Topic: Seed Saving Circle 2024

[markfield rover]

Are you growing them inside? Mine are outside and are acting as if it is June , I’ll get back to you when they get their act together.

[JanG]

Yes, mine are in my polytunnel. I hope yours make some rapid progress. Some warmer weather this next week might help a little? 🤞

[galina]

I hope nobody is sick of handpollinating squash photos.  But today there were a few good examples in the garden.  Unfortunately my photo skills are not always the best, but I hope you can all see what it is meant to show and have a go at handpollinating.  As it has been mentioned that matching flowers can be a bit tricky, here are a few.

The basics are that you handpollinate a female flower with the tiny embryo fruit underneath with a male.  You close both the evening before they are going to open naturally, to prevent them from opening.  The following day, pick off the male alltogether, bring it to the female.  Open both making sure no bees try to get to the flowers, pick off the petals of the male flower and brush it gently all around the centre of the female flower.  You can actually see the pollen grains in the male flower.  Afterwards close the female again and mark its stem, so that you know at harvest time which is the fruit with the pure seeds. 

I was lucky to have a corresponding Sweet Meat female and male, both ready to open tomorrow and also the same on Thelma Sanders.  Thelma also has two further females, but they are not yet ready for another day.  Their flowers are greener and not quite full size yet.  However there are no corresponding males on the plants for these two.  Too bad, no doubt the bees will help out with pollen from the courgettes, which are also species cucurbita pepo same as Thelma, and we will hopefully get fruit, but no chance for another handpollination with these two.

[galina]

Bean success has been mixed ........., and Red Swan, which is very beautiful. Thank you, Juliev.

I sowed mine very late in June and they are currently only just flowering.  Such beautiful pink and white flowers indeed.  And very healthy plants too.  Thank you Juliev. 

[JanG]

Thank you very much, Galina, for capturing so clearly the different stages of squash pollination for true seeds. That’s perfect.

And I’m very pleased you have Red Swan successfully growing. It’s always good to have some beans for later in the season.I sowed mine about as early as is reasonable (5th May) and they’re past being good to eat now. One observation is that they are not quick to dry down for seed.

My earliest bean by quite a long way, both to produce snap beans and then dry pods for seed has been Black Valentine, (thank you, Markfield Rover) which I grew as a semi-runner up a four foot support. I’ve been harvesting seed for a couple of weeks or so. Definitely a good and easy doer.

[galina]

Thank you Jan.

This is how the squashes looked today in the morning.  First the Sweet Meat.  Both the male and the female are bulging and would burst open, if it were not for the ties.  I know I said thick wool, but yesterday I only had ordiniary DK to hand and it works too, just potentially could cut into the petals easier than thick wool.

I picked the male flower and pulled off its petals.  Here it is (bottom right) ready to be 'painted' onto the centre of the female flower for pollen transfer.

The next photo shows the female all tied up again to prevent further pollen being brought in by bees.  Note to slugs - stay away please!

[galina]

And here are the Thelma Sanders.  Both male and female bulging and would open were it not for the wool tie. 

Male picked and opened.  Pollen grains are visible ready to handpollinate the female.

Female tied up again.  Both handpollinated Thelmas in the same photo. 

[JanG]

Great photos. A perfect tutorial in the whole process. Now just to find two flowers at the right stage! 🤞

[galina]

Good luck.

[JanG]

I’m wondering whether anyone else is as excited as I am by so ,any of the Seed Circle tomato varieties as I am.

Garrett’s Girl Girl’s Weird Thing keeps producing large beautiful striped fruit. It’s very productive for a beefsteak type

Ruud’s Grandma Viney’s is interestingly coloured (I’ve seen it listed as Grandma Viney’s Pink and Yellow) and absolutely enormous. I had one fruit which was 2lbs 1oz!

Markfield Rover’s Seattle Best of All and Blaby Special are both highly productive classically mid-sized red tomatoes.

And Galina’s Tim’s Taste of Paradise just goes on and on producing small delicious yellow fruit

Ruud’s Blue Beauty is very beautiful but for me not very productive. I wonder whether anyone else has found the same

And I love the dusky colouring on Garrett’s Piglet Willie’s French Black

I could mention others too. Such a rich variety of tomato fruits. I love them all!

[galina]

I couldn't grow them all, still catching up with last year's and the year before.  The Ambrosia Blue have just been outstanding, not so much blue as chocolate brown, after a 'blue' stage and such depth of flavour.  Ditto Ambrosia Rose UBX.  Yes Blaby always does well and tastes good too. 

[galina]

I couldn't grow them all, still catching up with last year's and the year before.  The Ambrosia Blue have just been outstanding, not so much blue as chocolate brown, after a 'blue' stage and such depth of flavour.  Ditto Ambrosia Rose UBX which tastes fab.  Yes Blaby always does well and tastes good too. 

[JanG]

I couldn't grow them all, still catching up with last year's and the year before.  The Ambrosia Blue have just been outstanding, not so much blue as chocolate brown, after a 'blue' stage and such depth of flavour.  Ditto Ambrosia Rose UBX.  Yes Blaby always does well and tastes good too. 

Yes, I couldn’t grow them all either! Such a rich choice, and I wanted to grow a few from earlier years too, either to renew seed or because of fond memories.

[markfield rover]

Piglet Willie French Black tastes like we have had a glorious and languorous summer !