Allotments 4 All

Those would certainly be of interest. It would be great to have you join the circle.

Principe Borghese is apparently good for sun drying. Have you ever tried it that way? And for me personally I'm very interested to try Padron peppers which I believe are mild, except that occasionally you get a very hot one. Sounds like an interesting gamble!

End of Nov again sounds good to me.

Saving senposai seeds and not sure what to make of the current condition of the pods. They look ready to ripen but are committed to staying green. Should I cut and hang to dry or leave them?

I've never grown it but it sounds great from descriptions I've read.

Could you hedge your bets and and take one or two sprigs of pods to dry off the plant and leave the rest a while longer?

How have you found the eating quality?

 https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/seed-saving-guidelines?fbclid=IwAR0gY55pYEG3nMkif2UhG3IE9ZNJOli56GGg8ipycDZJhkw9kYeFFYEtsCg


Sorry this is rather late in the year, but here is a very good seedsaving guide from the Heritage Seed Library. 

Thanks for the link. They advise not to cut while the pods are still green. Some are starting to take on a more autumnal colour, so I'll remain patient.

It's a very tasty vegetable. Hard to describe - very tender spring cabbage with a slight hint of mustard perhaps? it has the rapid growth of other Asian brassicas. Why it was dropped from British catalogues is beyond me.

And another seed saving page that is good and interesting with lots of 'how to' videos.

https://www.diyseeds.org/en/films/?fbclid=IwAR3ojqqmxLeVyHi1VTZh8XK9PuwbxDDFRN4_sFgAn-qBrT_kD1M1Q7CQaHw

It's getting nearer to seed circle time. I hope everyone's growing, harvesting and seed saving has been going really well in spite of a cold start to the season for many of us.
It would be great if we could begin to indicate what we think we can offer. I haven't heard from one or two people about timing but thanks, Vetivert, for your reply. We can decide on timing in the next week or so.

Those taking part:

Silverleaf
Vetivert
Galina
Ruud
JanG
Elfeda?

I'd like to contribute:

Tomato, Azoychka
Tomato, Sweet Aperitif
Tomato, Jen's Tangerine
Tomato, Primabella
Pea, Rosakrone
Pea, Opal Creek
Pea, Champion of England
Dwarf French bean, Saint Esprit d'Oeil Rouge

Anyone else?

Hello , if I am not too late and what I have is of interest  I could offer
Beetroot..Long Blood Red
Lettuce...Northern Queen
Turnip...Veitch's Red Globe
Cime Di Rape , Quarantina

The stars of the plot this year have been Judion bean , almost dry and a Rocket of sorts  the seed is from a friend whose family grow it in Iraq  they call it Rochelle (sp!) it's fast , vigorous, prolific and tasty ( quite a bite)

If the above are suitable I'll add them to the circle.

Hi Markfield Rover. Very good to have you join. And what you offer is of great interest, a lovely range.

And from a pm you sent, I think you're OK for the end of November? Your Judion beans (big white seeded runner?) sound great too. We can hang on a week or two if you're thinking of contributing those too.

Thank you , the Judion bean is a whopper, the largest bean I've grown, I think it is a runner but the instructions I was given was to treat as a butter bean, cooking details are scarce, I wanted to eat them fresh , so I alerted my neighbour to listen out in case it all went too quiet! The pods were completely dry so I think a fortnight should do it. The plants have meanwhile produced a lot more pods. The rest are ready.

They sound great. I'm never quite sure what is meant by butter bean but it sounds a bit like Greek Gigandes but more productive perhaps. Are the pods fairly short and squat?

I often miss that stage of podding them demi-sec, as it's sometimes called. But I love having dried beans so, although it's a bit more trouble, it all turns out well!

Hi everybody,i am still drying beans and other seeds but i will be finished far before the deadline.I will make list of my contribution this year.Just a little bit more patience.Have a nice evening everybody

Thank you, Ruud. Good to hear from you and to know that you're OK with the end of November.  Good luck with your drying and sorting. A busy but exciting time of year!

Updated list of circle:

Silverleaf
Vetivert
Galina
Ruud
JanG: tomatoes, Azoychka, Sweet Aperitif, Jen's Tangerine, Primabella; peas Rosakrone, Opal Creek, Champion of England; Dwarf FB, Saint Esprit d'ceil Rouge
Markfield Rover: Beetroot..Long Blood Red: Lettuce...Northern Queen; Turnip...Veitch's Red Globe: Cime Di Rape , Quarantina

The Judion pods are about 6 inches , containing between one and four beans , I have plenty drying. Although I can't accurately name the rocket/Rochelle it's certainly very tasty , I'll add both these.

Looking good already!

I'll add:

Broad Bean
El Beano

Climbing Bean
Angel/Engelsbohne/Monstrance
Oude Sloveense Boterboon
Grand-mère

Lettuce
Bronze Arrowhead
White-seeded Samara

Senposai (European Cabbage x Komatsuna)

In addition I hope to include the mammoth Dutch runner 'Boerentenen', to complement Markfield's Judion, but I've yet to harvest the pods and with recent weather have no idea how well they've ripened. Fingers crossed.

Let's see what is dry or what will be. 

Climbing French beans Hewitt and Phil's.  Hewitt is dual use and Phil's is a pencil podded green bean.  Hewitt came from HSL via Jayb who is the donor of my first seeds.  Phil's come from a USA seed swap some 20 years ago.  The donor's neighbour Phil had died and left a huge row of his fabulous tall green beans behind in his garden.  My swap partner took some of these bean seeds.  There was quite a discussion about what variety they might be.  Possibly Kentucky Blue.  However I have bought KB since and those while similar, weren't a patch on Phil's.  Both beans are tall and stringless.  Only proviso is that our new neighbour has bees.  While I hope there will not be an undue amount of crossing, I do not yet fully understand how, if at all, these bees affect any bean crossing rates. 

We also have Hungarian pepper Sipka Belaja, which I have shared once before.  Early, nice fruity, short pods, hot, bright shiny red, but not lethal. 

Purple tomatillos were good this year.  And also the little ground cherries, which are also a repeat.  Maybe a pea, have to see what I have enough of to share. 

Love seeing what others are offering.  This is going to be a good swap.  Thank you.   

Great to have your likely offerings, Vetivert and Galina, and thanks for the detailed information, Galina. It's very good to have the stories behind the beans etc.

It's becoming a wonderfully exciting list of varieties.

Another update:

Silverleaf
Vetivert Broad Bean, El Beano; Climbing Bean, Angel/Engelsbohne/Monstrance, Oude Sloveense Boterboon, Grand-mère; Lettuce[/b Bronze Arrowhead, White-seeded Samara; Senposai (European Cabbage x Komatsuna); Runner bean, Boerentenen?
Galina Climbing French bean, Hewitt, Phil's; Pepper, Sipka Belaja; purple tomatillos; ground cherry
Ruud
JanG: Tomatoes, Azoychka, Sweet Aperitif, Jen's Tangerine, Primabella; Peas Rosakrone, Opal Creek, Champion of England; Dwarf FB, Saint Esprit d'oeil Rouge
Markfield Rover: Beetroot..Long Blood Red: Lettuce...Northern Queen; Turnip...Veitch's Red Globe: Cime Di Rape , Quarantina

I have the Judion bean and the "Rocket " which I need to label carefully as I don't know the true name , it's just jolly nice! To add to the above.

Also enough seeds of climbing French beans Reading Purple from HSL and Mazlenk Visok Dolgi Stroki, a pencil podded yellow bean from Bohnenatlas.  Originally from Slovenia.  Sorry no photos.  Here is Reading Purple from HSL, but I must say that mine were longer than the ones on the photo, many with 9 seeds inside and I would take the 'stringless when young' to mean 'when very young'.  Basically I would call them a bean with strings. Nevertheless a good bean with high yields, that is worth growing.   https://hsl.gardenorganic.org.uk/seedlist/french-bean/reading-purple