A Seed Saver's Garden

[Decoy1]

Replanted the few tomatoes that either only sprouted 1 plant, or none at all. Wasn't many of those, but a few. Luckily my seed suppliers had sent me plenty of seeds so I had more than enough where it was needed. Feels so great to check that off the list - tomatoes - DONE!

Planted the martynia seeds, which I'm, SUPER curious to grow. I have no clue what those seedlings will look like; the seeds themselves were on the odd side, very bumpy surface, like a calcium encrusted cucumber seed. Collards and scarlet kale are up and reaching for the light too.

I'm considering planting some pepicha and quillquinna seeds as well. I grew the plants in 2021, and I don't know how long the seeds will last. Not easy to get ahold of those species either, so best to be on the cautious side. 30% of the cotton seeds have germinated, waiting on the rest.

Gorgeous sun in the sky today, and the snow has melted from the roads thank goodness. I can see a bit of garden ground finally!!!! Fingers crossed that by Monday I can see the whole thing, and the snow will be mostly gone!! April 11th is too far in the season to cope with this much snow!

Yes, good feeling to have sown the last tomato. Do you sow your long keepers at the same time as the rest?.

I love the way you double down on a few food crops like tomatoes and beans but then also reach out to some very unusual stuff as well - pepicha, quilquinna etc. I’m intrigued as to whether there are any particular facets of the weird and wonderful which lead you to engage with particular species, given the millions available! What particularly attracts, in other words?

 

[heirloomgal]

Yes, good feeling to have sown the last tomato. Do you sow your long keepers at the same time as the rest?.

I love the way you double down on a few food crops like tomatoes and beans but then also reach out to some very unusual stuff as well - pepicha, quilquinna etc. I’m intrigued as to whether there are any particular facets of the weird and wonderful which lead you to engage with particular species, given the millions available! What particularly attracts, in other words?

Yes, I started the longkeepers at the same time as the others. This could turn out to be a bad idea, given that these are all new to me, so I'm not sure what they need. But in my experience last year with storage types, there was only one that I'd say needed to be started later than normal in order to be properly stored - Grappoli D'Inverno. I went with the guess that these 2025 ones may be the same thing. In fact, I started Golden Treasure 4 weeks before frost instead of 8 last year and I'm not convinced it really, really matured. It could be a variety that just stays super firm too, because it did fully change color after being mostly picked green.

The biggest consideration with new lesser known crops is if I can collect seed from them by the season's end, which excludes a lot I imagine in my climate. After that it's a question of how tasty it might be! lol There is always that question in my mind - is this not commonly grown for good reason? Or is it an undiscovered gem? And for the most part I have been really pleased with how much I've liked a lot of the lesser known crops, some have become favorites even. So I sort of keep one eye always scanning the horizon for more possibilities to add to that delicious & rare column! lol Oca is one I'm teetering on this year, but the 'lemon flavor' in the taste description always makes me reconsider. Have you grown oca @Decoy1? Curious what your feelings might be about that veg.

 

[heirloomgal]

Yesterday I posted about re-planting tomato seeds that hadn't germinated.

And then today Auria, which sat there doing nothing for 11 days does this. And here I was sitting on a pin worried because the tomato is not offered in Canada anymore and now the original saved seeds might have expired. (I have a newer lot of seeds for it, but don't want to dip into it just yet if I don't have to.) On top of that, at this years Seedy Saturday a lady approached me, I didn't recognize her at all, but she told me she had gotten a fabulous tomato from me back in 2017 and has grown it every single year since because she loves it so much - Auria. She was so thankful, and of course it was pretty touching that she remembered me 8 years later and wanted to tell me that. So as I saw this cell not sprout, that memory was floating in the back of my mind! lol I just wish the look of this total gangster cooking/roma tomato was less obscene. I always tell people, if you have guests over when you grow this tomato, just throw a sheet over the plant and pretend a freak frost event might be happening that night. And DON'T grow it next to the darn driveway, like I did.

The first interesting seedling clues are trickling in.....will Physalis peruviana, Physalis minima, and Physalis pruinosa produce the same kind of foliage plant? Are the divisions between them artificial? Plant species designations have been known to change over time. I had a feeling they might all be variations of the same, but when I looked closely at the sprouts of minima and pruinosa today - well, well, different indeed. Interesting! Not what I was expecting, and it makes this year's physalis journey that much more intriguing...

I swear a total of 3 seeds went into that Ruby Treasure tomato cell!! I have no idea how that happened!? There must be multiples on what looks like a single seed. Next to it is a longkeeper tomato sent to me in a seed swap as a gift, called 'Yellow Out Red In'. There was only 5 seeds in the little envelope and I felt like they might be old or something looking at them. I was really wanting it to sprout as it came from the US and is not in the market here, so I was all *butterflies of happiness* when this little forest sprung up.

 

[Decoy1]

Have you grown oca @Decoy1? Curious what your feelings might be about that veg.

Thanks for your explanation. I have to admit that my experience has more often been that I havebunderstood why certain crops aren’t often grown! But I do enjoy the finding out process.

I have grown oca. It’s quite popular amongst dedicated veg growers. I love the foliage and its habit of growth, and the delicate colours it carries. Some people collect different varieties of it. However, I’ve never particularly enjoyed its taste or found a place in my cooking for it. I’ve only ever produced rather small tubers and although I grew it for about five years I’ve allowed it to fade away. I would give it a go. It’s not much trouble and is pretty, and it has quite a few fans of its eating quality.

 

[Decoy1]

Yes, I started the longkeepers at the same time as the others. This could turn out to be a bad idea, given that these are all new to me, so I'm not sure what they need. But in my experience last year with storage types, there was only one that I'd say needed to be started later than normal in order to be properly stored - Grappoli D'Inverno. I went with the guess that these 2025 ones may be the same thing. In fact, I started Golden Treasure 4 weeks before frost instead of 8 last year and I'm not convinced it really, really matured. It could be a variety that just stays super firm too, because it did fully change color after being mostly picked green.

I started three of the four I had from you at the later end of my tomato starting period but within the same window, so they ended up sown on 1/4. Grappoli d’Inverno was the only one I didn’t sow as I just had ridiculous numbers by then. It will be top of the list for next year. So I’ll see how that timing goes for the conditions here.

Deciding when they’re ready to pick will be the next interesting challenge. Any hints? I have in mind to reread your observations from harvesting time last year when the time comes this year.