There's just something satisfying about running your fingers through a pile of seeds that you grew yourself. You can't buy a feeling like that.
Today I have one more tomato ready to chop up for seed, along with 2 big cucumbers. And, one of the tomatoes that I cross-pollinated is almost ripe. I'll have to be careful what I pick from now on, because most of the tags I used to mark my crosses got blown off! Fortunately, I also pinched off all the other buds in the cluster every time I made a cross, so as long as I'm careful I should be able to tell which is which.
My bean tipi keeps falling over and leaning on the fence. I thought it was the wind, but yesterday I went out there and scared a squirrel out of it, so I think the wind is getting help. Another reason to pick the bean pods the moment they turn yellow.
I counted kernels on one of the ears of corn I have drying. If it had been pollinated properly, each ear would have over 260 kernels of corn on it. I was expecting them to be a lot smaller than that. I might be able to plant a good patch next year after all! I thought it would take at least 2 or 3 years to expand my seed supply before I could grow enough to eat from.
Oh, and good news, my strawberry patch is outstripping the rabbits! I've started getting berries again, even though they still keep snitching.
Part of it was extenuating circumstances. I've been getting home from work just as the sun was starting to set, which makes colors look weird sometimes. And add to that the fact that something died in our woodpile, smells like a raccoon. The whole back yard reeks to high heaven. I've pretty much been dashing out there after work, picking what looks ready, and running back in to escape the smell.
So, the fact that my cucumber plant was turning white kind of got brushed to the side. Until today.
Today there was no escaping it, I have powdery mildew. The entire plant is covered in it, although it seems to be growing fine in spite of that. I found a recipe for treating it that involves milk and baking soda, and after picking as many cucumbers as I could find, I doused both that vine and all the nearby plants with the mixture. We'll see what happens.
There were 8 cucumbers ripe enough for seed, so I chopped them up and have the pulp soaking in Oxyclean. The flesh wasn't sweet anymore, but it wasn't bitter either, so I diced that up and stuck it in the fridge. When I have time tomorrow I'll get some bell peppers and a bag of onions and make pickle relish. Mom loves my pickle relish.
Terrific news that you are making such good progress.
Congrats on the start of your seed biz! LOLOLOL!
Wow! you’re doing cross-breeding experiments! We’ll have to start calling you Ellendra-Mendel!
Those squirrels can really be pesky, no doubt about it!
Yum! Berries! We did some strawberries several years ago and had a patch going, then we hit a busy time and they all died out and didn’t restart them again. Past couple of years we’ve been working with our blackberry bushes.I’m glad your strawberries are producing and staying ahead of the rabbits! Maybe your garden fairies are protecting some of them for you! LOL!