A Seed Saver's Garden

[Shades-of-Oregon]

Very nice garden blooms … @heirloomgal exceptional plants.

 

[heirloomgal]

Circling back a little to the immemorial Jack & The Beanstalk story....

I stumbled on something the other day that really got my attention, and reminded me again of my 'beanstalk dilemma'. It's my Rapa Nui, my Stonehenge or Gobekli Tepe. How a giant in the world's oldest tale could have climbed a beanstalk in a time & place when it's said to have not existed...

Enter Lucy Thompson, 1856 -1932. Lucy wrote a book called 'To the American Indian' in 1916, and it is fascinating. I've read a few portions of the book and am enthralled with it. Chapter 4 is about the Wa-gas people, whom she says inhabited the entire continent when they, the Yurok, arrived. This reminded me of something a friend told me years ago, which she had learned from a history professor at the university; the ancient story of the Dorset people of Canada. The Inuit also had described a people as the Yurok did, calling them the Tuniit. These Tuniit preceded even the Thule, the ancestors of the Inuit Given that no Inuit committed to paper things as Lucy had, the details are far less available than Lucy's account, but there is certainly distinct overlap in what is there.

Personally, I'm inclined to believe that the ancient mysteries of the modern world are just a teeny piece of a much larger missing picture, and maybe point to the pre Tower of Babel era. Given the prevalence of pyramids on every continent (and the work of Graham Hancock) I think it's likely there was a time when knowledge was more globally collective, some kind of universal language even, and the isolation between enclaves of peoples across the globe is modern, not ancient. So, Lucy may have solved the mystery of Jack & The Beanstalk after all. Horticulturally of course this would have some really interesting impacts on modern classification!

Amazingly I was able to find a link to Lucy's book for anyone interested!

To the American Indian, by Mrs. Lucy Thompson—A Project Gutenberg eBook

 

[Decoy1]

Thank you for the link. I’ve begun to into Lucy Thompson’s book and it promises to be fascinating.

 

[heirloomgal]

Nov 25th & I finally tried my first 'Yellow Out Red In' tomato. I was a bit sheepish about it too, because the last one I squeezed for seeds had a really funny texture. But today's burger slice was delicious. Wonderful tasting even! I'm glad I resisted the desire to just extract the seeds when all the box flats hanging around the kitchen started to get tiresome. Definitely worth it to leave them as long as I can.

 

[heirloomgal]

I'm starting to peek around a little for possible 2026 seed adventures. One thing that I saw tonight was a green called 'Yukina Savoy'. I'm guessing it's a mustard green of some kind, which I've never eaten (or grown). Has anyone grown it? I really like the look of it, I'm actually considering it as an ornamental more than anything. But I see some photos of it where the leaves have bug holes - and it makes me wonder if it's something that would attract pests? It is a brassica after all, but maybe the mustards are different?

I loved the look of collards this year, but loathed the pests. Same with last year. I really don't want to have those kinds of problems again, and I wonder if the Yukina might be a pretty, more practical option?

 

[Decoy1]

I’ve grown Yukina Savoy a few times. For me it’s been an over-wintering crop sown around August to plant out under cover, or outdoors but somewhere protected. It’s a kind of more puckered version of tatsoi on quite a lot smaller scale than collards.

I suspect that it would quite quickly go to seed in midsummer. And it isn’t immune from brassica pests - for us, flea beetles in summer certainly make holes.

 

[digitS']

If you are venturing into the Asian brassicas, HeirloomGal, some of my favorites might interest you. The Yukina Savoy is very likely to be worth a try. Reading @Decoy1 's description reminds me that I found tatsoi to be just too small of a garden green.

I like milder greens and listed a few of my favorite here:

... .
Calling something "Chinese" or "Tokyo" probably doesn't help but I don't think that I have come across a different way of referring to Bekana. There is a Beka Santoh ... (and then, my preferred Maruba Santoh).

If you especially like Tokyo Bekana, you might also enjoy Fun Jen and Beka Santoh. These are just a part of the Brassica World and, fortunately, not very difficult to find available.

The garden downsizing really knocked me off the pleasure I enjoyed with having lots of choices through the growing season and a little beyond. We have had our standards in the recent years.

Steve

 

[heirloomgal]

Thank you so much @Decoy1 @digitS' this is fascinating that you guys both are so experienced at growing these (to me anyway) esoteric veggies.

Having no experience with these kinds of greens, are the flavor differences between the varieties easily identifiable? I would think so given how many variations there seems to be? Or are the differences between them more tied to things like time of year they do best, their size (like with the tatsoi), and differences in how to cultivate them? They are all such attractive plants which adds to the temptation to grow them in my edible landscape project!

 

[heirloomgal]

I'm already guilty of hunting flower seeds...

I can't help myself, that 'Cupcakes' cosmos is just so cute I think I need to try it. And I so enjoyed the 'Apricotta' cosmos this year I feel like I might be on a roll. Granted the plants are kinda big, not a plus. But the truly endless abundance of flowers, and the ability to both enjoy the flowers for a long time and STILL save the seeds has me in a weakened state, lol.

I went scrolling through my cosmos photos and might be enjoying them even more on this cold, dark and wet November day than I did when they were actually growing!

 

[Decoy1]

Thank you so much @Decoy1 @digitS' this is fascinating that you guys both are so experienced at growing these (to me anyway) esoteric veggies.

Having no experience with these kinds of greens, are the flavor differences between the varieties easily identifiable? I would think so given how many variations there seems to be? Or are the differences between them more tied to things like time of year they do best, their size (like with the tatsoi), and differences in how to cultivate them? They are all such attractive plants which adds to the temptation to grow them in my edible landscape project!

I tend to think of mustards and oriental greens as being on a scale from peppery to mild. At the most peppery end are the mustards like Green Wave etc. At the mildest end would perhaps be tatsoi. Yukina savoy is inbetween but nearer the mild end. Mizuna is perhaps about similar or even milder and Tokyo bekana milder still. Komatsuna is very mild like tatsoi but perhaps a little sweeter.

Usually I grow a selection in rows as cut-and-come-again rather than as individual specimen plants which is what I think you have in mind. So the tastes contribute to a mixture, meaning that I can’t fully appreciate subtle differences in taste.

Some are more compact than others,all are rather quick growing and all are cool weather crops tending to go quickly to seed in warmer weather.

There’s an amazingly informative book by Joy Larkcom called ‘ Oriental Vegetables’. She, I think, pioneered the whole idea of growing greens as cut-and-come-again, which is not necessarily what you want. But the book is extremely interesting in helping to sort out the differences between so many oriental crops.