Posted on 03/27/2008 1:32:50 PM PDT by Gabz
Wow! February was sure a weather rollercoaster. Not just for us, but for most of the country, and indeed the world, with record snows and cold temperatures recorded in many places. So much for glo-bull warming!
Face it, scientists-who-think-you-know-everything!
Weather is weather, and mankind has no control over it, no influence on it whatsoever. We can record it, and complain about it, compare this year to that year. Bottom line is—the weather and the climate cycle as they will, hotter sometimes, colder sometimes. Wetter sometimes, dryer sometimes. All the hype, whichever way it goes, sounds suspiciously like a retelling of the old Chicken Little story.
While much of the world remains blanketed in snow, we’re not! February gave us a peek of spring with a few hardy daffodils popping up and camellias showing off. The old red standby, Professor Sergeant, with it’s dark red blooms and glossy green foliage is such a showy camellia. Then there’s the dark, clear pink, and Peppermint, with it’s red and white mottled blooms. Another variety, a light pink so translucent it’s almost white, and the really white ones. Simply beautiful!
Remember to keep the blooms that shed off raked up and you’ll have a lot less problem with diseases on your camellias. Camellias can be started from cuttings or from seed. Cuttings will always be the same as the mother plant. Seeds may or may not be, but that’s how new cultivars get discovered! Camellia seeds are hard, and look like a small nut. It may take them awhile to germinate, so have patience!
Seeds are truly a miracle. We take them for granted, plunking them in the ground and blithely assuming that what we sowed will be what we wanted, that it will sprout and grow and do it’s thing. Seeds come in all shapes and sizes and encapsulated in each seed is everything it needs to know. Whether it’s a mustard seed or the seed of a giant Redwood, all the information that seed needs is inside the casing, no matter what shape or size.
Seeds come in a mind-boggling array of sizes and shapes. Some we’re familiar with—pretty much everyone can identify a watermelon seed, or a sunflower seed, or a sandspur, or Beggar’s Lice, or cockleburrs, or a peach pit. Brassica seeds, or cole crops, such as mustard, broccoli, cabbage, collards, turnips, and kale to mention a few, all look alike. Beet seeds and zinnia seeds and marigold seeds are definitely recognizable by their unique shapes.
Of course, when you plant a tomato seed or a pepper seed, you might recognize them for what they are. Unless you know the specific variety, you won’t know whether you’re planting a cherry tomato or a beefsteak, a bell pepper or a hot pepper. When you plant a sunflower seed or a zinnia seed or a marigold you know you’re planting flowers. Whether it becomes a giant or remains a dwarf, or what color it will be remains to be seen. You might not have a clue until the seed fulfills it’s potential, but the seed knows!
Some of the information contained in that seed includes when to germinate, the size of the mature plant, whether it’s a bush or a vine, whether it’s annual or perennial or biennial. The shape of the leaves, the color of the flowers, the size and quantity of the fruit or vegetable that will be produced. Hard to believe all that and more can be stored in such a small container!
Planting a seed and watching it grow aren’t the only things we take for granted about seeds. People used to save their own seeds. We depend on huge seed companies to do that for us now. We just assume that we can go to the store and buy whatever seeds we need, and most of the time we can—unless the seed company had crop failure due to drought or flood or pestilence. Most people no longer save seeds, indeed most don’t know how. Seeds saved for next year’s crops have to be handled differently than the hybrids we’ve come to depend on. Because hybrids are not, in most cases, savable, we pay no attention to where we plant things. For instance—if you wanted to save a certain type of bean seed, or a special collard seed, you would need to plant those far away from any other types of beans or collards, or even anything in the same family that might cross with what you are trying to save. If you planted them too close, the pollen would mingle and what you got when you planted seeds next year might not resemble the parent plants at all.
As an example, if you plant warty looking gourds and crookneck squash close to each other and save the seeds of the squash for next year, what you get next year will be something that resembles crookneck squash—with warts all over them. Edible? Yes. What you wanted? No. Saving seeds is more complicated than you think. Besides remembering to keep distance between similar types of plants so they don’t cross pollinate, seeds require specific conditions in order not to lose their germination. Heat, humidity, and moisture will reduce the viability considerably. Seeds in cold or arid climates can last virtually indefinitely. If you intend to save seeds, keep that in mind. The freezer is a great place to store seeds.
The freezer, you say? Seeds kept in cold climates won’t germinate until the weather is right, and seeds have no idea whether they’ve been in the cold for ten minutes, or ten years, or a hundred years.
Speaking of saving seeds, there are seed banks set up all over the world to do just that. There’s one on a remote island near the Arctic Circle—sort of a last resort for humanity’s agricultural heritage. It’s a vault sunk deep in the permafrost of a mountainside. Theoretically, it should preserve the seeds for thousands of years. Not sure how anyone is supposed to reach it in case of an apocalypse, and we can only hope whoever does reach it knows how to garden. Maybe they won’t just scatter the seeds to the four winds and hope for the best, or eat them!
Seed banks in various countries preserve seeds so in case of widespread natural disasters—hurricanes, tsunamis, drought—whatever, there is at least a chance of replenishing certain crops. Seed banks exchange seeds with other seed banks as well.
There are also places like Seed Savers Exchange, right here in America. Regular people who make it their mission in life to preserve heirloom seeds for future generations. So the next time you plant a seed, enjoy the miracle!
Well that’s what happens when I do too much editing. Excuse the jumbled mess...
Just wondering how much area is needed to grow potatoes? I would love to have a few “new red potatoes” from my garden. Where do you get them? I have not seen any around here even at the local Co-op. Could be we are not in a good area for them, Central Miss.?
**Thanks for the mention**
Tanks for the idea!
**seed starting escapades**
This one involves a mouse, too. We put our trays of watermelon, cantaloupe, cukes, and squash on the floor to start them, since the tables are all full. Somewhere around 150 flats of 4 packs/48 cells to a flat. Mouse got in the greenhouse one year, dug down in the center of each flat, ate the point off the seed. We ended up with that many wasted flats of plants. They all came up still, but they came up blind—no leaves ever developed—just a stalk sticking up in the air. Needless to say, I declared war. He won the first battle, but I won the war!
We do all our seeding by hand. I was not a happy camper!
Just as the crocuses are starting to show and the ground to thaw out, we have a winter weather advisory. We’re expecting about 6 inches of snow by tomorrow morning. >>:((
Potatoes don’t need a whole lot of room and you can be very creative growing them. Some people grow them in old tires and jsut keep stacking the tires and adding dirt. Or you could try 5 gal buckets. Make sure they have holes in them! They need to be in the ground fairly soon—our temps seem to be about the same. Heat will get them. If ours aren’t ready by about mid-June, it’s too late and the heat kills the vines. Should have had mine in a month ago but I was waiting for my guys to make my rows. I’ve got 5 or 6 now, about 50’. I’ll do great until it gets hot and the bugs come out!
Sorry, though. :(
I’ve had crocuses coated in ice from an ice storm and do just fine. I’m sick of white is all. If I have to use a shovel, I want it to be for dirt not snow.
I’d like snow better if it wasn’t cold and wet.
I know what you mean. Our forecast is for rain and sleet tonight, rain and snow tomorrow night. Not bad, considering. This is the toughest time of year, imho. It just seems to drag on and on.
In the fall, winter and spring we store our onions and potatoes in the garage, where they keep very nicely. In the summer we switch them to the pantry in the kitchen.
We’ve talked about it, and I think an old refrigerator would probably work great. People around here used to do potato banks—it just doesn’t get cold enough anymore, and now we have fireants. Can you imagine sticking your hand into a potatoe bank and drawing it back covered in fireants? Sheesh!
Forgot to tell you—check your local garden centers for seed potatoes.
Failing that, plant the ones you get at the store. They’re not supposed to sprout, but they do. I did some Yukon gold that way one year. Actually you don’t even have to cut the potatoes in chunks—just peel them heavy and plant the peelings. We even broke some sprouts that had gotten long off the potatoes at teh garden center and planted them. they’re growing—don’t know if they’ll make—we’ll see.
Just checked your link—cool—but I’m in the wrong biz. We’re selling ours— POntiacs, Lasodas and Kennebecs for 50 cents a pound. Some of those were $13 and up. We sell a 50lb bag for 17.00
As far as I know, all you have to do is put them in the pantry and forget about them! Never fails! I threw some out last week—got behind/under something. They had sprouts several inches long on them. LOL
What seed do you find the most fascinating?
You’re right, seeds really are incredible, and seed saving is so much fun. I saved a few seeds last year for the first time ... snapdragons, petunias, hollyhocks, morning glories, and a few others. It was so fun ... also addicting. Last summer/fall, every time I saw a plant I liked walking down the street, I was tempted to grab some seeds. I’ve resisted the urge, as I don’t think that’s proper etiquette. It might be alright in a public park though.
I hope to do the same with veggies this year. I’m going to try to plant different types of squash: one pepo, one moschata, and an edible gourd ... that way hopefully I can save the seeds. I’m also reading up on how to bag tomato blossoms before they open so the seeds will be true to the plant. I’ve still got a lot to learn, so I’m not sure how this will all turn out, but it should be fun to try :)
I planted some spinach, lettuce, and carrot seeds in my raised garden bed the other day ... also transplanted some kohlrabi seedlings in neat little rows. Unfortunately, my puppies somehow got through the gate, and played in the garden bed. The teeny seedlings have disappeared. If sprouts do come up, they will not be in neat little rows any longer, but I’m sure they’ll taste just as good.
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