Seed Saving Circle 2024

[garrett]

Tunny Climbing French Bean

Originally from Beans & Herbs, origin otherwise unknown. Their description:

Bicoloured seed pink and white. Lots of smallish pods. For pods or shelling. Climbing French bean

I haven't tried them as pods, growing them only for their beautiful beans. They were productive and dried well, even with our soggy autumn weather.

[garrett]

[garrett]

Golden Gate Climbing French Bean

Originally sourced from Mr Fothergill's. Grown for their flat, yellow pods, can also be used as a small dry canellini bean. Their description:

Highly attractive, sweet tasting, stringless flat pods are produced in great numbers over a long season. The vigorous climbing plants show good resistance to disease, ensuring high quality, reliable crops.
Winner of an RHS Award of Garden Merit for reliability and good performance.

[garrett]

Gobstopper Tomato

Indeterminate (cordon) tomato with translucent yellow fruit with visible green jelly. Vigorous plant with long trusses. Originally sourced from a seed swap.

Description:

Recent strain resulting from the dehybridization of Sungold, developed by Madeline McKeever of Brown Envelope Seeds, Ireland.

Round cherry type fruit of 10 to 15 grams. Bouquet of a dozen fruits.

Thin transparent greenish-yellow skin through which the green flesh can be seen.

Sweet and fruity flavor.

[garrett]

Tomato Mango Lassi

Indeterminate (cordon) red cherry tomato bred by Vital Seeds. Their description:

Extremely productive red cherry tomato bred for its fine flavour. This is a farm-original variety which we have bred by 'dehybridising' a popular F1 variety. We have been stabilising the line for 5 years and think its ready to send out into the world now!

The plants have been selected each year for the best flavour and excellent productivity. One of our volunteers thought that the fruits tasted like mango so we named it Mango Lassi.

They're a bit coy about it now, but when it was being bred they were more open about it coming from the popular Sakura F1 hybrid.

I didn't get much of a fruity mango flavour, but mine were outside. Perhaps one might have more luck in a warm greenhouse. It still has a beautiful, classic red cherry flavour. It reminded me of the original Gardener's Delight.

What I was most impressed with is how early this was. Typically, Sungold is my earliest outside cherry, but Mango Lassi surprised me by being ready for picking merely a few days after the Sungold, much earlier than my Gardener's Delight.

Highly recommended for an early cherry.

[garrett]

Tomato Darby Striped

Indeterminate (cordon) red/orange striped cherry tomato, from a seed swap. Description:

A non-commercially released tomato bred in the 1960's by Dr Lewis Darby of the Glasshouse Crops Research Institute in Littlehampton. Dr Darby is better known for breeding Tigerella

I've tried Tigerella, Red Zebra and now this one and I think I prefer the appearance, flavour and texture of Darby Striped .

[garrett]

Tomato Ron's Carbon Copy

Indeterminate (cordon) dark cherry tomato. Sourced from a seed swap. Description:

Ron's Carbon Copy Tomato was created by Ron Rhyne of Muskogee, Oklahoma. This was the results of a cross between Carbon and an unknown cherry tomato. A dark-colored cherry tomato that is a mid-season variety with regular leaves.

An absolutely delicious cherry tomato with lovely rich blackberry notes and thin skin. It reminded me of Reinhardt's Purple Sugar which I grew last year but that had chewy skin which I didn't enjoy. Highly recommended!

[JanG]

(Similar to her rescue of family bean 'Cousin Oliver' we had in the circle a while ago).

That must have been a good many years ago as it pre-dates my involvement. Time for a re-run soon? 

[JanG]

Tomato Mango Lassi

Indeterminate (cordon) red cherry tomato bred by Vital Seeds. Their description:

Extremely productive red cherry tomato bred for its fine flavour. This is a farm-original variety which we have bred by 'dehybridising' a popular F1 variety. We have been stabilising the line for 5 years and think its ready to send out into the world now!

The plants have been selected each year for the best flavour and excellent productivity. One of our volunteers thought that the fruits tasted like mango so we named it Mango Lassi.

They're a bit coy about it now, but when it was being bred they were more open about it coming from the popular Sakura F1 hybrid.

I didn't get much of a fruity mango flavour, but mine were outside. Perhaps one might have more luck in a warm greenhouse. It still has a beautiful, classic red cherry flavour. It reminded me of the original Gardener's Delight.

What I was most impressed with is how early this was. Typically, Sungold is my earliest outside cherry, but Mango Lassi surprised me by being ready for picking merely a few days after the Sungold, much earlier than my Gardener's Delight.

Highly recommended for an early cherry.

Really good to have your photos, info and personal experiences, Garrett.

This tomato sounds a real winner. Always good to have a successful dehybridisation, and who can resist a mango lassi!

[JanG]

Tomato Darby Striped

Indeterminate (cordon) red/orange striped cherry tomato, from a seed swap. Description:

A non-commercially released tomato bred in the 1960's by Dr Lewis Darby of the Glasshouse Crops Research Institute in Littlehampton. Dr Darby is better known for breeding Tigerella

I've tried Tigerella, Red Zebra and now this one and I think I prefer the appearance, flavour and texture of Darby Striped .

HSL offers two colour forms of this one, a red/green and a red/yellow. From your photo this looks more like red/yellow which is certainly attractive as well as tasty.I believe this variety was once recommended by the Hairy Bikers as the very best tasting tomato in their experience.

[JanG]

Tunny Climbing French Bean

Originally from Beans & Herbs, origin otherwise unknown. Their description:

Bicoloured seed pink and white. Lots of smallish pods. For pods or shelling. Climbing French bean

I haven't tried them as pods, growing them only for their beautiful beans. They were productive and dried well, even with our soggy autumn weather.

I tried growing Tunny this year from some very old seed and failed miserably. Very good to have your fresh seed to have a better go this next season.

[JanG]

Hollyhock Halo Red

I can't find out much about this one. It's a selection from the Halo series. I like it because it isn't too tall and doesn't need staking, even in my windy seaside garden. It has beautiful, silky petals. I forgot to take my own picture so I've attached one I found online. I've also found it to be rust free unlike every other hollyhock I've tried here.

Plants were originally grown from Thompson and Morgan seed.

I'm excited to hope for a rust-free hollyhock. A really nice simple flower form too.

[JanG]

I'll start with my list, giving whatever information I can find, photos (if I remembered to take some!) and personal impressions.

Dierama Pulcherrimum Blackberry Bells, grown from seeds originally from Plant World Seeds. Very easy to grow, germinates easily but I recommend sowing immediately with fresh seed as it's a very good candidate for winter sowing. Once germinated, the seedlings look like little blades of grass. The downside is they can take a few years to flower, but I've found them trouble free in all the years I've grown them. Here's what say about it:

Family: Iridaceae
Common name: Angel's Fishing Rods,
Dierama pulcherrimum 'Blackberry Bells

This vigorous hybrid was bred here between 'Cosmos' and Dierama robustum, inheriting some of the darkness from the former flower, but with much larger, deep purple-maroon flared trumpets on very tall, strong springy stems, arising from thick, strong, blade-like leaves. This fabulous plant, coming almost 100% true from seed, makes a strong, solid clump as it matures over the years!

Looking forward to this. I had the basic Dierama pulcherrimum a few years ago, which gradually faded out, possibly not enough moisture. But it sounds as though this hybrid version is particularly robust so hoping it has good survival potential. Such a lovely graceful arching plant and your photo shows a particularly lovely rich dark colour.

[galina]

Marie-louise
                                                                     Lazy housewife
                                                                     Rosaweisse
all three are polebeans.

Ruud,  is your Housewife the Lazy Housewife bean? From Bohnenatlas?  Is your Rosa Weiße the Rosa Weiße Stangenbohne from Bohnenatlas or the Rosa Weiße Stangenbohne Sgarz from Arche Noah? Is Marielouise from Bohnenatlas?

Looking forward to these beans. 

[Vetivert]

Just having a late-night thought about seasonality, giving, and the over commercialisation of everything.

I don't think about it much these days but this seed circle embodies a counterculture and is a true gift.

Not all that many people opt to grow something throughout its lifecycle and disseminate the fruits of the process to an eager recipient. We've found each other in quite an unusual niche hobby and I'm grateful for it.

Christmastime is now also my 'seedtime' and I wouldn't have it any other way.

[JanG]

Thank you for your late night thoughts, Vetivert. As far as the Seed Circle is concerned we are a little held up at the moment by factors making global exchange of seeds more difficult than it used to be. My Christmas wish is that things might ease again at some not too distant time in the future.
But hopefully, one way or another, our circle seeds should be on their way within the week, arriving around a time to enrich the Christmas season and help to make it 'seed time'.

[JanG]

After writing my rather cautious text yesterday, I'm delighted to report that Ruud's parcel successfully arrived just hours later and in quite good time. Thank you, Ruud. I was eager to communicate the good news but the site was down for 24 hours or so.

Anyway, all parcels have been despatched this morning. I'm hoping that they don't get slowed down too much by the Christmas rush. And hopefully Christmas time will indeed be seedtime!  

[markfield rover]

With you Vetivert, not many parcels are this magical with a spirit of something special. This year I shall again get my twenty five advent envelopes, get my OH to fill them ( no peeking)  and lasting into January each morning with coffee and notebook and real ink pen make notes of the excitement/knowledge to come. I share with others too so over the years our circle has benefited/inspired a larger number.
Thank you to everyone and especially JanG for making this happen.
JanG I will asap put some notes together.

[ruud]

Galina,those beans i put in the seedcircle are all from the bohnen-atlas.

[JanG]

I'd be interested to know, Ruud, where your seed of Yedikule 5701 lettuce came from? Did you find it on your Turkish travels?

I've become fascinated by this variety. Thank you for donating it, Ruud.  Googling suggests it's a Romaine type. Apparently it was traditionally grown in botsans which seem to be ancient Turkish equivalents of allotments or small market gardens. Yedikule is a district within Istanbul. One source suggests this variety has been grown in botsans in Yedikule for over 1500 years but I would take that with a slight pinch of salt. Certainly though it does seem to be a variety well established within Turkish culture. But nowhere have I been able to find any information about what 5701 relates to and I would really like to know!

[JanG]

I'm attempting to gather information at the moment ( round other pre-Christmas pressures) for the Airtable database as usual at this time of year. It will take some time to complete but I hope to send links to all participants before too long and you might well be able to access it anyway from last season.

I happen to have started with your seeds, Ruud, and I'm just looking into Mr Wrinkles pumpkin. It's a Jack o' Lantern type and looks very beautiful (see photo). I assume that Jack o' Lantern types are mainly grown for halloween carving and might not necessarily taste brilliant. Sources vary on this one, one suggesting it doesn't have culinary merit and another that it tastes good. Have you tried it, Ruud, or just grown it for its beauty?! It's a hybrid which I take to mean that it's likely not to come true from seed but it could be interesting to see what is produced.