Seed Saving Circle 2025

[JanG]

I'd say not anywhere as unusual a shape as your Green Spindle - I love the name too.

The Artisan Green Tiger reminds me of the shape and striping of one I'm growing this year.i hope to be able to contribute seeds of this one too. It's called Shimmer



I'm also growing a completely different but interestingly shaped one, also hopefully for the Circle, called Mila Orange.



Are you thinking of contributing seeds of Green Spindle, Galina, or are you wanting to stabilise it further? We could have a mini- collection of unusual shapes!

[galina]

I can contribute some Green Spindle seeds if this is of interest and will gladly do so.  What I can't give is a purity guarantee.  Both Shimmer and Mila Orange are definitely on the very unusual shape spectrum, lovely additions to our (already very eclectic!) tomato gardens. Thank you Jan.

[juliev]

Hello everyone,
sorry I have been quiet but reading the thread regularly.

Getting to the end of the tomato seed saving. It's been intense! Mango Lassi, Ron's Carbon Copy, Black from Tula, Boxcar Willie and Pamplemousse du Grand-père have done really well. I'm pleased you enjoyed Sunfire Flare. It is indeed a pretty tomato!

I have also harvested some purple potatoes from Jan's TPS (left in the ground last year). It even produced a fruit.

There are pots, trays, plates and bags on every surface. I'm sure I'm not the only one...

I haven't got all the variety names handy (I'll get a detailed list ready) but I'm hoping to contribute:
peas
beans
naked-seed pumpkin
tomatoes
chillies
golden flax
poppy

Happy harvest season everyone!

[markfield rover]

Yes same here , as the season started with window sills covered it ends that way too , cleaning the cress seed took me three episodes of Desert Island Discs (fabulous) with Carol Klein's episode being particularly apposite !

[galina]

Now that is dedication MR, thank you.  Glad Carol Klein helped too 

[JanG]

Yes, little pots of drying seeds waiting to be sorted on every available surface! The floor of our little spare bedroom is also full of white buckets of bigger stalks upside down waiting to be threshed - lettuce, coriander etc. and brown paper bags with bean pods.

I'm not close to a final list for the seed circle either but the next month should clarify things a bit.

Thank you for your good range of crops, juliev. Looking forward to variety names when you're ready. I'm growing Kakai this year by way of naked seed pumpkin but alas, no successful hand pollination. Perhaps yours is Kakai? I'm looking forward to harvesting your Desert Spirit Landrace. In my squash jungle with one or two new varieties I'm unsure of, it's difficult to see exactly what will emerge but I think there are a couple of beauties.

And I, for one, Galina, would enjoy growing on Green Spindle to see what happens.

[galina]

More seeds of Green Spindle are fermenting as I write this Jan. 

And I have washed the debris off the Early Prolific Straightneck squash seeds and the seeds are now drying. 

[markfield rover]

Green Spindle would be of interest thank you Galina . Next season I want to explore green tomatoes more .

[galina]

Green tomatoes have a different flavour, sweet and almost spicy, very sophisticated, Markfield Rover.  We love them, ever since that iconic tomato of Tom Wagner's, the Green Zebra, took the tomato world by storm, now over 40 years ago. 

I have a small offering of watermelon seeds.  Small because only the first fruit is currently ready, called Golden Midget.  Really small, looks more like a grapefruit on the ground. Correspondingly, there are not that many seeds.  I didn't bag it, but there were no other watermelons around.  It should be early enough for UK, even if summer isn't as blazing as in parts this year.  Sorry I didn't take a photo. 

This was my source of seeds and their description:  "Golden Midget has been on the market since 1959 and originates from America. This variety was developed by Elwyn Meader and Albert Yeager at the University of New Hampshire. This small watermelon, weighing about 1.5 kilos, is very suitable for our climate due to its small size (and thus short growing period). 'Golden Midget' is a golden-yellow melon with juicy and sweet pinkish-red flesh. Compared to other varieties, the plant has a relatively compact growth habit, making it suitable for growing in pots or containers.

With most watermelons, it's difficult to determine when the fruit is ripe. With Golden Midget, it's somewhat easier. You can actually see it. The fruit changes color from green to yellow. Once the fruit has turned completely yellow, it's ripe."   

https://www.jansenzaden.nl/products/citrullus-lanatus-watermeloen-golden-midget-47340?_pos=1&_psq=golden+mid&_ss=e&_v=1.0&variant=46390648570112

[Vetivert]

Looks like you all have some very exciting seeds in the pipeline!

It's been some time since I grew early prolific straightneck but I distinctly recall being impressed by the flavour, so looking forward to growing it again!

Peas were a flop this year, the early season heat was just too much for them.

[Vetivert]

Shintokiwa cucumber ripening