|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Dec 20, 2011 10:46:40 GMT -5
I have finalized my seed swap list for the year. garden.lofthouse.com/seed-list.phtmlEverything listed was grown in my garden. In addition to what is listed, I'm making available only to Homegrown Goodness blog readers seeds from my breeding projects. If you have heard me mention a breeding project and you are longing to try it, go ahead and ask for the seed in a personal message. If I have enough to share, it's yours. I found my little pink book last night in which I had been making notes about who wants what. Some of you will be getting a surprise package for the new year. I'm not done shelling Astronomy Domine sweet corn, but I've got gallons of seed finished already. Popcorn is coming along. It's slow since I am popping every cob as an individual. The butternuts are coming along slowly. It takes a long time to eat 5 bushels of winter squash.
|
|
|
Post by 12540dumont on Dec 20, 2011 18:58:47 GMT -5
Wow Joseph, as always I'm overwhelmed. Let me know if you want some of my posole corn!
I want to report that your garlic was first up and looks good!
Merry Happy, Holly
|
|
coppice
gardener
gardening curmudgeon
Posts: 149
|
Post by coppice on Dec 21, 2011 23:47:21 GMT -5
Snail mail is wending its way through USPS.
|
|
|
Post by roper2010 on Dec 26, 2011 11:30:28 GMT -5
You have a nice selection of veggies. When I looked at your Yellow Pepper Landrace, I couldn't believe how many peppers are on those plants. What kind of fertilizers do you use, if you don't mind me asking.
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Dec 26, 2011 12:26:59 GMT -5
You have a nice selection of veggies. When I looked at your Yellow Pepper Landrace, I couldn't believe how many peppers are on those plants. What kind of fertilizers do you use, if you don't mind me asking. Thanks. I attribute the number of peppers to my selection criteria... For three years, productivity has been my primary selection criteria. That one fruit per plant thing doesn't work for me at all. There were plenty of those the first year. I don't add fertilizer to my garden. Therefore, I am also inadvertently selecting for plants that do well without fertilizer. The soil these grew in is a heavy clay/silt, so once a nutrient arrives in the field it tends to stay there. I maintain fertility by growing weeds as a cover crop, and I don't clear dead plants out of the garden. I till them back in.
|
|
coppice
gardener
gardening curmudgeon
Posts: 149
|
Post by coppice on Jan 11, 2012 23:57:55 GMT -5
Joseph when should I start looking for some of your corn seed in my mail box?
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jan 12, 2012 11:13:04 GMT -5
Joseph when should I start looking for some of your corn seed in my mail box? Before spring... During the winter I normally only go into town a couple times a month. It's been even more rare this winter because an extended family member is ill so I've been staying out of town. The good news is that I'm back in town today and headed into the post office. Guess the postmaster will scold me for the huge pile of (mostly junk) mail that has accumulated. I've been working every day I'm home on fermenting, threshing, and winnowing seeds: And some days while on the road. I'm done threshing the crops where the whole seed crop is processed in bulk. I'm currently working through the things that require individual selection: The moschata squashes. The popcorn. The specialty segregating corns. I'm doing the corn right this year... Storing it in glass jars and freezing to kill the bugs. One nice thing about the discussions this past year, is that I am much more aware of what causes colors in corn, so the sorting of individual seeds is more reliable. I am selecting the corn breeding patches by color of the pericarp, aleurone, and endosperm. One of my favorites so far was a yellow corn with a blush of red over it. Makes for a very nice orange cob of corn.
|
|
|
Post by bonsaioutlaw on Jan 12, 2012 11:48:19 GMT -5
I hope that your family member recovers. I know what it's like. My 1 year old son spent 6 months in the hospital last year. He is still on life support.
I would love to see this orange corn you are referring to. Even better would be another video showing your color selection techniques. I have learned a lot from your posts and enjoyed the last video you posted. I am also really excited about growing some of your work.
|
|
|
Post by bunkie on Jan 12, 2012 12:04:03 GMT -5
sending you joseph, and you bonsaio, and yours many healing vibes.
i too have enjoyed all your posts joseph, especially the colors of corn. how did your lavender one work out?
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jan 12, 2012 12:09:49 GMT -5
Yikes. I'll be sure and not complain about my lot in life. Ain't it funny? My daughter writes and directs movies for a living. So I'm practically embarrassed by my rinky-dink impromptu unscripted offerings. Anyway, for lack of a video, here is a photo of the orange corn that I mentioned.
|
|
|
Post by 12540dumont on Jan 12, 2012 12:21:58 GMT -5
Joseph, that orange is a thing of beauty, so, go on, tell us the details, sweet? pop?
Don't make me pry everything out of you.
And photos of segregating would be lovely too.
Box coming your way. I too have loaded up the truck and am heading to the post office.
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jan 12, 2012 12:35:18 GMT -5
Thanks.
I haven't got the lavender trait reliably segregated yet, but it's getting there...
I am currently working with four different lavenders. Two of them are due to aleurone coloring. I guessing that they are different chemical pathways because the colors are distinct. I have about 30 seeds of each of these. One of them is due to pericarp coloring over white kernels. I have around 150 seeds of this. And one is due to patterned pericarp coloring. I really like the look of that pattern, but I think that I will develop that line for the pattern, and not for the lavender.
My long term goal is to grow patches of separate colors as seed stock, and then blend them together in some sort of formula, so that my version of Astronomy Domine will always have a really clever blend of colors.
|
|
|
Post by steev on Jan 12, 2012 12:45:25 GMT -5
That is a fine-looking cob of corn, like it's already been rubbed with chili powder.
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jan 12, 2012 12:54:01 GMT -5
Joseph, that orange is a thing of beauty, so, go on, tell us the details, sweet? pop? It's a su sweet corn. I grew it as a semi-isolated patch of corn this summer, so I have about a pint jar of seed that is approximately stable. It came out of Astronomy Domine, and a few kernels of it are going back into every packet of AD that I send out. I have a similar looking corn that I've been working on that is sugary enhanced... I'm expecting that to be homozygous for se+ at the end of the next growing season. It's already a very clever corn. My first goal is homozygous sugary enhanced, then I'll work on better color. This is a descendant of the Spero Shawnee Fire cross. Here's what the segregating sugary enhanced corn looked like the growing season before last. (The short cobs are due to me cutting off sections to taste during the growing season.)
|
|
|
Post by ottawagardener on Jan 12, 2012 13:21:04 GMT -5
I'd be interested in doing a bit of trading with you if I have anything you're interested in of course. Pming. PS: Love the photos!
|
|