Seeds

I was pulling weeds out of a very weedy flower garden, when I looked up and saw this mass of seeds right in front of me. I realized they were seeds of carrots that I let go to seed last year! So, I harvested the seeds and will plant a bunch in my vegetable garden tomorrow. In preparation for planting, I need to get a couple of bales of compost for two of my garden boxes. I have the soaker hoses and just need to lay them out in the boxes. Then I will be ready to plant! Besides carrots, I will plant peas, Sugar Ann peas (edible podded), Bright Lights Swiss Chard, and a few other vegetables. You can see from my pea seeds from last week, and my carrot seeds this week, that seeds increase exponentially--you get back much more than you plant!

The weatherman said it should get back up to 100' by Friday--I'm ready for fall!

A Good Morning . . .

This morning I went out to pick tomatoes and found that there were a lot more than I saw yesterday--many were hidden under the leaves. I had about equal amounts of Roma (a paste tomato), Juane Flamme (a medium-small golden tomato that produces through the high heat), and cherry tomatoes. The Romas will go into the freezer until I have enough to make pizza sauce (I like to use it for spaghetti, too!). When I get a lot at once, I will can diced tomatoes. The other tomatoes I will eat today and tomorrow (yes, I love tomatoes!). I also picked (but forgot to photograph) 5 yellow beets. I will roast them for my dinner tonight.

I harvested my spring peas, so I can plant them next spring. As I was picking the peas I almost grabbed a wheat colored (my pea plants are dried and wheat colored) praying mantis that was about 5 inches long. After I was finished picking, I gathered up the pea straw and the mantis and placed them on an empty garden bed that is being used as a compost bed, and will be planted next spring. That way the mantis will have her habitat, and I will recycle the plant material. I will shell the peas and keep the largest ones to replant. I gathered some lettuce seeds, too, so I will have seeds to plant next summer.

I also harvested my garlic. Some of the bulbs are small and others are large. I suppose it depends on the size of clove I started out with. I used a bulb of garlic from the market last spring, and now I have my own garlic to cook with, and some to plant next spring. I will keep the largest cloves to replant, and eat the rest.

Lastly, I topped my apricot trees. Apricots need to be pruned about now, instead of winter. This will lessen the chance of the trees becoming diseased. Also, these trees are semi-dwarf and I want to keep them low enough so that I can pick the apricots without a ladder. Apricots can get out of hand in a year or two if not pruned back. I had a semi-dwarf apricot before that went 12 feet high and spread out all over the place! I learned that lesson well! According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, now through August 3rd is the time to prune trees and shrubs that you want to keep their shape. August 10-16 is the time to prune trees and shrubs that you want to encourage growth, such as for increased height or filling in thin spots. Yes, there are a lot of weeds in this bed, very happy weeds! You might be able to see one of my many pecan trees in the left bottom corner. I will be going after the pecans next. The blue jays plant them in my yard every year, so it's an ongoing battle. I have seen other yards in my area that have pecan trees, too, so I'm not the only one!

Seed Catalogs Offer Range Of Possibilities

From The Fresno Bee, January 14, 2010, by Elinor Teague:

I spent several pleasant hours last week perusing this year's seed catalogs--getting ready to place my seed orders for summer vegetables and flowers.

It was gratifying to notice that many of the seed companies are now including information on the origins of their seeds in the vegetable descriptions.

Several companies use initials at the end of the descriptions to indicate that the seeds are either open-pollinated (OP) or F1 hybrids (F1). Some also indicate that the seeds are organic (OG).

One large seed company does not use the initial system; instead the company uses the words "hybrid" or "exclusive" in the plant name, or places a trademark sign next to the description. F1 hybrids are not specifically mentioned.

The company also identifies heirloom varieties.

F1 indicates that the seeds are first-generation hybrids. Hybridizers have taken the pollen from one pure-bred, inbred plant and transferred that pollen to another purebred, inbred plant with the aim of creating bigger, healthier, more productive, more disease-resistant varieties.

Like most hybrid plants, F1 varieties tend to be more vigorous. Plants grown from the seeds of F1 plants will not necessarily remain true to the parent plant however; the seeds may be sterile or their offspring may revert to a version of one of the two original parent plants.

If you plan to save seed from this year's crop to plant next year, you must use seed from plants that are open-pollinated. "Open-pollinated" is a bit of a misnomer; pollination is not necessarily performed in the field or garden by the wind or by insects pollinators.

Some open-pollinated plants may be hybrids (but not F1) or crosses of hybrid plants. Many open-pollinated plants have also been hybridized for disease resistance.

All heirloom plants are open-pollinated. The definition of heirloom is rather vague, but it usually is used to describe a plant that has been grown for at least 50 years. Heirloom plants are often valued for their fine taste as well as for their adaptions over the years to regional growing and climate conditions.

Disease resistance, health and vigor in open-pollinated heirloom varieties grown in soils, conditions and climates that differ greatly from their original regions will vary and success is not as predictable as with F1 hybrids that are developed to grow successfully in a wider range of conditions.

Certified organic seeds are harvested from plants grown in organic soils following strict guidelines regarding the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.

[Note: I use open-pollinated and heirloom seeds exclusively and have never had any problems with them. Leave a few plants to flower and mature their seeds to have more seeds for the next year. I end up with lots of extra seeds and trade them for other open-pollinated seeds. This helps me to have more variety without extra cost. These seeds are also good to put towards "food storage" as you can expand your seeds supplies easily over one season--Gard'n Judy].

Seeds

Seeds are seeds--right? Not in today's world. Nature will naturally cross two or more corn plants, or two or more melon plants, and create a new corn or melon; but corn will not cross with melons. Scientists have cross-bred plants of two parents (ie-two corn, or two melons) to create a unique, super wonderful offspring, that has taste, color or growing patterns that are superior to either of the parents and are called hybrids [genetically they can cross corn with melons]. When you plant hybrid seeds, you get the exact plant that you expect. If you keep seed from the offspring and plant them the next year, the plants will revert back to one of the parent plants, and is not something you would want. To help keep seed cost down, purchase "open-pollinated" or "heirloom" seeds, so that you will have plants that produce seeds that you can use the following year. These seeds grow true to the parent plants (which is what you want). Heirloom seeds have been grown and used for at least 50 years, and with some going back 100 or more years. I grow Summerfelt beans that are descendents of seeds that were growing in Germany back in 1805! They are a tasty dry soup bean and still a strong grower. Besides that, Summerfelt is my father's mother's maiden name! So far I haven't made any connection of the bean to my specific family, but maybe someday!

Seed Starting List

Yesterday, I planted the following seeds in little six-packs:
---Sumter Cucumbers (pickling)--18 seeds
---California Wonder Bell Peppers--6
---Marconi Red Peppers--5
---Black Hungarian Peppers--5
---Utah Celery--8
---Russian Tarragon--6
---Safflower--5
---Dill--7
---Comfrey--3
---Kudzu (for bio-mass)--6
---Fennel--6
---Amish Melon--4
Some of the seed numbers are small, because that's all of the seed that I was given by my son, Bryce, who has purchased a huge (really huge!) number of vegetable and herb seeds (all open pollinated or heirloom seeds). Many of his seed packets have less than 10 seeds in them, and I am growing-out some plants to increase his stock of seeds.