A Seed Saver's Garden

[Triffid]

For the avoidance of doubt the wasps I'm talking about are tiny ant-sized things, no threat to bees nor folk!

Fortunately (?) I haven't encountered a hornet on my flowers, but the regular old yellow and black wasps do come along and predate the caterpillars that feast on the lettuce seed heads and tend to ruin my seed-saving ambitions. Like your unfortunate bee, I've watched a wasp tackle these fairly large caterpillars and fly away with them.

I do wonder what the hornets find so attractive about fennel! Perhaps a good place to hunt? Over here there's the usual haze of small insects around them and lots of beetles.

On seed-saving, I've had multiple successful celery seed harvests with no issues, and I'm just a beginner really, so I'm sure all here would have great success if they tried. The first variety I tried was Redventure and left a small bed of plants for genetic diversity though I can't recall the exact figure. These remained true to type as no one nearby lets their celery bloom. The latest harvest was from a single pair of Chinese Pink and Chinese White that I left to flower, with no plan to save seeds. But they ended up producing so much I couldn't resist. They apparently crossed and this year I have a beautiful mix of magenta, baby pink, red, white, and green cutting celery from their offspring.

It's definitely one to experiment with in my humble opinion. And you don't need much seed to make the best celery salt going. But warn your family before they cook with it or they may inadvertently fumigate the whole household in an act of celery chemical warfare (speaking from experience).

 

[flowerbug]

for those people who live down where fire ants are common if you can attract the kinds of flies which will harrass and use the ants as a place to deposit their eggs (yes, there are bugs that do prey upon fire ants - look up phorid flies) that might be an interesting project to see if you can notice if it helps or not.

 

[heirloomgal]

I think that this idea of attracting wasps with the flowers of the celery family is a good one. I imagine that seed saving and cross-pollination would be an issue.

Although I didn't really make use of it, I once grew fennel. When it flowered it was absolutely covered with hornets on a daily basis. The honey bees could come nowhere close to it. It was in that corner of the garden where I first saw a hornet wrestle a bee to the ground and then carry it off.

Bees have a serious interest in my anise hyssop and some of the ornamentals when they bloom but I do notice the hornets on the cilantro and dill.

Steve

Fennel was a vegetable that had me puzzled in how to best use it, the flavor is strong with unusual notes. In the end, it always wound up in fresh salad and was appreciated there. Anise seeds, which to me seem to have an overlap with fresh fennel flavor, also had me guessing in how to use it. And then I was invited to a friend's for dinner and they served roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes & leeks in olive oil with lots of anise seeds. Such a mindbogglingly delicious dish.

 

[heirloomgal]

For the avoidance of doubt the wasps I'm talking about are tiny ant-sized things, no threat to bees nor folk!

Fortunately (?) I haven't encountered a hornet on my flowers, but the regular old yellow and black wasps do come along and predate the caterpillars that feast on the lettuce seed heads and tend to ruin my seed-saving ambitions. Like your unfortunate bee, I've watched a wasp tackle these fairly large caterpillars and fly away with them.

I do wonder what the hornets find so attractive about fennel! Perhaps a good place to hunt? Over here there's the usual haze of small insects around them and lots of beetles.

On seed-saving, I've had multiple successful celery seed harvests with no issues, and I'm just a beginner really, so I'm sure all here would have great success if they tried. The first variety I tried was Redventure and left a small bed of plants for genetic diversity though I can't recall the exact figure. These remained true to type as no one nearby lets their celery bloom. The latest harvest was from a single pair of Chinese Pink and Chinese White that I left to flower, with no plan to save seeds. But they ended up producing so much I couldn't resist. They apparently crossed and this year I have a beautiful mix of magenta, baby pink, red, white, and green cutting celery from their offspring.

It's definitely one to experiment with in my humble opinion. And you don't need much seed to make the best celery salt going. But warn your family before they cook with it or they may inadvertently fumigate the whole household in an act of celery chemical warfare (speaking from experience).

How did you like the Chinese Pink? I've always wanted to try that one, especially since it apparently goes to seed fairly easily compared with the standard green celery. It's a beauty.

 

[heirloomgal]

Couple little garden updates.

I've got some real challenges this year, but some things are going well. The cruciferous vegetables are one. The Osaka flowering kale is showing very little insect damage, knock on wood. I don't think the few tiny holes that are there are from cabbage moth larvae, but even so, I plan to keep a close eye on them. The collards are mostly good, but I did have to pick off a few little green worms once I saw the first wee holes. I poofed some diatomaceous earth into the centers after. I am just loving the collards, aesthetically. Next year, a much bigger row, I love the big ruffly leaves, and they seem less attractive to pests than the heading cabbage (which I will never grow again!) Soup is their ultimate destination. Both purple and green kales are pest free, and growing good too. Between the kales I planted some 'Sonja' sunflowers - a diminutive variety that only grows 3-4 feet. Big black centers, tiny yellow petals. I can see already they're a branching type, so good for cut flowers, though I will probably not cut them and just leave them to bloom in place.

A yellow lavender I'm growing because @Pulsegleaner sparked my curiosity mentioning it. I didn't even know a yellow variety existed. Germination on these was s l o w. The packet mentioned that too, but I was hoping reality might be different. But some finally sprouted and are starting to grow, lavender is pretty slow growing anyway. I'm keeping them in the greenhouse in the hopes of speeding them up. They do smell lovely already.

The peonies are starting to bloom. Always such a lovely if brief show, however, they are loathing the heatwave. Their first blooms began the day the major heat started. The 'Bowl of Beauty' variety looks haggard from the sweltering heat (34C/93F) despite blooming for only 2 days. The poppies are not doing so well either in the heat; I guess none of the perennial flowers are liking it. The clematis and mock orange however seem less resentful.

 

[Decoy1]

It's the parasitic wasps that are attracted to the umbellifers - they go on to parasitize the leaf miners.

Ah, penny drops! Thanks

 

[Decoy1]

For the avoidance of doubt the wasps I'm talking about are tiny ant-sized things, no threat to bees nor folk!

Fortunately (?) I haven't encountered a hornet on my flowers, but the regular old yellow and black wasps do come along and predate the caterpillars that feast on the lettuce seed heads and tend to ruin my seed-saving ambitions. Like your unfortunate bee, I've watched a wasp tackle these fairly large caterpillars and fly away with them.

I do wonder what the hornets find so attractive about fennel! Perhaps a good place to hunt? Over here there's the usual haze of small insects around them and lots of beetles.

On seed-saving, I've had multiple successful celery seed harvests with no issues, and I'm just a beginner really, so I'm sure all here would have great success if they tried. The first variety I tried was Redventure and left a small bed of plants for genetic diversity though I can't recall the exact figure. These remained true to type as no one nearby lets their celery bloom. The latest harvest was from a single pair of Chinese Pink and Chinese White that I left to flower, with no plan to save seeds. But they ended up producing so much I couldn't resist. They apparently crossed and this year I have a beautiful mix of magenta, baby pink, red, white, and green cutting celery from their offspring.

It's definitely one to experiment with in my humble opinion. And you don't need much seed to make the best celery salt going. But warn your family before they cook with it or they may inadvertently fumigate the whole household in an act of celery chemical warfare (speaking from experience).

I can vouch for the beauty, usefulness and general benefits of allowing celery, in particular Redventure in my case, to go to seed. Having received seed of Redventure from @Triffid I now have lovely red stalked celery popping up in many odd corners of my garden. Where it’s not significantly in the way, I leave it - for diversity, beauty and for the kitchen. I’m now going to appreciate it even more for such beneficial insect activity.