What have you done today in the Garden?

We like to collect seeds from our own stock as well. We grow a bean variety that Zigs has kept going for years which is otherwise unavailable. A couple of years ago we grew tomatoes with seeds collected from a few of the most expensive varieties available at our supermarket. I think that the fresh seed from Zigs cactus plants usually achieve better germination too....... and it costs nothing!

 

Thank you Daniel I appreciate this. I didn't know it would also propagate that easily....maybe I will have more than one bush next year

 

So...bean saving Is it waiting for a full overripe bean? I get a few of those over the summer - the occasional one that the mice don't find first. Do they have to turn a certain colour on the vine before you can save them for seed? Or can I harvest a big full 'over ripe" ( a little too big to be tender) one and let it cure indoors? I always had assumed my season was too short to save some bean seed - but my daughter has encouraged me to consider starting some plants in pots indoors early just to give it enough time to develop and save the seed. A "seed plant".

And peas....is it the same? The large overripe ones I mean? Some of those runaways get huge and woody. Pale pods.

( very exciting prospects going on here.....)

 

Can save seeds from beans very well, let them dry on the plant and then pick them and keep them cool but not in the fridge.
Can easily take cuttings from currant bushes. This time of year take the cuttings from this year's growth, about 6inc. I've done them in pots and leave outside all winter and they'll start rooting in the spring. I've done all my plants like that, i started off with one plant, but I've got so many I've potted them on until i can find somewhere to put them. I'm changing things around at the moment to have more colours instead of just green.

 

Daniel. You not only have the skills to grow and nourish the family with a beautiful harvest even this last in the season.
I am always impressed with your beautiful pics. Not to mention all your beautiful flowers posted this season.

 

Today I cleaned up the third, of the original raised beds. I had planted onions and garlic in it for the 2022 season. The garlic did well, but the onions did not. I think my irrigation system wasn't working for them, plus I let the weeds take over, twice. Giant weeds.

So I cleaned it up. There were a few of the Red Wethersfield onions. I wanted to keep some over the winter and grow them for seeds, assuming it is a good variety. They are non-hybrid, heirloom variety. There were a few good size bulbs, which I used in the kitchen. They are quite good.



So I replanted these small ones, in a container that had pepper plants in it this year. Similar issue with irrigation, I'm not going to use those emitters again.

Plus, I planted shallots that I have been overwintering each year, in the other half of that container.

There were two containers. I planted tulips in the other one.





Then I raked the soil for those three beds, scattered Nemagon mustard seeds for a cover crop / green manure crop, and raked those seeds in. I'm trying to become less dependent on bringing in so much tree leaves to supplement the soil, so maybe a green manure crop will help. Plus if it helps keep bad organisms out, that's also good. Except for a row of potato onions that I need to remove, the beds are ready for winter.



The middle one needs repair, which can wait for Spring. The beds that had garlic or onions, will have tomatoes next year. The one that had peppers, might have early beans next year. Im not certain. If so, I could leave the one row of potato onions there, figuring the bed could have tomatoes a year later. However, I want to simplify rotations, so maybe I'll move the potato onions to containers or the tomato bed that I haven't cleaned up yet.

I also replanted shallots into a large container that was planted with early potatoes, then bush beans. So those are the third crop in that container this year. I also added organic bulb fertilizer for that and for the other bulb crops.

 

@Logan, thanks for your helpful advice! Before this year, I have not tried saving bush bean green bean seeds before. I planted so late (July) that by the time the pods started to dry, it was rainy season. They got moldy and rotted on the plants. This year I think the stars were aligned and I was able to save some.

Next year - I plan to plant an early crop, May or early June. That will give more time for seed saving, even if I also plant a late crop.

@Melody Mc. I've thought about planting them early, especially for seeds too. I didn't have room before but next year am planning for it. The pods should lose all of their greenness, and I think it's good if they are becoming tough and at least starting to dry.

As for peas, they go into the ground much earlier so there is time to ripen. Same thing, the pods should dry on the plant if possible. Also, I saved a big batch of pea seeds one year, and when it was time to plant them, they all had tiny holes drilled in them - weevils! Now I know, when they are fully dry, put them in freezer for a week to kill any weevils before they infest the whole batch.

 

Today there was more Clematis removal from the garden structures. It sprinkled off and on, then the thick grey clouds arrived and it became very dark. Time to head home. But first, those clippings were piled onto the veggie beds.

Daniel— your efforts are admirable. Those beds look really good. The tulips will be beautiful, colourful choice.

 

@Daniel W your welcome, I didn't know that you could freeze them. Is that the same with all seed? I've tried growing from seed blueberries but the fruit was frozen and i thought that's why they wouldn't germinate. A couple of years ago i had 2 come up in one of the blueberry pots, because some fruit would fall there and i never picked them up.

 

Yesterday some of my seeds arrived. I have 2 packets of Calendula. They don't just sell in the UK.

A free packet of tomato seed. I don't grow many veg these days, just like to concentrate on the flowers.

 

@Logan - very exciting to receive seeds! Must feel like Christmas I'm hoping to place my order today.

I am relatively new to "seed saving" - I've only carried over my squash seeds before. But I have stored my seeds in the freezer for twenty years now - I believe as @Daniel menioned, as long as they are fully dry, it is okay. I've never had a problem with germination, and it was a friend who ran a market garden for many years who suggested that I freeze my seeds. Perhaps the frozen blueberries didn't germinate because of the moisture? Just a guess. ( I only know enough to be dangerous )

Thank you for the information about the red currants and beans. I've never had a bean dry on the plant before, so I think the "early seed plant" may be the way for me to go. I'm definitlely going to give it a try now

 

@Daniel W - it's been really wonderful following your garden this year from the construction of the raised beds, the sewing of the potato pots, the carefully selected plants, your watering system and your mulch/cardboard for the tomatoes. All tucked away for winter and they look ready for another spring. Your hard work seems to have really paid off. Are you pleased with how everything did this year, with all of your efforts to make gardening more physcially enjoyable/doable?

 

@Sjoerd - does your rainy season last all the winter months? You must be able to see clouds coming from miles away. I think I missed something...you're removing clamatis? I thought planting clamatis. Or is this the old growth coming down for the year?

 

Hiya Mel,

No, I am not removing the plants, just the vines (old growth coming down). I do that to reduce the wind resistance as we have lots of wind and I do not want the arches to blow to a tilt in the soft, moist soil.

The raininess is different each year, but it is usually more wet than dry. I just have to work in-between the showers.

 

Today there is a CFL Western Semi Finals Football game on...which is not my schtick, but it is Hubby's. So I make'a da pizza, I chill'a da beer....and I get a few hours to myslef to organize my seed orders for next year( after contributing to the pizza eating and pint drinking at half time )