A Seed Saver's Garden

[ducks4you]

Sri Lanka's tale of woe bc BIG GOVERNMENT AUTHORITARIANS FORCED THEM:

Sri Lanka’s Collapse Points to Global Gloom | National Review

The ominous rumblings from Sri Lanka should give the world pause.

www.nationalreview.com

A country CANNOT change the way it feeds it's people overnight, but They knew Better.
Now the people are starving.
“We are a tropical country full of rice paddies and banana plantations, but because of this stupid fertilizer ban, now we don’t even have enough food to feed ourselves,” said Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, 52, former governor of the southern province. “We have had past economic crises, security crises, but never in Sri Lanka’s history have we had a food crisis.”

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Sri Lanka's tale of woe bc BIG GOVERNMENT AUTHORITARIANS FORCED THEM:

Sri Lanka’s Collapse Points to Global Gloom | National Review

The ominous rumblings from Sri Lanka should give the world pause.

www.nationalreview.com

A country CANNOT change the way it feeds it's people overnight, but They knew Better.
Now the people are starving.
“We are a tropical country full of rice paddies and banana plantations, but because of this stupid fertilizer ban, now we don’t even have enough food to feed ourselves,” said Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, 52, former governor of the southern province. “We have had past economic crises, security crises, but never in Sri Lanka’s history have we had a food crisis.”

I think a big part of these kind of problems have to do with how you view population. If you are of the opinion that we have ALREADY gone way beyond Earth's carrying capacity, and that we need not just zero population growth, but massive population shrinkage you start to have problems. It's hard enough to get people to agree to limit themselves to one child (like China did) If you think even THAT isn't fast enough, and you need to convince most people to have NO children, it becomes even harder. And if even THAT isn't sufficient for you and you feel that it is necessary for the vast majority of people to end their lives RIGHT NOW, THEN you start getting into real problems. ACTIVELY doing something about that (i.e. going out and actually killing a lot of people) is of course morally reprehensible. But doing it passively (i.e. by enacting policies to MAKE things like food shortages and plagues, and then simply sitting back and wait for people to start dying off) is not only not much morally better, but also sort of dangerous (as the article points out, a hungry populace is a desperate populace, and very quickly, a violent populace.)

On one had, you can say that, just as the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, the needs of the environment as a whole outweigh the needs of humanity. On the other hand, not only is turning you back on the majority of people rather cruel, but it is potentially actually dangerous to the environment as well, since, if they the can't get food from domestic sources, many people are going to turn to the wild to provide it, and with their numbers, overtaxing that wild beyond what it can rebound from becomes very very easy (think about all of those small, flightless birds on Pacific and Oceanic islands that went extinct because the Japanese ran out of rations, turned to them, and ate them to death.)
This is also the reason why I really worry about movements like the Human Extinction Movement. While I certainly get where they are coming from, and even sort of agree with them. I always have in the back of my mind the concern that, eventually, some of the more extreme members will realize that the "voluntary" clause in their tenets basically means it will never work long term, since you will probably never get enough people to voluntarily commit suicide to offset the number of new people being born, and will decide it is not longer necessary or justifiable, say that, if suicide is to be encouraged, homicide and genocide should be even MORE encouraged, and move from being a moral/political movement to a terrorist one (even since I learned about how some more extreme members of PETA go around kidnapping peoples pets just to put them down because they think it is better for them to be dead than alive, I have been well aware that, no matter how good their intentions, there will always be some who want to take it all the way to its logical extreme, even if that extreme is beyond any legal or moral boundaries).

 

[heirloomgal]

Sri Lanka's tale of woe bc BIG GOVERNMENT AUTHORITARIANS FORCED THEM:

Sri Lanka’s Collapse Points to Global Gloom | National Review

The ominous rumblings from Sri Lanka should give the world pause.

www.nationalreview.com

A country CANNOT change the way it feeds it's people overnight, but They knew Better.
Now the people are starving.
“We are a tropical country full of rice paddies and banana plantations, but because of this stupid fertilizer ban, now we don’t even have enough food to feed ourselves,” said Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, 52, former governor of the southern province. “We have had past economic crises, security crises, but never in Sri Lanka’s history have we had a food crisis.”

Thanks for posting this, I am new to these finer details. Feel so sorry for those poor people. I hope the orcs don't get sent in to crush these people, I also hope they will be free to organize & elect better representation for themselves.

 

[heirloomgal]

I think a big part of these kind of problems have to do with how you view population. If you are of the opinion that we have ALREADY gone way beyond Earth's carrying capacity, and that we need not just zero population growth, but massive population shrinkage you start to have problems. It's hard enough to get people to agree to limit themselves to one child (like China did) If you think even THAT isn't fast enough, and you need to convince most people to have NO children, it becomes even harder. And if even THAT isn't sufficient for you and you feel that it is necessary for the vast majority of people to end their lives RIGHT NOW, THEN you start getting into real problems. ACTIVELY doing something about that (i.e. going out and actually killing a lot of people) is of course morally reprehensible. But doing it passively (i.e. by enacting policies to MAKE things like food shortages and plagues, and then simply sitting back and wait for people to start dying off) is not only not much morally better, but also sort of dangerous (as the article points out, a hungry populace is a desperate populace, and very quickly, a violent populace.)

On one had, you can say that, just as the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, the needs of the environment as a whole outweigh the needs of humanity. On the other hand, not only is turning you back on the majority of people rather cruel, but it is potentially actually dangerous to the environment as well, since, if they the can't get food from domestic sources, many people are going to turn to the wild to provide it, and with their numbers, overtaxing that wild beyond what it can rebound from becomes very very easy (think about all of those small, flightless birds on Pacific and Oceanic islands that went extinct because the Japanese ran out of rations, turned to them, and ate them to death.)
This is also the reason why I really worry about movements like the Human Extinction Movement. While I certainly get where they are coming from, and even sort of agree with them. I always have in the back of my mind the concern that, eventually, some of the more extreme members will realize that the "voluntary" clause in their tenets basically means it will never work long term, since you will probably never get enough people to voluntarily commit suicide to offset the number of new people being born, and will decide it is not longer necessary or justifiable, say that, if suicide is to be encouraged, homicide and genocide should be even MORE encouraged, and move from being a moral/political movement to a terrorist one (even since I learned about how some more extreme members of PETA go around kidnapping peoples pets just to put them down because they think it is better for them to be dead than alive, I have been well aware that, no matter how good their intentions, there will always be some who want to take it all the way to its logical extreme, even if that extreme is beyond any legal or moral boundaries).

I think you hit the nail on the head @Pulsegleaner with the pop control angle. I'm very pro-human, and though I think there needs to be balance in how we live and relate and use our environment, I choose living beings above all else.

I didn't know PETA did stuff like that, it's insane.

 

[heirloomgal]

Flower update. Blooms are starting to roll in...

Night Scented Stocks - scent is 10/10! (But a 1/10 in the looks dept.!)
Bird's Eye Gilia - scent is 10/10! A little beauty too!
Night Scented Nicotiana - scent is 10/10! Plant is large and stately, flowers very tubular.

I LOVE all of them! I do love sweet pea flowers but they are a long way off yet. Even the 5 Spot has a sweet scent though it isn't as powerful as the other three. Oh, I do enjoy highly fragrant flowers. I didn't even know the gila would have a scent!

Could not get a good pic of the gilia, will have to keep at it

Penny Black, not the greatest pics either

Good things look to be happening with the cotton...I think. I pried these green pods open (carefully) and it looked like flower buds inside.

Most of the eggplants are making..fruits? Whatever they are it has not been an easy row to grow them. At least, not as easy as peppers and Toms. It didn't help that I moved them from the greenhouse to full sun and shocked them pretty bad. I thought they were tougher. They seem to be doing mostly alright now. Turns out growing a few dozen in pots, as a first real try with them was probably too many.
Classic newbie mistake. Lol

'Lemon Starrburst' peppers. Seem a bit small to me. Crossing my fingers seeds will be in there.

I think this may be my favourite hot pepper, 'Gong Bao'. It's always so healthy no matter where I put it, resists all kinds of environmental pressures so well. And it's a great producer of pods that dry easily. Considering capsicum is a potent medicine I'm hunting super producers, just in case things go kerflooey.

 

[meadow]

I didn't know PETA did stuff like that, it's insane.

It's horrific. Some of the things they do is so cruel. They rather the animals are dead than in the possession of a person, and do not care in what manner the death occurs. I'm thinking of one place they shut down in particular and were in charge of removing the animals. Hearing the details of what they did to those animals during the removal (and how many were KILLED in the cruelest of ways) is traumatizing to anyone that has a heart for living creatures.

 

[heirloomgal]

Such a beautiful day today! Weather was sunny, warm (not hot!), breezy and perfect. It was really a wonderful day to enjoy being outside and being in the garden. This is also the point in summer when watering duty is pretty huge, because the plants are much bigger and either flowering or developing their vegetables/fruit. Anything in containers needs plenty of water every day now, sometimes twice. When I don't feel up to running transfer pumps and guiding hoses I lug watering cans instead. It's good exercise I tell myself, lol.

Having so many new things growing is especially fun right now as plants are starting to produce. @Zeedman I had my 1st 'Lisa Calcutta' gherkin today!! I love them! Thank you for sharing your appreciation for them! When I picked it, it seemed like it might be dry inside or have an off texture, but it didn't. The taste and texture were wonderful. And the plant itself is deep green, and super healthy even though I haven't really pampered it.

The blush on the 'Spring Blush' peas! Pretty, but not sweet. That's okay, pretty goes a long way in my books.

The nicotiana plants have such odd flowers, but golly they smell like nectar from heaven. The plants will be much more attractive when the flowers rise up to their full height, but they are a marvel. I can't help but wonder their history of pollination with those long tubes!

Little cucamelon harvest today. When small they do make a nice crunch in a salad. Plus, they're pretty early, prolific and pest resistant. Only hitch is the sour taste they get when too mature, and the skin toughens. Can't wait to collect the seeds!

Kenikir bloom, if it had a varietal name 'Orange Crush' would be a good fit. The orange is SUPER orange. I like it! Will post a photo of the hedge it forms when there are more blooms on the plant.

'Purple UFO', for a novelty, is a good producer. I've already harvested quite a bit from them too. The spider mites did go for them, though, in the greenhouse. Once outside they recovered nicely. HOT.

I think these are the first seeds harvested this year - Persian Cornflowers. Finally figured out how to wiggle the seeds out from the flat flower base, it's like milking a bud! Lots more to go!

First Nolana flower, a hardscrabble little bedding plant but the blooms are such a lovely true blue. It likes drought, which I appreciate. Leaves are rather succulent; the blooming is still elluding me as they are not always open. Should look it up.

Foxglove. I sort of like looking up their noses!

'Emerald Tassels' amaranth. I hesitated to plant it in ground because the seeds can turn in to a royal pain in the butt, but there was nowhere else to put 'em. These get those long elephant trunk 'ropes' (hopefully), I like them in a vase. I see some buds starting so there is some hope they'll make it to mature seed.

Such a great time of year!

 

[Zeedman]

Having so many new things growing is especially fun right now as plants are starting to produce. @Zeedman I had my 1st 'Lisa Calcutta' gherkin today!! I love them! Thank you for sharing your appreciation for them! When I picked it, it seemed like it might be dry inside or have an off texture, but it didn't. The taste and texture were wonderful. And the plant itself is deep green, and super healthy even though I haven't really pampered it.

Once Liso Calcutta starts, be prepared to play "where's Waldo". As you may have already noticed, the flower stems elongate after pollination & push the 'cukes' deep under the foliage (or mulch)... so there may be more ready than you see at first glance. As the vines root along the ground & the yield increases, it will turn into an egg hunt.

 

[Zeedman]

Little cucamelon harvest today. When small they do make a nice crunch in a salad. Plus, they're pretty early, prolific and pest resistant. Only hitch is the sour taste they get when too mature, and the skin toughens. Can't wait to collect the seeds!

The best way to save seeds from those is to wait for ripe fruits to fall to the ground. At that point, they will be yellowish & soft. I let those ripe fruits cure for an additional couple weeks, then cut a bunch of them in half, mashed them, and allowed them to ferment for 2-3 days. Stir the container at least twice daily; when the mash turns mostly liquid, the seeds are ready. You can then clean & collect the good seed using the same float process used for fermented tomato seed... the good seeds will sink.

You can use the same process for Liso Calcutta; but the ripe fruits are too hard & dry to make much of their own juice. I had to add extra juice from some ripe cucumbers I was processing to get the gently sliced Liso Calcutta to ferment properly.

 

[ducks4you]

Lovely fruit. Nice Ring, too!!