Ducks4you for 2022

[Pulsegleaner]

Actually, for me this is a more or less typical year. Certainly better than the last two when we got nothing, but, as I said, getting only one tomato off each non-cherry plant is more or less typical. And I still have the unknown cherries on the side patio, a LOT of them (though the flowering ends are beginning to look a little withered, so the production may have capped for the year.)

And OF COURSE I saved seeds, all 12-14 of them. Can't keep going without them.

The real catch is that I HAVE to grow all of my tomatoes in pots. Because of our crap soil, any tomato seed planted in the actual ground lags so far behind that, even if it CAN make any fruit before frost, it can't ripen it (or get close enough I can ripen it indoors) and it's too scraggly to support any fruit (I should have mentioned Darkest Night was NOT staked, it was thick enough to support itself. The cherries are as well*.) But that isn't always enough room for a deep rooted tomato.

Next year is going to be the REAL test, because that's when I've scheduled the Wooly Zebra grow out, and I NEED it to make seed to keep growing it (with the tightened import laws, I can't count on sending off to France for more seed, not without an import license.)

 

[heirloomgal]

Actually, for me this is a more or less typical year. Certainly better than the last two when we got nothing, but, as I said, getting only one tomato off each non-cherry plant is more or less typical. And I still have the unknown cherries on the side patio, a LOT of them (though the flowering ends are beginning to look a little withered, so the production may have capped for the year.)

And OF COURSE I saved seeds, all 12-14 of them. Can't keep going without them.

The real catch is that I HAVE to grow all of my tomatoes in pots. Because of our crap soil, any tomato seed planted in the actual ground lags so far behind that, even if it CAN make any fruit before frost, it can't ripen it (or get close enough I can ripen it indoors) and it's too scraggly to support any fruit (I should have mentioned Darkest Night was NOT staked, it was thick enough to support itself. The cherries are as well*.) But that isn't always enough room for a deep rooted tomato.

Next year is going to be the REAL test, because that's when I've scheduled the Wooly Zebra grow out, and I NEED it to make seed to keep growing it (with the tightened import laws, I can't count on sending off to France for more seed, not without an import license.)

Can one get an import license? I thought it wasn't possible for tomatoes?

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Can one get an import license? I thought it wasn't possible for tomatoes?

Don't, never tried. Don't even know if I NEED one if I am buying from a company rather than a person, but am erring on the side of caution. Also remember I am in the US, not Canada, the rules are a bit different.

 

[heirloomgal]

Don't, never tried. Don't even know if I NEED one if I am buying from a company rather than a person, but am erring on the side of caution. Also remember I am in the US, not Canada, the rules are a bit different.

I actually did a bit of research to send some stuff into the US a while ago, and my understanding was tomatoes and peppers weren't allowed in under any circumstances, and a small lot import licence wasn't possible for those (doesn't apply to beans/peas) as it once was. As of 2022, many Canadian seed companies no longer ship to the US, or Europe for that matter. They can'tg et them through.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I actually did a bit of research to send some stuff into the US a while ago, and my understanding was tomatoes and peppers weren't allowed in under any circumstances, and a small lot import licence wasn't possible for those (doesn't apply to beans/peas) as it once was. As of 2022, many Canadian seed companies no longer ship to the US, or Europe for that matter. They can'tg et them through.

Well, in that case I was VERY lucky to get the ones I did and need to make sure they reproduce EVEN MORE, at least until Tom Wagner decides to release that one on this side of the ocean.

And yeah, things are a lot tighter now. I told you I'm holding off on the butterfly pea seeds until I can get a permit so I know they will actually make it to me. Part of the reason I haven't gotten the license yet is simple laziness, but there is a part of me that thinks the whole process may eventually be used to trick applicants (i.e. by seeing who applies for licenses, the USDA assembles a list of people who are INTERESTED in growing exotic and potentially troublesome plants, and hence, a list of those people who need to be investigated and potentially raided in the future. After all, the USDA's job becomes a lot easier if there is no need to check for illegal seeds because there is no one ordering illegal seeds because there is no one WANTING illegal seeds. Governments like it best when no one even TRIES to violate the law, or even get CLOSE. A nation of people who automatically do whatever they are told without question is a very easy one to rule.)

 

[Dahlia]

Actually, for me this is a more or less typical year. Certainly better than the last two when we got nothing, but, as I said, getting only one tomato off each non-cherry plant is more or less typical. And I still have the unknown cherries on the side patio, a LOT of them (though the flowering ends are beginning to look a little withered, so the production may have capped for the year.)

And OF COURSE I saved seeds, all 12-14 of them. Can't keep going without them.

The real catch is that I HAVE to grow all of my tomatoes in pots. Because of our crap soil, any tomato seed planted in the actual ground lags so far behind that, even if it CAN make any fruit before frost, it can't ripen it (or get close enough I can ripen it indoors) and it's too scraggly to support any fruit (I should have mentioned Darkest Night was NOT staked, it was thick enough to support itself. The cherries are as well*.) But that isn't always enough room for a deep rooted tomato.

Next year is going to be the REAL test, because that's when I've scheduled the Wooly Zebra grow out, and I NEED it to make seed to keep growing it (with the tightened import laws, I can't count on sending off to France for more seed, not without an import license.)

Has anyone tried growing tomatoes upside down, like hanging from a deck hook or something? It seems kinda cool because you wouldn't need cages...

 

[ducks4you]

I am sure it would work. Every year MY tied up tomatoes rush to fall to the ground, anyway.

 

[ducks4you]

After hemming and hawing I finally ordered the seeds I can't get locally.
Here is my order to Jung's:
Illini Xtra-Sweet™ Hybrid Sweet Corn - 450 seeds
Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin - 25 seeds
Here is my order to Baker Creek:
Chinese Red Noodle Bean, 25 seeds
Taiwan Yard-Long Bean. 25 seeds
King of the Garden Lima Bean, 15 seeds
Cylindra Beet (Formanova Beet), 250 seeds
Cumin, 100 seeds
Takane Ruby Buckwheat, 75 seeds
Purpurea Echinacea, 50 seeds
Cherokee Trail of Tears Bean, 40 seeds (OK, they got me with the black seeds!!)
2023 The Whole Seed Catalog (PRE ORDER), yes, aGAIN suckered
Calabrese Green Sprouting Broccoli, 300 seeds
Free Gift - Free Seed Variety 1
I still have tomato seeds and some others that I bought 2 years ago from High Mowing. They are in ziplock bags and in repurposed plastic apple sauce containers and kept in the dark, so I think they'll last.
I went a little wild with Baker's Creek. They are in zone 6 in Missouri, so I feel good about the seeds growing here.
Same with Jung's, located in Wisconsin, zones 3-5.
And, Yeah, the bean people here have infected me!!
Look what I Missed from my lone yard long bean plant!! I planted about 50ish sugar snap peas yesterday and finished planting my garlic. Those are the smallest cloves, which I May plant somewhere else.

 

[ducks4you]

I decided to go out early this morning to harvest a single cucumber hanging from where the vine grew into an arbor vitae, but then, I found two ready to eat. I WAY overplanted, but, like I said, 2022 is the year to Learn, 2023 is the year to grow to feed us, inasmuch as that is possible!

 

[ducks4you]

I think I planted around 90 cloves of garlic on the south side of the 1st fencing., and I heavily watered and covered them with straw, as one does. Most of the cloves were big and fat, too. Here are the smallish ones need a job. You can see a late planting of beans that Are starting to produce for me. Somehow 2 purple bush beans are growing in the middle. I emptied an old package of wildflowers and got a lone zinna.