Topic: Seed Sharing Circle

[Jayb]

Just dropped in for an update and also wondering how others are doing?

The Roscoff onions I been growing have been beautiful in flower, another week or so until I pick them and hang them to dry. Shimonita onions are all harvested and dried yayyy. I致e grown Buan this year which have done quite well, hoping if they taste good etc I値l grow some for seed next year.

Pumpkins, can稚 say much other than I think they are looking good, well last time I saw them they were!

Beans, some have done wonderfully, others not so good and seemed to have struggled a bit this year. Many I知 yet to sample, like Blue Greasy Grits which have been very vigorous growers and I feared they would not get around to flowering but they are a mass of flowers now. Typically Jembo Polish, which I知 growing for HSL are hardly setting at all.

A slow process but finally ripe are Kale and Di Chioggia beetroot. Parcel and Root parsley still have a way to go yet.

Peas have had a good year although the heat may have prematurely ended some flowering.

Tomatoes, well I lost some plants to blight early on and have had a bit of a struggle on and off since. But taking that into account I知 ok with how they are doing. An exciting time tasting new to me varieties for the first time, others I知 still waiting on. Impressed with Green Doctor and Green Doctors Frosted, not a Heritage but a very tasty cherry. A definite for me next year. Just need to stop eating them all to save a few seed!

[earlypea]

Here's my list updated:  (got a head injury so confined to quarters  ::) this would account for any babbling)

Coloured Dwarf French
Ice/Crystal Wax - YES, drying well and a very attractive one, bicoloured peach and white flowers, dainty leaves, productive and icy/white as promised - tasty.
Gauk - YES, drying well, but not worthwhile in my opinion.  Good in immature state but hellish stringy quickly and don't colour up until they're drying.  Look very similar to dwarf borlotti but colour up later.

Climbing French
Kew Blue - YES, podding up now.  Attractive foliage and beans (almost a transclucent quality), but flavour not as good as Cosse Violette in my opinion.
Major Cook's - Only starting to get beans now - weather permitting, may get there.

Squash
Kamo Kamo - winter squash -  NO didn't make it down the at the right time to do it  :-X

Next Year's...
John's Purple Carrot NO Only one left after poor germination, drought and badger problems.

Delaway an Irish, cut and come again, spring collard - yet to sow, tis a spring thing.

[galina]

Earlypea, hope your injury gets better fast and you are not in too much pain.

Update here:

The winter radish pods have been harvested and are drying off in the conservatory.  When fully dry, I'll break them up, sieve out the seeds with a colander, then winnow the seeds to get rid of chaff.
Lettuce Lau Pointed Leaf (grown in the greenhouse, hence early seed), seed harvested and dried, needs cleaning.
Lettuce Austrian Greenleaf has just started producing seeds,  picking seedheads into a big paper bag for further drying on a daily basis.
Other lettuces are not yet producing seeds.

How is everybody else doing?

[goodlife]

 >:( >:( >:(hmm....I lost my labels from my mangetout peas....so now I'm not able to tell them apart ::)...loads and loads of peas ready to be hung up to dry  ::)..so those are going to be strickly for consumption later..
I've all ready sorted some tomato seeds and I have 20 varieties in bags and another 30 odd still wating for same treatment later on..
Beans are coming treat....plenty of small young pods hanging on..
Some of the successful polination attempts with squashes are looking promising..
Sweetcorn is still in 'flowering' stage..so time will tell...
I've got some more peas coming on later on...hopefully..I've never done late sowings outdoors..so...but they have germinated..enough survived underground..all netted against feathered friends..had some rain and sun shine.. ;D ;D..odds so far has been good ;D ;D

[plot51A]

Well......not as good as I'd hoped. Have had success saving peas previous years - this year they've sort of vanished!! Was hoping to save some brassica seed but have has a total rubbish year growing them so thats out too. More success on the bean and tomato front though.
Climbing French Beans

Mr Fearns Purple Flowered (HSL). Lovely bean, will grow again, pods for seed coming along nicely.

Mountaineers White Half Runner (HSL) Not quite so keen on this one but should have a supply of seed

Cosse Violette. Grew a few plants from some previously saved seed that was getting rather old- growing all for seed for fresh supply

Dwarf French Beans

Cupidon

Tomatoes

Clear Pink Early a big hit for me this year, also Japanese Black Trifele. Will def. be saving these - also Striped Roman, extraordinary looking, curiosity value. Jury still out on most of my other varieties.

[lottiedolly]

Hi folks, my update is as follows

My polish french beans are growing in their pods nicely, i never know when to pick beans that i am trying to save seeds from so any advice will be greatly received.

My red orach has flowers and the seeds are starting to dry out so i shall be hopefully cutting them and putting the seeds into paper bags to finish off drying.

I am also saving some blue osu tomato seeds and can at least give some to any members who want to give them a try, they do look rather fab in a mixed tomato and basil salad i made for a family party and were a talking point (you need a lot of sunlight to get them blue though).

I am also letting my swiss chard bright lights go to seed so will have that available. I am trying for more stuff, but do not want to commit myself until i am sure.

Jayb, how are we going to do this, are we going to put a definative list together, send it to you for posting and then see who wants what.

Kxx

[galina]

Hi folks, my update is as follows

My polish french beans are growing in their pods nicely, i never know when to pick beans that i am trying to save seeds from so any advice will be greatly received.

lottiedolly

The pods should be completely leathery at least and crisp papery dry at best.  Leave them to dry indoors a little more and only shell when they are fully dry.  Then after shelling, the beans inside need some more drying.  HTH

[lottiedolly]

Thanks galina, i shall keep them on the plant for a lot longer.  ;D

[1066]

well ....
my Fennel Montavano has finally started to flower, chose the best looking one, and boy was it tricky not to pick the best, need to double check / ask for advice on how best to save these.
Also some success with Lettuce Sylvesta - which I tried for the 1st time this year, a lovely bright green butterhead, which did well in the drought we've had in the SE, so again selected for its viability (and taste). I have some lovely varieties from Baker Creek and France to try out next year.
As some of you know the Kale was a disaster, so looking at next year for that one!
Peas - are non existant
Beans, have largely been great. The dwarf varieties - Polka, Purple Teepee and Ying Yang are all drying on the plants (not sure if anyone would like any of these?)
Climbers are a mixed bag - the Gigandes have finally started producing more, and have lots more flowers on. Plus I'm going to follow Galina's tip for over-wintering one of them
Oh and then the tommies - Black Cherry and Auntie Madge, are gradually ripening, so again if people would like some of these then I'm happy to share

Phew! Still a major learning curve going on in this corner of the SE  :)
1066  :)

[markfield rover]

Beans here have struggled,I grew Kew Blue and Mr Brooks Blue there are not many seeds but I could add a couple as 'bonus beans' to what other seeds I have in good numbers,which at long last this year is toms- Blaby Special looking good as is 'Believe It Or Not' plus other weird and wonderfuls ,the furry ones are new to me this year.
So are we picking our best two or so varieties  and then if there are no duplicates  these are what we send to each other ?

[1066]

I forgot something - the Sunnybrook Peppers. Well confession time. I grew these up at the plot - and NADA, I mean miserable looking plants, only a few fruit and they were tiny, and worthless. Getting the picture ?!
Meanwhile, the Napia Pointy Peppers growing in pots in the garden have been splendid, lovely fruit, sturdy looking plants, tasty etc. BUT they've been grown alongside the chilli plants

So as per my mantra "next year" I'll only be growing the Napia, both in the garden and on the plot, and maybe with some isolation cages

ok confessional over now

1066  :)

[galina]

I forgot something - the Sunnybrook Peppers. Well confession time. I grew these up at the plot - and NADA, I mean miserable looking plants, only a few fruit and they were tiny, and worthless. Getting the picture ?!
Meanwhile, the Napia Pointy Peppers growing in pots in the garden have been splendid, lovely fruit, sturdy looking plants, tasty etc. BUT they've been grown alongside the chilli plants

So as per my mantra "next year" I'll only be growing the Napia, both in the garden and on the plot, and maybe with some isolation cages

Rescue suggestion:  Peppers are said to self-pollinate and to outcross by 40%, which means 60% of yours may not have crossed.  You have a sweet pepper and a hot pepper.  Hot is a dominant gene, so anything that grows into a hot pepper from this year's seeds could be the the genuine hot chili pepper or a cross.  However sweet is recessive, which means that anything resulting from this year's seeds that is a sweet pepper can only be Napia Pointy, genuine and not crossed.  Does this help?

If their shapes are very different, you might be able to spot crosses and sort out which is the genuine hot pepper and which is the crossed hot pepper by close observation.  Perhaps take photos or take very good descriptive notes this year.  So all is not lost, but it is easier to start with fresh seed next year, if you can.

Besides it is not too late to make blossombags for individual branches with flowerbuds on,  from net curtain material for pure seeds this year.  Any unopened flowerbuds now would still ripen.  3 by 2 inch little sacks (just cut 6x2 inch pieces of net curtain material, fold and handsew two corners), place over the tip of a branch with flowerbuds, close open end with garden twine or a rubber band and only take off when the flowers inside have withered and started making tiny peppers.  To aid self pollination, you can gently shake the flowers, once they have opened inside the blossombag.

[1066]

Galina, yes that does help - lots  :)

I think I will try a combination of fresh seed next year, and pop out to 1 of the many charity shops here and buy some net curtain material for bags. The immediate problem is that most of the new flowers seem to have been pollinated, I guess I'll just have to keep an eye on them

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Thanks again for your help!

[Wilder]

I wonder is that why none of my chillies seem very hot?? I grew the chillies and the peppers side by side in Pots and none of the chillies are hot, they'res a small bit hotter than the sweet peppers but thats it! :(

[galina]

I wonder is that why none of my chillies seem very hot?? I grew the chillies and the peppers side by side in Pots and none of the chillies are hot, they'res a small bit hotter than the sweet peppers but thats it! :(

Possible cross pollination is not the reason your chillis are not very hot.

If you started with seeds from a hot variety (chilli), you will get hot peppers, even if the flower was pollinated with pollen from a sweet pepper plant.  If you use seed from a hot pepper plant that may have been crossed with a sweet pepper next year, you will still get a hot pepper, because 'hot' is dominant.

The reasons why your hot peppers are not as hot as you expected, are different.  It could be that the variety is only mildly hot anyway, or it could be that environmental conditions may make it taste milder.  Green chilis are often milder than red ones too.  It would have made no difference, had you grown them separated from each other.

[SueK]

Hello one and all,
Well news here is mixed - isn't it everywhere?! :).  This is what I definitely hope to offer at the end of the day.

Peas - Swiss Giant pods are between leathery and paper-like, some are drying off inside already, I'll probably bring more in later today.
          Purple Podded aren't flowering yet due to a slightly late start (and decision making) - I'll keep you posted.

Tomatoes
           Latah has been a bit of a mixed bag this year - the bagged fruit are going fairly slowly and it might be a struggle to get them ripened      before blight attacks.  We only moved here in late 2008 so it has been a learning experience on where the best bits of the garden are, if that doesn't sound too daft.  In view of this, I have bagged some Grushovka flowers (inside) to see how these go and I will do the same with another bush variety outside just in case.
           Galina on the other hand are ripening very well and I expect to prep the first batch of seeds in a week or so.


This has been a real learning experience, but I wouldn't have missed it!

[galina]

           Galina on the other hand are ripening very well and I expect to prep the first batch of seeds in a week or so.

They are a superb tomato variety!   ;D ;D ;D

[aj]

Mix of success here; I lost a fair amount of heritage beans due to Aminopyralid, and am not using any of these for seed saving or swapping; as i don't want anyone to get dodgy beans from me.

However;

Tender and True Parsnips; got a bag, a bucket and a shoebox all drying out.
Chantenay Carrot - got 4 head dried and loads more to come
Bleu de Solaise Leek; got about 10 heads all flowered and will be left on hoping for a dryish autumn
Rose De Roscoff Onion; didn't enjoy this summer so will try again next year
Rossa Di Milano Onion - the stems got ravaged by bugs and the flowers didn't get to flower properly - really upset about this but I've saved the bulbs and will replant somewhere else and grow under fleece next year.

I've got more to come, but those are the main ones with any actual news.

[galina]

Mix of success here; I lost a fair amount of heritage beans due to Aminopyralid, and am not using any of these for seed saving or swapping; as i don't want anyone to get dodgy beans from me.
However;Tender and True Parsnips; got a bag, a bucket and a shoebox all drying out.
Chantenay Carrot - got 4 head dried and loads more to come
Bleu de Solaise Leek; got about 10 heads all flowered and will be left on hoping for a dryish autumn
I've got more to come, but those are the main ones with any actual news.

Sounds good AJ.  Sorry to hear about the beans.  Do you think there may even still be Aminopylarid residues in seeds?  Your other seeds sound very good.  I love Chantenay Carrots and they do good on my clay soil as well.

I have just packed up 15 envelopes of Lettuce seed for the Circle - yes I know I only need 14, but one is for spares.  Lots more to do, but it doesn't look very nice outside, so I took the 'desk' option.

Lettuce variety  is 'Austrian Greenleaf'.  A very early, looseleaf lettuce with frilly leaves.  Gets fairly large before bolting.  The best lettuce for really early indoors sowings to be transplanted under cloche outside.  Occasionally self-seeds in the garden. 

Looks like there will be enough seeds of lettuces Lau Pointed Leaf and Bologna for the circle as well and perhaps a small pinch of Carnival.  And the winter radish too.

Do we send all our prepared seed envelopes to one central distributor, together with a large padded envelope and enough postage to receive our share from the Circle?  Or do we send out 14 envelopes to all the participants?

[aj]

Sounds good AJ.  Sorry to hear about the beans.  Do you think there may even still be Aminopylarid residues in seeds?  Your other seeds sound very good.  I love Chantenay Carrots and they do good on my clay soil as well.

Do we send all our prepared seed envelopes to one central distributor, together with a large padded envelope and enough postage to receive our share from the Circle?  Or do we send out 14 envelopes to all the participants?

I am not sure about the beans, I'm going to grow them out next year and see what happens....

In my other circle, i am collecting them all along with 2 large letter stamps and will distribute when they are mostly in......I think that's a better bet than everyone sending 14 envelopes out everywhere...and cheaper!