Seed Saving Time Again

Autumn has again rolled around here on the farm. We are again sticking pretty close to the place as it seems so many in the community are sick with Covid right now. Just a little caution goes a long way and may be prudent right now it seems.  The temperatures have dipped again and we even lit our first small fire in the fireplace last week. The leaves are slowly falling and we again are picking up hickory nuts out of the yard. 

We got 3 inches of rain last night and a tornado siren to boot. All is fine though just plenty of hickory nuts and leaves down. As soon as it dries up a bit we will start cleaning them up and chopping up the leaves.  I have a crockpot of horticulture (cranberry) beans in the crockpot with onions, garlic and sausage in it. Last night we had cottage pie and will have the leftovers for lunch. 

I picked figs this morning. Got about 2 dozen as they tend to split with these big rains and the ants want to get in them. Cranked up the dehydrator and have sliced the figs and dehydrating them. O Wise One has went to harvest walnuts as I am sure there are plenty down from the storm. Looking forward to replenishing my stock in the freezer as last year was kind of lean on walnuts. While out with the truck he is hauling off the household garbage. 

All around the house are plates and dishes with seeds of various kinds drying. In the photo above in the white bowls are tomato seeds drying on coffee filters with the names written on the filters.  The jar contains enough gloriosa daisy seeds to plant the entire state and the platter holds Jade green bean seeds. With the number of crops I grow throughout the year I would hate to have to buy all those seeds especially at todays prices and with todays shortages. So as I have done for the last 40 years I try to limit myself to open pollinated crops and save seeds. It ensures I always have enough seeds to grow food no matter what is happening in the world. 

It gives me peace of mind to know that the seeds I save are specifically acclimated to my soil and my climate and grow here well and have for many years. A safety net for our food needs in an unsettling and constantly changing world. I can't control what goes on outside my fences but within I am queen of my domain and we will eat. As long as the sun shines and my body holds out we will eat. 

As a child growing up on a small farm in south Louisiana I always remember fall being seed gathering time and burlap sacks and old pillow cases of dried seeds hanging from the rafters in the outbuilding where we kept our potatoes, sweet potatoes and such. It was not underground but served as an above ground root cellar of sorts. ( No cellars in Louisiana as they quickly become indoor pools ). Burlap sacks of pecans dried suspended from the same rafters beside the seeds. Pears were placed on the shelves along with pumpkins and winter squash. My mother always had a cat or two that she allowed to come and go in there for rodent control. My grandmothers old wood cooking stove stood in the corner to add a bit of heat if needed. Simpler times indeed. 

For those interested in seed saving I found a pdf online from the organic seed alliance that is written well and tells you about everything you need to know to start saving your own seeds. It is about 30 pages  but well worth printing out and putting in a binder. Here is the link:

https://seedalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/seed_saving_guide.pdf

I am off to turn compost piles now and pick up the hickory nuts off the back porch. Hickory nuts on steps is a real danger for us old people fighting to not have any falls again this year.  The dehydrator is whirring full of figs and the crockpot is cooking away on those beans.  

In the meantime everyone stay safe and don't forget to count those blessings.

Blessings from The Holler

CQ

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I can also be found on 

https://thebackfence.freeforums.net/forum

 

Carrot Seeds

 

While recuperating from surgery last week I was looking for tasks that I could do while sitting and not exerting myself too  much. The week before I had harvested carrot seed heads that had dried out in the garden and put them in brown paper bags to dry. With rain in the future forecast for 4 or 5 days in a row I wanted to keep them somewhat dry if possible. Sitting at the table and picking out carrot seeds was the perfect job for me. Or so I thought.

So with morning coffee in hand me and the carrot seeds bonded. Talking about a boring job. Like watching paint dry or something. 

And of course the seeds are fuzzy and stick together. See how tiny they are.

Well I got most of them separated. I now have carrot seeds to plant a bajillion acres of carrots. But you know what with the way things are going these days with seeds I think I will just be thankful and hang on to them. I am going to let them dry more for now. Since they are spread out more I am hoping in another week or so I can run them through a colander and most of the fuzzy hairs will come off. With summer rains and high humidity it seems to take some time to get them good and dry but you do not want to store them until they are dry or they will mold in storage. 

This is the heirloom variety Danvers. Danvers carrots are medium sized carrots, often called “half size.” They were once a choice carrot for their flavor, especially when young, because mature roots can become fibrous. Danvers was an early orange cultivar. Danvers carrots were developed in the 1870’s in Danvers, Massachusetts. The variety was shared with Burpee in 1886 and became a popular seed due to the root’s deep orange color and rich flavor. This variety does better than many popular carrots because it forms nice roots even in heavy, shallow soils.

My original seeds came from Everwilde Farms my favorite source for heirloom and open pollinated seeds. 

I also found this video on YouTube that I found very interesting for planting carrots. I plan to give it a try!

With rain all weekend I am off to the yard to try to tame the lawn before it invades. I think it grew 2 inches overnight. 

Blessings from the Holler

The Canned Quilter

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I can also be found at 

https://thebackfence.freeforums.net/

Carrot Seeds & Mean Girls

 The start of another week. We got a couple small rains in the last couple days so everything garden wise is happy. It is still hot and sticky and just a few degrees cooler makes a huge difference sometimes. I gathered carrot seeds before the rains and put them in brown paper sacks to dry. I now have enough Danvers carrot seeds to plant about a bajillion acres.  I will let them dry for a couple weeks more in the bags and then separate them out. More seeds for the freezer. I tell you as hard as it is to find seeds for some things I am thankful for my habit of saving seeds over the last few decades. They have come in handy. 

We also have been having some unrest in the chicken yard. We ordered the last chickens through Tractor Supply and the hatchery shipped them directly to us. We ordered a 10 pack of brown egg layers. While we have been happy with the chickens the yellow and white hen pictured above was not a good breed for us. Out of the 10 we had four of these and they are just hateful. So with a hen with baby chicks and a duck hen trying to set we did not need hens that do not play well with others. So you know what happens to the mean girls. They go into mason jars and become soup/dumplings and anything else I am in the mood for.  We have plenty of eggs and maybe will keep any chicks that end up being hens. Let this be a lesson to any mean girls on here. Lol

Anyway we are looking forward to a busy but laid back week. The purple hulls are really close but we are taking a little time to catch up on some weeding and mowing for a couple days. The green beans are blooming again too. I pulled up 2 zucchini and a squash. They were starting to look ratty and slow down in production. We also have lots of stuff back there collecting and need to start another couple compost piles cooking with it. 

I go to the doctor next week and possibly have surgery so I need to wrap up as much as possible this week before my appointment next Tuesday. Never any rest for the wicked!

Everyone have a safe week and stay cool. 

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

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I can also be found most days at

https://thebackfence.freeforums.net/

2014 Garden Cool Weather Lineup

The snow is flying and the mercury is dipping but for gardeners it is a time of planning. A time to take a look back at past successes and failures in the garden and lay the groundwork for a new year. I have had several request for a post about what I will be planting this coming year. I live and garden in North Central Missouri. Rolling farmland in zone 5A where the average rainfall is about   36 inches of rain per year, the US average is 37. Snowfall average is 23 inches and the average US city gets 25 inches of snow per year. First frost for the year usually happens around mid October and the last frost about the end of April. The following varieties are most time proven varieties here on my farm. 

Early Spring Cool Weather Crops

Lettuce...Romaine...variety  Jericho 

Last year was the first year for growing this brilliant green romaine lettuce, developed in Israel. It remains sweet even through the heat of summer for us and if planted every 2 weeks will keep you in crisp romaine lettuce throughout the spring. Mildew and disease resistant It performed wonderful for us and was a favorite. This is a cut and come again lettuce. 

My seed were purchased from Sustainable Seed Company.

This I start early under lights indoors and move to the garden. 

Lettuce...Black Seeded Simpson

An old reliable lettuce that is heat resistant, slow to bolt and very dependable. Leaves are large, but lightly crispy and ruffled.  Excellent for spring, early summer and fall planting this for us is a loose leaf lettuce that will form a semi head if allowed to mature. O Wise One's late mother introduced me to this variety. It was her favorite for making wilted lettuce in the spring. 

This I direct seed in the garden. It is a cut and come again lettuce and I always plant extra for the chickens because they love it.  

Bok Choy

variety China Choy

My original seeds for this Bok Choy came from Seeds Of Change (pictured below) many years ago now. Allowed to go to seed this vegetable does great and resembles the growing habit of traditional cabbage in my area. Seeds are very easy to collect so if you are planning on planting this vegetable make sure and get an open pollinated variety so you can save seeds. Start indoors about the same time as you start cabbage and broccoli. Absolutely great in stir fries. 

This I would also stagger plantings of every 2 weeks or so. I have not tried to freeze or preserve this in any way but rather simply eat it fresh in season. Very cold tolerant. 

I will be planting saved seeds.

Spinach

variety Bloomsdale

This variety of spinach was an All American Selection in 1937 and performs wonderfully in my garden. My family actually prefer to eat spinach as salad as opposed to being cooked as greens. Therefore I plant this crop similar to lettuce, direct seeded int he garden and harvested as salad greens. Stagger plantings to extend the harvest. Very easy to collect seeds from you will notice in the picture above that the seed spray is forming.Spinach is traditionally a cool weather crop in our area.

Seeds can be obtained from Everwilde Gardens and most seed companies that sell heirloom seeds. 

Mustard
variety Southern Giant Curled

Another cool weather green crop this is a family favorite for cooked greens and makes wonderful canned greens for the winter. A southern staple and no bowl of mustard is complete without a skillet of buttermilk cornbread to sop that pot liquor. These greens are tolerant of cool weather and tend to bolt and set seed as the weather warms. Easy to collect seed from and found on most websites that sell heirloom seeds. This crop benefits from planting every two weeks or so. Can be plagued by flea beetles. We like them picked young and tender

English Peas
variety Champion Of England

This variety is an old heirloom english variety that grows very tall. I got my start from Seed Savers Exchange a couple years ago. They can be expensive to buy at first. This year they run about $3 for 50 seeds. I bought 2 packs initially and saved seeds until I had enough to make a large planting. It takes a year or two this way but is worth the effort. They grow very tall and make lots of pods. I grow mine in a wire cattle panel supported by T posts. They freeze wonderfully but a word of warning guard them because that pest called grandkids love them!

  

Beets

variety Cylindra
Last year was my first year to grow this heirloom variety of beet and I loved it. Great taste and they grow long like a carrot. Since I mainly slice and pickle mine to add to salads this was a great variety for me. I direst sow these seeds soaking them first in warm water.

Notice the long beets on the left. These are Cylindra. The beets on the right are Bulls Blood

 

 

Cabbage


variety Early Jersey Wakefield

Early Jersey Wakefield is an early variety of cabbage with pointed heads that resist splitting! Popular for excellent flavor, this is a great heirloom Cabbage for the home vegetable garden! I grow this cabbage exclusively and have for years. I start early indoors and plant about the time that I plant potatoes which is usually mid March to April 1. A great cabbage for not only freezing but also making kraut and coleslaw. 

Fairly inexpensive to buy you can get a packet of about 500 seeds from Everwilde Farms for about $2.50.

Broccoli

variety Waltham 29

This year I will be growing Waltham 29 open pollinated Broccoli. I struggle with finding an heirloom that I like that does well in my climate. I start my Broccoli indoors under lights and transplant with my cabbage and other brassica crops. 

Potatoes

variety Red Pontiac, Kennebec


While most of the world seems to be experimenting with the colors and variety of potato they can grow my husband is a true potato snob. We have tried other potatoes out there and always seem to come back to these two varieties. This is one of the few things that we do buy locally. Usually we can find these two variety of seed potatoes in our area available in the feed stores or variety stores that carry farm supplies. Sometimes if we have a good harvest we will save potatoes from these for the next planting season. We always buy new fresh seed potatoes every two or three years though. I think if you save them for longer than that they seem to be more prone to diseases.

Sometimes we plant them under straw.

Sometimes we hill them with dirt. Sometimes we grow them both ways.

I prefer when possible to chit my potatoes or allow them to pre-sprout before setting them in the garden.














I do this indoors by simply laying them out in a semi shady place and allowing sprouts to form.














Once sprouted then they are set in trenches and lightly covered with soil. Usually with about 2 weeks the potato plant emerges and once it is about 6 inches tall I begin pulling soil up or covering with straw.

 Onions

varieties WallaWalla, Candy,
Australian Brown, Lisbon Bunching

We grow lots of onions because we eat lots of onions. I can't think of many things I cook that do not have onions in them. So every year I try to not only store but also freeze lots of onions for use throughout the year. 

For some I buy sets locally by the pound. Sets are nothing more than baby onions that are returned to the garden and allowed to grow for another season and get bigger. . 

The cheapest way to plant onions by far is from seeds started in flats under lights in January
(now) these seedlings are ready to plant by March or April here in the garden. You can also buy starts locally which are onion plants started from seeds and then pulled up and the soil rinsed off. They are then packaged in bunches with rubber bands around them. Bunches usually come about 50 plants to the bundle.  If growing your onions from seeds these little onion plants must be given a haircut every so often to encourage then to make bulbs. 

 You can see the onion plants above growing between peas and potatoes. 

 Many times in my garden pictures you will see onions in the background going to seed waiting to be collected. 

  For those of you in or near my growing zone now is the time to order and start your onion seeds, this also includes green onions and chives. 

These were the onions that I experimented starting in milk jugs last year. They did great!

All of the plants listed above are plants that traditionally I plant in very early spring. Many are cold tolerant and are among the first plants or seeds to be planted in my garden each year. In January I order my seeds for the coming year and start my onions. Remember many of the more popular varieties sell out fast. 

 Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Frozen Seeds

 After weeks of the saved seeds drying on baking sheets it was time to put them in the freezer.  They will stay there until the ground warms enough in May for them to be planted.  I have started saving such large amounts of seeds that I have gone to freezing them to help preserve them for longer periods of time. These have been drying for over 8 weeks. 

They include Jade bush green beans, French horticulture beans, Lina Sisco Bird Egg shell beans, Cajun Cowhorn okra, Golden Bantam corn, watermelon and yellow crookneck squash. This is the last of the seeds to be put away for the winter.  

Soon it will be time to order any seeds for the coming year and I have already started reading up on all the new varieties offered. I wanted to put a good word in also for a new (to me) company that came very highly recommended last year. I ordered several different times throughout the year from the above company and they were wonderful. They offer USDA certified organic and non-GMO seeds and most are open pollinated or nonhybrid. I had great luck with their seeds, germination rates were high, shipping fast and the packets were larger than many companies offer and for less money. I see several of the gardening forums also have good things to say about them. So if you get a chance give them a try.

http://www.everwilde.com/

And just to let you know I am not getting anything to plug them and as a matter of fact they do not even know that I am. Just a heads up on a good company with good merchandise for a good price. 

January 1st I will be starting my onions to give them time enough to get large to set out come EARLY spring. 

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

Allowing Vegetables To Age For Seeds

I get so many emails every year from people asking when to save the seeds from their vegetables and saying that the seeds they do save do not come up. I personally think that some times this is because they don't let the vegetable age properly. Above is a yellow summer squash we just picked. O Wise One allowed it to sit on the bush for several months. He picked it right before first frost. Notice how big the warts are on the fruit. This fruit is fully mature. 

This squash is for human consumption. It is picked young and immature with very small immature seeds and very soft and tender outer skin. I like to pick my squash about 6 to 8 inches long. 

Notice on the yellow squash how small and flat the immature seeds are. When you are cooking them this is what you want. These seeds most times will not germinate. 

Now lets cut our giant squash. Unfortunately I couldn't! O Wise One had to take a meat cleaver to this squash because the outside was so hard. 

Once cut see how thick that outer skin is!

The seeds are large and plump and mature. Those are how you want your seeds! Not those flat and immature seeds. These seeds should germinate just fine once dried and cured.  

See how the middle is now tough and stringy and dried out. It looks almost like a pumpkin middle!

And look how big and plump those seeds are as they are laid out on a piece of waxed paper to dry out. So if you are harvesting your seeds before your fruit is mature that is why your seeds are not coming up good. Let those vegetables get fully mature before you harvest for seeds. Try planting 1 extra seed plant and just leaving the fruit just for seeds maybe and just not picking anything off that plant at all.  For us we simply leave the squash or cucumber here and there and let them get huge. When the plants are pulled out those are our seed fruit.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter