A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

Don't be surprised to see some Chinese lanterns emerge next year. I fought that battle a few years ago. Thought I had them wiped out, but apparently some roots went dormant, and the battle resumed the following Spring.

The wild ground cherries that popped up in my rural garden were even worse, spreading 5-6 feet from my fence line in one year. Since I've abandoned that plot, I'll never know how long it might have taken to eliminate them (or not).

They GO DORMANT!!? Noooooo......
Well, they never really were happy in the front yard so maybe that will help my cause?

 

[heirloomgal]

They destroyed the entire planter of 'Chili Negre' peppers!

Either they can get in at night now even though I'm routinely shutting the door, or they are going in during the day. Ugh. I really liked these and had hoped for a lot of seed. At least I had 2 outdoor plants and mice won't raid those probably for fear of owls. I picked them just in case.

On a more positive note, which I prefer to focus on, I had started to believe that I'd never get seeds from the Lagos Spinach because they didn't seem to be drying, and I saw no evidence of seeds ripening anywhere. So I picked two bouquets of the 'flower' heads for DD's birthday table to use as a decoration. I went to throw them away yesterday and as I pulled the flowers out of the vase black *dust* fell everywhere! They WERE SEEDS! I guess even though I harvested the flowers when there was no sign of seed life, they dried in the vases (which had no water in them) and I was able to shake out my first seedheads!

AND the tinga peas are STILL flowering! The only downside to this plant I think is there is no trellis big enough for it. Few people have trellis for peas that are over 10 feet, and this one flopped over as you can see in the pic because it just got too tall. That trellis is 8x8 feet, plus its off the ground about 2 feet and it grew 2 feet above the top before it fell. So, it is a bit big. There is some shade in that spot, maybe that didn't help.

 

[heirloomgal]

Need to really get the peppers harvested - mice are really putting a dent in my seed crop. I found more peppers with missing seeds today, one even outdoors in a planter. This is the worst damage yet since I started growing peppers in large numbers.

I made note of something today when I was out picking kale; the one plant in luscious, rich garden soil, that has been watered judiciously and even given some chicken manure looks EXACTLY the same as the kale in the old perennial flower bed with poor soil - which I almost never watered, never weeded, nor fed. Like, exactly the same size and condition. Interesting.

 

[Alasgun]

I’ve noticed the same thing, Kale’s a little bit like a cat; it’ll do just fine without you, although i hold Kale in much higher regard!

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Further garden updates

Tomatoes are winding down. I suppose. There's a few left out there (a couple of green and pink cherries) but everything else is in and, at this point in the year, unless we have a VERY mild fall/winter, the odds of any new fruit showing up is remote, so what few flowers there are are probably meaningless.

Similar with the common beans, there are flowers and a few smallish early pods, but it's hard to imagine much more will reach maturity. By now, I've half a mind to (except for the few that I'm actually still short of) to start harvesting early and see if any make decent snap beans.

The Wild mung pot is wining down. Looks like it isn't as great an option as the wild rice beans or soybeans were. It grows readily enough, and flowers and pods readily enough, but seems to have the same issue the domestic soybeans used to have; once the pods reach full mature size, they just sort of STAY in that state and never actually reach the point where the seed finishes maturing. I've waited until the pods felt fully hollow/squishy (my benchmark for telling when they are harvestable, as leaving them to dry down all the way risked having them explode. It works for everything else.) and the seed is STILL sort of green (which, for this type of mung bean, is NOT the normal mature color, the ones I planted tended towards brown.)

The accidental mung is now done, but the long pot is now pumping its out, Hopefully I'll get back some of those brown as well (they're from an Afghani landrace that can be green OR brown, depending on the plants).

Since it stopped growing at such a small size (maybe that of a ping pong ball). I've decided the last Dosaki cucumber is better left to ripen fully to provide more seeds for next year rather than be used for food. It's staying out there until it's either fully yellow/ripe, or the vine it's attached to dies (at which point keeping it out there is both pointless and risky, as there ARE things that will eat them if they reach the ground.) It's beginning to yellow now, so it shouldn't be that much longer, maybe a week or two.

The lablab vines are already beginning to wither (I guess that, as a tropical plant, even cool temperatures ABOVE freezing can harm them quite a bit).

The mouse garlic will be harvested, but not until a bit later, as I want to wait until whatever that other vine that is in there dies off. They SAY you can preserve them by salting, but whether they mean packing them in just salt or pickling them I'll have to check.

There are now two jackfruit seedlings in the pot I planted. Depending on how many grow, maybe I'll try and offer the rest online in the spring (over the winter won't work, as I have no cheap way of keeping them from freezing in transport).

 

[digitS']

... mice are really putting a dent in my seed crop. I found more peppers with missing seeds today, one even outdoors in a planter. This is the worst damage yet ...

... a cat; it’ll do just fine without you ...

or or ?

 

[heirloomgal]

The last of the cabbages. Pity when the bugs poke holes in the leaves, because it really is such a charming vegetable when the leaves are in good shape. Almost like it's a vegetable 'flower'. I do find these tasted best when young, the texture was more tender. Still good but they don't melt in your mouth like the young cabbage heads do.

My starved out, dehydrated kale plants - which I've also harvested from throughout the year. Quite a plant that kale. The closest relative to the wild cabbage from which all the cabbage family has been bred from. I guess those wilder genes lend a lot of resilience. I did a bit of kale research last night; kale is a very old vegetable indeed.

Inisde of the the Shoenbrunn 'ground cherry' - so different from Aunt Molly's. They actually have 'walls'. Unbelievably delicious, the more I eat these the more I think I'll never grow regular ground cherries again. There is almost a clementine flavor to these, plus tropical. Just so good. Wow.

I thought I had ONE wierd carrot this year, but seems like every time I go out and pick carrots there are more of these than regulars! Maybe 50/50, but there's so many of them. And the soil wasn't stony? Go figure. Carrots are just so big this year. Finally hit my carrot stride. That only took 16 years.

The orange color of 'Chili de Onza' just glows!

 

[digitS']

Quite a plant that kale.

It is (they are), indeed.

Cruciferous vegetables, cole crops, brassicas – of worldwide importance. The cabbage family has great diversity and uses. Field crops like canola to our gardens' broccoli, turnips and bok choy, even drifting into nasturtiums and wasabi ... Food!

Steve

 

[heirloomgal]

It is (they are), indeed.

Cruciferous vegetables, cole crops, brassicas – of worldwide importance. The cabbage family has great diversity and uses. Field crops like canola to our gardens' broccoli, turnips and bok choy, even drifting into nasturtiums and wasabi ... Food!

Steve

As humans we really lucked out with this species on a breeding level, because we extracted such a great diversity of both life giving & delicious food plants from it. It's sort of like the 'wolf' veggie, and the wee Brussel sprouts are the Yorkie terriers.

 

[heirloomgal]

I haven't grown nicotiana since 2022! These mysteriously came up when the beans started to peak, no idea how they got to this location - I didn't have any plants here? But I had tons of nicotiana volunteers this year, all over the place, which I found odd. I guess the seeds can really last in the soil and fling themselves around. I'm shocked it's flowering since usually you set out 8 week old plants to be able get flowers. It's a strange species; these ones have aphids on them, yet the ones I grew 2 years ago in the front yard were totally bug free.