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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Mar 21, 2016 15:24:51 GMT -5
keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) Watermelon seeds? REALLY?!?!?!? Are you really in northern Colorado? I knew it was warmer than the northeast, but melons? Are you really expecting not only no frost, but nights above 50F for the forseeable future? (forgive all the question marks. I'm just flabbergasted. Considering it snowed here this morning, and we're having a very warm spring for New England...and considering I was snowed in, badly enough the highway was closed, in June along the Wyoming/Colorado border once...) Yes, it does seem a little crazy doesn't it? I will admit that it is early even for me. We actually got a nice snow last friday and it's all melted today and warm again. There will almost certainly be snow again in the coming weeks if not next month, but whether it will be light snow or heavy snow and whether it will disappear quickly is yet to be seen. The nights were pretty chilly last week. Since i'm only planting the seeds and not watering them yet it gives me a little leeway. A few years back i did something similar by direct seeding them on april 1st or somewhere around there and everything turned out fine. I guess what i'm really counting on is that they don't germinate early in cooler conditions than they can grow, but most seeds are actually pretty smart. There is at least some risk involved, but with the warmer weather than usual i felt it was worth the risk. If nothing else it will be an experiment to see just how early watermelon seeds can be planted. |
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Post by starbuckwhy on Mar 25, 2016 2:22:39 GMT -5
i am planting a bunch of heirloom Native American corns and crossing them with zea diploperennis.
this will be the first year of a project that is currently scheduled for 5 years.
i want to make my own strain of corn, popcorn specifically.
the first two years will just be establishing the genetic base that I will be working with.
the third year will be all about documentation and sorting seeds into groups with separate plots in different conditions.
the last two years will be all about using the documentation to start intentional, heavy, seed selection and back breeding.
i live in a city so a lot of the ground I will be using is borrowed.
one plot in the community garden, one in a neighbours back yard and I have been pestering people who own empty lots to let me use their ground as well.
we have our own yard, but it doesn't get enough light for corn to do well there. I may use my parents yard for the last two or three years of the project but they live about an hour away, so I won't be doing that until i am a little more certain of what I am planting and what kind of support it will need.
I have also been partnering the local universities to help me out by irradiating some of the diploperennis seeds for me to introduce a little extra genetic diversity early one. my hope is that this will increase my chances of getting something interesting in the back breeding stages.
after the 5 years, I will take a step back and see what I have.
also browsing a smattering of other things just for fun,
lentils, black bamboo, asparagus in pots, black-eyed peas and kidney beans (planning on crossing those together), and some cotton.
not really expecting the cotton to do well, just thought it might be fun to see.
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Post by rowan on Mar 25, 2016 2:38:52 GMT -5
Sounds like a fun project
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Post by templeton on Mar 25, 2016 7:28:16 GMT -5
I've dusted off some packets of red snow pea crosses that have been waiting for beds and time to get planted. With my purple and yellow snows pretty much stable, I'm risking an autumn pea crop to get this project advanced a bit.
With a bit rain recently, I've sown a big lot of Frank Morton's mixed mustards and lettuces, just to see. Beds getting prepared for what seems like an endless carrot breeding project, and i just harvested parsnip F3-F4 seed, so looks like that project will also need a bit of room. And the potato onions need to be grown on and assessed as well. And the fava side project. Not forgetting the leeks...and i better put in something to eat.
Busy? nah, that's why i just signed up for a phd...what was i thinking?
T
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Post by raymondo on Mar 25, 2016 17:20:23 GMT -5
I've dusted off some packets of red snow pea crosses that have been waiting for beds and time to get planted. With my purple and yellow snows pretty much stable, I'm risking an autumn pea crop to get this project advanced a bit. With a bit rain recently, I've sown a big lot of Frank Morton's mixed mustards and lettuces, just to see. Beds getting prepared for what seems like an endless carrot breeding project, and i just harvested parsnip F3-F4 seed, so looks like that project will also need a bit of room. And the potato onions need to be grown on and assessed as well. And the fava side project. Not forgetting the leeks...and i better put in something to eat. Busy? nah, that's why i just signed up for a phd...what was i thinking? T I think you'll need the distraction of the breeding projects while you're doing your PhD. I hope it goes well for you T. I wouldn't have the stamina. |
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Post by templeton on Mar 25, 2016 19:27:56 GMT -5
Busy? nah, that's why i just signed up for a phd...what was i thinking? T I think you'll need the distraction of the breeding projects while you're doing your PhD. I hope it goes well for you T. I wouldn't have the stamina. not stamina, Ray, ego... T |
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Post by raymondo on Mar 25, 2016 21:20:22 GMT -5
I think you'll need the distraction of the breeding projects while you're doing your PhD. I hope it goes well for you T. I wouldn't have the stamina. not stamina, Ray, ego... T Hehe! |
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Post by farmermike on Mar 26, 2016 1:01:07 GMT -5
These are the tomatoes and peppers I have sprouting already--as well as some unnamed varieties I have acquired or found growing in my garden last year. Tomatoes Early: Glacier, Siberian, Coldset, Silvery Fir Tree, Gypsy, Forest Fire. Slicers: True Black Brandywine, German Johnson, Cherokee Purple, Ananas Noire, Black Krim, Pineapple, Indigo Blue Beauty, Lucid Gem, Berkeley Tie Dye, Chocolate Stripes. Heart/paste: Giant Oxheart, Brad’s Black Heart, Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Berkeley Tie Dye Heart, Striped Roman, Opalka. Cherry: Chocolate Cherry, Sungold F2, Indigo Kumquat, Tomatoberry Garden F1. Misc.: Japanese Black Trifele, Ukrainian Purple, Sweet Tooth, Black Icicle, Red Furry Boar, Indigo Rose, Lovers Lunch, Dark Galaxy, Long Keeper, Michael Pollan, Amethyst Jewel Peppers Hot/mild: Yellow Hungarian, Bulgarian Carrot, Vallero, Chimayo, Sweet Heat F1, Poblano, Mulato Isleno, Chilhuacle Negro, Black Hungarian, Pasilla Bajio, Shishito, Pepperoncini, Jalapeno, Chiltepine “Texas”. Sweet/bell: Marconi Red, Mini Chocolate Bell, Midnight Dreams, Georgescu Chocolate, and a mysterious extra-large sweet that showed up in my garden last year. I am trying to keep them loosely segregated by use type and ultimately combine each type into a colorfully diverse landrace. I am also hoping to do something similar this summer with: okra, eggplant, basil, maxima squash, moschata squash, pole snap beans, bush snap beans, edible seeded sunflowers, summer squash, naked-seeded pumpkins, cowpeas, melons, and watermelons (particularly yellow skin and yellow/orange flesh). Hopefully, I’ll have lots of seeds to share next year. I’m planning to grow plots of Lavender Mandan Parching and Parching Starburst Manna corns--for flour and parching. Also, some trials of se sweet corns, possibly including: Top Hat, Who Gets Kissed, Candy Mountain, Trinity F1, Precocious F1, Sugar Baby F1, Buttergold F1, and Spring Treat F1. I’m not sure exactly which ones yet. My ultimate goal with the se sweet corn is to be able to save my own seed and have good keeping ability after harvest. I assume that I will need a diverse population to avoid inbreeding depression with my small scale plot. Not sure if I should start with an OP variety, or mix a bunch together and select out my own to increase genetic diversity. Oh yeah, I also have a new baby due April 3rd! So, all my well-laid plans may go right out the window before they get started.  |
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Post by raymondo on Mar 26, 2016 5:54:50 GMT -5
Great tomato list farmermike and congratulations on the impending family increase. |
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Post by templeton on Mar 26, 2016 6:00:22 GMT -5
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Post by philagardener on Mar 26, 2016 6:09:00 GMT -5
Congratulations farmermike and best wishes for another special delivery! |
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Post by reed on Mar 26, 2016 7:14:54 GMT -5
I'm a little hesitant to plan too precisely cause I'm not the best at sticking to it and there are so many things that can change but I do have some general plans. I want to go all in with landraces on some things, try some new things and increase seed of everything. Then as I'm occasionally reminded, I need to grow some food, it's not all just about experiments and seeds. Off the top of my head here is a partial list. Getting a good crop of carrot seeds is a high priority, this years crop was planted last fall so will go "seed to seed" rather than "seed to root to seed" so I won't get to do much selection on root quality but that is OK for now as long as I get a good stock of seed. This year I will try the "seed to root to seed". Sweet corn and field corn are in the second year of blending lots of kinds. It will be a while still before I can select too specifically for particular traits. In general this year though I'm looking for short season, slender cobs with fewer rows and larger kernels. For beans I got dry landrace bush, dry landrace pole, snap landrace pole, dry black landrace pole, dry white landrace pole and two or three snap "pure" pole. Two or three likely crosses to be isolated for better observation and then the runner landrace and lima landrace. For tomatoes I'm trimming down to just ten to fifteen kinds mostly from my own saved seeds. They include those that originally came from Joseph Lofthouse, some I'v saved for a long time and some dehybridizing disease resistant ones. I'm moving toward three kinds, canners, slicers and snackers. A couple new ones from Joseph and toomanyirons will likely be added in. Hope to expand on melons this year and add watermelons. Trying some new things including TPS, TGS, TSPS, cow peas and don't remember what else. Have been gathering and planting wild onions from my neighborhood just to see what happens, a real live by any definition landrace. I'v noticed over the years that some sometimes make little top sets, some occasionally bloom and in digging them up it looks like some make tiny bulbs around a central slightly larger bulb. It will be fun to see what they do under cultivation. Got lots more but the sun is up good and the frost is starting to go away so... |
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Post by farmermike on Mar 27, 2016 13:37:54 GMT -5
Good question! I am breaking a lot of new ground this year and I hadn't attempted to tally it up yet. After a little measuring I came up with a rough estimate. Between my new 1/3 acre suburban lot, and the 20 acre (8 hectare)--mostly steep hilly--ranch where I work, I think I will have around 3000 square feet (280 square meters) in cultivation this summer. That is more than double what I had last year, so I'm feeling rather ambitious with my plans. |
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Post by mskrieger on Mar 29, 2016 13:01:36 GMT -5
Please let us know how it works out--I'm really curious. I was under the impression that cucurbit seeds generally die from rot/fungal diseases if they're in the ground unprotected from cold, wet weather. |
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Post by johninfla on Apr 7, 2016 4:58:22 GMT -5
Good Morning all! this year I thought I would not even garden but I actually have some time, so I get to get my feet and hands dirty and more importantly get the kids filthy so Patty screams! My multiplying onions went in the ground in November, they are really doing well now. This is the second year I have grown this particular strand. My onions seeded two years ago and I planted the seed. They seem larger than the ones I planted from the sets. I have my Hawaiian Super Sweet in the ground....yet to see it pop up. Maiz Morado will go in this weekend (hopefully). Spaghetti squash, yellow squash and Charentais Melons are in and just popping up. Tomatoes and Aguaymanto are in and actually starting to set fruit. YAY!!! One a cool historical/cultural note.....we took a tour of the site of an old Spanish Mission (nothing left above ground) in December. This is a site from the 1500's I collected some hickory nuts and two of them have sprouted. It's neat to have that kind of continuity! Miss Edna's peaches are doing well and I have already begun the task of thinning the fruit. It's a nice excuse to be outside in the evening and last week I heard the first Whippoorwill of the season as I was walking back toward the house. Oh well time, to go to work and make some money! Gardening sure doesn't pay for itself....yet. John |
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