A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

What beautiful daffodils! They are my favorites. I have some tiny Jonquils that I dug years ago from an old farm that belonged to my ex's grandparents. The old house on the property was 4 rooms, the walls were 1 board thick, no 2x4 studs at all. Granny said she loved the Jonquils because when they bloomed, she knew spring was coming. She gave birth to her children in that old house and it got cold in there. When Granny died, I dug up and planted Jonquils on her grave.

I have some narcissus bulbs that I've dug and replanted for some 40+ years. I have some amaryllis that I brought from my old house that I had for 30+ years. I'll dig them up, plus the jonquils and take them with me. As always, I won't get them all, leaving behind some to restart the spring blooms.

@flowerbug, if you have so many daffodils that you want to get rid of, box them up and send them to me! I'll gladly pay for the postage.

40 years! What a wonderful family legacy. How sweet that you planted Jonquils on your ex's Granny's grave.
I love where plants and family heritage & stories come together. It is my grandpa & his years growing things that inspired me to garden as a mom. Without my own kids, I would never have picked up a shovel nor a seed. My neighbour whose mom passed away years ago, still plants certain flowers every year because his mom grew them when he was a child. When he told me that years ago I found it so touching.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

40 years! What a wonderful family legacy. How sweet that you planted Jonquils on your ex's Granny's grave.
I love where plants and family heritage & stories come together. It is my grandpa & his years growing things that inspired me to garden as a mom. Without my own kids, I would never have picked up a shovel nor a seed. My neighbour whose mom passed away years ago, still plants certain flowers every year because his mom grew them when he was a child. When he told me that years ago I found it so touching.

Just before we sold my maternal grandparents house, I went though the yard and took samples from all the clumps of daylilies, because I was told my grandfather had bred some of them (whether this was sentimentality, or simply not wanting to have the new owners make money off of grandpa's work without us getting a piece, you decide.)

This actually didn't work as well as it sounded, since 1. By that time no one could remember which were the ones he had crossed and which are the ones he had simply bought. and 2. the house transfer was in the wrong season (we had said we were going to do that for a long time, but only got around to it at the near eleventh hour, so not the best season for working things like that out.)

 

[heirloomgal]

Just before we sold my maternal grandparents house, I went though the yard and took samples from all the clumps of daylilies, because I was told my grandfather had bred some of them (whether this was sentimentality, or simply not wanting to have the new owners make money off of grandpa's work without us getting a piece, you decide.)

This actually didn't work as well as it sounded, since 1. By that time no one could remember which were the ones he had crossed and which are the ones he had simply bought. and 2. the house transfer was in the wrong season (we had said we were going to do that for a long time, but only got around to it at the near eleventh hour, so not the best season for working things like that out.)

Even if it was from both columns, I think that's pretty wonderful. Do any of his lilies continue today?

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Even if it was from both columns, I think that's pretty wonderful. Do any of his lilies continue today?

Hard to tell. As I said, we collected them at a time when we didn't have any flowers to judge by. And we already had a lot of daylilies around. we still do, but whether any of those are decedents of the ones we planted then, I don't know.

 

[ducks4you]

Does anybody here dehydrate onions? I tried it in my cheapo dehydrator a few years back and it just burns them. Any advice?

 

[heirloomgal]

Does anybody here dehydrate onions? I tried it in my cheapo dehydrator a few years back and it just burns them. Any advice?

I haven't done it, apparently you can though. A quick peek around and I found a recommendation of 125F/52C degrees for 3-9 hours. There are dehydrated onions in so many food products I imagine it's very doable. You might not want to use your dehydrator for fruit after though!

 

[heirloomgal]

Collected my last pepper seeds yesterday. Not bad for a pepper that was planted way too late. Definitely plenty to both share and try again. I used a dishwashing glove on my right hand, which worked, and used my pinky finger on the other hand occasionally to flick out seeds. My sinuses cleared completely, and then I rubbed my eye with my left uncovered hand. So, my eyeball and my sinus passages are feeling very refreshed.

The next pepper I'd really like to collect is 'Thunder Mountain'. Seems like it's starting to make the rounds.

 

[heirloomgal]

Have you guys heard of/seen 'Thunder Mountain' peppers?

 

[jbosmith]

Have you guys heard of/seen 'Thunder Mountain' peppers?

I have! Well, ok, I read about them about 2 hours ago after seeing your pictures ;-)

 

[Zeedman]

Have you guys heard of/seen 'Thunder Mountain' peppers?

Added it to my want list.