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Post by steev on Jun 1, 2017 23:36:06 GMT -5
Wish I could get your rain; I expect to find the pump-house has been flooding again, but things will have been watered enough that I can shut off the well while I shunt the leak through the wall; it's all so "deal with the problem, rather than the cause". Might get my shit together eventually, maybe; time will tell; doo-dah.
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Post by steev on Jun 2, 2017 2:21:09 GMT -5
Well yes I did, but my soil drains like a sieve; normal rainfall on the farm isn't much more than 20", so it's already dry as a bone.
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Post by steev on Sept 1, 2017 0:02:38 GMT -5
Yes; there is much to be said for cutting off the riega; I think I'll not for at least another month or two; with any luck the truck-wash will be here soon, "it droppeth as the gentle rain from Heaven, upon the just and the un-just alike"; so long as it droppeth on the farm and my truck, I'm good; the truck is so crusty, I'm prolly losing MPG.
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Post by coldframer on Sept 4, 2017 9:28:39 GMT -5
William, so interesting to read your posts/lists. I am in Billings--not as habitable as your part of Montana, but I have been saving seed from my garden for 10-20 yrs., starting when I lived up the valley from Livingston. They were mostly originally from Johnny's when they were less commercialized, and more heirloom, keeping seed from the best plants. The wind in Livingston, being legendary, probably messed with the genes, anyway! Keep up the great work. My roommate from college lives in Charlo, so maybe someday I will pop in!
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Post by philagardener on Sept 4, 2017 17:30:32 GMT -5
Welcome, @coldframer ! Hope to hear more about your growing!
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Post by coldframer on Sept 5, 2017 19:00:37 GMT -5
As far as tomatoes go, I don't think you should have any difficulty. I feed my chicks the seeds I strain out of my tomatoes when I freeze them, and I have many volunteers every spring. I grow 10-20 varieties/year. Always looking for the perfect Montana tomatoes! I keep a few early, tough ones get put into the garden beds and most go to the compost pile or friends. I gleaned some orach seeds from Museum of the Rockies pioneer garden, when they were tearing out plants in the fall, and found a variation in the depth of color with those, as well as being pesky volunteers. My white fennel reseeds occasionally. You are in a more hospitable zone than I, but our season is so short. Direct-seeded tomatoes would be tough to ripen, unless really short season, I fear. Did you like your silvery fir ones? Mine were pretty bland. Got some nice orange slicers from a seed co in the Dakotas (can't remember name, but you can find on-line.)
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Post by coldframer on Sept 5, 2017 19:03:43 GMT -5
Of course!
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Post by coldframer on Sept 5, 2017 19:05:13 GMT -5
I meant, "of course"to the seed swap. I am having technical difficulties, as I am typing at a high table with a low chair!
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Nov 27, 2017 1:16:49 GMT -5
Oh the trouble with peas! It's comforting somewhat that even Joseph Lofthouse seems to have some trouble with peas (based on his posts about insect damage and poor germination and that his pea landrace is currently listed as not available on his seed listing). Though I am still very impressed with his segregating Austrian winter pea hybrids and the colored pods. In 2015 the fellow who rents grandpa's old dry land wheat farm in North Central Montana put in a crop of field peas. We were very impressed! It didn't turn out well but it was an exciting attempt. He planted very early in March I think and deep. I would like to try that in an unirrigated sector. My trouble with soup peas goes back to a packet of San Luis Peas landrace peas from San Luis Colorado I purchased from native seed search probably around 2000. I have yet to get enough back for soup! I've grown them out perhaps 5 times or more. Part of the problem is seed predation. I am the main seed predator. In the green pod stage. Another problem is the times I've left for years to do botany work. Yet another is that I tend to crowd things- plant to thickly. I also never ever trellis a pea vine. In past years I've grown them closely with some green peas. Hoping they might cross and create a better landrace. I did that again this year with the addition of some purple podded soup peas Blauschoccers or some such. Peas cross naturally at low rates. So if I have incompetent bees because I haven't managed to entice legume adapted bees to my garden I may have to do it artificially. Part of the problem may simply be that I did not plant enough of the original San Luis peas landrace. I bought only one packet, my standard protocol is to plant only half of a packet. This immediately drifts a population a bit towards the planted half of a packet when seed saving. Then with small amounts of seed saved in subsequent years I got more drift. Plus selective forces and I almost certainly do not have the full diversity of the San Luis pea population. It would be better to start with a larger sample. Though if I wanted to get a larger sample of Spanish landrace pea diversity the simplest route would be to buy a packet of each variety of Landrace peas native seed search offers. However I think ultimately the better result might be obtained with wider crosses. The purple podded peas for instance. Caveat there is they aren't known for good disease resistance. Carol Deppe used Oregon Sugar Pod II for that! So I was in Ace hardware and they already had some packed for 2017 Oregon Sugar Pod II. Now I just need to figure out how to cross the three kinds of peas together to get the segregating population I need for adaptation... William, i sent you a sample of peas called "heavily-branched" did i not? If i did let me know how those do for you. Will be odd if you don't trellis them though as it's like a 5ft tall pea. But it was very productive for me this year. I think it was a segregating offspring from a cross i did between Salmon-flowered and Mummy-White in 2015. edit: p.s. if you are interested in promiscuously pollinated peas, i requested that pea variety with the keel mutation from the JIC. I sent half of the packet to ethin to try and grow. It seems like we have a good pea collaboration network starting to form here on this forum. Hopefully we all can be swapping pea seeds and at some point will all have copies of each of these rare pea varieties and genetics and adapted to our own climates and gardens. I know I've shared and received pea seeds with England (UK), Austria, Germany, Sweeden (Nordic gene bank), Utah, Montana (if i shared some with you), and here in Colorado. At least i think so anyway. |
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Nov 27, 2017 11:50:44 GMT -5
Dang. I might send you another package then. I'll have to see. "Heavily-branched" really showed some promise this year for production. Would be nice to have it trialed and see how it does for others. Hmm.
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Post by richardw on Mar 26, 2018 13:22:00 GMT -5
So what is Wisconsin Fast Plants William?
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Post by philagardener on Mar 26, 2018 17:03:04 GMT -5
fastplants.org/ - they are Brassica rapa bred for quick generation times for use in demonstrating genetics to school students.
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Post by richardw on Mar 26, 2018 23:42:24 GMT -5
fastplants.org/ - they are Brassica rapa bred for quick generation times for use in demonstrating genetics to school students. Ya learn something very day, thanks |
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Apr 6, 2018 10:48:29 GMT -5
Yep i think you did. Havn't had the space to try sprouting them just yet but thanks for reminding me. Wilds im sorta starting now. Dont want to start tomatoes too early though.
I'm sorta excited about the new germplasm i got for the S. Lycopersicoides because i think it is supposed to be heavy frost tolerant AND perennial! And maybe S. Sitiens too. They are both also drought tolerant. They might be hard to cross but very interesting genomes. Trying to sprout them now. Only have one sprouted.
And im also going to look for wild tomato volunteers but i don't expect to see any till mid summer as that is when the wonderberries sprout. I suspect to direct seed wild tomatoes successfully you need to sprinkle them over the soil like carrot seeds. Too deep and they probably don't do anything. I have had much better success with sprinkling carrot seeds than burying them even shallowly.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 6, 2018 23:17:26 GMT -5
Hmm. 10 days before expected last frost. I'll give that a try with tomatoes. Let's call it May 19th for me.
I have about 2 ounces of pepper seeds which I am intending to direct seed. Should be fun.
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