Seed Saving

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Yesterday we tried to collect up as many seeds from our garden as were available. We had so many failed crops that we did not get the seeds I was hoping for, but we got a few.

These are the very last peppers from the garden. It has frosted twice and the plants are now dead.





We also harvested some plantain for drying.













And the last bit of grapes, we are going to keep, since we did no spraying later in the season for this second crop.





Decided to try to dry some chives. No one recommends it, as they seem to lose a lot of flavor, but I buy dried chives at the store, and these would go to waste anyhow.





I can never get enough of the sky.









The fall colors are beginning to be well noticed.









The first thing we did was plant the Jerusalem Artichokes a friend sent me. They arrived with the grains. I've always wanted to try them, and even ordered them once, but they were never planted. So this was a special treat.

You dig a trench about 5 to 7 inches deep.





They say that anything under 2 ounces will not grow. That, in combination with the fact that in the lower 1/3 of the country, they do not thrive as well as the upper 2/3, I went ahead and spaced out the larger ones, and then used the smaller ones as possible filler.





We made two rows, each about 6 or so feet long, and dropped them in.





We shall see what comes up in the spring.





Next we decided to save these marigold seeds. I have no idea if they come up true to form, or if these are hybrids, but I hate letting seed go to waste. There were a lot of seeds on the ground, so I wonder how well these reseed themselves?





Michael is turning into such a man. He gets in there, studies the situation, and comes to me to help me with what he has figured out. I appreciate that so much. Here he's showing me how he found to pull the seeds out more quickly. We saved three colors in three different bags.





We bagged up Cosmos Bright Lights seeds. Again, I have not looked these up to see if they are hybrids. I am guessing they are, so the offspring may be a surprise.





Lovage is a biennial. These should overwinter, flower and seed in the spring. It is the roots that you harvest, for the most part.





The Fernleaf Dill.









Next was the cilantro which has already reseeded somewhat.













And the fennel.





We pulled one, to see about the bulb. But you have to get the bulbs early, as they are above the ground, not below. This one is beginning to grow new stalks, but I suspect it will be killed off before we get new bulbs. Maybe I'll cover the bases of a few and see what happens.





Then the broom corn we'd cut down a few weeks ago. I took most of it for a holiday decor vase, and we saved some seed from the rest.





Basil seed. We'll need to shake these out once they get just a bit drier.





A store-bought pie pumpkin that had not been made into pie yet. I'll save the seeds.





And letting the seeds air dry a bit more in the house as rain is coming again.





I have a craving for scrambled eggs and bacon, biscuits and gravy, fried potatoes with peppers/onion/bacon, sausage, waffles, and a huge glass of orange juice.

Guess I'll go eat an apple. :o)

~Faith

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