A Seed Saver's Garden

[Pulsegleaner]

1. I think so, most loofahs I have seen have black seeds.
2+3 Yes, but not recently. And yes, when they are young you can eat them like zucchini (though you have to peel them first, many are sort of fuzzy/prickly and the Angled Luffa (Luffa actangualta), which is usually the one preferred for eating, has a very tough, ridged skin.)

Skip the other four or five species, not only are they hard to find, they are generally too small to bother with. (They have a minor use in Asian medicine, but not much else.)

Looks like the Apple Loofah I just got in the mail is also white seeded (I thought it might be, but one source showed white seeds and one black, and I had ordered from the black seeded one, so I wasn't sure.)

Actually since Apple (unlike most loofahs I have seen or grown) is a F1 hybrid, I wonder if the white seeded ones are actually some sort of transpecific/transgeneric cross?.

 

[heirloomgal]

Looks like the Apple Loofah I just got in the mail is also white seeded (I thought it might be, but one source showed white seeds and one black, and I had ordered from the black seeded one, so I wasn't sure.)

Actually since Apple (unlike most loofahs I have seen or grown) is a F1 hybrid, I wonder if the white seeded ones are actually some sort of transpecific/transgeneric cross?.

I googled 'apple loofah' and I had two hits. One was a loofah bath accessory shaped like an apple and coloured accordingly, the other was a piece of a small loofah buried in a bar of green soap shaped like an apple....

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I googled 'apple loofah' and I had two hits. One was a loofah bath accessory shaped like an apple and coloured accordingly, the other was a piece of a small loofah buried in a bar of green soap shaped like an apple....

https://www.etsy.com/listing/112992...723&click_sum=d8ffcf7e&ref=user_profile&cns=1

https://www.etsy.com/listing/101571...042&click_sum=46d7a506&ref=user_profile&frs=1

 

[heirloomgal]

One of the oncidium orchids is blooming, I think this one is a tiger variety. Been awhile since this one has flowered!
Happy dance!

 

[heirloomgal]

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1129921723/20-seeds-apple-luffa-taiwan-gourd?click_key=edefc80ae1a75ed8107b17d58d1f0036a361d3c1:1129921723&click_sum=d8ffcf7e&ref=user_profile&cns=1

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1015719042/5-apple-luffa-round-tasty-f1-sponge?click_key=9597b09d47740f4abadac7f638f6ce68bdd68ae9:1015719042&click_sum=46d7a506&ref=user_profile&frs=1

Oh! It's rotund like an apple! That's actually pretty neat @Pulsegleaner, especially the photo in the second link. So unique. Have you been able to collect seeds from your loofahs? That'd be tricky for me, season might not be long enough.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Oh! It's rotund like an apple! That's actually pretty neat @Pulsegleaner, especially the photo in the second link. So unique. Have you been able to collect seeds from your loofahs? That'd be tricky for me, season might not be long enough.

To be honest, it's been a pretty long time since I have actually GROWN loofahs, or at least harvested any. We don't usually have much room for big cucurbit vines, and most of what we do have is taken up by cucumbers.

Technically, one of the mystery seeds I planted last year was some sort of loofah (probably one of the minor ones, based on the size of the seed and plant). But that never flowered, and the cat eventually pulled it out of the pot it was in and bit it in half.

 

[Zeedman]

Found someone with white seeded loofah
https://www.etsy.com/listing/764035693/luffa-seeds-loofah-seeds-luffa-gourd?click_key=570b5a6fe913f8b1de6fea1fb7167615dee5ad7e:764035693&click_sum=679203e3&ref=purchases_similar_listings-6&pro=1&frs=1&sts=1

Is this rare? Have you eaten loofah? I read that when small you can eat it like zucchini...

This year, I will be trialing two varieties of Chinese luffa - both black-seeded. Like other edible gourds (such as Opo) they are eaten as a vegetable when very immature (before they become fibrous) and are mild flavored. We most often use these Asian sweet gourds in soups or stews.

The vines of luffa are strong climbers with attractive flowers... I really hope that the Chinese varieties I'm trying will prove to be tolerant of my Northern latitude. As my previous efforts proved, luffas can be daylength sensitive. Supposedly this photo-period sensitivity is more common in angled luffa, so I'm hoping the two varieties of smooth luffa will not share that shortcoming.

 

[heirloomgal]

I just love getting seed mail. My eyes this year have definitely been bigger than my gardens though! I would really like to take a whack at rice. It's a silly dream because I'd probably need acres to provide for what we actually consume (if I were to grow it for self sufficiency). But I like the idea that we could at least conceivably do it, with a rice capable of producing volume. At this point, I don't even know if they can cross pollinate so research still needs to be done if I can grow more than one. But it is the grass family, that gives me hope, a tenacious, stubborn, typically productive clan.

Another dream - my own corn meal.

Some new peppers, really curious to grow the 'Rezha' pepper.

Looks like -

and

 

[heirloomgal]

Really feel like branching out this year in picking out things to grow and seeds to save. So excited for the summer to arrive! I'm even growing to try some less common flower types for seed saving.

Any guesses what this plant might be... Hint: one of the seeds lodged onto the leaf..

Been having some fun with my daughter stringing some Job's Tears we grew a couple years ago. They were grow as far back as 2017 or 2018 so I don't think many of the blonde seeds are viable, if they ever were. I kept some of the dark ones because if there is any hope to get any of the remaining seeds to germinate I think it will be those, they seem more full inside than the others. I'd really like to try again with this crop; I planted in much too fertile soil the 2nd time I grew them. Barren soil seems pretty essential to growing them to seed maturity I now realise. I just love these plants, so ornamental and they make natural beads!

Here is one of the flowers I'm thinking of trying, I need to hear back from the fellow selling seeds to be sure that I, at least theoretically, have a chance to get them to seed. I really hope he says yes! I just started reading War of the Worlds with my kids, so it just seems fitting.
'Sturt's Desert Pea' -

Going to try a few other lesser widely grown legumes, like Lupini beans and Ethiopian Lentils. Little concerning the alkaloid situation with them, but I figure if I can buy them from a reputable seller without an attached warning they can't be to risky. Pretty stoked to see what these will be like!

'Chinese Houses/Pagodas' is another one I hope to try If I can get the go ahead on them -

And the Kingfisher Daisy too. I really like this one.

My Morelle de Balbis are already flexing their little muscles with thorns, and they're babies!

Honeywort - I have ten seeds left from my last grow out. Such a hard pant to get seeds from because they fall off and hit the ground before you can catch them, and they are hard to find on the soil surface. Also, to buy fresh seeds costs 3.50 for 15 seeds which I find quite expensive for a non-edible plant. But I do so like it's look and character -

 

[flowerbug]

anemone blanda (Greecian Windflowers - above called Kingfisher Daisy) are very nice plants, low growing, expect them to spread. even if you only purchase blue after some time you may start to see white or paler colored ones showing up. it is pretty impossible to maintain them as just the solid blue color. likely they have some crossing going on where they are grown and a few may have the recessive or dominant genes in there and they come up as off color. i'm not digging up the flower patch to remove them, but if i really want to keep them more uniform in color i'll pull the off-color flowers as soon as i see them, but this is already way too late.

they are prolific seed producers.