A Seed Saver's Garden

[Pulsegleaner]

5/4/25

Finally opened the wet paper towel box I was pre-germinating the corn in, and results are abysmal. Out of the probably 3-400 kernels I put in, only 24 germinated, and given that being perpetually busy meant I gave them 2 weeks rather than 1, and the mold that developed, it's clear all others of that batch are dead.

I'm going to grab the parts I put to the side (the yellow and white and other odds and ends). But since that's the same age, it'll probably have about the same germination rate, so I'm looking at 50 or so seedlings. Enough, but barely.

 

[heirloomgal]

Terribly cold today, and going well below freezing tonight. After a darn cold winter we're getting a darn cold spring. But there has been 3 very sunny warm days in the past 2 weeks which have felt like being slathered in honey. I got a tray of crucifers outside for a day in dappled shade, and I have since paid the price. Had no idea the pests were out already. Feel like I've crushed all the little worms now, and hopefully the plants can recover quick from my tardy realization of their presence.

Got 2 potatoes for the potato slots. Of all the varieties I've tried Peruvian Purple and Shephody are the finest flavored (in my opinion)- but they aren't around anywhere this year. And, I haven't tried these other ones yet. So a fingerling year it is. I try to avoid potatoes because I can't regrow my own from saved tubers, but looks like the red ones might have above average storage ability.

My best gardening bestie sent me some surprise fabulous sunchoke varieties to try this year. She got some of these I believe originally from Will Bonsall, who apparently has a huge collection of them. You'd not think something like a sunchoke would have much varietal selection, but inspecting the tubers of each I can see that they are so differently shaped, and colored, that they'd all be fairly easy to tell apart even without tags. One was huge - baseball sized and round. I won't risk that of course, but it comes as a delightful surprise. So now I have 6 in total - Corlis Bolton Haynes, Stampede, Clearwater, Skorospelka, Nakhodka and Ruby Treasure - which is a pink skinned tuber. I like that most of them make a concentrated set directly beneath the plant and not wander around far out from the plant. So much less work when it's in one clump. I'm going to transplant these into the ground once the giant tree is felled, and the garden is ready for planting (which won't be for a few weeks).

To my astonishment the Bunium bulbocastaneum really did survive the winter - it' actively growing now. So, my fear that it's a perennial only in a UK climate was wrong. Now I'll need to figure out what & when to harvest from it. If I want seed I may actually have to leave it as is, need to research. Boy, this is one plant that really threw me with it's spring resurrection.

The Egyptian Walking Onions I planted in October also made it through despite my too-deep planting of them. I plant to dig them and re-plant elsewhere when I put the sunchokes in. Need to figure out a spot safe from the tiller.

I am FINALLY done transplanting all the tomatoes into proper sized pots. Just couldn't get to it until this week, and they were VERY unhappy by the time they were potted up. Luckily, tomatoes are such an angelically forgiving plant. They are truly bouncing back in no time. The micro dwarf tomatoes were the most forgiving of being both super crowded in the cells (I kept 2 to 4 plants in each wee cell) and being left in the cell packs for too long. Really lots of neat new varieties in this group.

The last bunch of unhappy plants that need to be repotted. Sweet peppers. As usual, too many got planted.
But judging by my results last year with tiny plants in June, these will probably catch up with some time in the greenhouse. It is remarkable how that space can pump heat units into the plants so fast.

The little poppy transplants I put in last year are growing so quickly I can't believe it. All the water and fertility I gave them last year seems to have paid off. I hope they make some nice flowers this year. Already they are this big. The $2 transplants were just puny little things with 3 or 4 leaves last June!

Nests in the trees in the backyard. Not sure what birds built these, but they're quite big nests.

 

[flowerbug]

do you have squirrels around?

 

[heirloomgal]

do you have squirrels around?

Not many. You see the odd one occasionally.

 

[heirloomgal]

The 1st year clematis plants seem to have made it through winter too. The spot they're in doesn't get much snow, tough to survive there. Really happy they made it and they seem to be sending up new shoots at the base. I planted 3 against the house last June, two of them grew pretty tall but one of them never budged over a foot. That stubborn one seems to be showing the most new shoots of all of them, so it may catch up to the others this summer. Hoping. One of them bloomed in the most luminous, creamy, buttery vanilla petals last year; it was my favorite even against the pink one next to it. And I love pink. The petals seemed to have a touch of glossiness to them which was a lovely surprise, as many clematis petals are rather matte.

I'm finally moving toward creating the dramatic, colorful flower & vegetable front yard garden I always wanted. For years I kept a practical, low maintenance garden (if there is such a thing) full of perennials that don't need a lot of care to thrive. There wasn't much time I could commit to it. It was nice, but not that pop of dramatic colors, and vines and textures I've always wanted. The favorites really are the biennials - Canterbury Bells, Hollyhocks, Sweet William. But they are the most work and you get nothing that first year... so those may never be part of the party. But with some bright annuals like celosia, sunflowers and runner beans etc. I think I can make it work. The 3 new wolfsbane are coming in nicely too, so those should add some dramatic height, and the roses and hydrangeas also have some buds. The new white phlox plants are up too. Can't wait to see what it all looks like this summer in bloom! Only year 2, but ya never know.

The last 3 years the currant bushes have really taken off after several years of hum drum performance. They're actually sending out babies like a row of soldiers advancing forward. Some underground runners, and some are just points of contact between branch and soil. I may try to sell some, put a sign at the road, though I'm not sure black currants are really high on people's list of prize berries. Really more of a medicinal. It's funny how it took this plant so long to get going (it's in bad soil too, pure clay) and now it's bordering on out of control. They do make a nice hedge really, and I love that the leaves smell just like the berries. Despite the sourness, I do like to eat handfuls of them fresh.