I find that there’s not a lot of talk about how large a population you need when people do talk about seed saving. I think it’s a lot bigger than most people expect, especially for out-crossers like broccoli and corn. On top of that, if you want to be growing something different than your neighbors (or say, want to save broccoli seed when a lot of people let kale go to seed around you), you need to consider isolation distances. Let’s look at population size first.
I had a bunch of projects and work to attend to at the end of last month and although I had scheduled a few blog posts during that time, I failed to offer personalized replies to many of your wonderful comments (although I did leave a general message on each entry). I just wanted to let you all know that I really, reallyappreciate all the…
Gonna wash and disinfect these compostable pots and get them ready for the 2020 season. These pots will hold tomatoes and peppers and we will start our seedlings in the next four days (January 15-18). Our planting zone here in Atlanta is a rapidly rising zone 8a. What are you planting now?
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Do you ever wonder what cilantro plants look like when they go to flowers? The bees love them and I love to save the seeds to make coriander and to plant more next season. I still have a ton of seeds left over from last year.
When it comes to bulbous plants, South Africa is one of those areas of the world which gifts us with a great variety of striking shapes and colours, as in the case of the beautiful orange blossoms of this perennial, evergreen species I photographed at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. Native to shady and humid woodland, NatalorBush lily does very well as a houseplant, requiring little care aside from careful watering - it should be kept dry or barely moist through winter and watered mostly during spring and after the flowering period, depending on the circumstances. Generally it also tends to flower more profusely if grown in a container just slightly larger than the bulb-like base and root ball, rather than a much bigger one.
Although it has traditionally been used as a medicinal plant in its native region, all parts of the plant are toxic if ingested, therefore outside of areas where it can be planted outdoors to benefit wildlife -the flowers attract particularly butterflies- its value as a houseplant is simply ornamental.
Once the flowers have been pollinated -by nectar-feeding sunbirds in the plant’s native area, or by insects, often butterflies, elsewhere- they turn into bright red fruits the size of a small olive.
Each fruit contains one or two large, fleshy seeds encased in a thin layer of sticky pulp. They should be cleaned well and sown fresh, with the “eye” exposed, on top of moist, well-draining medium. In November ‘18 it took the two seeds I sown three days to germinate, although one was twice the size of the other.
Three months later, both seedlings are growing, slowly, but strong and healthy. I’ll pot them up individually once they have more leaves, and from there on I’ll just wait for the few years it will take them to start flowering. I can’t wait to see those orange blooms already!
If there is a main, single reason, I haven’t been as active as usual over the past period is because of the time I’ve been putting in planning the allotment layout progression for this new year and in preparing the site.
It’s also time to start the first plants indoors, so I thought I’d share with you what I will (try) to grow from seed and what you should expect to see me writing about a few months down the line.
The seeds I will be using come from different sources: some were bought online, some at the garden centre where I work, some were bought or collected by my mum and I in Italy, others are part of my collection of saved seeds and some where left by the previous owners of the allotment.
All this plants are in addition to the plugs I will buy from work for convenience and to the several perennials I have still waiting in pots or dormant in the shed. Altogether, I’ve already planted 150+ different small plants around the allotment, so it will hopefully end up being the biodiversity paradise I’m trying to create.
Coming to the seeds, here’s the list, which I might edit in time:
Made a spaghetti squash yesterday and decided to save the seeds. Whether I decide to try and sprout them or toast them and eat them is still up for grabs.
