A Seed Saver's Garden

[ducks4you]

I will be happy to hear more about Roman concrete, Steve!

 

[flowerbug]

Yes, but there is no denying that, used properly, science and technology CAN help us out.

I STILL fully believe that, one day, they will be able to create a computer program that can "ring the changes" of a organisms DNA. That is run though all possible gene sequences of a chromosome, work out which amino acids those genes will produce, cross check it with data on what those amino acids do in and to the organism, and be able to virtually model what traits and abilities an organism with that particular genotype would have. In other words, a program that could tell us EVERY possible genotype and what it does and then tell you which you needed for a given set of conditions.

By that point it may even be capable of assembling those genes and basically 3-D printing a zygote that possesses them, so you could basically print cells to order (of course, it is quite possible that doing THAT would mean crossing the MAJOR scientific hurdle of working out what makes something "alive" and how to make a living thing from non-living matter.)

it's a nice thought, but life is a bit more chaotic than that. there was a recent Science article about how they think random DNA came up with proteins that influenced human brain development. interesting stuff if true...

Science | AAAS

www.science.org

 

[Jane23]

I sat down last night with some of my dead flower heads. I watched a movie and spent a good 2 hours gathering seeds. It was very pleasant. I think I will need more places to plant see this spring though...

 

[Branching Out]

I sat down last night with some of my dead flower heads. I watched a movie and spent a good 2 hours gathering seeds. It was very pleasant. I think I will need more places to plant see this spring though...

Way to go Jane! Which varieties of flower seeds were you working with?

 

[Jane23]

Way to go Jane! Which varieties of flower seeds were you working with?

I had some leftover bachelor button seeds. I also processed the last of my herb harvest including basil, rosemary, and sage. There really isn't that much left.

 

[flowerbug]

and since we're sorta on the topic here i remember years ago when talking with someone who at least understood biology but they were not very open minded about some things and they were going on about how each gene codes for a single protein and i mentioned that it was very likely that a single gene could code for more than one because of how folding can be influenced during the construction or later on by enzymes and they were so certain that this was impossible.

as it turned out, yes, a single gene can code for multiple versions of protiens.

so considering that is yet even more layers of life randomly or not so randomly trying new things out and eventually perhaps finding other ways of doing things.

 

[flowerbug]

I had some leftover bachelor button seeds. I also processed the last of my herb harvest including basil, rosemary, and sage. There really isn't that much left.

i love bachelor buttons but they're mostly gone from here now between deer and me not consistently saving enough seeds to replant them in more than one area.

 

[Branching Out]

I grew Bachelor Buttons for the first time last year, and since I had never seen them grow before I kind of screwed up with them. They were just draped all over the ground, and the stems were bowed and messy. Was I supposed to stake them, or pinch them? I planted some seeds in September and I am pretty sure they will over winter. Hopefully this year they will be tidier than what I had last summer. The blossoms are really cute!

 

[Zeedman]

and since we're sorta on the topic here i remember years ago when talking with someone who at least understood biology but they were not very open minded about some things and they were going on about how each gene codes for a single protein and i mentioned that it was very likely that a single gene could code for more than one because of how folding can be influenced during the construction or later on by enzymes and they were so certain that this was impossible.

as it turned out, yes, a single gene can code for multiple versions of protiens.

so considering that is yet even more layers of life randomly or not so randomly trying new things out and eventually perhaps finding other ways of doing things.

I remember reading an article on that topic, a comparison between the number of genes, and the number of proteins - which was much higher. The focus of the article was that changing a single gene could have multiple unintended consequences.

 

[Jane23]

I grew Bachelor Buttons for the first time last year, and since I had never seen them grow before I kind of screwed up with them. They were just draped all over the ground, and the stems were bowed and messy. Was I supposed to stake them, or pinch them? I planted some seeds in September and I am pretty sure they will over winter. Hopefully this year they will be tidier than what I had last summer. The blossoms are really cute!

I did not have any trouble with mine, and the soil is poor. It doesn't really sound as if you screwed up. Was the soil too moist maybe? or lacking in nutrients? I think I remember the same thing happening to my mother's flowers and that was mostly poor soil, so they grew top-heavy with poor stems.