A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

Last year’s Swiss chard is now loaded with green seed. How long till it will mature so I can harvest and remove the plants?

Everything I'm about to share is book knowledge @seedcorn, not my own practices, as I can't save chard seed in my climate because it won't overwinter here, and can't really be dug up & stored for the 2nd year. But I do believe you need to wait until the stalks and seed itself is quite dry on plant. It needs to mature in place fully, and then you collect. Important is that beets weren't grown within 1/2 mile of it, as chard is not self pollinating and will cross with it. The seeds are are actually multiple seed bundles, so be careful not to break 'em apart when you're threshing. I'm not sure about the length of time for the seeds to ripen though, with the biennials some are quicker than others. I think it's also dependant on how early you planted the previous year, and your current seasons' weather. 'Midsummer' for dry seed in the Northern states, so says the books.

 

[seedcorn]

Assume you ate speaking of beets that are pollinating?

 

[heirloomgal]

First bean almost ready to bloom,

Assume you ate speaking of beets that are pollinating?

The beets and chard will cross pollinate I mean....

 

[seedcorn]

Understood that. But both have to be pollinating, correct? Beets are first year plus they are seedlings.

 

[heirloomgal]

First bean almost ready to bloom, I think the blooms will be white. This is quite early for us.

First climbing pea variety to bloom, 'Saporro Express'. Way ahead of the others.

A new bean for me, 'Mayan Red'. It really stands out from the rest because the plant stems are actually pink. Very unique, I don't have another like it.

'National pickling' cucumbers growing well, partly due to the partial shade position I placed them in. I find the plants burn out much later than when planted in full sun.

Found this on a tomatillo plant. Seems like a good sign.

Blue tomatoes 'Rebel Starfighter' and 'Cosmic Eclipse' already making wee tomatoes. The blue tomatoes have often been the first to arrive in a season. The initial flavour of blue tomatoes when they came on the market was pretty dismal, but they have come a LONG way since. Cosmic Eclipse is really delicious.

Alpine strawberries - my favourite type of strawberry. They come very close to the taste of wild strawberries; they're tiny, but they produce all season long. Rain can dilute the flavour somewhat, but they are quite drought resistant and don't need watering from me.

 

[heirloomgal]

Understood that. But both have to be pollinating, correct? Beets are first year plus they are seedlings.

Oh, I think I get what you mean...if you planted new beets this year can they affect your chard seed? No, they'd have to both be flowering/pollinating/making seeds at the same time. If I got you right...

 

[heirloomgal]

The 'Parsely peas' are getting really bushy, like a giant green wig. The taste of the frizzy shoots (the goal of the plant breeding here) has not been inspiring, but I think they are meant to be cooked. I'll have to make a stir fry and really put them to the test. In the meantime, Fred quite likes them.

Another of the bean beds. The walking boards look terrible, but they are really necessary. The soil feels like a loaf of bread when stepped on, and my stepping around would really compress the soil badly. I've had a few pea rows not grow properly because of compacted, stepped on soil.

Persian cornflower on insect duty. I love these as perennials because they are so drought proof, flower all summer, and never have any kind of problems. Plus they self seed readily. Their blue cornflower relations are hardy too, but even they will get powdery mildew if they dry out too much in a hot summer. The foliage has a somewhat ferny look that I like too.

'Sarah Bernhardt' peony. Insects just love peonies. This variety isn't my favourite colour, but the bloom form is very nice. Reminds me of the cotton candy balls they used to sell at the seasonal fair.

 

[heirloomgal]

The nights here have been dreadfully cold lately. Tonight a low of 4/5 degrees. Many plants will not appreciate that weather, but luckily it goes up tomorrow night. Very, very strange weather this year; very hot, very cold, back to very hot and then cold again. I hope there is no frost, with all the beans planted this year.

This is the variety of kale I'm growing this year, 'Red Russian'. At least he won't mind getting chilled tonight. I'm not a fan of frizzy, curled kale; I tend toward more flat leafed kale. If anything, it's much easier to chop up than the curly type.

The peas have made it to halfway up their supports. I love seed saving the peas. They are probably the easiest seed to save; they seldom cross, they can tolerate cool weather, and hot too if given a bit of shade, zero bugs, they always mature their seed in time and no fermenting involved. No burned up fingers for days either (hot peppers) Earwigs can be a pain if you get lots of wet fall weather though. After saving tomato seeds, at least 100 - 125 varieties a year, I consider peas a 'seed saving vacation'. Tomato seeds saving is loads of work on a bigger scale.

Corn is popping. Up.

First year using T-posts. I really like them for the peas. Not crazy about putting up new string every year, but they're designed well for that purpose & it's not much time to do it. I may buy more of these for future use. I can see now why these are so popular. I got them for a song too.

The chard stems are starting to show their colours. Love these varieties. Especially 'Peppermint'.

This is the first year I've ever grown exclusively bell peppers. For years I grew a lot of hot pepper varieties, partly because they are so generous with their seeds compared to bells. I also like hot peppers as ornamental patio plants. But after the burning hands for nights on end, and the occasional accidental burnt eyeball, I decided last year that I would like a break from them. I have about 60-70 plants, about 3 of each variety. Am happy to see that though they will never produce seed in quantity like the hots, they are setting a pretty good number of fruits. This one is 'Ta Tong'.

'Iko Iko', a new experiment.

'Palanacka Babura', another new one. Eastern European variety. I quite like Balkan peppers; strangely, they all start out white.

 

[heirloomgal]

A few flowers from the pollinator gardens. I also save seed from the perennials, where practical and possible. Some will never come true to type, but others are very reliable for propagation. All my hollyhocks and delphiniums I grew from seeds. Maltese cross, bellflower, globeflower, they all grow well and true from seed too . Here's a few in bloom now.

As far as I know, peonies don't come true from seed. I have a single tree peony that has large bodacious white blooms with pink centres; years ago some of the plant was accidentally cut down, or possibly injured, we're not sure. Ever since, that part of the plant became herbaceous again and blooms with different, somewhat less attractive looking flowers. However, this reversion is much more attractive to insects and pollinators. So, in the end it worked out, though it was nice to have a full tree peony while it lasted..

Not exactly a flower,but I always find these growing in my wood mulch, Sort of picturesque in it's own way.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This is the variety of kale I'm growing this year, 'Red Russian'. At least he won't mind getting chilled tonight. I'm not a fan of frizzy, curled kale; I tend toward more flat leafed kale. If anything, it's much easier to chop up than the curly type.

It's probably from you being so far north compared to me but my Red Russian kale has much redder stems. The leaves are a darker green too, some with red in them. Maybe yours will change as it gets older. My daughter-in-law tried Red Russian for the first time this year and said it was the sweetest kale she'd ever had. I think that was because it was the freshest she'd ever had but I'm not going to argue. I grow it over the winter down here.

The reason I grow Red Russian instead of a curly kale is not because of taste or productivity but because it is flat. It's easier for me to find bugs on it. The same caterpillars that attack cabbage love it. Once they show up I used to strip it down to a bud, treat it with BT, and get a serving from it. Then I'd strip it again and go through another cycle. That was in Arkansas where I had plenty of land and lots of cabbage moths. Down here space is a lot tighter so I pull it and plant something else for warm weather.