Seed Saving Circle 2026

[galina]

Both versions fine here Jan.  Great comparison photos.

We had one of the large squashes here (not an isolated/handpollinated one) develop a soft spot, so need to eat it quickly, instead of the New Zealand Blue I had planned to eat (just in time for its seeds for the circle, before I have to finish packing seed here). 

However, just like with the promised Whangaparaoa Crown, seeds are postponed until next year, not cancelled.  Also gives me the option for adding seeds from a very good looking second isolated/handpollinated fruit that was only harvested very recently for more same-variety diversity.  And as the seeds will now only be harvested (rot spots permitting!) next year, it will have had a long time of post harvest seed ripening. The Old Timey Cornfield pumpkin and the Striato d'Italia courgette are already drying and will go into the circle for this year. 

[JanG]

That's a great contribution, Galina.

By way of lettuce varieties I've been into growing several traditional varieties this year with quite a lot of history and associations with Monticello and Jefferson.
Brown Dutch So this is a traditional heading lettuce, with loose heads and green leaves tinged reddish-brown or bronze. It's documented in British gardening literature by 1731 and was also grown by Jefferson in the early nineteenth century at Monticello where it was valued as a hardy lettuce for autumn sowing and winter harvesting.. It's thought to be Dutch in origin but this is difficult to prove. It was an old favourite in Britain and from there passed to the other side of the Atlantic.  It's particularly suitable for cooler conditions and autumn cultivation with tender leaves and mild flavour.I grew it from some different seed batches I had but they all turned out to similar and true to type.
Tennis Ball[/b]
And again, completing my run of traditional older lettuce grown by Jefferson, there is Tennis Ball. It's a small, compact butterhead lettuce, forming neat, rounded heads of pale green leaves, traditionally described as resembling a tennis ball, again mild, tender and delicate.
It's another eighteenth-century variety, with seed offered by American seedsmen before 1800. Thomas Jefferson grew it at Monticello from 1809 onwards and regarded it as a favourite, noting that it required less care than other lettuces.

[JanG]