A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

Hookers is a kind of slightly dirty blue I’d say, not a bright azure!

But Double Red is also sweeter and more tender if eaten before it fully colours red so perhaps the greater nutritional value is negligible. Or are the antioxidants present before the colour emerges? My understanding is completely lacking here!

I didn't realize that you're supposed to eat them when they are more yellow/white, not when they're red! Well, there goes my excuse! I guess I can't hide anymore behind eating this sweet corn because it's healthier.

 

[Rillowen]

Went to the garden centre yesterday...bad idea! Wound up with more lovely plants I felt I couldn't walk away from - a bunch of celeriac, some pretty petunias, (I'm capping myself at 2 large baskets and one small one, the deadheading just gets too much if I go over that) & a parsley since I didn't start any from seed. I also got, on a whim, a 'Ballerina Purple' angel's trumpet. Haven't grown datura in such a long time, and I only ever grew a simple white one with a single bloom.

It's amazing how reliably exhilarating it is seeing the perennial plants poke out of the soil, especially now that I've gotten rid of all that I didn't truly love. I see only a few more that will need to come out; the last shasta daisies, the liatris patch, phlox patch, a purple sedum. I did get a little saxatile alyssum plant, for a dry spot. Not sure if I'll like it or not, time will tell. I'm eager to see how well my 2025 planted delphinium starts will perform this year, they seem to develop quickly for a perennial.

I also found a packet of seeds for red orach, maybe I'll try it. I made sure it isn't the same species as magenta spreen! It sure looks pretty. And even though its in the amaranth family, it won't cross with my terracotta celosia. It might do well as a decorative edible, if the pictures are real, it's remarkable how deeply pigmented the plants are. Might make a nice contrast for all the green foliage in the edible landscape space. The plants either look purplish or reddish, not sure which one is truly representative.
View attachment 81157View attachment 81158

View attachment 81160

An edible landscape is exactly what I want. I would love to develope a permaculture/food forest type yard. it looks like it might be a very long project though.

 

[Decoy1]

Forgot that one

I assume it's "Dominae", because that's a real (Latin) word.

I beg to differ. Both are Latin words. Domine is more common as it comes in lots of Christian text as in ‘O domine’, addressing god. It’s the vocative, meaning ‘O Lord’
‘Dominae’ is more unusual. It would be genitive or dative, meaning of or to a female mistress or female boss of some kind.

I hope this is right. My schoolgirl Latin is a bit rusty!

 

[flowerbug]

An edible landscape is exactly what I want. I would love to develope a permaculture/food forest type yard. it looks like it might be a very long project though.

the usual progression is to do your gardens for vegetables and then to put in rows of fruit trees/shrubs, nuts and other forage trees (nitrogen fixers) scattered around in the right proportion, by the time the trees get big enough to shade out the vegetable gardens you can also trim some of them back to get more light or keep some areas more open if you do want the annual vegetable gardens to persist. keep your annual vegetable gardens closer to the house where you will be able to get at them easier (it makes it more likely you'll keep them up better and also discourage the predators somewhat - but fences are usually a more dependable thing to do as if you have a lot of herbivores you're not going to keep them from eating your fruit trees/shrubs). in time using chickens up and down the rows to keep areas open, but be careful of letting chickens forage wherever because they can decimate your beneficial insects.

that's the general ideas at least. there's layers of things going on through this whole series of plantings and your weather/climate/site is going to influence what and how you plant and if you need some level of irrigation for the plants. the biggest issue there is how to not over draft your ground water, so setting up some water capture from rains may also be needed.

there are some good books out there and also plenty of videos by people who've done it, but i always take them with some grains of salt because each site can be different and what they may be doing might not fit your preferences and abilities.

take your time in reading up on it and before making major changes as retrofitting can be expensive and a lot of work.

unfortunately where i am at now is a prime example of what not to do and so it's not a permaculture site, but i have adapted what i could and we'll see what happens next. likely i am stuck here, but i dunno...

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I beg to differ. Both are Latin words. Domine is more common as it comes in lots of Christian text as in ‘O domine’, addressig god. It’s the vocative, meaning ‘O Lord’
‘Dominae’ is more unusual. It would be genitive or dative, meaning of or to a female mistress or female boss of some kind.

I hope this is right. My schoolgirl Latin is a bit rusty!

Well, as the patient said after visiting the chiropractor, "I stand corrected".

I didn't realize that you're supposed to eat them when they are more yellow/white, not when they're red! Well, there goes my excuse! I guess I can't hide anymore behind eating this sweet corn because it's healthier.

Triple play is supposed to improve in flavor past coloring up. "Yellow showing and it's ready to eat; blue showing and it's really sweet."

 

[heirloomgal]

An edible landscape is exactly what I want. I would love to develope a permaculture/food forest type yard. it looks like it might be a very long project though.

This is what I'm doing with my front yard, a mostly edible landscape with a smattering of some extra pretty perennials & annuals. I've got about half the lawn, maybe 2/3 replaced with food plants. Even the corn is going up front this year, I'm pretty excited. It is the most fun garden project, I am really enjoying it. As a seed saver it's a bit tricky keeping the 'aesthetic' tidy as plants going to seed are not always gorgeous (ie lettuce) but with bright flowers like poppies, sunflowers etc it all seems to mostly work. I have a lot of the street foot traffic stop and want to talk and ask questions.

This year the plan is to implement a larger number of perennial vegetables into everything - skirret, salsify, blue fiore, Egyptian walking onions and various perennial alliums, garlic, sunchokes etc. I'm having a blast dreaming this edible landscape picture up in my head and trying to translate it into reality.

 

[heirloomgal]

the usual progression is to do your gardens for vegetables and then to put in rows of fruit trees/shrubs, nuts and other forage trees (nitrogen fixers) scattered around in the right proportion, by the time the trees get big enough to shade out the vegetable gardens you can also trim some of them back to get more light or keep some areas more open if you do want the annual vegetable gardens to persist. keep your annual vegetable gardens closer to the house where you will be able to get at them easier (it makes it more likely you'll keep them up better and also discourage the predators somewhat - but fences are usually a more dependable thing to do as if you have a lot of herbivores you're not going to keep them from eating your fruit trees/shrubs). in time using chickens up and down the rows to keep areas open, but be careful of letting chickens forage wherever because they can decimate your beneficial insects.

that's the general ideas at least. there's layers of things going on through this whole series of plantings and your weather/climate/site is going to influence what and how you plant and if you need some level of irrigation for the plants. the biggest issue there is how to not over draft your ground water, so setting up some water capture from rains may also be needed.

there are some good books out there and also plenty of videos by people who've done it, but i always take them with some grains of salt because each site can be different and what they may be doing might not fit your preferences and abilities.

take your time in reading up on it and before making major changes as retrofitting can be expensive and a lot of work.

unfortunately where i am at now is a prime example of what not to do and so it's not a permaculture site, but i have adapted what i could and we'll see what happens next. likely i am stuck here, but i dunno...

I honestly don't think it needs to be complicated. I'm not sure about mixing trees in there even if they fruit because almost all annual edible crops need a lot of sun, though certainly a separate area for fruit trees is possible. Someone a few blocks over, who has a rather tiny front yard, has converted the entire space to plum, apple and other fruit trees, about 8 of them. They are rather diminutive trees, none over 6 feet. The grass does seem to grow just fine under them, but no veggies.

I've seen edible landscapes that were 80% veggies like lettuce, carrots, chard, beets, beans, kale, cabbage. Simple things. But when kept nice and tidy (and weeded) it does look quite pretty. Personally I avoided curved swaths of lettuce and such because once you start to eat from the rows, your sculpted curve starts looking funny, lol. There is definitely a lot of skill needed to make it all work seamlessly with flowers and veggies together (still learning!), and then seed saving added to the mix, but the garden teaches you.

 

[heirloomgal]

So...it turns out the perennial pansies I planted are not actually *perennial*, but they do re-seed themselves enthusiastically. I planted only 2 last year.


I did not getting to sowing my Canterbury Bells despite buying seeds, but I got lucky and found one at the garden centre! I planted it at the foot of a new clematis. Oh I really hope it blooms this year. I haven't had one of these in a decade, and I remember really really loving it. It's such heart sorrow to my gardening soul that my most favorite flowers are all biennials. But it might be a new challenge to rise to.


This was really surprising, the Hamburg parsley that I accidentally left behind last year actually survived. I think I might let it be and see what it does. I would never have guessed that these could be soooo winter hardy.


Still small, but the Jaltomato Aguaymanto is coming along. I finally got to researching it and it does turn out that I started in about 4 weeks too late, but it takes 60 - 90 days after transplanting to make fruit so I might be okay after all if I keep some in the greenhouse.


Now I know what horseradish sprouts look like in spring. I'm surprised that it looks so spikey and serrated, I don't recall it looking like that last year.


The black dots on the nicandra are surprising.


The lime-yellow/chartreuse foliage of this micro dwarf (Yellow Tigret) tomato blows my mind. I have grown a number of tomatoes with this kind of foliage, but this is the most eye popping. It really is unique.


Well, I didn't actually want to grow any super hots ever again, but when I ordered seeds a few years ago for 'Yaki Blue Fawn' I was focused on how cute the name was, and that it had *blue* pigment on the peppers. I really didn't look closely at what I was getting. Regardless, I gave the last few seeds I had a go as my first lot of them failed and they actually sprouted. So I guess I will have a last swing at these. I've never been impressed with superhots, neither production nor taste, but if the peppers are really pretty it'll be worth the effort.


The 'Berry' tomato (possibly a slightly different species from regular tomatoes, not sure). Being wildish it suffered the earliest and longest with edema, but in the greenhouse they really changed course. The edema ridden leaves actually withered and new healthy growth pushed forward quickly. It really seems the case that many types of plants require heat to begin earnest growth; they'll eke along inside but never really explode until they get at least 80 degrees. I find peppers and eggplant especially like that.

 

[Rillowen]

This is what I'm doing with my front yard, a mostly edible landscape with a smattering of some extra pretty perennials & annuals. I've got about half the lawn, maybe 2/3 replaced with food plants. Even the corn is going up front this year, I'm pretty excited. It is the most fun garden project, I am really enjoying it. As a seed saver it's a bit tricky keeping the 'aesthetic' tidy as plants going to seed are not always gorgeous (ie lettuce) but with bright flowers like poppies, sunflowers etc it all seems to mostly work. I have a lot of the street foot traffic stop and want to talk and ask questions.

This year the plan is to implement a larger number of perennial vegetables into everything - skirret, salsify, blue fiore, Egyptian walking onions and various perennial alliums, garlic, sunchokes etc. I'm having a blast dreaming this edible landscape picture up in my head and trying to translate it into reality.

My plan is to add a few "long term residents" more each year. I currently have blueberries, pears, sage, fruiting mulberry tree, strawberries, horseradish, asperigus, garlic, comfrey, a while slew of herbs, day lillies, violets, and perennial beans.
Then I have the annuals, which is a very long but less rare list.

 

[Rillowen]

So...it turns out the perennial pansies I planted are not actually *perennial*, but they do re-seed themselves enthusiastically. I planted only 2 last year.
View attachment 81174View attachment 81175

I did not getting to sowing my Canterbury Bells despite buying seeds, but I got lucky and found one at the garden centre! I planted it at the foot of a new clematis. Oh I really hope it blooms this year. I haven't had one of these in a decade, and I remember really really loving it. It's such heart sorrow to my gardening soul that my most favorite flowers are all biennials. But it might be a new challenge to rise to.
View attachment 81176

This was really surprising, the Hamburg parsley that I accidentally left behind last year actually survived. I think I might let it be and see what it does. I would never have guessed that these could be soooo winter hardy.
View attachment 81177

Still small, but the Jaltomato Aguaymanto is coming along. I finally got to researching it and it does turn out that I started in about 4 weeks too late, but it takes 60 - 90 days after transplanting to make fruit so I might be okay after all if I keep some in the greenhouse.
View attachment 81178

Now I know what horseradish sprouts look like in spring. I'm surprised that it looks so spikey and serrated, I don't recall it looking like that last year.
View attachment 81179

The black dots on the nicandra are surprising.
View attachment 81180

The lime-yellow/chartreuse foliage of this micro dwarf (Yellow Tigret) tomato blows my mind. I have grown a number of tomatoes with this kind of foliage, but this is the most eye popping. It really is unique.
View attachment 81181

Well, I didn't actually want to grow any super hots ever again, but when I ordered seeds a few years ago for 'Yaki Blue Fawn' I was focused on how cute the name was, and that it had *blue* pigment on the peppers. I really didn't look closely at what I was getting. Regardless, I gave the last few seeds I had a go as my first lot of them failed and they actually sprouted. So I guess I will have a last swing at these. I've never been impressed with superhots, neither production nor taste, but if the peppers are really pretty it'll be worth the effort.
View attachment 81182

The 'Berry' tomato (possibly a slightly different species from regular tomatoes, not sure). Being wildish it suffered the earliest and longest with edema, but in the greenhouse they really changed course. The edema ridden leaves actually withered and new healthy growth pushed forward quickly. It really seems the case that many types of plants require heat to begin earnest growth; they'll eke along inside but never really explode until they get at least 80 degrees. I find peppers and eggplant especially like that.
View attachment 81183

This is my horseradish