I Am A Seed Hoarder

[baymule]

@baymule , that is a lot of seeds to plant lol. It almost like you are running a seed rescue shelter instead of gardening. Happy New Years from the icy north anyways.

I don't use the whole box at one time! LOL But I do use them and bulk purchase is the way to go!

 

[catjac1975]

For anyone who plants in jiffy peat pellets or even in peat pots: I have found these to be tricky to get the watering just right. Maybe it's just me and my erratic habits, but they are usually dried out and the peat is difficult to re-wet. And, we have a lot of calcium in the water, so the pots get that white coating which then turns brownish and look really bad.
Not saying don't use jiffy pots or peat pots, just warning you of something that might occur.

I always used peat pots and lately all I can find is coir pots. They get coated with brown mold that flies into the air when you water the plants.. Did nothing to harm seedling which surprised me. But who wants to breath in brown mold or fungi?

 

[flowerbug]

For anyone who plants in jiffy peat pellets or even in peat pots: I have found these to be tricky to get the watering just right. Maybe it's just me and my erratic habits, but they are usually dried out and the peat is difficult to re-wet. And, we have a lot of calcium in the water, so the pots get that white coating which then turns brownish and look really bad.
Not saying don't use jiffy pots or peat pots, just warning you of something that might occur.

i usually started them out by soaking them in a bucket of warm water. after that to keep them moist there was a cover which helped hold in the moisture. i still have the heating mat, the tray and the cover that i never use. some day i may again, but until then...

 

[flowerbug]

@baymule , that is a lot of seeds to plant lol. It almost like you are running a seed rescue shelter instead of gardening. Happy New Years from the icy north anyways.

good to see you pop up here. hi

 

[flowerbug]

Me too. Collector, seed hoarder - the transition from one to the other was gradual, unintentional, and took me a few years to notice. After organizing all of my seeds this month into five file cabinets (!!!) I'm really just confronting the issue now.

Joining the Seed Savers Exchange in 2000 was what got me started. After seed companies discontinued several vegetable varieties that I had grown for years, SSE's mission of preservation appealed to me. So I began to take saving seed seriously, and looked for varieties that I thought needed preservation. That reached the point where I was growing 70-80 varieties a year for seed crops (weather permitting), with a 5-year planned rotation for renewal... so there are presently 300+ varieties in that rotation.

For purposes of preservation, it is recommended to save seed from as many plants as possible, to preserve whatever genetic variation may be present. So as a rule, I grow more plants than I might otherwise need, were they for only consumption: 6-8 plants per variety for peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes; 10+ plants for pole beans of any species; 10+ plants of cucumbers, squash, or other cucurbits; 10+ feet of row for bush beans or soybeans, etc. This results in having enough produce to supply my family & friends, to share with co-workers or the local food bank... and a lot of seed.

Because I share seed, and because one seed crop must last for 5+ years, I try to maintain a fairly large amount of any given variety. The thing is, due to changes at SSE and Gardenweb (where the majority of my exchanges took place) trading has really dropped off. Only once or twice have I run out of seed for something, and some of the varieties I curate have never been requested. There is little point in preserving something if no one else wants it... so regrettably, some of those varieties will be dropped.

There are also quite a few more varieties which were received in trade, but which I will most likely never grow.

So... I currently have a lot of seed, much more than I need. DW & I are not getting younger, and we will be reducing the size of our gardens to whatever our health will accommodate - probably 10,000 square feet or less. I would prefer to give away some of that excess seed, rather than see it die in storage. The link to my Gardenweb exchange page still works (even though it no longer shows on my Houzz/Gardenweb profile), and I will be updating it to identify the seeds which will not be grown, or which I have in large amounts. Updates will follow in the "Exchange" section, where I will start a thread shortly. The link to my seed listing, posted below, is also present on my TEG profile page:
https://www.houzz.com/gardenWebTrad...cwDRW6w0RfU0bVBFRu10v5UkgTzIVN2WpUUU0&irgwc=1

wow! *sigh*

i for one would be happy to take any beans you are going to stop growing. i may not be able to always grow all of them the first season but i do have a seed exchange coming up in a few months and i could use anything and everything for that. i don't really have a lot of my own of many kinds enough stock built up yet. i will have some.

it will be my first seed exchange and i was worried about going without too much to trade.

so you know they would be going to a good thing and also likely being spread further and also in a similar area/climate.

whatever you'd like to send i'd be thrilled to have.

 

[Collector]

@baymule, glad to here you won’t plant all at once lol. You would be a busy as a beehive if you did.

@Zeedman wow 5 filing cabinets, is there a medical term for that.

 

[Zeedman]

@Zeedman wow 5 filing cabinets, is there a medical term for that.

Perhaps "obsessive" is the term? OK, I'd admit to that. Probably not OCD yet, because there are (a few) seeds I will turn down, and vegetables I won't grow.

The preservation & dissemination of seeds has become a mission for me, a way to contribute something to the future, and to share with other gardeners. As obsessions go, one could do a lot worse... this one keeps me home, happy, & healthy. DW appreciates that.

 

[Collector]

Perhaps "obsessive" is the term? OK, I'd admit to that. Probably not OCD yet, because there are (a few) seeds I will turn down, and vegetables I won't grow.

The preservation & dissemination of seeds has become a mission for me, a way to contribute something to the future, and to share with other gardeners. As obsessions go, one could do a lot worse... this one keeps me home, happy, & healthy. DW appreciates that.

I think you may be right it is a healthy obsession.

 

[digitS']

Quite some time ago, @Zeedman sent me some soybean seed to try in this soy-unfriendly location. Only Bei did well but WELL it did! Then, I gave up that garden with its sandy soil and tried to grow Bei on my usual gravel ... This year, I will have to refresh my Bei seed but I won't be turning over many feet to a soybean because they just have too much adversity to be very productive. Instead, I will continue to buy edamame out of the freezer at the store. I'm committed because I like it!

Only a seed hoarder could have turned me on to a healthful food out of my garden that I had never eaten. The differences between the varieties Zeedman provided was striking. All seemed like they might be good choices, one was .... I'm waiting to learn of a variety called "Glacial."

New Directions are limited by a number of factors, imagination is only one. Source of suitable seed is another. This California boy was dismayed by not being able to grow California Wonder bell peppers after I moved here. Especially aggravating was going through the garden center seed racks and seeing 5 seed companies' packets of bells and all packets were Cal Wonder!

Popular varieties are popular for a reason but all gardening is local. Good Heavens! Drive a thousand miles ... no, you won't be halfway across the continent but you will have crossed some very, very different environments. My sand garden was only about 3 valley miles from my gravel garden.

I have wanted a non-cracking pink cherry tomato for years. I thought that I had found one in a seed catalog in the fall of 2016. Still haven't ordered from that catalog. Meanwhile, a different new variety (Sweet Treats) has been taking the country by storm! These Japanese varieties work here what am I waiting for!!

Back to the bell peppers ... oh boy ... I guess that I could get back to being a Park Seed customer. Not only did their Whopper do okay here but I was very happy with Snapper. Struggling along for years with some substandard bells was only possible because I discovered Italian sweet peppers and developed a real fondness. Now that there is a Whopper 2 in many places, I should be able to, at least, include those back into an order.

Steve
Other Seed Inventory Must Start Soon!

 

[digitS']

Seed Inventory was completed yesterday.

Today, I finished comparing the 2019 list with 2018.

Leaving aside the "would like to tries," there are 35+ varieties less or in amounts deficient now than in 2018! I thought that there was plenty of seed. There is a need to receive 35+ packets of seed to reinforce stores. AND, I'm not gonna be deprived of new and interesting varieties as I was the last few years -- A Stoic, I am Not!

digitS'