Topic: Seed Saving Circle 2022

[markfield rover]

They certainly are , I used to grow Cafe au Lait but through the pouring rain these two just don’t care , needless to say I have fairy lights in the greenhouse!

[Vetivert]

There may be a couple of additions or small changes as the month progresses (lettuces are still a maybe), but this is the bulk of what I'm including this year:

Beans, climbing
Brown Tobacco Worm
Non-Tough Half-Runner
Robert Hazelwood
Užice Speckled Wax
White Simpson Greasy

Beetroot
Deventer Zwartblad Winterbiet

Courgette
Rugosa Friulana

Flowers
Calendula officinalis ‘Flashback Mix’ + ‘Triangle Flashback/Zeolights’
Nicotiana langsdorfii ‘Bronze Queen’
Scabiosa atropurpurea ‘Black Knight’
Tagetes patula ‘Strawberry Blonde’
Tagetes tenuifolia ‘Red Gem’
Zinnia elegans ‘Cupid’

Radicchio
Rosalba

Shallot bulbs
Ouddorpse Bruine

Tomatoes
Ambrosia Gold
Ambrosia Pink
Ambrosia Red
Ambrosia Rose UBX
Blue Ambrosia
Velmozha

[JanG]

Wow! That’s an amazing list.
The courgette looks fascinating. Have you found the flavour to be interestingly good? I’ve also not seen the pink radicchio and look forward very much to trying it, as well as the Ambrosia line of tomatoes. In fact all look totally irresistible.

Your flower garden must have been wonderful. What a feast to explore next year. I have a very soft spot for Nicotiana langsdorfii so the bronze/chocolate selection has a great appeal. Excitement is mounting!

[galina]

https://www.vreeken.nl/022300-lange-rode-kroten-deventer-zwartblad

I am looking forward to the beetroot Vetivert.  Looks to be an excellent storage beetroot and on the Dutch list of endangered veg too.  Looking at the photos, it makes you wonder why some endangered veg have become endangered.  Is it the non round shape of the root do you think?

[ruud]

I am flabbercasted how did that beetroot managed to cross the pond.

[JanG]

Vetivert will let us know but I'm guessing they might have been from De Tuinen van Weldadigheid. This seems to be an excellent Dutch organisation. I have had garlic from them.
Do you know it, Ruud? And have you grown the Deventer Zwartblad Winterbiet?

[galina]

I am flabbercasted how did that beetroot managed to cross the pond.

Britain still does not have post Brexit import checks.  So seeds can freely go into Britain, although most seed sellers on the continent have stopped sending seeds to Britain now. 

[Vetivert]

Ruud, the beetroot seeds were from detuinenvanweldadigheid.nl they shipped to the UK pre-Brexit.
No idea why that shape fell out of favour, galina. Too big for the pot? Probably the 'wrong' shape for automated harvesting. They are nice beets and keep well, even in the ground overwintering here in the mild south.
The Fruilana is delicious and the quality is excellent; the flesh is dense, smooth and sweet, and the seed cavity isn't watery. I've been harvesting around 25cm fruits. Glad some of the flowers are to your taste, JanG. It's too bad that langsdorfii has no scent. The Cupid zinnias are a joy and still going strong.

[Vetivert]

Some photos of the (mature) courgette, young radicchio and beets.

[ruud]

De tuinen van weldadigheid is an organisation who is collecting and protecting old types of dutch vegetables from being extinct,I have grown a type of runner bean from them.I also visited the nursery bought myself eeuwig moes who is a type of kale who lives forever,it is growing now three years in my garden.I also bought a winterhardy lemontree/bush.

[sparrow]

The dahlias are from Sarah Raven , Show n Tell is dinner plate size scarlet and lemon and Englehardts Matador is very hot pink /cerise with violet undertones I have them side by side they certainly do clash …fabulously.

They sound properly delightful. I just love dahlias - shall look forward to these immensely.

[galina]

Galina or Galina's Yellow or Galina's Yellow Cherry are all names in use it seems.  But I disagree with the description of 'large' clusters of yellow fruit.  I get 7 per truss, just like Real Seeds say.
 What did you get Garrett?
https://victoryseeds.com/products/galina-tomato

And a very informative read.  https://www.seedstrust.com/blog/2018/6/10/the-great-siberian-adventure

[galina]

Sparrow, I am particularly looking forward to your Thelma Sanders.  We had them once before and they were magnificent and produced so well.  As it happened, I could not get seeds from yours at the time.  Have this year grown from a different source and they were a disappointment.  What a gift yours are on offer again, thank you. 

[markfield rover]

Woke up to a frost ! My first thought  …the dahlias, they are fine but will be moved ( they are in pots) to the greenhouse.

[garrett]

I've had a look, but don't have any photos of the Galina tomatoes on the vine. I do remember looking at them and thinking that they had very attractive trusses of fruit, surprisingly symmetrical with I'd reckon 8-10 per truss. I pruned my plants to just a single crystal stem, maybe that makes a difference.

[galina]

Just before cutting up to get the seeds out, here is the rogue's gallery of this year's handpollinated courgettes.  Long White Trailing from HSL, Lungo Bianco Zucchino is from Franchi, Striato d'Italia is from the amazing seed parcel from Jeannine and Jayb and Hungarian Zucchini is from the lady from Colorado I have swapped many seeds with.  A Hungarian variety (as her family hails from there, she collects Hungarian varieties), but no specific name known to my seed donor. 

HSL says that Long White Trailing is good as a marrow too, hope so as this monster is not the largest fruit, an even bigger one was hiding under the mass of achocha foliage. 

[galina]

Jack's Blue and Green beans.  Lovely stringless green beans from Portugal.  Swapped with Lorri Woods, who in turn got this bean from Jack, a waiter.  They are a landrace (in the traditional sense of the word, not the Lofthouse definition), rather than an actual tightly selected variety.  There is a lighter coloured bean in the photo and there is also a red and green variant.  The red version is slightly shorter than the impressive nearly foot long blue and green beans.  I have taken seeds from the blue version only (as in the name) and got all the variations.  Better to leave them as a landrace maybe.  This is the bean that topped my 8 foot supports, climbed up the plum tree nearby and OH had to harvest them with the ladder.  Jack and the beanstalk more like :)

[Vetivert]

These all look excellent galina, thanks for sharing photos. Hope you get some tasty meals out of the Long White marrows. Are the Jack's Blue & Green edible at the size depicted?

[galina]

Not these as they were harvested very leathery to nearly crispy podded.  But they reach that size at the edible stage, then stay good to harvest for several weeks, before they go leathery and finally they dry relatively fast.  Initially the seeds are white with purple or red markings, but they turn yellow within a couple of weeks.  In fact most seeds are shelled with their yellow storage colour in place already.   

[JanG]

The Jack's Blue & Green sound great. To be grown up strong supports by the sound of it - or with a nearby tree within reach!
I admire your success in hand pollinating four varieties of courgette. I grew five varieties but succeeded in hand pollinating only one. I guess it's important to develop a habit of checking every day to see what stage the flowers are at.