Weekly Gardening Thread (Seeds) Vol. 2, January 13, 2012

January 13, 2012 | JustaDumbBlonde

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Good morning everybody! It is cold and clear here in NE Louisiana, zone 8a, we should reach 50° today under sunny skies. We've received several inches of rain in the past 3 weeks, so there will be no garden prep for a while yet, but the sunny sky has a way of getting me in the mood.

In last week's thread we discussed our seed and supply catalogs. This week I intended to discuss saving seeds from our own harvests, and starting seeds indoors. In preparing, I actually found a couple of articles that are very informative and give good information in very plain, easy to understand language.

Both of these articles are from GRIT magazine online. It is my hope that you will benefit from this information. The pages seem to load very slowly, but you may find it time well invested.

Vegetable Seed Saving: What You Need to Know

Preparing to Start Seeds

If you have any links with good information along these lines, please feel free to share them with the group!

[tillacum]

HELLO everyone from cooool central Texas. It is just wonderful. Of course I love cool to cold weather, you can keep layering to keep warm, but when it’s HOT, you can take off just so far to be acceptable.

Thank you Red Devil for the tomatoe seeds cleansing.

I LOVE this weather. I can work in the yard and work on my stained glass project in the garage. Life is good.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Links seemed to be out for a few minutes, but are working now. Please let me know if you still have a problem with them.

Wow, a dozen raised beds is quite a project! Please keep us up-to-date on your progress. You will be able to grow enough for a small town with that much room.

Would you like to be added to the ping list?

[tillacum]

Tattle tail! Do you get so see some of them?

[goodwithagun]

It's a hardneck variety and I'm not sure what the proper name is. It has white skins with pale purple stripes. I usually harvest end of June through the beginning of July. I really want to rescue it from harm! I will miss the fresh garlic and the garlic scape soup!

[tillacum]

Looks like we’re in 8b. It’s nice to know where we are, but turn me around 3 times and caa poo eee, I’m lost.

[tillacum]

Yep, he looks like a fellow who’d name his farm Wild Boar.

[who knows what evil?]

Didn’t look like a Muslim to me, either...

[Darth Reardon]

Again this year the fall snuck up on me and I didn't get my seeds started anywhere near when I would like. Which really stinks, because this is my favorite time of year in the garden, the only time I can grow broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, lettuce, and celery. On the bright side, things are finally starting to get down to business.

The dollar is there for scale. I have not found a way to grow them, yet.

I've resolved not to make the same mistake for spring. So, Nov 15, three full months before I'll start the garden, I started my seeds. From the looks of it, it was a good decision for the eggplants.

Okra, on the other hand, maybe doesn't need quite so much lead time.

The okra picture is pretty poor. Hard to get the level of detail I wanted while at the same time showing the whole window height for scale. I'd try harder, but the picture I really wanted the other night when there was a pretty yellow flower on one of them I plain forgot to take, so now I don't feel like messing with it.

[tubebender]

Can you tell me the variety of the 62 day sweet corn where you got it...

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Beautiful broccoli and cauliflower! Bravo.

[tubebender]

Is that garlic up and growing and how many sets did you plant? If it’s just showing I would take a chance and transplant them and keep the soil damp. They develop strong roots before they emerge here on Humboldt Bay. I’ll take a photo of mine today and post it here... if I remember!

[Ladysmith]

Oooh, got to read last week’s and get up to speed. And talk to a little lady in WI about a catalog...

[satan69]

I already planted it and tossed the package away, It was a Ferry Morris product at my Local Garden Store... Sorry..

[Sarajevo]

The dollar is there for scale. I have not found a way to grow them, yet.

That was the first thing that came to my mind;)

[afraidfortherepublic]

Here's a little seasonal gift from those of us in Wisconsin to the rest of you (with the help of David Zucker and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra). Enjoy: Travel Wisconsin

[who knows what evil?]

For those of you interested in herbs or (gak) flowers; check out the new Earth Box Junior. I swear by Earth Boxes, so this is probably another excellent addition to their product line.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Has anyone here got tips on raspberry culture that could be beneficial?

Plant them in the ground instead of leaving them in their packages to cook on the driveway.

Seriously, their are books on rasberry and blackberry culture. I had some diagrams that showed same "T" supports that looked good. I think you want to avoid letting them get all in a tangle.

Lots of people on this board know a lot about it. But leaving them on the hot driveway to "cook" is NOT the way to go. That's what happened to mine.

[afraidfortherepublic]

This is just for JADB and anybody else here who actually makes their living from tilling the soil. Thank you for the bounty you heap upon this nation, and God Bless you all.

So God Made a Farmer

[Ellendra]

I’ve got several pill bottles full of seeds saved from last year’s harvest. Watermelon, zucchini, pumpkin, string beans, tomato, amaranth, and cucumber. The zucchini seeds are still in the “original package”, as are some of the pumpkins, but there was just something satisfying about seeing my pile of bean seeds drying on the porch. I’ve saved seeds here and there before, but last year was the first time I really focused on it.

Most advice I’ve seen about saving bean seeds said to leave them on the plant until dry, but we had such a wet autumn that they just molded if I did that, so I started picking them as soon as the pods turned tan, and that worked out well. I let them dry on some newspaper until crisp and then broke open the pods, the beans were nice and fat and shiny inside.

[TheOldLady]

Slap those Dems!

Slap those Dems!