A Seed Saver's Garden

[Zeedman]

One lady sent me these incredibly large naked pumpkin seeds, a line of Lady Godiva pumpkins I believe, where she is selecting for larger and larger seeds. These are really jumbos, and I so appreciated such a special gift from her.

Good to hear that someone is attempting to improve another naked-seeded pumpkin! The reviews I read of Lady Godiva (when I was researching candidates for my original trial) were less than flattering, so it could likely benefit from improvement.

 

[heirloomgal]

Good to hear that someone is attempting to improve another naked-seeded pumpkin! The reviews I read of Lady Godiva (when I was researching candidates for my original trial) were less than flattering, so it could likely benefit from improvement.

I'm not 100% sure, but I thought that was what she had said. When I opened the seed packet I was shocked at how big the seeds were, about 3X the size of the pumpkin seeds I buy at the grocery store.

That is pretty neat about your soybeans! I love seeing rare seeds make their way into the hands of gardeners!

 

[heirloomgal]

Well, there really isn't anything on the site I personally need (those peppers may be interesting, but as I am super sensitive to hot peppers, there'd be no practical point in growing them.)

I placed an order with them @Pulsegleaner that is likely to be a bit of an adventure, at least for some things. I was tempted with all those baccatum peppers, he has SO MANY rare varieties, but I *mostly held firm. The Peruviano Arancia baccatum looked too good to say no to. Are there any pepper plants, on earth, that produce as good as baccatums? I mean, they grow to 4 feet! I'm also going to try 2 of his fruits - Tzimbalo and Kangaroo Apple. I know Tzimbalo is possible because I've grown it before, until I forgot it in the greenhouse on a cold night & fizzed it. We'll see with KA, please share if you have growing tips! This Conoopdium majus he has I'm REALLY curious to try. It's apparently a popular item. After fantastic results with chufas I'm hoping this will be as good, or close to it. I did get the Habanada and the Capiscum flexuosum - he said Cf tastes like 'hot candy'. Not sure how true that will be, but we'll see. It looks pretty neat. Wild Fennel and Skirret will also be some totally new things for me. I can only hope the skirret is as good as it seems. I sometimes find when a crop is not popularly grown, you try it.. and then quickly realize why it's not so popularly grown. But there are definitely happy surprises to be had, Liso Calcutta gherkins come to mind, so I've got my hopes high and my fingers crossed.

Besides, the shipping was totally free! 😀

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Depending on how the Chufas turn out, I may put you in contact with my guy in Ghana, as he carries a black chufa besides the standard one.

I'll have to trust you on the peppers, they have never done that well for me. My Amazonian Muskmelon shaped (which are not muskmelon shaped, that's just what Joe Simcox called them) did OK, but I only got enough bite size peppers to make one batch of salsa. He also lied about then not being hot (they're only a little hot, about pepperoncini level, but you can still feel it.)
I suppose my idea pepper, if I ever find one, would be a mutated Rocoto that wasn't hot (there's a heat free habanero now, so I suppose it is possible). Only other pepper I ever tried was C. rombifolium (a weird little tiny pepper from Asia, which is also heat free). and that didn't come up.

Wish I could help with the KA's but mine never came up either, if, indeed I ever grew them (I know I grew green berry nightshade (S. opacum) and that grew quite well, but the risk of mixing it up with unripe American Nightshade berries (which are an indigenous weed here) was just too much risk. I also one grew Australian Bush Tomatoes (out of seed I culled out of flavored salt, of all things.) but they didn't flower or fruit in my climate.

Don't like Tamarillos, so Tzimbalos wouldn't interest me either.

Advance warning in case you start looking into jalomatos, not only are they REALLY hard to germinate but you need at least two to get any fruit back (I got one).

 

[heirloomgal]

Depending on how the Chufas turn out, I may put you in contact with my guy in Ghana, as he carries a black chufa besides the standard one.

I'll have to trust you on the peppers, they have never done that well for me. My Amazonian Muskmelon shaped (which are not muskmelon shaped, that's just what Joe Simcox called them) did OK, but I only got enough bite size peppers to make one batch of salsa. He also lied about then not being hot (they're only a little hot, about pepperoncini level, but you can still feel it.)
I suppose my idea pepper, if I ever find one, would be a mutated Rocoto that wasn't hot (there's a heat free habanero now, so I suppose it is possible). Only other pepper I ever tried was C. rombifolium (a weird little tiny pepper from Asia, which is also heat free). and that didn't come up.

Wish I could help with the KA's but mine never came up either, if, indeed I ever grew them (I know I grew green berry nightshade (S. opacum) and that grew quite well, but the risk of mixing it up with unripe American Nightshade berries (which are an indigenous weed here) was just too much risk. I also one grew Australian Bush Tomatoes (out of seed I culled out of flavored salt, of all things.) but they didn't flower or fruit in my climate.

Don't like Tamarillos, so Tzimbalos wouldn't interest me either.

Advance warning in case you start looking into jalomatos, not only are they REALLY hard to germinate but you need at least two to get any fruit back (I got one).

Black chufa nuts? Now that sounds different. I'm trying the heatless habanero in 2023, 'Habanado'. I tried Zavory a few years ago and liked it, I had a few requests for it this year surprisingly.

Do Tamarillos taste like Tzimbalos? They look so different?

I have seen these various nightshade berries popping up on seed sites - 'golden berries', 'green berries', 'jaltomato'. They all look like different colored sunberries, or wonderberries, to me. For some reason I have not felt compelled to try them. Yet, anyway. I guess because I was not really impressed with sunberries, they were okay, but that's about it.

Was the etsy shop you found ⬆️called Little Island Seed Company?

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Black chufa nuts? Now that sounds different. I'm trying the heatless habanero in 2023, 'Habanado'. I tried Zavory a few years ago and liked it, I had a few requests for it this year surprisingly.

Bear in mind, I have not, as yet contacted Mr. Jibril to see if there is a way around Etsy's block of all foreign seed orders. It is possible that you may have to plan to buy a non seed item from him (I'm personally thinking a bar of Ghanaian chocolate), send him the balance directly via Paypal, and then let him combine the two (shipping is free with him, so it would be up to him to work that bit out.

Oh and you WILL need a phyto, which makes his stuff expensive (but, again, free shipping and his amounts are pretty large, so they will grow a lot.)

Do Tamarillos taste like Tzimbalos? They look so different?

I think so, but I am not sure. Most of those South American Solanacaes get muddled in my mind.

I have seen these various nightshade berries popping up on seed sites - 'golden berries', 'green berries', 'jaltomato'. They all look like different colored sunberries, or wonderberries, to me. For some reason I have not felt compelled to try them. Yet, anyway. I guess because I was not really impressed with sunberries, they were okay, but that's about it.

Golden Berries tend to be forms of Psyalis (husk tomatoes or tomatillos) except for "golden pearls" which is indeed a yellow orange fruited form of sunberry (or at least of S. nigrum, which is part of what makes up sunberry)

Greenberries are S. opacum. Looks sort of like American nightshade, but is from Australia.

Jaltomato is a WHOLE BUNCH of related fruits of varying species from South America (many of which are not well known at this time and are new to the market.) they are rather upright plants, with often very complex looking flowers (some with blood red nectar). There are some other ones out them (Militomato Loco comes to mind) but they all tend to be smallish fruits.

Was the etsy shop you found ⬆️called Little Island Seed Company?

Yes.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

link to the black chufas (this one seems active, so you shouldn't have any problems)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/104125...ck_sum=549919e7&ref=shop_home_active_92&frs=1

 

[ducks4you]

I know that @heirloomgal will support my 2022 efforts in saving seeds.
I brought in a basil and snapped off the stems with seed pods. I didn't try to extract the seeds yet, but I have filled a small, used spice container with the dried out flower pods that I sloughed off of the stems. I plan to get the seeds out maybe, February?!?
I picked what I thought were decent sized bean pods, and they have been drying in an aluminum roaster on top of a heat mat and under a gro light. Dry as dust, and every bean cracked open.
BEAR IN MIND, I have already purchased my beans for growing for 2023, so this was my no pressure experiment to see if I could do it.
I got tired of the tiny seeds in some of my pods, so I gave up on many of them, which went into my burn barrel.
Still, I saved all sizes.
It is interesting that that purple (nondescript bc I cannot remember what kind they are,) bush bean seeds are Not purple. They gave me a meager harvest, first picture below. ALL of those beans will be planted at DD"s house. They weren't as tender as the other beans, and DD's are sloppy about harvesting, but ANY vegetable or flower to help keep the weeds away! Plus, they are a pretty deep purple, for what it's worth.
The Kentucky Wonder Pole Bean seeds are brown. I also planted some kind??? of green beans with purple seeds, and ended up harvesting Those, too. I am storing them together. It is easy to see which is which and that should factor into next year's planting. 2nd picture, below.
Although I saved seeds from the asparagus beans, I am not sure that I will get seeds from them, so I am putting the pods aside awaiting my decision of what to do with them. I ordered several kinds of asparagus/yard long beans from Baker Creek, so I will be growing them next year, just not from my own seeds.
I will be experiementing with viability of those seeds you see below.
I can see that shelling is a job best done in bite size periods of time.

 

[ducks4you]

Here are all of the beans that I saved. I did get a handful of yard long bean seeds. As you can see, they are very small. Still I stored them in a baggie that I labelled/folded up and stuck in with the Kentucky Wonder Pole Bean seeds for 2023.

 

[heirloomgal]

Here are all of the beans that I saved. I did get a handful of yard long bean seeds. As you can see, they are very small. Still I stored them in a baggie that I labelled/folded up and stuck in with the Kentucky Wonder Pole Bean seeds for 2023.

Pretty awesome @ducks4you ! You will definitely get some bean plants next summer from those! I think your yardlong bean seeds, from photos I've seen and I grew Holstein cowpea this summer, looks just like they should. They are just small bean seeds. Yes, purple beans usually have tan seeds. You seldom see an exception to that. I've never had really tender purple beans except for 2 kinds - Blauhilde and Carminat. I find the rest of them on the tougher side, especially when they aren't very young. And I bet plants that you grow from your own seeds will perform EVEN BETTER. You did great!

Are you sure you want to burn your bean refuse? It is really good to mix in with your garden soil! In fact, I actually made mulch (with my mulcher/shredder) from all my bean pods and any cruddy seeds I had. The plants and pods etc. add a lot of fertility back into the soil too, as well as improve soil texture.