A Seed Saver's Garden

[Zeedman]

They might be fragrant.

 

[digitS']

some of that twins dna seemed to have survived

I had fun doing a tad bit of reading about chimeras in humans and other mammals last night. DD had some questions after I mentioned the term relating to surgical transplants.

Marmosets have been studied for chimerism occurring naturally. A common birth is 2 or more babies, so fraternal twins. Relatively often they share tissue. . . Ha!

I did only a skim of a 21 page pdf file. But, you can find a sentence or 2 about it and the reference link in Wikipedia LINK

BTW. A person's tissue from one part of the body showing up elsewhere in his/her body is not uncommon.

Steve

 

[Pulsegleaner]

We have reached what I would think of as a "lingering" period in the gardens. Everything's MOSTLY over, but some plants are still trying to eke out a little more before giving up the ghost.

The problem with this is it sort of puts a pause on some of the finishing up for some things. For example, I don't SEAL the seed packet for a tomato type until all of the seed I am going to collect is in it (cause you can only lick those things once* So, as long as there are still fruits than might make seed, the envelopes stay open (and at risk of falling over and getting mixed up, ruining my efforts to keep everything discrete.

Same with the regular beans; at this point, I don't know whether to keep the pods they are churning out as is and hope for more mature seeds, or pick them young and see how some stack up as green/snap beans (not that there are ever enough at one time to really make that worthwhile).

Ditto the mungs, there are pods on most of the ones in the long pot, but they are a pretty far way off from maturity. Plus, I am now having to content with something that is chewing into the side of the pods as they mature and eating the developing seeds out before maturity kicks in. As for the "wild" mung beans, I'm not totally sure I got ANY fully mature seed from those. I MIGHT have, but most of what came back was green (which there wild were not when I planted them,) and the wild seem to like to pull the "soybean" trick (reach full pod size quickly, and then go into virtual stasis and never finish up and mature) and what came from there and from the long pot are starting to get mixed up.

To cap it off, the last of the cucumber vines alive has decided to start making its female flowers, so I might get ONE more cucumber (based on what I saw with the last ones, as soon as one fruit reaches a size where it might mature, the plant puts all of its energy into that one, and dies off when it is ripe enough to get there),

The Mouse garlic was a washout, none of it made even the hint of a bulb (I was actually able to get it out without disturbing the mystery vine. Surprised me when I looked that whole mess is actually all just one plant.)

 

[flowerbug]

I had fun doing a tad bit of reading about chimeras in humans and other mammals last night. DD had some questions after I mentioned the term relating to surgical transplants.

Marmosets have been studied for chimerism occurring naturally. A common birth is 2 or more babies, so fraternal twins. Relatively often they share tissue. . . Ha!

I did only a skim of a 21 page pdf file. But, you can find a sentence or 2 about it and the reference link in Wikipedia LINK

BTW. A person's tissue from one part of the body showing up elsewhere in his/her body is not uncommon.

i think i mentioned this before but just in case you've not heard of it, women who have had babies will have some cells of the baby in their body.

Baby’s Cells Can Manipulate Mom’s Body for Decades

An evolutionary approach may help scientists understand why mothers become genetic chimeras and how that affects their health

www.smithsonianmag.com

 

[heirloomgal]

Kinda, sorta looks like a honey suckle bloom?

Could be @Alasgun, I don't think honeysuckle can grow in my location (?) so I don't think I've ever seen them. They sure are long those blooms, some of them seem as long as 6 inches, or more. Such an odd characteristic.

 

[heirloomgal]

They might be fragrant.

Very! They peak in fragrance when the sun goes down. You can smell them long before you see them.

 

[heirloomgal]

The problem with this is it sort of puts a pause on some of the finishing up for some things. For example, I don't SEAL the seed packet for a tomato type until all of the seed I am going to collect is in it (cause you can only lick those things once* So, as long as there are still fruits than might make seed, the envelopes stay open (and at risk of falling over and getting mixed up, ruining my efforts to keep everything discrete.

I think this is the case for all seed people, I share the same issue. I haven't come up with a 'good' solution, but one that is working for me; I put the first seed lot into the envelope and seal it, even though I know more is coming, because I tend to prioritize variety purity and avoid seed mix ups like I avoid my hair catching fire. When more come in, I either use a separate envelope and seal that one too (I can get 75 envelopes for $1 at the dollar store) or I cut open the side edge of the envelope and then fold it shut, use a paperclip, and prop it up on the tall side. I can add as I go that way too, and clip it shut over and over again if need be. I usually use small carboard flats or rectangular cake pan and create a 'file' of seed envelopes that support each other upright. It isn't the best methodology, but considering how cheap white envelopes are I find having multiples of them with the same seeds doesn't add up to that much and it really saves the headache of having to worry about problems stemming from envelope contents falling out.

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

@heirloomgal & @Zeedman Nicotiana always flower July to hard frost and are very fragrant in my zone 6b. The tall white type especially. The garden flower’s here have slowed down as the Autumn season approaches the tree leafs are rapidly changing color.
Generally a good blast of variable leaf color covers the landscape before winter arrives.

Once the leaf fall from the trees has started , then the ‘Leaf Wars’ begin. The dreaded leaf fall. I try to mulch most of the leaves add to compost. That’s a lot of work for me to clear all the deciduous leaves from the garden, roof, drain pipes, driveway, patios , barns and pastures. All those needles and leaves that fall is a constant clean up before the heavy winter rains , snow and ice hit. It’s like a race for the leprechaun’s golden pot. If everything freezes in place it’s months till they can be removed and sometimes causing slip hazards. If all is cleaned up (weather permitting) , then the early spring flowering plants will glow in the spring sunshine keeping the leprechaun’s happy.

 

[heirloomgal]

The storage tomato variety experiment is heating up a little - hard to find interest in those hardballs when you have juicy red beefsteaks rolling in during summer. But now that I'm all out of those, my attention has turned like the arm on a clock. Unfortunately many got sunscald because they weren't staked, so the yields weren't as good as they could have been. One 'Zhiraf' plant in a cage has fruit in great shape though, better than the rest - 2 cookies sheets full on the right. Those ones are ripening the most slowly, and only today did I notice that the green is actually shifting to peach. I'm rather intrigued with the transformation and am following it closely now. DS set them all up on trays for me, now I need to think of where to put these.

We were able to eat perfectly ripe garden beefsteak tomatoes on our veggie burgers tonight, which was kinda thrilling. The Ramillette's (pink ones, bottom right) are very, very good. They are ripening a bit quickly, I definitely won't have any left in December, but if I start it a bit later in the season the timing will be better. I'm surprised to realize it, but I doubt I'll ever have a garden without these again. They're working out that good; I just need to refine when the best time to start the plants is.

Another pleasant surprise is the 'Madagascar' tomato, a bicolor longkeeper it appears. I think I'm partial to the beefsteak type longkeepers but the performance of these ripening on vines hung under cover has been remarkable. They were green-green but they still turned a lovely color eventually. That slow ripening gene is the real deal. Need to taste it though. All in all, I'm really pleased with the results.

 

[heirloomgal]

@heirloomgal & @Zeedman Nicotiana always flower July to hard frost and are very fragrant in my zone 6b. The tall white type especially. The garden flower’s here have slowed down as the Autumn season approaches the tree leafs are rapidly changing color.
Generally a good blast of variable leaf color covers the landscape before winter arrives.

Once the leaf fall from the trees has started , then the ‘Leaf Wars’ begin. The dreaded leaf fall. I try to mulch most of the leaves add to compost. That’s a lot of work for me to clear all the deciduous leaves from the garden, roof, drain pipes, driveway, patios , barns and pastures. All those needles and leaves that fall is a constant clean up before the heavy winter rains , snow and ice hit. It’s like a race for the leprechaun’s golden pot. If everything freezes in place it’s months till they can be removed and sometimes causing slip hazards. If all is cleaned up (weather permitting) , then the early spring flowering plants will glow in the spring sunshine keeping the leprechaun’s happy.

Here nicotiana needs to be started indoors at the same time as tomatoes, April 1st. I didn't plant any this year, these mysteriously appeared not that long ago, buried seeds from 2022 I think. They grew at record speed for a flower that needs to be started so early! I'm shocked they even made flowers given they're volunteers!