A Seed Saver's Garden

[flowerbug]

Do you know if they eat during the night/day or both? I've seen a few plants chewed but it's usually slugs. Or maybe not.

i don't think they are very active at night. usually they are easy to pick off in the early morning by hand and then i crush them to make sure they're dead before i drop them on the ground (fertilizer or bird food or ...).

 

[heirloomgal]

i don't think they are very active at night. usually they are easy to pick off in the early morning by hand and then i crush them to make sure they're dead before i drop them on the ground (fertilizer or bird food or ...).

I haven't seen these beasts, so I guess I'm alright. Phew. Thanks @flowerbug ☺

 

[flowerbug]

I haven't seen these beasts, so I guess I'm alright. Phew. Thanks @flowerbug ☺

if you are a distance from an agricultural area then you many not see them right away, but my guess is that you'll see them eventually. they'll spread via any grassy areas (along roads) and they eat a lot of different plants including many wild ones so...

 

[digitS']

Are there strings running across in there

There are 4' horizontal cross boards attached to the uprights. Three usually proves adequate.

The strings (baling twine) are tied to the cross boards and run horizontally. On a 4' wide bed, I use 5 strings for 2 "layers." The top, 3rd layer, usually has 4 strings.

Peas tie themselves in. And yes, they can become heavy. So, I can tie a string on the outside bottom string, 2nd layer, top ... toss my vertical string over the top horizontal board ... tie, tie, tie, On the other side - and move on to where needed.

Steve

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Going back to the bell versus hot pepper output question. I think a lot of plants (tomatoes and peppers in particular) have a sort of standard constant output per unit of plant. That is, the bigger the fruit you are getting, the less of them there will be. There is only so much fruit a unit of plant can make fruit for, it seems. To get more fruit, you have to get the plant bigger. I certainly holds true for me and tomatoes. If the tomato is a normal to large one, I am lucky to get one or two fruits off it in a season (and they will be smaller than they normally would be). In contrast a cherry tomato will make a decent number of fruits, and a current type, so many I may actually have extras.

Peppers seem to be the same thing. Bells produce one or two runty fruits. But the year I grew the Amazonians (which are tiny, and only mildly hot) I got a pretty decent number.)

 

[heirloomgal]

Going back to the bell versus hot pepper output question. I think a lot of plants (tomatoes and peppers in particular) have a sort of standard constant output per unit of plant. That is, the bigger the fruit you are getting, the less of them there will be. There is only so much fruit a unit of plant can make fruit for, it seems. To get more fruit, you have to get the plant bigger. I certainly holds true for me and tomatoes. If the tomato is a normal to large one, I am lucky to get one or two fruits off it in a season (and they will be smaller than they normally would be). In contrast a cherry tomato will make a decent number of fruits, and a current type, so many I may actually have extras.

Peppers seem to be the same thing. Bells produce one or two runty fruits. But the year I grew the Amazonians (which are tiny, and only mildly hot) I got a pretty decent number.)

I think you're onto something @Pulsegleaner. My cherries & currants of course way out produce my beefsteaks by number, but the weight equivalent might be somewhat comparable. I do think variety and breeding /selection factors in as well; Brandywine is typically a a low producer, with huge vegetative matter. Some people feel this limited fruit production with high plant matter ratio is why they taste so good. Perhaps they were selected for this fruit producing tendency purposefully. But some other potato leaf beefsteaks I've grown were crazy mega producers. Almost anything with antho expression I've found has been a really productive variety. Purple Dragon, Sgt. Pepper are good examples. 'Wildness' seems to factor in with production too. Wilder eggplants produce by the bucket, whereas Rosa Bianco's and Morden Midgets I can count on my fingers. Notably, the wild eggplants are walnut sized.

The peppers are an odd bunch in that some of the small hots have been wildly productive- Camari do Paro, Biquinho, Charapita, etc. yet when I've drifted into the reapers, scorpions, ghosts etc. the production seemed to really drop off, comparatively. Almost as if a tie exists between heat selection and production, with more heat= less peppers. While I've seen some red and white hab's be quite fruitful, they still were lower than some other varieties. (Hard to even know if those white Peruvian habaneros are hab's.)

Production is a big factor in what I put onto 'the ark', and what gets left behind.

 

[heirloomgal]

'Bullnose' peppers. About one, maybe 2 large peppers per plant. Pathetic. But for outdoor growth it could be worse. Always wanted this old one, finally got it.

Sesame seed pods en masse. As per my prior conclusion that these could be grown outside as easily as in hothouse since they bloomed very close together, I see now pod numbers are way different. Production would be way low I think.

First beefsteak tomato! 'Crnkovic Yugoslavian'. Perfect texture, no tomato goop.

'Poona Kheera', 'National Pickling' and 'Miniature White'. First picking!

Testament to the conditions in which peppers can grow. This is 'Nomad', the effort to dehybridize 'Gypsy'. Had no room left anywhere for them, overshot pepper space, so I planted a few behind the pea trellis's where sunlight will eventually be blocked, and where almost no rain falls onto a sandy soil. Virtually total neglect. Yet...

'Swedish Red' dry peas, rescued from a tumble. Starting to see seed formation.

Trellis almost fully covered! Almost 60 days total to achieve. In hindsight I may regret this planting choice, as the attraction for bees has been powerful and they bopped around on my other stuff after leaving the runner beans.

The only lily I have that exudes a truly intoxicating scent. A bit of vanilla in there. Wish I could remember the variety it is.

 

[Zeedman]

Peppers seem to be the same thing. Bells produce one or two runty fruits. But the year I grew the Amazonians (which are tiny, and only mildly hot) I got a pretty decent number.)

Personally, I think that in the case of bell peppers, the breeding over time increased size at the expense of productivity. Lots of leaves, not many peppers. Pimento peppers seem to be more consistently productive for me. But there are strains of bell peppers - those which are cream colored immature - which demonstrate a higher yield potential. I've grown one, and the plants were loaded... but they ripened too late to make them reliable in my climate.

I grow a lot of the peppers which start out cream/yellow, and all are extremely productive. There appears to be a relationship between color & high productivity in that phenotype.

 

[heirloomgal]

Conttinued from post earlier today ↕
My 4 o'clock plants that I grew from saved tubers. And the seeds they produce! It does seem like the white flowering variety is the most resilient of all colours. And I've almost left it to nature for moisture, except in the first few weeks. Only problem I've experienced with this plant is stems breaking right off from the main plant. That's happened a few times, including this year. So many reasons to enjoy this species though, as it seems to not really require any human intervention or even specific sun exposure.
And the scent

Here is a nearly done pea variety; if I have only a few seeds to start with I'll often grow in these planters for more cultural control. I've been keeping them near my (covered ) carport because there has been some extended periods of rain and I can pull them under there as often as needed and easily. The rains will damage any seed in pods which have opened even slightly. However, it also is right at the front of my house, so anyone who comes over sees these dying planters right off.

I probably have a somewhat twisted sense of humour, as I get such a hoot out of watching people's reactions to these planters. I can practically feel them thinking, '....my goodness, she hasn't a clue how to grow anything, her plants are all dead and she hasn't noticed...'. The looks of horror on their faces; the less reserved will immediately look to me with hope to communicate my mistake with eye language. At this point I usually cannot hold back the laughter, nor the need to explain to them why I'm keeping 'dead plants'. I find it all pretty hilarious, and many a joke has been made by visitors about my ineptitude on full display.

But in another way, it's all an interesting cultural revelation. At some point in times past I don't think the presence of my degrading plants would have been cause for such confusion. People saved seeds, it was just part of the whole process in a gardening cycle. You have to wait 'til the plant is done. Likely nearly everyone who grew plants did it. Now, it seems a cause for confusion and bafflement. Not that I enjoy the look of the plants at this stage either, but it is what it is and I want the seeds. Interesting how the wheel of life rotates.

Visitor today

Posted this one before, but I can't help but marvel over those dark blue waves and silver sparkles. I can see why the gave it a Star Wars themed name.

 

[Zeedman]

The peppers are an odd bunch in that some of the small hots have been wildly productive- Camari do Paro, Biquinho, Charapita, etc. yet when I've drifted into the reapers, scorpions, ghosts etc. the production seemed to really drop off, comparatively. Almost as if a tie exists between heat selection and production, with more heat= less peppers. While I've seen some red and white hab's be quite fruitful, they still were lower than some other varieties. (Hard to even know if those white Peruvian habaneros are hab's.)

The Capsicum chinense peppers (such as the habs & super-hots) are in my experience less productive overall than C. annuum hot peppers.

Production is a big factor in what I put onto 'the ark', and what gets left behind.

My philosophy as well, with some reservations. I've dumped a few varieties in spite of their highly productivity, because who needs a lot of something if it is tasteless. And saved some that were less productive because they were flavorful, highly nutritious, rare, or unusual. If push ever came to shove & I was gardening for subsistence, I could drop 2/3 of my collection, and just grow the 1-2 best varieties in each class.