause me to worry a bit for the maturing pole beans out there. Mostly for the half dry pods, which are closer to being done. Temperatures are still wonderful though, 24 today. Shelled a few more beans and took a few pictures.

'Tung's Pole'

'Piatella'. Supposed to be a semi, but it probably grew to 7 feet. @Bluejay77 what do you make of this, it's a network bean?

'Cerna Tanenice' ❤ Wow, I do love this one.

'George Murphy's Wax'

'Sacre Blue'

Another photo of my 'Bamberger Blaue' cross. I kinda like it.

 

[heirloomgal]

if you never could give any away or never planted any that would be hoarding - otherwise you're just a very dedicated collector and seed saver and enthusiast and gardener and ...

I do give away a lot of seeds to people. I'm also a sucker for people who come to my table at Seedy Saturday staring into a handful of coins, and then hold them out to me and ask, 'How many beans can I buy with this?' (This question, because I sometimes bring a 3 tiered tray with mixed beans on each level, and allow people to pluck out what they'd like in a packet.) And I do guerilla seed drops. When I see people converting front yards to raised beds for growing food, or building those raised garden tables for food, I sneek seeds into their mailbox when no one is around. Lol