A Seed Saver's Garden

[Pulsegleaner]

Mr. Brown is a tomato I've always wanted to try; I tried Brown Berry and the colour was incredible. 'The Blob' - what a name! That is interesting how tomatoes evolved in size through flowers merging. It makes me think of some of the 'older' tomatoes I've grown, like the Purple Calabash you mention which is small and highly ruffled. The historical portraits of 'beefsteak' tomatoes all show rather ruffled, 'lumpy' fruit. The Italian Costoluto is ruffled, the African one I tried called Korrogo du Senegal was a 'beefsteak cherry' also ruffled, and one from Afghanistan called Rumi Banjan was a beefsteak cherry too, in yellow. I think these are all rather old varieties. So it makes me wonder if, as the size of tomatoes increased, this ruffle quality was part of the progression away from small cherry types. And then from there the movement was to breed the 'lumps' out of the bigger ad bigger tomatoes, selecting for smoothness. Yes, there is a Aunt Ruby's German Green cherry, I've been tempted to try it but the vendor listed in the description 'must be picked just before maturity for best taste' which suggests to me they might be bland?

I will remind you that that is only my THEORY based on what I have seen, I have no direct proof.

I suppose a good way to check is to compare where the ruffles are on the outside of the tomato when it is whole to where the locules are when you cut it in half. The one problem I am seeing with the ruffled to beefsteak idea is that there are plenty of tomatoes that are ruffled and still more or less round in cross section. So the ruffles would have had to still be there AFTER the flowers totally integrated, and then gotten bred out.

I'm not the person to ask about ARGG, as it is one of the few green when ripe tomatoes I DON'T like (with it's high "meat" to gel ratio, I find it a little too firm and mealy for most of the uses I put my tomatoes to, where I want a decent amount of juice (I'm quite comfortable with my Bruschetta, Horiatiki, and Insalata Caprese being rather wet and sloppy, and needing bread to sop up all the juice.)

If you do want to try it, I think Ben's Tomatofest still carries Mr. Brown.

 

[heirloomgal]

Oh, Happy Day! I LOVE it when the weather is sunny, the air breezy and the heat just right! I was able to take my time today snapping photos and just enjoying the growing plants. I've been hiding from scorching heat for at least a week! And when the sun went down the skitters came out in force, so it was nice to be able to be out in the middle of the day and not melt.

First gherkin flowers! I'm always afraid when I try a totally new crop that I'll make a mistake or I'll overlook some sensitivity the plant has and it either won't thrive or will wither away. I started to feel 'uh-oh' when the gherkins started getting dampening off in spring, but thankfully I got a few through!

I'm shocked, but the trilobite seeds are starting already!

'Margaret McKee' Baking pea flowers.

'Fish' pepper babies.

'Striped Toga' eggplant baby.

My improvisation for lettuce protection after my last rabbit visitor. He only nibbled the leaves from four, but I'd like to have it end there! lol We actually harvested some of the 'Brown Dutch Winter' and 'Amish Deer Tongue' for a salad tonight. They were buttery! DH really liked them, though all I could focus on was how badly I had bruised the leaves washing and spinning them. I didn't realise they were so tender. I'll have to be more careful next time.

After trying cucumbers in part shade last year I will always do part shade, they last so much longer that way I find. They need less fertiliser. I'm only growing only about 5 plants because so many cukes were wasted last year; they're liked by all, but there are only so many cucumbers that a person can eat I guess. I found a dismembered crib on the side of the road 2 years ago and just knew I could find a garden use for the mattress support part. This spring I almost got rid of it at DH's urging because I never did get any ideas, then we forgot about it. Well, I found a use just in time! Slugs tend to be my only cucumber pest because the vines, even though grown in a box, will fall to the ground and thier predations. So I'm hoping across the crib frame they will go. I'll mulch with straw underneath and hope they don't slither up.

I heart radish flowers!

Terrible pic, but I wanted to capture the prettiness of the Count Dracula peppers turning from black to red. It turned out to be a better pic of my shoes.

The 'Jerusalem Cross' is blooming. Not my fave flower, but I planted it for DH because he enjoys the hummingbirds that like them and their red colour. I think it's the only red flower in my gardens.

 

[heirloomgal]

On-line school is finished for my son tomorrow, and that will be it for wi-fi for me. I'm not sure what the future holds in that regard, for the next while I can only post in another, less simple & convenient, format. So one last picture post before the switch is made. ⏳

I didn't think this bean type would bloom so profusely, the 'vines' are just loaded with pods. This may turn out to be a good thing if there are only 3 beans per pod! lol

At this rate it will likely bloom in January! Even the one in the greenhouse looks like this. ☃️

Kenikir is doing well growing it's foliage, though no sign of blooms yet...?

'Mini Bambino' eggplant, first little bunch.

'Floragold Basket' mini dwarf, first wee tomatoes! Yay!

First time growing Salpiglossis in a long while. I'm growing it crowded since the stems are not especially attractive and are tall and grass like. So far the foliage is healthy, though the blooms are a loooong way off. I don't think they have flowers until September? This variety is 'Kew Blue'. The blooms are so pretty though it's worth the wait.

Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry is starting to make fruit. 🥧 This time I'm trying them cooked.

'Golden Egg' eggplant. The only one I planted outdoors, the rest started in the greenhouse. This one actually did okay except for a bit of flea beetle damage. No little eggplants yet though. I've since taken them all out of the greenhouse because they attracted spider mites in there. Maybe too dry, or maybe the stress of such rampant growth in high heat in their containers. Whatever the case, once I brought them outside and sprayed with neem the mites left/died. It does seem like the growth of the eggplants is healthier in direct sun, though they aren't growing so quickly anymore.

Now that I've cut the trees that surrounded the greenhouse the temps are higher and not as easy to control. This is certainly one of those situations that arises that shows what plant varieties can really take the heat, and what can't. The 'Inca Red' peppers and most of the hot peppers are loving the blistering in there.

Cucamelon plants. Wee fruits on there.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

On-line school is finished for my son tomorrow, and that will be it for wi-fi for me. I'm not sure what the future holds in that regard, for the next while I can only post in another, less simple & convenient, format. So one last picture post before the switch is made. ⏳

I didn't think this bean type would bloom so profusely, the 'vines' are just loaded with pods. This may turn out to be a good thing if there are only 3 beans per pod! lol
View attachment 49953


Three? I was lucky to get two per pod, and usually only one. And I wouldn't celebrate too early. Based on my growing, a lot of the flowers don't take, and a lot of the ones that do will abort before the seed is mature, especially once the weather gets hot.


At this rate it will likely bloom in January! Even the one in the greenhouse looks like this. ☃️
View attachment 49954

Yeah, I warned you, butterfly pea is hard to do if you live much north of Florida.

'Mini Bambino' eggplant, first little bunch.
View attachment 49956

Oh, I grew Bambino once. Got really confused when one of the plants ended up making white fruits (probably an errant seed of some other sort that got mixed in, likely a Thai White.)

 

[digitS']

I have thought of putting in a direct, all season water line to the greenhouse. It would just be too much of an expense and bother. That means that the bother of connecting hoses and running them through the backyard and greenhouse door has to be tolerated but ... only for a few months. Then things are outta there.

Unless, they are not. One year, I left a single row of peppers in the narrow little structure. Nine feet and in full sun - unwilling to run the exhaust fan through the summer so only an open door and window. The Very Best peppers that I have ever grown!

Salpiglossis certainly do have lovely flowers. I grew them as a border plant and their growth was too sprawly for where I had them.

Steve

 

[heirloomgal]

Yeah, I warned you, butterfly pea is hard to do if you live much north of Florida.

And there are still some seeds germinating! I wonder if I can try it as a houseplant over the winter? I hesitate on that because every time I've tried overwintering anything (peppers in particular) they get aphids and I can never break their cycle with neem so I wind up throwing everything out.

 

[heirloomgal]

I have thought of putting in a direct, all season water line to the greenhouse. It would just be too much of an expense and bother. That means that the bother of connecting hoses and running them through the backyard and greenhouse door has to be tolerated but ... only for a few months. Then things are outta there.

Unless, they are not. One year, I left a single row of peppers in the narrow little structure. Nine feet and in full sun - unwilling to run the exhaust fan through the summer so only an open door and window. The Very Best peppers that I have ever grown!

Salpiglossis certainly do have lovely flowers. I grew them as a border plant and their growth was too sprawly for where I had them.

Steve

Even small greenhouses with a relatively uncontrolled atmosphere can grow fabulous pepper crops.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

And there are still some seeds germinating! I wonder if I can try it as a houseplant over the winter? I hesitate on that because every time I've tried overwintering anything (peppers in particular) they get aphids and I can never break their cycle with neem so I wind up throwing everything out.

That sort of depends on how much space you have, and what you want to GET out of it.

I can see no reason why you couldn't grow it indoors as a houseplant, but remember that it is a VINE, so it will need something to climb on, something big. And according to Wikipedia, they don't get aphids (whitefly and spider mites sometimes, but not aphids.)

And while I think it will flower indoors when the time is right, which is fine if you just want to look at them or make them into tea/food dye,* I think they need insects to pollinate them, so you'll either have to do the job yourself or give up on getting seed back.

*This is assuming that you have the standard blue Butterfly pea. If you have the white one (or the pale blue I got this year) the dye ideas are off (though I think the tea will taste more or less the same.)

 

[heirloomgal]

That sort of depends on how much space you have, and what you want to GET out of it.

I can see no reason why you couldn't grow it indoors as a houseplant, but remember that it is a VINE, so it will need something to climb on, something big. And according to Wikipedia, they don't get aphids (whitefly and spider mites sometimes, but not aphids.)

And while I think it will flower indoors when the time is right, which is fine if you just want to look at them or make them into tea/food dye,* I think they need insects to pollinate them, so you'll either have to do the job yourself or give up on getting seed back.

*This is assuming that you have the standard blue Butterfly pea. If you have the white one (or the pale blue I got this year) the dye ideas are off (though I think the tea will taste more or less the same.)

It's the blue one. I rechecked the greenhouse one this afternoon, I was wrong in that it is a bit bigger. I'll put them both in there then. If they can handle Florida, they can handle the heat in there!

 

[heirloomgal]

Hard to believe it's July already. June passed in a blink. So far so good, though I found a vole tunnel in the very back of the garden. I was able to dig out some of it that was close to the surface, though in places it goes deeper. I poured in vinegar where it was far enough away. The good thing is he clearly is tunnelling to eat the roots of a few select trees. Nothing has been hurt in the garden to this point. The other thing I realized in tearing out his tunnels is clearly he's dependant on an overhead tree canopy. He's avoiding open spaces. So I'll have to surround the back corn patch with hardware cloth. He's actually nearly a foot under the corn so it's not affecting growth but he could use it as an entry way to my beans. So, another tree has to come down tomorrow. I hope that will remove enough canopy to make him feel much too exposed to come near the corn patch. That's what I get for expanding the garden right up against the forest!