What Seeds are You Saving?

[Pulsegleaner]

I suppose I sometimes do the same thing. I picked my 5th cherry tomato from my plant, and I STILL haven't fully tasted one, since I've removed the seed gel from every one of them for saving. I probably will do the same with every one of them and with the lumpy one on the other plant (haven't made up my mind about the last one).

I saved all of the pepper seeds as well (though since one does not lose much flavor by seeding a pepper, that wasn't much of a sacrifice) even though that is probably over 100x as much seed as I need.

Ditto every watermelon seed (bar the one I missed and accidentally bit in half)

Actually, there are a LOT of things I grow I have never tasted because everything has gone to seed.

And that's not counting things like the corn, where I have more bought seed than I can ever plant.

Note that these are often fairly reasonable amounts of seed, it's just that the amount I can grow is minuscule.

 

[flowerbug]

The native Americans used to fertilize corn by burying a fish next to where it was planted. Rodents work really well also, it doesn't have to be a fish.

and if you have the stomach for it, road kill... wish i could have claimed the deer last week at the end of the driveway since it had probably been grazing on our garden plants all season.

normally if anyone hits anything in the road i do pick it up and bury it in a garden because i don't want to smell it decomposing for the next few months. better to put it to good use and it does really eventually make the gardens really fertile.

 

[Zeedman]

The native Americans used to fertilize corn by burying a fish next to where it was planted. Rodents work really well also, it doesn't have to be a fish.

Tried that once, after filleting a large catch of white bass from the Spring run. I happened to be planting corn, and buried the the remnants of one fish about 6" deep under many of the hills. When I returned the next day, an animal (presumably a raccoon) had dug up every single one! Nothing left but a couple rows of holes, I had to replant the corn in those hills. Haven't been tempted since to repeat that experiment. I kind of like the idea of doing that with the mice I catch in the garden though... they should repay me for what they eat.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Tried that once, after filleting a large catch of white bass from the Spring run. I happened to be planting corn, and buried the the remnants of one fish about 6" deep under many of the hills. When I returned the next day, an animal (presumably a raccoon) had dug up every single one! Nothing left but a couple rows of holes, I had to replant the corn in those hills. Haven't been tempted since to repeat that experiment. I kind of like the idea of doing that with the mice I catch in the garden though... they should repay me for what they eat.

I feed mice to the chickens. That's repayment enough.

 

[ducks4you]

Tried that once, after filleting a large catch of white bass from the Spring run. I happened to be planting corn, and buried the the remnants of one fish about 6" deep under many of the hills. When I returned the next day, an animal (presumably a raccoon) had dug up every single one! Nothing left but a couple rows of holes, I had to replant the corn in those hills. Haven't been tempted since to repeat that experiment. I kind of like the idea of doing that with the mice I catch in the garden though... they should repay me for what they eat.

Yeah...critters don't dig up composted stall manure.

 

[flowerbug]

Yeah...critters don't dig up composted stall manure.

yes, but six inches is just not deep enough. a mouse or small bird can probably be ok at that depth, but fish, no, that would have to go deeper. almost everything i bury here is about a foot deep, sometimes more. as of yet i do not find anything a few years later if i dig in that same spot. i'm always amazed that the soil critters can break those bones down as well as they do. i still have a few pig bones wandering around in some gardens from worm composting them (and studying how that works for pig bones ) and found out some interesting things but like all the worm compost here eventually it has to get put back in the garden or it isn't doing what i want so pig bones went with it. so i've gotten to see how they weather at times or what else happens to them.

i bury all food scraps that i can't worm compost or if they are veggie scraps that i can't worm compost i toss them way in the back corner around the lilac tree. it's a very informal compost pile - rarely used but nice to have. i couldn't stomach the idea of putting really smelly moldy bits of squash in there last week so those went out there for the birds and animals to pick at the seeds and anything they might be able to use.

i didn't get any beans picked this morning. just too tired and not wanting to bend over at the moment.

 

[ninnymary]

I'm not much of a seed saver. Since I don't have room for much stuff it's easier to buy a packet of seeds. I like having the packet because of the picture and sowing instructions. But this year I did save seeds from my melon Petit Gris De Rennes which did so well and from a fushimi pepper that I got seeds from Cat.

Mary

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

I get the smell thing. Thanks to some ill advised seed throwing, Senna has become naturalized in many places of our yard. The seed lasts forever (thank goodness we live just a bit too far north for it to complete it's life cycle and make more mature seed.) Stinks to high heaven when we mow. And it doesn't do the one thing I hoped it might, keep down the squirrels and chipmunks (I though they might eat it and defecate themselves to death.)

I'm in the pacific. so its regularly warm, I'm actually planning to plant some strawberries, I know its gonna be a difficult task since the strawberries need to be in a cold location, but ill try to improvise

 

[flowerbug]

I'm in the pacific. so its regularly warm, I'm actually planning to plant some strawberries, I know its gonna be a difficult task since the strawberries need to be in a cold location, but ill try to improvise

good luck!

 

[digitS']

Are any strawberry varieties available as seed other than Alpine?

Those have been contentedly growing in my lawn for about 20 years. They haven't spread much beyond initially escaping from some pots. Seem to like where they are but this isn't the Philippines. I'd be a little intimidated by the name alone if I was trying to grow them there. (2020 might be the warmest winter I have experienced here. Wonder what the Alpine strawberries are thinking of it.)

BTW. They produce such tiny fruit, I wasn't too happy about having them. One has to look for them especially hard in the lawn grass .

Steve