Rebsie's trades list

[Rebsie]

My seeds list for the 2009 season. If you've already been negotiating a trade with me, I've already put your seeds aside.

I got a bit overwhelmed with seed swapping last year so I'm trying to be a bit more organised. This year I've packed up all my "spare" seeds into packets. For beans there's about 12-14 per packet, for peas around 20 seeds per packet. I grow all my stuff in a suburban garden and usually only have the space to grow a small sample of each variety. With such limited quantities it makes sense to give out small numbers of seeds to a larger number of people rather than generous amounts to just a few, so I aim to give each recipient just enough seed so they can try it out and save their own seeds if they like it. I hope everyone is OK with that, I just wanted to let you know what to expect!

You don't have to offer me seeds in return, I'm happy to get these out into people's gardens.

I can't guarantee that things haven't crossed, since I have no choice but to grow them all together in a crowded space. I like to think of accidental crosses as opportunities to make lovely new vegetables. Either way if anything doesn't look right please do let me know, as it'll help me to learn about my realistic isolation distances.

I'll keep this post updated with how many packets I have left.

POLE BEANS
Poletschka 7 packets
Purple Giant 3 packets
San Antonio 2 packets
Kew Blue 2 packets
Mrs Fortune's 3 packets
Pea bean (calypso type) sorry, all gone!

BUSH BEANS
Purple Queen 2 packets
Canadian Wonder 2 packets
Comtesse de Chambord 2 packets

PEAS
Lancashire Lad 4 packets
Oregon Trail 3 packets
Duke of Albany 4 packets
Champion of England 4 packets
Spring Blush sorry, all gone!

LETTUCE
Freckles 3 packets

TOMATOES
Caro Rich 8 packets
Black Prince 5 packets
Douce de Picardie 5 packets
Copia 4 packets
Green Tiger 6 packets

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SEGREGATING HYBRIDS (PEAS)
MBPxA
This was a cross between Mr Bethell's Purple Podded and the sweetest and most exquisite of 19th century varieties, Alderman. All the offspring are tall (5ft) with large pods. They are segregating for flower colour (purple-bicolour or white) and flavour (from supersweet to yukky starchy) and pod colour (which includes greens, purples and some which are attractively marked with mixed green and purple in bold blotches). I'm offering small bags of mixed F3 seeds ... it's pot luck what segregates out of it!

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WANTED
The OSU anthocyanin tomato (NOT the GM one) if anyone has a few seeds spare!

Always on the lookout for unusual peas and pole beans. Bush beans do less well for me but I am tempted by the more unusual ones. Will consider other vegetables too, but currently on tomato overload (blame that on Grunt and Grungy ;D ).

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I may or may not ship things out immediately, depending how busy I am or how lazy/inefficient/distracted I'm feeling at any given time. But I do get there eventually.

[johno]

Rebsie, I'm curious what you think of Copia and Caro Rich if you grew them recently?

I bet Michael Johnson has OSU Blue Fruit, or at least just a few to spare.

I'm interested in Poletschka and Purple Giant. Thanks for your generosity, though I invite you to look at my updated trade list to see if you want anything from it.

This is off topic, but it just occured to me that you must speak with a "real" English accent. That would be fun to hear, because somehow it doesn't come through with just text - lol. Maybe someday I'll delete and reload Skype and see if I can get it to work.

Oh, one other thing - have you tried growing cowpeas there? They like it warm, but they develop relatively fast... Most varieties taste pretty similar to Blackeye peas.

[tuttamatta]

Hi Rebsie,
I've been following your posting here on HG and I am really impressed with your work!
I am so thrilled that you posted your list and I would like to put in a request, but since I don't have any blue tomato seeds to trade what else can I do?
You say you don't want anything in trade, but surely we must AT LEAST cover your postage...well...I'll tell you what I would LOVE to have, and I'm going to list them in order of importance to me, and we can work out the details, fair enough?
MY WISH LIST:
1-SPRING BLUSH PEAS
2-PURPLE GIANT
3-POLETSCHKA
4-KEW BLUE
5-LANCASHIRE LAD
6-DUKE OF ALBANY
7-CHAMPION OF ENGLAND
8-FRECKLES LETTUCE
I'd be happy with half of this list (but if I could....all of them) but, for sure, my number 1 desire is the Spring Blush Pea.
I also would like to mention that I had real good results with my new method of growing pole beans adapting an idea for growing tomatoes with only one pole and wire, kind of a "Slinky" style...
my first try this last summer and I was very happy with the results.
If you are interested (I'm only volunteering this because I read your blog where you say you have a size limitation with your car) I could explain more but I have not figured out how to post photos on this forum, but I can email them to you.
I sure hope we can work something out, I'm really excited about the Spring Blush peas.
Thank you
Paola

[barkingdog]

hey Rebsie,

I'd be interested in the Spring Blush peas and Green Tiger tomato.

As you know I have lots of peas and beans to trade too ;D

barkingdog

[biorag]

Hi Rebsie,

Have a look through my list :
alanbishop.proboards60.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=market&thread=1954&page=1

I hope you will find some seeds interesting !?

[Rebsie]

OK, I've updated the list to take all these into account. That makes Spring Blush a "sellout" already! I'll be in touch via PM to sort out addresses and stuff.

Johno - yes I do have a "real" English accent! Where I live nobody takes much notice of it. It's a hybrid between south-west England where I was born and live, and south-east England where I grew up.

I have a spooky spoken-word track available to listen to if you want to know what it sounds like.
www.rebsiefairholm.co.uk/Spirits_of_the_Dead.mp3

I liked Copia ... it didn't fully ripen here in the UK but it still tasted good at the green-and-pink stage. It was prone to cracking, which meant a few went mouldy (there we go, a British spelling for you) before reaching an edible stage, but that may have been down to the climate. It's a very pretty tomato anyway, with silvery stripes. Caro Rich I was very pleased with. Given that it's mainly bred for its high pro-vitamin A content I wasn't expecting the flavour to be anything special but it was lovely, a really nice balance of sweet and tangy. It had a nice texture too, very juicy but doesn't turn to mush when you slice it. The fruits come in lots of different sizes but the yields on mine were good.

I haven't tried growing cowpeas, though I have some which I got in a seed swap last year which I haven't sown yet. You can't buy them in the UK which I always took to mean they won't grow here, but it has to be worth a try.

Tuttamatta - Thank you! Yes, you can have all those on your list, no problem.

Barkingdog - Yep, I'd be happy to have more beans from you, they did great this year.

Biorag - I have some Spring Blush set aside for you ... I'll have a look through your list. Thanks!

[americangardener]

Rebsie...

I'd be interested in the MBPxA if you could set some aside for me. If you happen to have any extra yellow podded ones too.

I'll be sending you some more peas here soon.. are there any other types of veggies you like growing? If you are looking for some peppers or melons i have a few of those. Just let me know before i mail out the peas and i'll throw everything all in one package.

Dave

[orflo]

Rebsie,
do you still have some Kew blue??
I'll send a list of my things to trade, but I'm always late making these things, so it'll probably be January.....
And cowpeas need lots of warmth, I got some in 2003 and 2006, but they mostly die, too cold and wet over here. But they taste really fine, so I'm trying them year after year (yes, I'm stubborn ;D)
Frank

[bunkie]

rebsie, i enjoy your site also and following the works your doing. i would be interested in the following:

POLETSCHKA
KEW BLUE
Douce de Picardie

i'll have a list up here very soon. we are in an historical deep freeze right now and have to keep moving to stay warm! thaanks!

[Rebsie]

I've just seen that there is such a thing as Green Copia. Maybe that's what I've got. It wasn't labelled as that, but it would certainly explain why it never went the yellowy colour I was expecting.

Dave - yep, I'd be happy to send you some MBPxA to play with. I can also send you a few F3 seeds from the Yellow Sugarsnap Project if you like. They should breed true for the yellow but will still be segregating for other traits.

I do like other vegetables ... I love potatoes and peppers and try to be open-minded about everything ... my limitation really is the size of my garden. I tend to accumulate more varieties than I can realistically grow in my small space, and then I end up with backlogs from year to year. Especially as the breeding projects gradually take up more and more space. And being a girlie who has to do all the digging herself I sometimes struggle to make full use of the space I have got ...

But thanks, I can probably talk myself into choosing a couple of peppers off your list. And the peas will be very welcome.

Frank - useful to know that about cowpeas, thanks. I'm stubborn too ;D so I might try them in the greenhouse and against a sheltered wall and see what happens. I've reserved some Kew Blue for you.

Bunkie - Thanks! There's no rush for your seed list, I'll enjoy it whenever it arrives.

[johno]

Cool - I enjoyed listening to your spoken-word track. I know she's not English (hope this doesn't offend), but it reminded me much of Cate Blanchett's voice from Lord of the Rings.

Surprising to hear such a good report on the flavor of Caro Rich. I may have to try it one of these days.

[Rebsie]

Thanks! I'm not offended by a Cate Blanchett comparison, she's a very fine actress.

In a rare moment of efficiency I've sent off Johno's, Paola's, Barkingdog's, Biorag's and Frank's. Dave's will go when I've collected together all the yellow-podded lines I can find.

[flowerpower]

Wow, you are efficient. lol What a great list Rebsie. If I didn't have so much seed already, I'd have grabbed the Duke of Albany peas. Next yr, I will find room.

[biorag]

I've just received the spring blush seeds.
Thanks again Rebsie.

[Rebsie]

You're welcome Gérard, I hope you enjoy them.

Flowerpower, chances are I will still have Duke of Albany available next year, either from this batch or a regrow.