Topic: Seed sharing circle 2011

[galina]

ARRRGGGh .....  this year's seedsaving has encountered a few problems already.  The peas were smashed by the gales a couple of weeks ago and are recovering slowly, not sure there will be many seeds to share this year.  The wonderful winter squash I wanted to handpollinate last year (and did not get matching flowers) Todo el Ano (should have a tilde over the n and means 'all year round' because it stores so well) started off well.  Six plants were planted out, protected with eggshells against slugs under cloche cover.  All was fine last week, yesterday's inspection and watering revealed that only one plant is surviving and that has been damaged as well.  I am sowing again, but it is getting a bit late .....

Lettuce, rocket and Babington leeks look ok - so far. 

Looking forward to a few Lima bean seeds if you get enough for the circle, Jeannine.  Good growing everybody

[Gadget]

Good to heara about your Soya beans Jeannine.  I too have some although I didnt see them flower so the beans came as a suprise.  I have 12 plants with at least 5 pods on them (and more pods to develop) so that could give me at least 120 beans but lets not get ahead of my self.

How many of us are there in the seed share?

Is there anyway of compiling a list as it would be interesting to see who and what they are doing? I have tried the links on Jayb's but I just get into them at all so I am not sure what they have on them.  :-\

[Dandytown]

Same here.  i have no access to google docs due to internet at work not permitting it.

Would love to know what everyone is doing at a glance.  Espeicailly as some of us will not be able to supply what we initially intended and may havce to change our minds.

Forgive me but I am not an active contributor to this forum  :-[

[Gadget]

Same here.  i have no access to google docs due to internet at work not permitting it.

Would love to know what everyone is doing at a glance.  Espeicailly as some of us will not be able to supply what we initially intended and may havce to change our minds.

Forgive me but I am not an active contributor to this forum  :-[

Ok I'll start the list then use mine as a quote add yours and see how we do  :)

Gaget - Courgettes, celeriac, corriander and cumbers (thought I would go with the C's this year)

[Jayb]

How many of us are there in the seed share?

Good question Dandytown, this is the rough list of who is taking part and what they are aiming to grow. I notice some folk have not been on A4A for a while or have not posted on this thread since asking to join. I wonder  if they are still interested in being part of this circle? I’m hoping they will be along shortly to give us all an update. I’ll have a look through the thread and see if I can update this list further.

Page in progress from google docs

Taking part and a guide of growing possibilities for 2011.

Pumpkinlover, tbd, possibly from HSL allocation

Jayb; Buan onions, tomato of some sort, Bedford Monarch parsnips, Red Hmong cucumber, a corn or maize or popcorn or poping sorgum?, mashua (Ken Aslet)?

Goodlife; Bloody Butcher sweetcorn, beans, lettuce, ‘Los Mols Leeks’ peas Paula and Skånsk Märgärt,

Robert_Brenchley; tbd planning on mainly peas and beans, possibly a couple of lettuces, but not committing himself for a while yet, but possibly peas Paula and Skånsk Märgärt, for Goodlife

Saddad; choosing from HSL tomatoes, peas, climbing French beans maybe a squash or  Babbington leeks (bulbils)

1066; Kale, a sweet red pepper, winter / cool season salads, French beans, possibly a summer squash.

Aj; tbd, possibly some Babington Leeks if needed

Markfieldrover; King Tut pea and climbing French bean Bonne Bouche

Jeannine; "All around the World beans”. Madame Jardels Black and Queen of Hearts tomatoes are on my for sure list...plus a few others still to decide.

Plot51A; Hopefully joining in later, good luck with finding a new house

Ruud; is having a tomato party and has so far suggested;
Butter and Bullheart
Porkchop
T.C.Jones
Canadian Dwarf
Watermelon Beefsteak
Great White
Ramapo
Dynnye
Guildo Pietroboni
Michael Pollan
Odessa
Slovenian Black
Tondo Liscio
Mountain Princess
Rasberry Giant
Manitoba
Red Star

Galina; 'Grandpa Admires' 'Hungarian Zucchini' Babbington Leek

Lottiedolly; a bean, a tomato and possibly a leaf veg

Martinburo; a variety of kale or spring cabbage and sorrel

Suek; choosing from tomatoes; Polar Star, Prairie Fire, Siberian, Siletz, Oregon Spring and  Latah, also a summer squash/courgette - probably Trieste White

Dandytown; 1. Edamame beans (I have decided against yard long red bean noodle, one challenge at a time with the beans) 2. Cucumber 'crystal lemon' 3. Squash: Rolet, Futsu or Tuffy Sweet (depending on taste tests etc)

Twoflower; Half pint peas, giant mange tout, or french beans. or a self save I chilli originally from Harrogate Flower show, ‘really small plant with pretty chillis that are not too hot’.
                   
Schmelda; tbd

Poolcue, Koralik tomatoes and Moonlight Runner Beans

jitterbug , unconfined Yellow Currant and Peacevine tomatoes; Champion of England peas

Ian Pearson, possibly choosing from  heirloom/heritage peas, beans, and toms

[SueK]

Forgive me but I am not an active contributor to this forum  :-[

Well, I could say the same, really.

Just a quick status update, plus I hope the chance to pick a few brains!

After quite a while of "shall I shan't I" on the planting out front, I have numerous tomatoes outside waiting to go into their final containers.
Unfortunately I didn't get a great germination rate with the bush tomatoes (or alternatively didn't sow enough - hindsight is a wonderful thing), so it looks as though I will probably offer Latah and Siletz, as I only have single plants of the others and I get the impression that seeds from a single plant would be a bit of a no-no.  This said, these two - Latah and Siletz - seem already to be the most vigorous.  On the vine front, the Vova Yellow are looking good so far. Summer squash wise, I have a few Trieste Whites in 5" pots, and am hoping that they will be in their final containers fairly soon.

Regarding the Purple Calabash tomatoes, all 6 plants have had the growing tip change to a terminal flower bud above the first truss of flowers, a bit of a monster, of the type you sometimes get with beefsteak tomatoes.  From what I can gather this is quite common in this variety, possibly a reaction to cooler weather.  Can any of you tomato experts out there confirm that it is still OK to use seeds from the normal flowers, either on the main stem already or on a grown on sideshoot?

Best regards to you all,
Sue

Btw, very interested to hear that you grew all these beans in the East Riding, Jeannine!

[Robert_Brenchley]

I should have plenty of peas, though I'm not committing myself on varieties yet. Some of them were badly hit by pigeons, and the drought hasn't helped. I'll see how well they recover. Hopefully some lettuces; there should definitely be spinach, which is starting to flower now. Several varieties of beans. Hopfully some squashes. We'll see!

[1066]

WOW What a list!! Even if we manage only a fraction of that it will be a great haul  8)

I might add some chillies into the mix, sheer fun of it. Thinking of Lemon Drop, which I've been very impressed with so far.

[Jayb]

Robert I may have some different Oca’s I know I lost some but I should have a few red (not pink) and red with black eyes, I’ll know more harvest time. Jeannine if you are sending a few tubers over I’d be very interested in having some too.

Beans all sounds good Jeannine, I’d love to have a few limas which may do well here. I'm really pleased my Fordhook limas look to be doing well so far, fingers crossed.

Galina I think you will have to have words with your Todo el Ano they sound like they are mixing with the wrong crowd and being downright naughty to me!

Dandytown, I didn’t realise you were still unable to view the document, I guess one of the drawbacks of google docs. I’ll print you off a copy of the finished document to go in with your seeds once it is done. If you do want to add any info or photos about what you are growing and how they have grown for you, you can add them to this thread and I’ll add them in for you. If it helps as an example these are the Dwarf French beans from last years list .

A4A Seed Saver Group 2010

Black Turtle Just a fine black bean, grows well and a good cropper. Great for black bean soup and a nice matt finish to this beautiful little bean. (aj)

Bobis d’ Albenga, snap bean producing beautiful green and reddy/purple speckled pods. Medium to late Italian heirloom variety.
(Ruud)

Gauk – (earlypea)
Description from HSL catalogue:  This variety has been grown on the Island of Gotland, Sweden (Gauk being a farm) for more than 100 years.  Pale pink and white flowers are followed by large green and carmine striped pods.  Said to be adapted to harsh weather conditions and early to flower and pod.

Ice/Crystal Wax - (earlypea)
Description from HSL Catalogue:  Dating back to at least 1882, this Dutch-bred variety was used by the English as a forcing bean in hothouses (William Woys Weaver, 1997).  Produces compact plants with white flowers followed by green pods that lighten with age to almost a silver-white with a mauve tinge.  With a little imagination these give the impression of icicles.  Good flavour and texture when cooked after freezing.  Also dries well for use as a pulse.

Jacob’s Cattle These beans have beautiful looking seeds which ripen to a maroon and white mottled bean, also good when young as a green bean. Some sources state this bean is originally from Germany and it appears similar or the same to Trout or Dalmatian bean.  (Ruud)
 
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Ying Yang  Productive bushes producing tasty green beans when young or leave for yummy shelly/dried beans. 1066 says she “got in a swap from A4A. I enjoyed eating it as a shelled bean, quite meaty in texture. Also known as Orca Bean” (1066)
 
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Mmmm Lemon Drop are super, they would be a fab addition  ;D

[Jeannine]

I think my soya beans and limas will be OK they are doing very well and most varieties you can't get there
.
  I can get some  various roots from my oriental supermarket and ship them to Jayb , yesterday I saw an odd shaped root, sort of pear shaped, it was descri9bes as a Purple Flesh Yam, really odd as it was not the usual yam shape and it didn';t appear to be purple from the outside either. I think things like sweet potaoes and yams are better shipped over to coincide with when you start them off for slips. They are available here anytiime, I like the look of the purple sweet potatoes. If they are not available there I don't mind sending them, can someone check that out for me first.

 I may have Mayoral Blue winter squash, this is very very rare, I had just two seeds left and they both germinated, they were planted out yesterday, so fingers crossed. They came from Aussie land, grown by the Mayore of Grafton for 40 years, he rarely shared his seeds, after his death a few were given out and  friend in Oz mamnaged to get a few and shared them.   This is my last chance so keeping evrything crossed here. First year we lost them in the Hull floods, second year we lost them to the critters  so this year thjey are very well protected.

XX Jeannine

Does anyone have any Chinese Artichokes?

[1066]

Jeannine are you wanting some, my allotment neighbour had some, I could check with him if you like?

[Jeannine]

No, thank you, I had seen them here and wondered if anyone else wanted them XX Jeannine

[galina]

Jayb wrote:
Galina I think you will have to have words with your Todo el Ano they sound like they are mixing with the wrong crowd and being downright naughty to me!


I have found the culprit!  Moles.  There is a mole run directly underneath the cloche with the TeA.  We are still very very dry here.  First meaningful rainfall since March was in the last few days and the soil here is still very dry.  Where I water (only where the new transplants are), worms migrate to and the moles go after them.  They leave runs that collapse on watering and they knock plants out altogether as they dig.  This happens quite close to the surface, clearly the water does not reach very far down.  When I checked on the remaining plant, I noticed a half collapsed mole tunnel.  The missing squash plants probably fell into a mole hole and perished.  I caught some other plants that were freshly dug up and replanted them in another part of the garden.  We could do with quite a bit more rain here to get things more normal.   It is frustrating.  The seeds are 5 years old now and I have put some in the freezer as insurance, because at this rate it might take another year or three before this squash works out for seedsaving  :(

Any anti mole suggestions?

[Jeannine]

I forgot, I am growing Alma Paprika too XX Jeannine

[markfield rover]

The King Tut peas are up (first hurdle) the other CFB  not on list I am trying is Bird's egg, just not telling them that they are special
'aint going to tempt fate! I am also going to add some sweet peas for pretties.

[Jayb]

Ooops not done my update yet  :P

Mashua is growing strongly and rapidly filling its spot, no sign of any caterpillar damage yet which is always good news. Still a bit concerned these may not be feasible from seed?

Cucumber Red Hmong seeds germinated well and are ready to be planted out, I’m hoping to get them in the polytunnel in the next day or so.

I was growing Buan onions for the circle but at the moment I’m favouring the variety Stamme, which look to be the stronger growing, still a while to go yet....

Tomatoes, I’m so undecided, lots of lovely plants starting to set fruit, I’ll try and shortlist a few.

Now to my bit of a disaster; Last weekend I transplanted the Painted Mountain corn, from root-trainers. Loads of lovely plants which I planted out in the garden a row or two at a time gradually over 3 days. Job done, lovely I thought.

Next morning, on my first cuppa of the day I heard a lamb calling for its mom, I was just thinking how close it sounded and it must be the wind.........AGGGGGHHHHHHH Not close BUT IN MY GARDEN!!!!  20 odd of the %&”$$$+*+.

On inspection, my rows of corn looked very sad, they had a good go at some of the rows. Some plants were pulled up and left on the surface drying in the wind, others had lost their tops in a sheepy mouthful, I nearly cried.  I’ve re-done the rows as best I can, but I am only left with 100 or so plants. This is less than I would like, but should, I hope be enough to produce required diversity for quality seed? (I still need  to work out how to produce flour)

If you are interested in reading more about Painted Mountain corn here is Dave Christensen’s site http://www.seedweneed.com/

Up shot, a bad bad man left the gate open (it is normally always kept closed) and unfortunately the open gateway was found by a gang of marauding sheep. I’m trying to console myself it could have been much worse, even so lots of things were munched, trampled or pruned, what was wrong with the grass on the lawn!

[Jayb]

Sue, although it is not the recommended way I’ve often saved seed from only one plant. I think as long as the plant is true to type, healthy and producing well it is, maybe not ideal, but ok. Others may think differently.

I’ve had several tomato plants either split to joint leaders or end prematurely with a flower truss this year, also some varieties with more king fruit than I would have expected. I’m sure it is more than usual particularly so early in the season. I think you are right the fluctuating temperatures and early heat must be having an impact. I found parts of this quite interesting http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/88/5/869.full.pdf
Yes as far as I am aware it should be ok to save seed from the correct fruit though if you had of had a choice....

Look forward to hearing how you rate the taste of Purple Calabash as it is not one I’ve grown yet, although I have an interesting F1 cross I’m growing Calabash x Green Nails.

[1066]

baaaaaaaa !  :P at least I don't have a field of sheep to deal with Jayb, just the usual culprits of pigeons, slugs and snails. hopefully the corn will recover from it's trauma!

[Jayb]

Two more may not make it but overall it's looking better than me  ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

I had a good look at the peas I'm growing out for seed today while I fleeced the beans next to them. Most are recovering fine, the only exceptions are a few (mainly Carlin Pea and Goldensweet) where the mesh is a bit tight. I can rearrange that next time I'm down; I didn't have time today.