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Seed Saving Circle 2020

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Vetivert:
I haven't made corn flour before. I'd like to grow at least 200 plants with intensive spacing. It's a small variety, maybe 4ft tall. I planted a few very late last year, July, as an ornament in some beds and to see how they developed. August was wet and awful, but they had cobs in September. These didn't get to drying stage when I pulled the plants up in Oct but I thought it was interesting to see nonetheless. And the plants are very pretty.

JanG:
That will certainly give you a good genetic range for seed saving. Is the intensive spacing simply to use space efficiently or is it to do with wanting as much cross fertilisation within the block as possible? I guess it also means that plants in the middle of the block are safer from crossing with other varieties.

Do you have any farms growing maize anywhere near your growing space? Or other growers? No problems of that kind?

Vetivert:
A bit of both really. There are other growers nearby so will only save seed cobs from the middle of the blocks. May not have to worry about it if they tassel earlier than nearby corn.

JanG:
Perennial brassica cuttings - it’s a good time to take cuttings for distributing to the Seed Circle.

I've recently become aware how very useful Daubenton and Taunton Deane kales are in the Hungry gap - April into May when many other brassicas are going to seed. These plants are quite expensive and cuttings are quite easy to do, so now is a good time to be thinking about it.

To take cuttings of these brassicas I find that a small side shoot taken off the main stem often with a little heel on it works well. I make a sandy compost mix for good drainage and put three cuttings down the side of a 9cm pot. I put a plastic bag over the pot and cuttings, making sure it’s away from the leaves as far as possible. 

My Daubenton kale has tried to set seed and I’ve busily cut the shoots off to try to keep the plant going. I’m not  sure whether some strains are more prone to seeding than others and, if they are seeders, whether that means they won’t survive. Mine are only in their second season so rather too early to tell. As an insurance I’ve taken cuttings and now have two young plants as standby.

I also have a plant which I think is thought to be somewhere between kale and cabbage. I got the seed as Tronchuda kale, a Portuguese type. I believe it’s perennial but has tried like mad to have flowers, so much so that it’s been impossible to keep up with cutting them off. So I’ve taken cuttings of that too as I don’t know how long it will live.

I’d be interested if anyone has different methods or has experience of how critical it is to stop a perennial kale from flowering.

The first photo (I'm not sure why they've come out sideways) is of cuttings of the Portuguese kale. They have rooted and are ready to do without their plastic bag.
The other photo shows the many flowering shoots the plant thew up. However many I cut off more would keep coming

galina:
Enjoy the tronchuda 'broccoli' florets.  A small amount of ripening flower shoots does not seem to matter.  I always miss a few.  Lives for 3 years for me.  Definitely take side shoot cuttings during third year. 

I also put a thin plastic baggie over the top, but cut a few small holes in it.  Goodlife who gave me my first cuttings advised not to have them in direct sunlight.  If rooting in summer, she puts them under the greenhouse staging.
 :wave:

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