seed savers

[raabfarm]

I got bored with my vegetable garden several years back and my interests have turned to seed saving and as of this spring I will have 40 varieties of 28 different vegeis. Ive put a lot of time into my garden with raised bed and irrigation to mention a few of the improvements. All my plants are open pollinated from sweetcorn, sunflowers and squash to tomatoes,peppers, cucumbers and many more. This season I may add hull-less oats and or field peas which may be used in the future for poultry feed. This new direction has peaked my interest again and though im new at it I am having fun gardening again

BOSS,Bulls blood beets and black spanish radish Ive processed recently

Dripped zucchnii hill

 

[digitS']

Is that "raabfarm" as in broccoli raab? I bet that one isn't too difficult to save seed from!

The pleasure in gardening for me has been good and good-for-me food. It was also a good thing that I enjoy being out there. It seemed to be where I often was as a child and just kind of evolved into a way to make a living since I worked on farms and in greenhouses. When I drifted away from that, I wasn't really happy.

Seed saving adds to the fun. I live where an arid climate in late summer makes it easy. All the wheat grown around here is testimony to that .

I've got the tomato seed and just 1 variety of pepper - the one that doesn't grow in the pepper patch with 6 or 7 other varieties . Also, I've saved seed for some brassicas . . .

First, I could plant a different pepper in my backyard each year and save seed from it. After a few years, I'd rotate all the open-pollinated pepper varieties thru this isolated arrangement and since pepper seed should last several years -- I'd be set ! Haven't done this, but I could.

With the brassicas, it is pretty much what I do. I don't need to allow these veggies to flower to become useful in the kitchen. With the mustard, bok choy or radish - I'm not interested in any flowering to make use of their leaves or roots. Even with multiple varieties in the garden, I can leave 1 variety to flower each year. The next year, I can choose a different variety .

Some plants are self-pollinating and do such a good job keeping to themselves that we may not have to worry much about them crossing with others. I have saved 1 tomato variety for over 20 years and have never noticed any real difference in the plants or the fruit. I know that beans and peas are not easily hybridized. Probably, that means they won't readily cross and I have saved a pole bean growing near my bush beans for a number of years, without any problem. I've also saved peas but have run into trouble there - not with crossing - but with weevils !

By the way, I grew naked seeded oat last year, Raabfarm. It was easy and somewhere on this forum is a thread on "Avena nuda" . I am a little concerned that I know someone who grew these oats before and had trouble with them self-sowing. He seemed to think of them now as something of a "weed" in his yard! Yikes! There can be some down sides to all this seed saving !

Steve

Edited to Say: Those are very lovely pictures, Raabfarm!

 

[lesa]

Your garden looks wonderful- and it looks like you are very successful at seed saving! Glad you are finding happiness in gardening again!

 

[vfem]

That is some serious seed saving! I've spent time collecting from my garden over the years, but never in those amounts. I keep a box of seeds, but none more then 1 oz in weight per variety. I really hope you hang around and my be in the mood to do a little trading with us. So love swapping seeds here!!!

 

[skeeter9]

Very nice, Raab. Just goes to show you there's a niche in the gardening world for just about everybody.

 

[Greenthumb18]

Let me tell you Raab you have a beautiful property there! We need more people like you who continue to save seed for future generations, its a great thing your doing. I find growing oats very interesting. Do you currently raise poultry? You could even use the straw from the oats as bedding for them.



Keep up the great work and keep us updated!!

 

[raabfarm]

some vegetable seeds are easy to save where others take a little more involvement. cole crops take two seasons to grow viable seeds along with carrots and beets and then only one of each variety should be grown in one garden space. And that later rule of one variety,one garden also applies to squash, both winter and summer and sweet corn also. varieties have to be separated by so many feet in order to remain a non cross for the lack of the right word, and corn , being wind pollinated, up to one mile. Good Luck. this season i have two other gardens lined up to help with the three varieties of cabbage and one broccoli and no its not raab, havent got to that variety yet. raab is actually our sur name.
i do have chickens and i plan on raising all their feed eventually, but the hul less oats issue may have to be rethunk! I got a concerned reaction from the local farmer about the same issue of being invasive. oats has a tendency to start dropping seed before it is ready to harvest leaving the seed to regrow later. Thanks for the heads up Steve. Got to be careful and do your homework. I am currently germination testing some of my seeds including seeds saved from last season and most of my new seeds. I use an incubation box, a maximum failure egg incubator but it works well to keep my germinating seeds at 75 to 80 degrees, where most seeds germinate at. I will try to post some pictures again Thanks for the replies everyone

Mel