A Seed Saver's Garden

[Decoy1]

So many lovely new peas for this year, thanks to some absolutely thrilling seed trades!

I used to be a crazy tomato grower but I honestly think beans have bumped them out of the #1 spot, and so have peas! I am really enjoying exploring the world of rare peas as well. Rare, for my area that is. It's all relative I suppose! Anyway, I will post a full list of all the neat new ones in the 2025 lineup, but here is a picture of a few packets I took today that were readily available.

View attachment 72572

Very exciting! These are varieties I’ve not come across in England except perhaps Verdone.
What does Markerbse indicate, I wonder? Google translates it unhelpfully as ‘marker pea’

 

[heirloomgal]

Very exciting! These are varieties I’ve not come across in England except perhaps Verdone.
What does Markerbse indicate, I wonder? Google translates it unhelpfully as ‘marker pea’

I wish I could figure that out too! There are a number of categories of peas on Deaflora with mysterious titles, maybe related to the time of the season they're grown in? Like the 'winter' peas?

 

[heirloomgal]

Have been feeling the Daucus nudge to seek out many different varieties of carrot seed lately. I've found not all carrots are created equal, some taste far superior to others. It's been so long that I did side by side carrot growing in any volume, or even grew much carrots at all, that I forget the hierarchy of taste. Since electroculture has seemed to cure my carrot growing issues I feel a little empowered to dabble with a bigger grow out.

So went out today and got a couple packets, and had picked up a few here and there before that, but could not find Kuroda to put in the experiment. The price has really gone up for carrot seed too, $4 now. Scarlet Nantes, Nantes Touchon, Danver's Half Long, Lunga San Valerio, Gigante Flakkee so far. Staying away from Imperator cause my soil has too much clay, and I don't think those taste especially good. Also avoiding white, yellow and purple carrots, find those taste like animal fodder (to me anyway) and also steering clear of varieties bred to be small like Atlas. Going to try and find seed for Berlicum still, we'll see. And when this hunting is done I'll need to find another yard to fit all these carrots in.

 

[hdan]

Have been feeling the Daucus nudge to seek out many different varieties of carrot seed lately. I've found not all carrots are created equal, some taste far superior to others. It's been so long that I did side by side carrot growing in any volume, or even grew much carrots at all, that I forget the hierarchy of taste. Since electroculture has seemed to cure my carrot growing issues I feel a little empowered to dabble with a bigger grow out.

So went out today and got a couple packets, and had picked up a few here and there before that, but could not find Kuroda to put in the experiment. The price has really gone up for carrot seed too, $4 now. Scarlet Nantes, Nantes Touchon, Danver's Half Long, Lunga San Valerio, Gigante Flakkee so far. Staying away from Imperator cause my soil has too much clay, and I don't think those taste especially good. Also avoiding white, yellow and purple carrots, find those taste like animal fodder (to me anyway) and also steering clear of varieties bred to be small like Atlas. Going to try and find seed for Berlicum still, we'll see. And when this hunting is done I'll need to find another yard to fit all these carrots in.

I've been growing the Scarlet Nantes. They do well for me.

 

[heirloomgal]

@Zeedman at some point you posted on the forum about growing water spinach, which I had never heard of. Yesterday while browsing the racks I saw seeds for that! I might just try growing that this year. If you have any insights you want to share about growing/planting I'd love to hear, and if you can get the plants to go to seed.

 

[heirloomgal]

Well, I got lucky today and found seed for the 'Kuroda' carrots! And two more that I'm not super familiar with, 'Amsterdam 2' and 'Tendersweet'. I think I got a 'Nantes Coreless' as well. Sheesh, bought so many carrot packets it's blurring. Nantes seems to be one of the most favored carrot types, since there are so many variations of it.

Sadly, the only store (Peavey) that sold Livingstone brand seeds is closing. That's unfortunate as they carried some nice varieties. They also had Mr. Fothergill's on the racks there. I did manage to find a few other places today with Mr. Fothergill's so I'm glad about that. That seed company has some of the best peas I've ever grown, like 'Hurst Green Shaft' and 'Kelvedon Wonder'.

Decided I'm going to try growing Crosnes this year. It may be one of those alternative veg not popularly grown for good reason, but I'd like to try it out and see. Pretty hard to beat good old fashioned potatoes, but who am I kidding, experimentation is half the fun. I'm also going to try my hand at Devil's Claw. Finally a seed company offers it so that'll be fun. Been wanting to try it for awhile now, though I'm suspecting it will be like Asparagus Pea, only a short window of time where they are good (read: passable) eating. lol But they look so cool!

A gardening friend has inspired me to try a couple perennial veggies, so Welsh Bunching onions are slotted in too, and some 'Stampede' sunchokes to keep the 'Corlis Bolton Haynes' company. I planted Egyptian Walking Onions last fall so I'm really, really hoping those made it through the winter. If they did I'll be impressed and without fear for future seasons. If they make it through the -45 night time dips this year they'll make it any year. I'm curious if the Earth Chestnuts made it, though I'm not holding my breath on those. Still don't think I'll venture into Skirret or Salsify, they just seem so small relative to the greenery the plants have, and poorly shaped for culinary use. Lots of that stuff is only hardy to zone 5 anyway, so they probably wouldn't survive the winters here.

Ah, such a fabulously fun time of year with all this seed shopping!!!!!!!!!

 

[heirloomgal]

Me: I need to stop buying more seeds than I have room for.
Also me: Sounds like a 2026 problem.

 

[Zeedman]

@Zeedman at some point you posted on the forum about growing water spinach, which I had never heard of. Yesterday while browsing the racks I saw seeds for that! I might just try growing that this year. If you have any insights you want to share about growing/planting I'd love to hear, and if you can get the plants to go to seed.

@heirloomgal , you are fortunate to be able to buy seed. I was blessed to have a friend find & purchase 1 kilo of seed for me in a Milwaukee market years ago, and have been growing from that seed ever since. Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica Forssk) has been banned here as a noxious weed, so seed sales have been outlawed for years. This is because in tropical climates (such as the Florida Everglades) water spinach can take over & clog waterways. That is obviously not a problem for you & me, where anything tropical floating on water becomes dead & icebound in Winter.

Water spinach is photo-period sensitive, so will not bloom or set seed in our higher latitudes. Unfortunately for seed saving purposes, short of artificially regulating the hours of daylight, that is the bad news. I have only seen the morning glory-like flowers a couple times over the years, and then only a flower or two in Summer's last gasp.

There are 2 supposed cultivars out there, a "wet land" and a "dry land" (previously listed as separate species, but now combined into I. aquatica). The "wet" version has bigger & better leaves, but needs to be kept wet, and is more sensitive to water or cold stress. The "dry" version still requires heat to thrive, but can be planted in the garden like any other heat-loving vegetable. I grow the dry land. Honestly, I question whether the two are just phenotypes of the same plant, in response to the growing environment.

In our climate, water spinach grown from seed should be started indoors. The plants benefit from crowding, so I over-sow in plastic cells (72/tray) and allow up to 4 plants per cell. When I grew seed from packets, germination was often spotty (and sometimes zero ) so unless you intend to germination test, I would suggest over-sowing by a 2/1 ratio. The seeds really need warm soil to germinate, so a low of 70F / 22C should be the absolute minimum... and the closer to 80F / 27C, the better. The seeds generally emerge over a staggered period. The seed coat often clings tightly to the emerging sprout; frequent light misting (and sometimes gentle fingers) will help them to break free. The seedlings will then need strong light until it becomes warm enough for them to be moved into direct sunlight.

Water spinach is often sold in Oriental markets, where they are usually bundled as long shoots (possibly was "kang kong", or "ong choi"). They look much like the sweet potato vines to which they are related. If you can find those, it is a good way to sample the vegetable before deciding to grow it. Pinch or cut off the leaves (and the stem end with the last 2-3 leaves attached) and either boil or stir fry those. Set aside the bare stalks, and keep them moist. If you decide to grow these, trim them down to about 6-8" (20cm) and place them in a jar or similar tall container. Add water to cover at least the first nodes on the stems, and place in a warm brightly-lit place. The stems will root quickly. To avoid rot, change the water frequently, and quickly remove any which die.

Whether using seed or rooted stems, my rule of thumb has been to start them about 30-45 days before the warm weather transplant date.

When transplanting, I plant the seedlings or rooted stems in staggered adjacent rows, to form a wide bed. Rows about 12" / 30cm apart, with clusters of 3-4 plants that same distance apart in the row. The pattern looks like:
X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X
---X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X
X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X

3-4 rows wide seems to be the optimal spacing for both dense growth, and ease of weeding & harvest.

Harvest the shoots when they begin to reach about 6" or so, leaving part of the stem with at least 1 node. The plants will quickly branch, and grow thicker until cold nights put a stop to their growth. If picked completely, each row will yield 2-4 pickings, depending upon how long the weather remains warm. It is a very productive cut-and-come-again green, where summers are warm enough to grow it (if you can grow okra or eggplant, you can grow water spinach).

*** Important organic pest control tip. If you grow yardlong beans or cowpeas, grow the water spinach adjacent to them. (You can just see the bush yardlong beans on the left side of the photo.) The wasps that are attracted to those when they begin flowering, will also keep the water spinach nearly bug free.

 

[heirloomgal]

@heirloomgal , you are fortunate to be able to buy seed. I was blessed to have a friend find & purchase 1 kilo of seed for me in a Milwaukee market years ago, and have been growing from that seed ever since. Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica Forssk) has been banned here as a noxious weed, so seed sales have been outlawed for years. This is because in tropical climates (such as the Florida Everglades) water spinach can take over & clog waterways. That is obviously not a problem for you & me, where anything tropical floating on water becomes dead & icebound in Winter.

Water spinach is photo-period sensitive, so will not bloom or set seed in our higher latitudes. Unfortunately for seed saving purposes, short of artificially regulating the hours of daylight, that is the bad news. I have only seen the morning glory-like flowers a couple times over the years, and then only a flower or two in Summer's last gasp.

There are 2 supposed cultivars out there, a "wet land" and a "dry land" (previously listed as separate species, but now combined into I. aquatica). The "wet" version has bigger & better leaves, but needs to be kept wet, and is more sensitive to water or cold stress. The "dry" version still requires heat to thrive, but can be planted in the garden like any other heat-loving vegetable. I grow the dry land. Honestly, I question whether the two are just phenotypes of the same plant, in response to the growing environment.

In our climate, water spinach grown from seed should be started indoors. The plants benefit from crowding, so I over-sow in plastic cells (72/tray) and allow up to 4 plants per cell. When I grew seed from packets, germination was often spotty (and sometimes zero ) so unless you intend to germination test, I would suggest over-sowing by a 2/1 ratio. The seeds really need warm soil to germinate, so a low of 70F / 22C should be the absolute minimum... and the closer to 80F / 27C, the better. The seeds generally emerge over a staggered period. The seed coat often clings tightly to the emerging sprout; frequent light misting (and sometimes gentle fingers) will help them to break free. The seedlings will then need strong light until it becomes warm enough for them to be moved into direct sunlight.

Water spinach is often sold in Oriental markets, where they are usually bundled as long shoots (possibly was "kang kong", or "ong choi"). They look much like the sweet potato vines to which they are related. If you can find those, it is a good way to sample the vegetable before deciding to grow it. Pinch or cut off the leaves (and the stem end with the last 2-3 leaves attached) and either boil or stir fry those. Set aside the bare stalks, and keep them moist. If you decide to grow these, trim them down to about 6-8" (20cm) and place them in a jar or similar tall container. Add water to cover at least the first nodes on the stems, and place in a warm brightly-lit place. The stems will root quickly. To avoid rot, change the water frequently, and quickly remove any which die.

Whether using seed or rooted stems, my rule of thumb has been to start them about 30-45 days before the warm weather transplant date.

When transplanting, I plant the seedlings or rooted stems in staggered adjacent rows, to form a wide bed. Rows about 12" / 30cm apart, with clusters of 3-4 plants that same distance apart in the row. The pattern looks like:
X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X
---X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X
X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X

3-4 rows wide seems to be the optimal spacing for both dense growth, and ease of weeding & harvest.
View attachment 72941

Harvest the shoots when they begin to reach about 6" or so, leaving part of the stem with at least 1 node. The plants will quickly branch, and grow thicker until cold nights put a stop to their growth. If picked completely, each row will yield 2-4 pickings, depending upon how long the weather remains warm. It is a very productive cut-and-come-again green, where summers are warm enough to grow it (if you can grow okra or eggplant, you can grow water spinach).

*** Important organic pest control tip. If you grow yardlong beans or cowpeas, grow the water spinach adjacent to them. (You can just see the bush yardlong beans on the left side of the photo.) The wasps that are attracted to those when they begin flowering, will also keep the water spinach nearly bug free.

Thank you so much for this @Zeedman, excellent information and so helpful to a newbie water spinach seed sower! I would never have guessed it's best to start them with a full minimum month long head start. Or that the seeds share the same seed stubborn tendency as morning glory seeds. I may have assumed the packet is a dud if nothing sprouted. I am rather disappointed to know they won't set seed though!!! Darn, that is a shame. I assumed (hoped) with the name 'spinach' in there that it might be that easy. Well, on the one hand I'm very tempted to try something to novel and new, and yet I really am trying to stick to what I can save seed for. Decisions, decisions. I'm still surprised that I even found these seeds on a rack at my local Home Hardware!

 

[Zeedman]

I'm still surprised that I even found these seeds on a rack at my local Home Hardware!

I am too. You can also get water spinach seed from Agrohaitai... I think? They have a link, but won't even open it for me because of my location.