A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

as a kid i had a nice succulent collection. then i bought an elephant cactus with mealy bugs on it and didn't know about them until they'd spread to the rest of the plants. if you've ever tried to get those off of a cactus with all those spines it's a real bugger. sadly could not rescue most of them.

So sad! You must have been upset

 

[flowerbug]

So sad! You must have been upset

well it wasn't happy time for sure, but with plants you learn and move on. i had a lot of other plants too and if i got tired of the ones indoors i could go outside too if the weather would cooperate.

 

[Zeedman]

This is the bean and her label...

Definitely not the same lima as mine. Interesting though; I love the fatter limas, and have not seen a bush variety quite like it. Haven't seen one matching that description in SSE either, so I may want to trade for it at some point.

I too prefer the pole limas, for their greater diversity & higher yield; but that comes at the expense of a longer DTM. Those bush varieties may prove to be more reliable in your climate than most pole types. I still grow a couple bush limas... while they yield less per plant, you can space them more closely, so the total yield per a given area is still decent. Well worthwhile started as transplants. And on that topic...

... 8 weeks early might be too long for the pole limas. While limas grow slowly initially, they develop very extensive root systems. I've never started limas more than 3 weeks early, but suspect that they would become pot bound not long after that. That is pure speculation on my part, your experience could prove me wrong... so I look forward to your observations.

 

[heirloomgal]

Yay! More seeds arrived... And DH bought me a bunch of new LED grow lights (early Mother's Day present), so I get to plant even more! I think it was 6 sets altogether for hanging. Now to figure out where to hang them...

Going to try some Soup Celery (cutting celery) this year too, and also try to save seeds from it, so I guess I'll have to overwinter it in a pot. I really like the taste of it, and it is much less fussy than stalk celery.

Lemon Starrburst pepper, developed a 'split' personality after I pinched it. Has survived the bugs well, considering. Got mostly everything transplanted into peat now. I guess it was a good thing I planted so early because who knows how delayed everything will be due to first gnats, and then a severe transplanting. Nice thing about superhots is that they plants stay manageable pretty much all on thier own. Not prone to craning their necks at all.

My daughter planted some lemon seeds and got way too many seedlings, I managed to get her to keep only this one. We put the rest outside a week ago, and despite some terrible weather that is below freezing they are still alive in our sunroom!

Cerise au Japon is definitely NOT True Red Cranberry, yay! Much smaller, and much smoother, refined seed coats. Colour is identical though. Nice little bean!

This one's for you @meadow, Danny Crossman bush bean. Another brown one

Now that you can buy orchids pretty much everywhere, including even grocery stores, they are rather prosaic but still I find them pretty. DH was quite an orchid collector for some years, and while many of the more demanding species are now gone I do marvel that he still seems to be able to coax these old ones back into bloom though they must be 9 or 10 years old now. Given we have heating on for at least half of the year I would never have guessed he could keep them going for this long.

 

[Alasgun]

@heirloomgal , i’ve mentioned previously; but it bears repeating:::
you’d do very well composing adds for the seed companies. Your submissions on here are always perfect. If nothing else girl; take some of that stuff to the fair; they give prizes for presentation too!

over the years i’ve learned what likes and what doesn't like my l.e.d’s. And on my seed starting schedule document, an asterisk helps me remember them from year to year.

you notice the universal sense of calm on the boards these days? The good Lord sure knows how to brighten our faces. I hope you have a prosperous season!

 

[heirloomgal]

Aww, thank you @Alasgun ! I wish you a prosperous season too! I'm looking forward to seeing your beyond gorgeous cafe style greenhouse coming to life with greenery, that is, if you decide to post some pictures!

 

[heirloomgal]

Planted quite a few seeds today. Planting is now really beginning as we are nearing the 8 weeks before the last frost mark. A few of the seeds I planted tonight were quite strange, one is possibly the most unusual shape I've seen, 'Quaking Grass' seed - at first I thought they maybe gave me the hulls not the seeds?? They are probably little wings with seeds attached, as so many seeds are.

This is what the plant (grass) looks like - sorta crustacean meets cuttlefish?

Reminded me of fossils like these, don't know their name

Planted the 'Quillquina' seeds too. Apparently this is not the same herb as 'Papalo', though all my internet searches seem to say it is. So, I guess we'll see once it starts growing and I taste it. I read in the seed exchange that these go to seed quicker than papalo, which is what I was after since my last papalo plants did not go to seed for me. I found this little blurb on this herb a little while ago, I noticed this part in particular because somewhere on a thread I read that cilantro taste like soap to some people -

"Quillquina is preferable to cilantro for many people. It has less of a citrus taste than cilantro does, and also has less of the soapy taste that some people may find in cilantro. For people who dislike cilantro, but want something with a bit more punch than parsley, quillquina can provide an excellent alternative."

Here is the dainty wee little seeds -

Planted my first tomato seeds too. Might plant a few more, but I ran out of steam so that was it for today.

I noticed tonight a couple of my newly transplanted eggplants are doing much better, and actually showing some characteristic leaf shapes. It has been a long time since I grew any of these and forget nearly everything about them, so I'm enjoying seeing them grow all over again. This on is 'Striped Toga' - little bit of waves goin' on here

And Petch Siam , also showing some wavy leaf shapes. I quite like these 'wilder' more rugged type eggplants. Their growth is strong and they produce so many more eggplants, though, the eggplants are quite small compared to the large eggplant types. I also got an eggplant called 'Melanza Rossa Di Rotondo' (Solanum aethiopicum) but planted it only a few weeks ago (when the seeds arrived) so I'm yet to see what it's foliage will really be like. Judging by it's looks right now I'm already wondering if it is the same variety as Turkish Orange. Both their leaves are quite shiny and smooth, unlike the others which are a bit more fuzzy.

Lots of flowers etc. went into the soil today too - nicotiana, lunaria, soapwort, maralroot, cardoon, emerald tassels amaranth, zwolse krul. Many were older packets, so I thought I'd see what might come of them. I do hope the maralroot sprouts, it is from Russia but hardy to my climatic conditions, and for whatever reason I never did get around to planting it. Interesting trivia tidbit, Russian athletes have used this plant for it's steroids for improved performance in sports, better endurance and increased muscle mass. I hope it sprouts!

 

[Zeedman]

I noticed tonight a couple of my newly transplanted eggplants are doing much better, and actually showing some characteristic leaf shapes. It has been a long time since I grew any of these and forget nearly everything about them, so I'm enjoying seeing them grow all over again. This on is 'Striped Toga' - little bit of waves goin' on here

Oh, so you're growing the Christmas bulbs this year! I still haven't found a good way to eat Striped Togo (which I assume is the same variety) but they sure made interesting Halloween decorations last year.

 

[heirloomgal]

Oh, so you're growing the Christmas bulbs this year! I still haven't found a good way to eat Striped Togo (which I assume is the same variety) but they sure made interesting Halloween decorations last year.
View attachment 47777

Yup! That's the one!

Well, if it can't be de-bittered, since I am now officially counting calories and trying to resume some of the more health conscious choices of my youth, bitterness is indeed one of the rarer 5 tastes that is uniquely medicinal.

 

[Dahlia]

Has anyone had any luck saving seeds from peppermint plants and planting those seeds with any luck? The only seeds I've ever saved and replanted are pea seeds, tomato seeds, wild apple seeds, avocado, random flower seeds, and mint seeds. I had luck with the peas, flowers, and apple seeds.