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Seed Swap/Exchange, anyone?
Anyone interested in seed swaps/exchanges? I plan on starting to save seeds from my open pollinated plants this year and sharing the excess. My mother and I do this and I love it. She occasionally sends me tubers/bulbs and seeds from her garden. This year she sent me some cucumber seeds from Egypt (a friend of hers brought some back from a trip there)!
The kinds of plants I have that I can get seeds from are: (don't ask me what variety they are, don't know)
*columbine, several sizes and colors, including tiny white ones and tall blue ones, some medium purple, etc.
*oriental poppy, not sure of color
*red raspberries, yes you can grow 'em from seed!
*a rugosa rose, smallish and bushy, with wildly fragrant pink roses...I'll have to research how to gather and preserve rose seeds, but my bush makes lovely hips, I think.
*any veggies that I decide to grow this year
I don't trust my fruit tree's seeds, I think they're all hybrids.
The bulbs I can seperate and send are:
*irises, yellow and blue if I remember
*daylilies, yellow (they're lovely)
*elephant garlic
It'll be a few years before the daffodils and tulips need to be thinned.
I even have digitals of some of these, I have to fiddle with them before I can post them, though, file size is too big.
Anyone interested? Anyone? Bueller?
Comments
Seeds, cool!
I'd be interested. I only started saving heirloom tomato seeds last year and I haven't yet grown any of the ones I saved, so I'm not sure how good a job I did. I'll let you know in April.
In the meantime, if you want to bet that some of them will sprout I've got several varieties:
Mortgage Lifter (pink beefsteak)
Black Krim (med. purple-black)
Green Zebra (striped green/dark green)
Yellow Pear (yellow pear-shaped cherry tomato)
Green Grape (green cherry tomato)
Black Cherry (just like it says)
Mini Orange (small orange tomato)
Dr. Carolyn's (yellow cherry tomato)
Black Prince (small to med. purple-black)
White Wonder (med. white)
Tomatofest has pictures of several of them.
I also can't guarantee that these tomatoes didn't cross with other varieties in my garden, though I did try to take the seeds from the best tomatoes. Some of them are from my local farmer's market, too. I've got limited quantities but I'll do my best if people are interested.
Anhata, the red raspberries sound interesting. Also the elephant garlic--what does it taste like? Any different from regular garlic?
Fun!
I used to seed swap, years ago, with one of the British Homemakers who doesn't post here anymore. Unfortunately we don't have a garden here, so I can't offer to exchange this year. Fingers crossed, next year will be different.
Zillah
Selena, about the rose seeds....
After doing a bit of research, I'm pretty sure that my rose bush is not a "rugosa." The flowers look more like a little cabbage rose than the five petal flower associated with rugosa. So I have no idea whether they'll have hips high in vitamin C or not. If you're still willing to try to plant them, let me know. Before you decide, read these tips on how to plant roses from seed. If that seems like more work than you want to deal with, I totally understand!!!
[edited to add: I've also been reading that the rose seeds should not dry out, so I think I'd have to mail you the hips and you'd extract the seeds yourself?]
Anhata
www.familynaturally.com
Your Family's General Store, Naturally
Sparrow, which of your tomatoes...
are good in salsa? Do your beefsteaks do well in salsa recipes? I've discovered that I don't care for the yellow tomato varities so much, but I love the orange cherry tomatoes. There was a really great tomato that was growing in the garden when we moved in, I can't remember what it was called. I forgot to write it down and didn't save the seeds.
It had a funky shape, was fairly large, and was almost all flesh, hardly any seeds. It was probably an heirloom variety. I can only remember right now that I think it had an italian name, like Pisa Tomato or something like that. It's driving me nuts.
Also, I need to add to my list of available seeds for swapping:
*Morning Glory, mixed colors.
I brought them with me from Missouri but discovered that they grow TOO well here, they're almost considered an obnoxious weed. Since they produce loads of seeds and grow taller every time it rains, they can take over a yard in no time in the Pacific NW. I'm afraid to plant them. Doesn't rain enough in MO for them to be a threat, apparently.
Sparrow, would you like me to set aside some rasberry seeds and some elephant garlic for you this year? I'd be able to send you the seeds around the end of July and garlic not too long after. I think it's too late to plant the garlic now, in most areas. Can you refresh my memory with your general whereabouts?
Anhata
www.familynaturally.com
Your Family's General Store, Naturally
Not sure about tomatoes for salsa
Hmm, salsa. I didn't actually make salsa with my tomatoes, so I'm not really sure. The Mortgage Lifter had great flavor but didn't keep well--same with the Black Krim. They're a bit on the soft side. They were great on sandwiches and burgers and in salads, though, and the Black Krim did well in sauces. Green Zebra was terrific all around--looked wild, tasted great, and kept decently on my counter. I suspect it would probably be good in salsa, but your salsa would be green! Or partly green.
Most of the others were from the local farmer's market and I haven't tried growing them yet. I'm definitely going to try the Mini Orange and Dr. Carolyn's this year, though. Mini Orange might work in salsa, too, but I only had a couple of those from the farmer's market. Dr. Carolyn's (or Caroline's?) were amazingly sweet and good-tasting yellow cherry tomatoes. They might even beat out my Sweet 100s, we'll see.
I'm not sure what your garden tomato might have been. Have you tried looking on websites for heirloom tomatoes? You might see it pictured.
I'm in northern Virginia, near DC. I think I might like to try the raspberries, but maybe not the elephant garlic. I just don't think I'd use it much. Morning glories would be nice, too--I had a wild bluish-purple plant that took up residence by my front porch two years ago and climbed up the supports by the front door. We saved some seed and grew it again last year deliberately. It'd be nice to have some different colors. Thanks!
I'm very interested!
Unfortunately, I don't have many seeds, but I do have mixed poppies, and mixed cosmos. For veggies, I have many “Amish Pie” Pumpkin seeds from pumpkins that were very fleshy. Also, anyone in the Seattle area who wants strawberry plants or small yuccas, I am willing to trade. I don't use pesticides, and I fertilize w/ "Alaska" fish fertilizer, a ground cover of clover, and rabbit manure (from my own precious community of, at last count, 8. Want one, or two, more???)
Anhata, I would love to try the rose, although, some roses do better from cuttings. And, against better judgment, I'd like morning glory seeds. Maybe I can keep them contained.
Though really, anyone want a rabbit? LOL
Re: Fun!
Zillah
Ah - but I'm back now
I have rare tomatoes and climbing beans for swapping; possibly some squash as well. Happy to send to the US if needed.
yup, elephant garlic is a bit different
It's more closely related to the leek, actually, than tha garlic, and it's bulbs are huge, hence the name. One clove of elephant garlic can be as big as a whole head of regular garlic. It's also milder and sweeter, too. Gourmands love to use it in their cordon bleu recipes, because of the more delicate flavor.
They send up a four foot high "seed stem" in summer and are quite striking simply as a floral accent.
Here's some info on planting and some on cooking.
Anhata
www.familynaturally.com
Your Family's General Store, Naturally
Cool
just send me a private message with your mailing address, and I'll do the same. I can send you some Morning Glory right now, and the raspberries in late summer. I can't guarantee what Morning Glory colors will come up, they're all jumbled together. I'd planted blue, white, and mixed colors and indescriminiately harvested the seed pods all summer. I hope the seeds I send give you new colors!
I'd like to try the Mortage Lifter, the Black Krim, and the Green Zebra, I think. Just a few seeds of each. I need to begin organizing on paper the gardens and prepare to start seeds indoors soon.
Anhata
www.familynaturally.com
Your Family's General Store, Naturally
Pumpkins?
Are they eating pumpkins, then? I tried to grow some pumpkins for Jack-o'-lanterns last year, but they never produced any fruit. Lots of flowers, lots of vine, but no pumpkins. I'm still not sure what the problem was. I don't know if I'd actually use eating pumpkins or not. How did you save the seeds? I tried to save a few pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin I bought, but they went moldy. I guess they weren't dry enough.
Let me know if you'd like to try some tomatoes.
I can try to get some viable seeds from the rose,
But I can't promise they'll sprout! It'll be an experiment! Send me a private message with a mailing address and I can send you the rose and Morning Glory seeds.
I would love a few poppy and pie pumpkin seeds!
I'd love some rabbits, too, but my Aussie Shepherd would hunt them down and kill them I'm afraid. I don't trust him with small furred or feathered critters. A friend of mine had a rabbit and her Lab killed it.
Anhata
www.familynaturally.com
Your Family's General Store, Naturally
Address sent!
Yep, it's getting to be about that time. I think I'm going to be doing a lot of browsing online next month trying to decide what new seeds I might like to order. I'll definitely send you those varieties when I get a chance.
Did you say you had some irises, too? They're my favorite flower. I'm always on the lookout for more. One of these years I'll get around to making a dedicated flowerbed for them...but maybe not this year. I want to expand my vegetable garden and that's probably going to take all my energy for the time being. Still, if you've got extra irises I'm sure I could find a place for a couple of them.
Lack of insects
If you don't have many bees you might try hand-pollinating the pumpkin flowers next time; that's probably why you didn't get any pumpkins.
Lynn Siprelle, Editor
Rose Seed
Interested in trading rose seed?
Shall I set aside for you some this fall, then?
I've got yellow and blue. This fall when they're ready, I can send you two tubers of each? Will you be ready for them by this fall?
Anhata
www.familynaturally.com
Your Family's General Store, Naturally
That's a thought...
Though I thought I saw plenty of both good and bad. I don't even know what some of those bugs were on the pumpkin vines, but I'm pretty sure they weren't helping them. Still, it's worth a try if I plant pumpkins again.
Ooh, Sparrow, you're bringing back memories!
When I was seven we lived in a rented house in Falls Church that had raspberry bushes out back. Mmmmmmm.
That'd be great!
I'm sure I can find a spot for a couple of irises somewhere. Maybe in my front flowerbeds that the weeds are always trying to overrun. Thanks!
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