Richard's patch

[richardw]

Harvest is in which i'm pleased with, the range of colours has been interesting from this cross between Green chestnut and Grey Crown, some plants whiter than the grey and some plants throwing a much darker green than Green Chestnut, i'm keeping some of the dark green and some of the white to mix sow next summer


The seed from this round white plant will be given to another gardener to grow to select plants that produce the same trait again, but they need to taste good before its decided to grow it though.



Its the same with the fruit off this more ribbed plant

[richardw]

Go back 15 years and i used to have a battle to get corn to dry seed stage during March, not nowadays, no killing frost yet so ive managed to nearly pick all the popping corn, two more weeks and i'll throw over Durum wheat over the top and chop the corn plants down over it, then put the nets over to stop the sparrows getting it, that all that gets done in these beds till pumpkin planting time in Oct when i pull the wheat and lay the roots sitting up off the soil on wheat leaves, all dies off even if it rains.

[richardw]

All the pop corn has been picked, should end up with about 30kgs which should keep the kids happy for a few years. Now its throw durum wheat over the top and slash the corn storks down over the seed, then thats it till October.



The durum wheat has taken nicely where the pumpkins grew

[richardw]

The first of my 6 year old seed grown Feijoa bushes are dropping very good size fruit. i have 23 seed grown bushes of which three have fruit, two long and one round shaped. In 2013 we had a -15Cdeg that killed all my grafted nursery bought bushes, even the root stock never came away again, but everyone of the seedlings that were only half a metre tall at the time were totally unaffected. I'm taking seed from the fruit in the photo if anyone is keen to try. Plus ive got spots in the orchard for around another 20, there's bound to be some bushes that dont produce well so these will be replaced, also might have a go at doing cuttings.
Feijoa's, love the taste of them.

[richardw]

Middle of winter and growth is still slowly happening, to have stuff still growing has only just started to happen over the last few years.

First photo is last seasons Amuri red onions which are not the best keepers, but one in the top corner has kept far better than the rest, i'll be keeping its bulbils for forward selection.

Still a fair amount of variation show in the Portage leeks, the lighter green are descendants from ferdzy seed

I would tell you the name of this Kale but that would mean diving amoung the cold and wet foliage to find the name tag. Its slowly growing flower stems thanks to these steadily warming winters, either that or i sowed them too early.

[steev]

are you sure that's not a troncuda?

[richardw]

Jun 28, 2018 19:54:17 GMT -5 steev said:

are you sure that's not a troncuda?

yes, that rings a bell, it was given to me by cesarz years ago, thought i should drag it out and get it grown before the seed got too old

[richardw]

I sow Fava beans in autumn over a two month period and take seed from the oldest surviving plants in spring, thanks to a mild winter these were knee high and flowering before they lost there tops to frost, but came away as it warmed. They would be the most advanced Fava plants ive grown to regrow again come spring. This variety grows very tall at about 1.7 metres.

[copse]

Sept 11, 2018 0:32:45 GMT -5 richardw said:

I sow Fava beans in autumn over a two month period and take seed from the oldest surviving plants in spring, thanks to a mild winter these were knee high and flowering before they lost there tops to frost, but came away as it warmed. They would be the most advanced Fava plants ive grown to regrow again come spring. This variety grows very tall at about 1.7 metres.

I've given up on my "broad bean landrace" based on the 10 or so varieties I obtained.  I decided what I wanted was beans that stay green, not red or white, when dry.  And I'd quite like the crimson flowered variety, to add colour to the garden.  I've consigned my red seeded to the far end of the paddock, and I'll just save the seed for sentinels as it's one of those ones I bought because it seemed different and I expect others will do the same.

What I'll grow from now on is the crimson flowered, but I was a little concerned I had gotten sloppy and put some white flowered seeds of some variety in the bag, given how what should be crimson flowered seem to be 50%+ white.  However, what I am seeing is that the red flowered are a variety of crimson, red or pink shades now, and there's even one plant which had dirty black flowers.  I'm actually quite happy with the result as an indication there's been crossing from the other 9 varieties, and have been pulling over half of the white flowered, to try and keep the "red" percentage higher. Anything that looks non-standard black/white wise has been kept over the standard white with black eye flower.  These will be offered as an unstable red/white flowered cross on sentinels.  Grex? Landrace? 

I see we've only got Scottish, which is likely the one above, and El Beano, on the site. So the red seeded variety, and the red flowered cross shouldn't conflict with anything anyone else is doing.

I saw a honey bee pollinating the red seeded patch, which is a first I can recall for any of my broad beans.  Beyond the hapless mixing of white flowered seed into the crimson flowered seed bag, there's obviously been some crossing.  But I was told that only bumblebees really attend to them and they tend to not do a great job, biting going in the back door outside the flower not pollinating the stigma if I understand correctly.  While I did observe that, I did see some bumblebees going in the front door as well, so I guess it sorts itself out.

[richardw]

I must take notice of the bumbles here too