A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

I've never seen roots such as those on Morelle de Balbis. They look like Jerusalem artichokes (a.k.a. sunchokes). Were any of those nearby? They would be very tall, sunflower-like plants, with small yellow flowers. The roots are very invasive, I wouldn't be surprised if they got in through the bottom of the pot.

I hadn't thought of that. Yes, while I don't grow sunchokes I have a wild sunflower imported from WAAY up north and I suspect it's in that family somehow. Right where I plunked that pot had been an ocean of those and when I flipped over the pot to dump it, there was a fat root plugging the entire drainage hole. I had to bash it with a sharp stone to remove it so I could get the plant out. Mystery solved. For a second I thought the Morelle...

I learned something new about that plant (Morelle d. B) this summer. I grew 2, both in pots in different locations. Zero pollination occurred. I guess they're like tomatillos. Too bad, because the plants were huge. That harvest would have been nice.

 

[heirloomgal]

Edit for sesame production above: I actually got more like 1/3 cup, not 3/4. Not sure where my brain was on that one!

 

[heirloomgal]

I've come to the realization lately that there are certain lesser known perks to seed saving. For instance, it can be quite procrastination friendly. You can also fall behind in things, and the delay may actually cause an increase in your seed quality.

I was thinking of this after saving my last batch of eggplant seeds. The first few batches I did, the fruit was definitely past edible and wrinkled, but still firm enough to be grated with a box grater to get the seeds out. But I was surprised (this year is my first real larger scale effort for eggplant seeds) how many seeds I poured off in the water. The last bunch were WAY further along than I realized by the time I could deal with them, and as I pressed each to the grater they turned into pure mush, like a seedy pudding. But there were very few seeds to pour off, totally different than before. I actually got more good seeds this time.

How sweet it is when procrastination can actually be a benefit.

Oh, and I counted my cotton seed harvest, 85 seeds so far from 2 or 3 bolls. Yay! I had no idea cotton had so many seeds.

 

[digitS']

Putting the "Pro" in "Procrastination."

DW likes julienne cucumbers and carrots for, maybe I should say, a garnish. Fresh eating.

The kitchen tool is less intimidating to me than a grater probably because of not knowing how to position a grater relative to a bowl. (I imagine that you use a board with a work area at proper height, however.)

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

My MIL got me a heavy duty accordian grater. She used it to grate cabbage and carrots and onions for slaw, and I did, too.
A couple of years ago my DD got me an attachment to my (was MIL's), Kitchen Aid.
No more scraped knuckles and bandaids.

 

[Jane23]

I have been saving seeds from my bell peppers. I don't know if it is going right. They are inside, dry, and in an open container, but some are turning black. Are they molding?

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I've come to the realization lately that there are certain lesser known perks to seed saving. For instance, it can be quite procrastination friendly. You can also fall behind in things, and the delay may actually cause an increase in your seed quality.

I was thinking of this after saving my last batch of eggplant seeds. The first few batches I did, the fruit was definitely past edible and wrinkled, but still firm enough to be grated with a box grater to get the seeds out. But I was surprised (this year is my first real larger scale effort for eggplant seeds) how many seeds I poured off in the water. The last bunch were WAY further along than I realized by the time I could deal with them, and as I pressed each to the grater they turned into pure mush, like a seedy pudding. But there were very few seeds to pour off, totally different than before. I actually got more good seeds this time.

How sweet it is when procrastination can actually be a benefit.

Oh, and I counted my cotton seed harvest, 85 seeds so far from 2 or 3 bolls. Yay! I had no idea cotton had so many seeds.

There are limits though, of course. The reason why I only had one "Darkest Night" tomato plant to work with (and nearly didn't have any) was because I delayed the final step in seed preparation (getting the seeds out of the fermentation bath and drying them) so long the seeds wound up mostly germinating IN the water (it was the second water bath, designed to get the last bits of flesh apart, so there wasn't a lot of tomato mass to inhibit) and becoming little straggly thread things that couldn't be transplanted.

Also, putting off seeds can get you into the habit of putting off all seeds, and that can really bite you in the butt the moment you come across something that is recalcitrant. It cost me my one chance to grow breadfruit (in that I finally found an older type breadfruit that wasn't seedless like the modern kind) I though that "recalcitrant" mean "you can't dry them down to save, but as long as they retain their original moisture, you're okay.) Breadfruit, however, falls into the category of "you pretty much have to stick them in the ground as SOON as you yank them out of the fruit, because they will ferment and die literally OVERNIGHT otherwise."
And speaking of pepper, the seed of my little Amazonians I grew a few years ago doesn't look all that good, because I waited too long and let the tops get moldy.

 

[heirloomgal]

I have been saving seeds from my bell peppers. I don't know if it is going right. They are inside, dry, and in an open container, but some are turning black. Are they molding?

Mould on pepper seeds often shows up as white or grey fuzz, or grey coloured seed. It could be mould turning them black, or possibly some of the seeds are immature? Peppers usually have a mix in them of both ripe and immature seed. Good seed usually turns a deep yellow colour, and the seeds are a good thickness.

 

[heirloomgal]

There are limits though, of course. The reason why I only had one "Darkest Night" tomato plant to work with (and nearly didn't have any) was because I delayed the final step in seed preparation (getting the seeds out of the fermentation bath and drying them) so long the seeds wound up mostly germinating IN the water (it was the second water bath, designed to get the last bits of flesh apart, so there wasn't a lot of tomato mass to inhibit) and becoming little straggly thread things that couldn't be transplanted.

Also, putting off seeds can get you into the habit of putting off all seeds, and that can really bite you in the butt the moment you come across something that is recalcitrant. It cost me my one chance to grow breadfruit (in that I finally found an older type breadfruit that wasn't seedless like the modern kind) I though that "recalcitrant" mean "you can't dry them down to save, but as long as they retain their original moisture, you're okay.) Breadfruit, however, falls into the category of "you pretty much have to stick them in the ground as SOON as you yank them out of the fruit, because they will ferment and die literally OVERNIGHT otherwise."
And speaking of pepper, the seed of my little Amazonians I grew a few years ago doesn't look all that good, because I waited too long and let the tops get moldy.

True. Yeah, once you've got the tom seeds fermenting then ZERO procrastination can take place. But, cherry tomatoes make fantastic specimens for procrastination pre-fermentation. I had 2 lots left of cherries, Wild Galapagos and Couer de Pigeon Jaune, which were the last stragglers for the 2 plants. I had already saved 100's if not 1000's of seeds from them so wasn't even sure I should bother processing them for more. So they sat in boxes in my sunroom for the last month. Finally, I decided to save them and they were just as perfect as if I had done them right away.

Peppers: I find sticking them in the fridge helps to slow them down so if I can't drum up time/motivation immediately the chill in there will buy me some. But it's true, I don't find super mature peppers make the most ideal seed specimens. Mature, but only just, seem to be best.

This is why most flower seed saving isn't for me. They drop WAY too fast from the plants. A few types hang on, but not many.

Speaking of which, my little Scarlet Flax flower (which doesn't drop when ripe) seed crop was collected tonight. It involved so much meticulous crushing of these perfectly round, firm seed heads that I thought my fingers were cramping up. It's a scant 1/2 tablespoon, but I think I had 20 seeds to start. It's strange how the seeds are BONE dry but swishing them in my hands, the seeds felt slimey! Or slippery. Odd sensation. Gonna continue to try and build up my supply next year, maybe in ground this time.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

True. Yeah, once you've got the tom seeds fermenting then ZERO procrastination can take place. But, cherry tomatoes make fantastic specimens for procrastination pre-fermentation. I had 2 lots left of cherries, Wild Galapagos and Couer de Pigeon Jaune, which were the last stragglers for the 2 plants. I had already saved 100's if not 1000's of seeds from them so wasn't even sure I should bother processing them for more. So they sat in boxes in my sunroom for the last month. Finally, I decided to save them and they were just as perfect as if I had done them right away.

Peppers: I find sticking them in the fridge helps to slow them down so if I can't drum up time/motivation immediately the chill in there will buy me some. But it's true, I don't find super mature peppers make the most ideal seed specimens. Mature, but only just, seem to be best.

This is why most flower seed saving isn't for me. They drop WAY too fast from the plants. A few types hang on, but not many.

Speaking of which, my little Scarlet Flax flower (which doesn't drop when ripe) seed crop was collected tonight. It involved so much meticulous crushing of these perfectly round, firm seed heads that I thought my fingers were cramping up. It's a scant 1/2 tablespoon, but I think I had 20 seeds to start. It's strange how the seeds are BONE dry but swishing them in my hands, the seeds felt slimey! Or slippery. Odd sensation. Gonna continue to try and build up my supply next year, maybe in ground this time.

Sounds like the "slippery" corn I bumped into about six or so years ago, the stuff whose pericarp was so thick and so smooth it was basically frictionless. This made sorting it rather hard, since the kernels would literally slip out of my hands if it so much as slightly tilted my hand.

On the other side of the spectrum, those few times I have grown (or encountered) "velcro" chickpeas, I have to make sure I am not wearing a flannel shirt when I touch them, since, if they come in contact with it, they will literally stick to it like burrs, and, while I can pull them off, I CAN'T really get all the fuzz off after that.

As for cherry tomatoes, it varies. There have been plenty of times I have left piles of them laying around (so I can ferment all of them at once.) Some last, some don't

Same with curcurbits. The Russian netted cucumber I picked started dying by inches within a week of coming off the vine, while the Borneo jungle picked at the same time is still perfectly intact (in fact, I thing it is ripening, which bodes well for seed saving.)