A Seed Saver's Garden

[ducks4you]

DD bought 2 cantaloupes, one refridgerated, one left on the table...to rot.
I cut the rotting one in 1/2 and took the seeds, cut the cold one in 1/2, ate it, and took the seeds.
Fed the rind and over ripe one to the horses, and I am currently ferMENTING the seeds outside.
If every seed lived, I could grow an army of cantaloupes!

 

[heirloomgal]

Does anybody know if I can start a blueberry from the seed of a fresh blueberry?
My blueberries look AWFUL, and one is practically dead.
They survived the winter, they are heavily mulched, watered well and the soil drains well for both of them.
Frankly, I'm tired of buying these small perennials from a nursery that ships. 1/2 of the grapes I bought last year died over the winter, even though they were Both in the same window, similar pots, same soil, same amount of watering. The 2 I bought from a local nursery have been Much hardier, but righ now is a bad time to buy a blueberry bush locally.
I Read This:

Growing Blueberries From Seed - Cooperative Extension: Maine Wild Blueberries - University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Prepared by D. A. Abdalla, University of Maine Cooperative Extension Service, Orono, ME 04469. February 23, 1967. Lowbush blueberries can be propagated quite easily from seed. The plants can then be set out in prepared rows, vacant areas in fields or as an ornamental ground cover plant for home...

extension.umaine.edu

Not sure ducks, but the info seems pretty sound. We only have the low bush variety here, and I don't know if their culture I'd the same as the high bush type. I imagine if the high bush variety grow naturally they should sprout from seeds just fine. We have huge expanses of them and as far as I know they are spread by animals and birds eating the berries and then scattering the seeds with the droppings.

 

[Alasgun]

@ducks4you , might look at adding some Sulphur, blueberries need a pretty low p.h.

 

[flowerbug]

DD bought 2 cantaloupes, one refridgerated, one left on the table...to rot.
I cut the rotting one in 1/2 and took the seeds, cut the cold one in 1/2, ate it, and took the seeds.
Fed the rind and over ripe one to the horses, and I am currently ferMENTING the seeds outside.
If every seed lived, I could grow an army of cantaloupes!

true, i still have about half a quart container of melon seeds. i figure that if i ever need something to eat they are edible, sort of...

 

[Zeedman]

true, i still have about half a quart container of melon seeds. i figure that if i ever need something to eat they are edible, sort of...

REALLY chewy though (same as cucumber seeds). I'd have to be tree-bark starving to even think about that.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Does anybody know if I can start a blueberry from the seed of a fresh blueberry?
My blueberries look AWFUL, and one is practically dead.
They survived the winter, they are heavily mulched, watered well and the soil drains well for both of them.
Frankly, I'm tired of buying these small perennials from a nursery that ships. 1/2 of the grapes I bought last year died over the winter, even though they were Both in the same window, similar pots, same soil, same amount of watering. The 2 I bought from a local nursery have been Much hardier, but righ now is a bad time to buy a blueberry bush locally.
I Read This:

Growing Blueberries From Seed - Cooperative Extension: Maine Wild Blueberries - University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Prepared by D. A. Abdalla, University of Maine Cooperative Extension Service, Orono, ME 04469. February 23, 1967. Lowbush blueberries can be propagated quite easily from seed. The plants can then be set out in prepared rows, vacant areas in fields or as an ornamental ground cover plant for home...

extension.umaine.edu

The short sweet answer is, you probably COULD, but it would likely take a VERY long time to reach bearing size, and since I don't know if blueberries come true to seed, you might not like the resultant fruit.

I'm probably not the best person to ask, since I only planted some sort of blueberry seed ONCE (in the form of a packet of ʻōhelo ʻai I tried once.) and none of them even came up.

It's sort of the same reason I have yet to try and plant my crowberry seeds (the northern AND southern types). When I actually looked up what I would have to do to get them to germinate, and how long it would take (with me having to literally mother them every single step of the way for several years). It began to look a lot less worth it, in terms of both effort AND the cost of materials I'd need (basically, I'd have to build a greenhouse where I had absolute control over both the temperature AND the humidity, and where that ALL would have to be electric (not solar) since I'd regularly need to CHILL the greenhouse significantly to keep them going . Spending multi-thousands of dollars I don't have in order to MAYBE get a handful of berries I might or might not like just doesn't seem to make economic sense to me.)

 

[Pulsegleaner]

REALLY chewy though (same as cucumber seeds). I'd have to be tree-bark starving to even think about that.

Well, melon seeds (both water and winter) are a very popular snack in China, the same way pumpkin seeds are here. In the middle east too, I think (actually, I think there are one or two types of watermelon grown EXPICITLY for their large seeds.)

Granted, the seeds of most melons and cucumbers are FAR too small to be used that way*. But, just as different watermelon and pumpkin types vary in seed size, so do the other melons. Some of the really BIG cantaloupes (like Gregor's Giant) have really BIG seeds; ones that might be sizable enough to eat as a snack.

Or one could do whatever the Africans do to turn watermelon and related cucurbit seeds into egusi paste (roast then and pound them, I think) and make soup.

*Though I remember from my childhood the bit in the children's book Anatole where Anatole the Mouse recommends one of the cheeses he is tasting be rolled in cucumber seeds.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

UPDATES

On the side
The Choclo lupines are gone, they couldn't take the heart. I'd blame the lack of moisture as well, but since there appear to be mushrooms growing out of the soil in there, it's probably plenty moist.

The Lablabs look great, but no flowers yet.

Of the two mixed pots, the lesser still has one or two senna looking plants in it, but all the grains stems are gone.

The other is kind of a puzzle, as the most dominant thing in it appears to be some more tomato plants, and I don't remember planting any tomato seeds in there! The only thing I can think of was that I DID add a small dried brown fruit I found on my dresser while cleaning. I THOUGHT it was some sort of nightshade berry I found in some sorting, but I suppose it COULD have been an old tomato that dried out. Either that or the potato I planted has tomato like leaves (except I could have sworn that went into the other pot....)

The other big pot is sort of teetering on the edge. Some of the vetches and grass peas are still THERE, but they don't look that good, and a lot of them appear to have lost their connection to the actual soil (they still have their peat plugs on the bottom, but the plugs aren't anchored to the ground by roots anymore. And at first I couldn't SEE any of them, since the whole pot was FULL of smartweed seedlings that came up since last time I checked (I pulled them all out).

The rectangular pot finally has a few small seedlings, but whether these are seeds I planted or volunteering weeds, I can't tell yet.

In the Back

The Black tomato has FLOWERS now!
The Ice Cream Sandwich bean looks nice and healthy (no flowers of course.)

Most of the herbs look to be in sort of stasis. They're not dying, but they're not growing either. By this point, the Cuban Oregano should have filled the whole pot, and it's still just one tiny sprig.

The intentionally planted tomatoes in the actual tomato pots do not look good. The right one still has tomato plants, but they are still as tiny as they were a month and a half ago. And the other one doesn't have any plants at all!

at the bottom of the wall, the two cucumber plants on the right side (probably Brown Russians from last year's seed) are covered with flowers. There are at least a few of every other kind alive down there as well, but no flowers on any of those yet.

According to dad (who was the last one to look) the mint is in sort of the same state as the rest of the herbs (not dead, but not growing) while my Himalayan Mountain Ash/Sorb Apple has apparently lost all of its leaves (curse the gardeners for pulling up the two of those that were actually THRIVING, and leaving me with this sickly leftover).

 

[heirloomgal]

UPDATES

On the side
The Choclo lupines are gone, they couldn't take the heart. I'd blame the lack of moisture as well, but since there appear to be mushrooms growing out of the soil in there, it's probably plenty moist.

The Lablabs look great, but no flowers yet.

Of the two mixed pots, the lesser still has one or two senna looking plants in it, but all the grains stems are gone.

The other is kind of a puzzle, as the most dominant thing in it appears to be some more tomato plants, and I don't remember planting any tomato seeds in there! The only thing I can think of was that I DID add a small dried brown fruit I found on my dresser while cleaning. I THOUGHT it was some sort of nightshade berry I found in some sorting, but I suppose it COULD have been an old tomato that dried out. Either that or the potato I planted has tomato like leaves (except I could have sworn that went into the other pot....)

The other big pot is sort of teetering on the edge. Some of the vetches and grass peas are still THERE, but they don't look that good, and a lot of them appear to have lost their connection to the actual soil (they still have their peat plugs on the bottom, but the plugs aren't anchored to the ground by roots anymore. And at first I couldn't SEE any of them, since the whole pot was FULL of smartweed seedlings that came up since last time I checked (I pulled them all out).

The rectangular pot finally has a few small seedlings, but whether these are seeds I planted or volunteering weeds, I can't tell yet.

In the Back

The Black tomato has FLOWERS now!
The Ice Cream Sandwich bean looks nice and healthy (no flowers of course.)

Most of the herbs look to be in sort of stasis. They're not dying, but they're not growing either. By this point, the Cuban Oregano should have filled the whole pot, and it's still just one tiny sprig.

The intentionally planted tomatoes in the actual tomato pots do not look good. The right one still has tomato plants, but they are still as tiny as they were a month and a half ago. And the other one doesn't have any plants at all!

at the bottom of the wall, the two cucumber plants on the right side (probably Brown Russians from last year's seed) are covered with flowers. There are at least a few of every other kind alive down there as well, but no flowers on any of those yet.

According to dad (who was the last one to look) the mint is in sort of the same state as the rest of the herbs (not dead, but not growing) while my Himalayan Mountain Ash/Sorb Apple has apparently lost all of its leaves (curse the gardeners for pulling up the two of those that were actually THRIVING, and leaving me with this sickly leftover).

Like @Zeedman says it's about focusing on the successes, and just keep on rolling on with what isn't.

Your cucumbers, the Brown Russians (kivas?) - are these types white when young, like Poona Kheera? I thought K. Alexander would be white? I understand they turn brown at a late stage in life, but I may have misunderstood their colour otherwise.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Like @Zeedman says it's about focusing on the successes, and just keep on rolling on with what isn't.

Your cucumbers, the Brown Russians (kivas?) - are these types white when young, like Poona Kheera? I thought K. Alexander would be white? I understand they turn brown at a late stage in life, but I may have misunderstood their colour otherwise.

Sort of. They are sort of whitish when they first start, but fairly quickly turn yellowish and then rusty orange (I have yet to see one turn fully chocolate brown, like the pictures show).

And yes I think they are a Kiva type. Actually THREE of mine should be Kivas, since Russian Netted is (like Brown Russian, but spherical instead of long*) and I think Sambar is as well (as I said, I like Kivas) . As far as I know, the Borneo Jungle cucumbers are not (the last plants in the row aren't cucumbers at all, they're my round white horned melons.)

*Note that, since BOTH of these two are sometimes called the portmanteau of "Brown Russian Netted", it can be quite hard to tell which you are actually getting from any seed seller. Brown Russian is more common. I have ONE source for Russian Netted, and I keep it permanently bookmarked. )