Seed Saving Circle 2017

[galina]

Thank you Penedesenca very much for taking on the distribution.   

I am looking at what I have in the box and folding and stuffing seed packets.

There is a dwarf heritage pea (Carter's daffodil), a melon (Petit Gris de Rennes).  Also a bright day glow orange sauce tomato (Roughwood Golden Plum) that originated from the magic seed parcel from Jeannine and Jayb a few years ago.  A few beans (Mennonite Stripe) and a chili (Trepadeira Werner).  The squash (Todo el An~o) is not handpollinated (the actual handpollinated squashes had few seeds only), but it was the only cucurbita maxima variety grown and nobody in the neighbourhood grows anything but grass, so that is possible with a caution.  Can also add round seeded giant Bolivian Achocha, which have done extraordinarily well this year. 

Many thanks again 

[galina]

[markfield rover]

Thank-you penedesenca , very kind of you , possibly getting a little bit excited now! Cheers.

[penedesenca]

Thank you all for your kind messages and support. All the seeds lined up are sounding fantastic, glad I am not the only one getting excited.

[pumkinlover]

Mine is in the post !

[galina]

Still packing here.  Have just found enough Walking Onions in the conservatory.  Only a few Catawissa (but we had those a few years ago) and Moritz, which makes larger top heads with more purple onions, although most of these are a little smaller than the Catawissa ones.  The Moritz Walking Onion was a gift from Hector.  It is getting very late for Walking Onions, therefore they need to be planted up as soon as the seed packets reach their destinations.  Hope that everybody will end up with a few plants. 

Have read up on the history behind the Paste tomato 'Roughwood Golden Plum'.  This is a determinate tomato, but still needs staking as the plants are quite tall.  More round than plum shaped with very thick meaty flesh and a brilliant orange colour.  So good with an egg and a slice of bacon for Sunday breakfast.  Even in winter, straight from the freezer, just cut into halves and frozen individually  Makes a lovely tomato sauce too.  It was bred by food historian Wills Woys Weaver, who crossed San Marzano with Yellow Brandyvine.
 
Petit Gris de Rennes was the melon that broke my spell of not being able to grow melons.  This one just worked (in the greenhouse).  Small greenish netted melons, very juicy and yummy.  If I can succeed with this variety, I hope it works for others too.   

[sparrow]

Mine going off to you on Tuesday. :)

[pumkinlover]

I am a bit stuck on beans this year.
There are Gigandes originally from Chris Cross, sadly no longer posts. A nice fat butter bean type.
Painted Lady runner bean.
Giant Stringless dwarf bean from last years HSL (only ten packets sorry)
Xenia Field dwarf bean also HSL. I think that this is the nicest pencil bean I have grown, it was a torment not to pick and eat it.

[Plot 18]

galina: Have read up on the history behind the Paste tomato 'Roughwood Golden Plum'.  This is a determinate tomato, but still needs staking as the plants are quite tall.  More round than plum shaped with very thick meaty flesh and a brilliant orange colour.  So good with an egg and a slice of bacon for Sunday breakfast.  Even in winter, straight from the freezer, just cut into halves and frozen individually  Makes a lovely tomato sauce too.

I grew this a couple of years ago as an indeterminate/cordon, must be one of those varieties that works both ways :D but agree with the rest of the description. It's one of those varieties that you can easily pull out the central core and seeds and put in a stuffing and bake.

[galina]

Plot 18, yes I agree, it is one of those tomatoes that isn't quite one or the other.  Safe to say, it isn't a classic short bush tomato that can stand on its own without support.  I didn't prune out side shoots as that would have limited the yield I think.   

[earlypea]

I'm not very excited by my own entries to the share this year, which is unusual. 

I wondered whether I might be permitted to add some non-self-saved seeds in addition to my 3 self-saved? 

It's just I've got a gazillion seeds of the Gniff carrot from Kokopelli (not rareseeds) and I'll never be able to use them all.  Seems like a terrible waste of a rare one and I don't have the time to swap them individually on the swap board.
https://www.rareseeds.com/gniff-carrot/

I grew it this year and it was exceedingly fun, very different from other carrots.  But, I won't be able to grow it for seed this year as I'm definitely leaving my plot at some point so will only be growing a few basics.

Would it be alright to add some bags of that?  If you let me know today because I'm packaging up now and will take to the post office in the   morning.

Cheers

[galina]

Sounds very interesting, yes please. 

I wondered whether I might be permitted to add some non-self-saved seeds in addition to my 3 self-saved? 

It's just I've got a gazillion seeds of the Gniff carrot from Kokopelli
Cheers

[Plot 18]

Another yes please from me :)

[penedesenca]

Fine by me. They sound great.

I'm not very excited by my own entries to the share this year, which is unusual. 

I wondered whether I might be permitted to add some non-self-saved seeds in addition to my 3 self-saved? 

It's just I've got a gazillion seeds of the Gniff carrot from Kokopelli (not rareseeds) and I'll never be able to use them all.  Seems like a terrible waste of a rare one and I don't have the time to swap them individually on the swap board.
https://www.rareseeds.com/gniff-carrot/

I grew it this year and it was exceedingly fun, very different from other carrots.  But, I won't be able to grow it for seed this year as I'm definitely leaving my plot at some point so will only be growing a few basics.

Would it be alright to add some bags of that?  If you let me know today because I'm packaging up now and will take to the post office in the   morning.

Cheers

[penedesenca]

Woohoo! The first of the parcels has landed. Thank you Pumpkinlover and Plot 18 

We are at 13 confirmed

punpkinlover CONFIRMED - Seeds arrived
markfield rover CONFIRMED
penedeseca CONFIRMED - Seeds arrived
sparrow CONFIRMED
hector
silverleaf CONFIRMED
plot 18 CONFIRMED - Seeds arrived
elfeda
seacarrot CONFIRMED
jayb
ruud CONFIRMED
sunloving
martinburo CONFIRMED
earlypea CONFIRMED
robert brenchley CONFIRMED
galina CONFIRMED

[Seacarrot]

My seeds went in the post box this morning.

[earlypea]

Mine should have caught the noon post today.

In the end I've sent:

Early bush tomato:  Silvery Fir Tree
Vine tomato:  Yellow Brandywine (Sudduth Strain)
Lettuce:  Australian Yellow Leaf
Carrot:  Gniff (not self-saved)

I couldn't extract the tiny flies from the Beet Berry I had also planned to send and didn't like the idea of distributing pests all around the UK so had to leave it.

Also, could I apologise for the paltry quantities.  I like to be more generous normally, on account of slugs and weather and everything else, but I had a really big clear out of my gardening debris a few weeks ago and it all went a bit too far - this was all that was left!

I will post photos and proper descriptions of varieties in a day or two.

[earlypea]

Just a thought....but would it be a good idea to have a "Seed Saving Circle 2017 CATALOGUE" sticky here so we could all post up our info/photos about this year's varieties to one location.

It's a faddle to wade through the original thread and hard work for someone to sort through and edit (Thanks Jayb & Galina for previous years).

[sparrow]

Mine are on the way - missed the post though so they are overnighting in the postbox and will be travelling tomorrow.

[Plot 18]

I really feel sorry for them, perhaps they have other letters to keep them warm :) Group hug, maybe 

[markfield rover]

Winging their way.........