Weekly Garden Thread - January 14-20, 2023 [Back By Popular Demand: The 2023 Seed Catalog Edition!]

January 14, 2023 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.

If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located.

This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.

It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table Recipes, Preserving, Good Living - there is no telling where it will go - and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us! Send a Private Message to Diana in Wisconsin if you'd like to be added to our New & Improved Ping List.

NOTE: This is a once a week Ping List. We do post to the thread during the week. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest to Gardeners are welcomed any time!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I get ‘Prairie Moon.’ I am ordering some perennial wildflower plugs for the area I’ve been working on that will no longer grow food, but wildflowers for bees and other pollinators. Got recent permission from ‘Upper Management’ to do so. ;)

They’re not cheap, and I could probably do it all myself, but it’s a one-time investment, I’m NOT getting any younger, and they’ll re-seed themselves with wild abandon in future years. :)

You (and others!) might also like ‘Prairie Nursery’ our of Westfield, WI. I used to work with Reen, (at Seed Savers) who was (hopefully still is!) partners with Neil Diboll who is the current owner/manager.

https://www.prairienursery.com/plants-seeds/native-plants/native-wildflowers.html

[Bon of Babble]

We are getting wonderful wonderful rain at the moment - I have all the doors open so I can hear it and enjoy it. Who knows when we'll get rains again? Could be a year - just as happened last year.

I have been busy working in my "grotto" area where little to nothing grows and I've lost a lot of plants over the years - This is where my seating area is and I entertain family so it needs some fixing - up. I've decided on low maintenance succulents and mini gardens.

Here are two I completed this week (I'm a beginner at this):

The "pot" belonged to my late mother and I wasn't sure what to do with it, now it's a mini-Zen garden:

This went into one of the hanging baskets - where, as I lerned, nothing grows...

My helpers are staying well out of the rain and prefer indoors in front of the fireplace:

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Very cute! Pets and pots! :) Love that ‘Zen’ dog statue!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Seed Packet Sorting is DONE! The only thing I really 'need' are fresh packs of my favorite Tomatoes, Peppers, one cucumber and yellow and green zucchini seed. I have a $25 gift card from Jung's, so I'm diving in! My goal to have a very CHEAP or even FREE garden this season just might come true. Of course, the Garden Centers aren't open yet. ;)

[LibWhacker]

Camo master

[Ellendra]

A few companies to check out. I’ll probably add more later:

https://greatlakesstapleseeds.com/
-They have the 3rd-largest collection of heirloom grain seeds I’ve ever seen in an online company. Also a huge selection of legumes and other vegetables.

https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/
-By the breeders, for the breeders. This company is different in that the “store” portion is almost a side-effect. They started with the goal of encouraging the development of more resilient crops, and the preservation of rare heirlooms. The selection offered by this company changes constantly, so it’s worth checking back every month or so, even outside the normal “seed ordering” season.

https://www.cultivariable.com/
-This is what happens when a person obsessed with plant-breeding also has the executive function needed to run a business. William Whitson tends to focus on potatoes and other root vegetables, making this site the #1 source of True Potato Seed (TPS) in North America. Possibly the entire northern hemisphere! He also offers hard-to-find South American vegetables such as yacon and ulluco, and several strains of edible dahlia, among other things.

(If you have a stash of seeds for survival purposes, I strongly recommend adding a few packets of TPS. They can keep for years when properly stored, and give you a way to rebuild your supply of seed potatoes if something happens to your potato crop.)

https://www.nativeseeds.org/pages/seeds
-This company sells excess seeds as a way to raise money for their preservation work. Their primary goal is to identify and preserve varieties that do well in the arid regions of the southwest, and help Native Americans of that region regain their self-sufficient ways. As such, you’ll find varieties here that are hard to find elsewhere. Their collection of tepary beans alone is amazing! They also carry wild forms of some things such as luffa gourds. The selection varies by year, because they only sell seeds when they have excess amounts of a given variety.

[thecodont]

Is that some sort of gecko lizard flattened out against the tree bark?

[thecodont]

Hi Diana,
How about Sand Hill Preservation? They have some interesting varieties.

https://www.sandhillpreservation.com/

[Ellendra]

From what I read, since all corn is basically hybrid then planting even heirloom seed does not ensure next years crop from seed of the previous year will be the same.

Not sure where you read this, but this is false. Corn has special requirements in order to keep the seed pure, but it can be done.

Please double-check that your neighbor is looking for flour corn. Different corn types have different textures, and some require different cooking methods.

It would also help to know roughly how long a growing season you have. The two flour corn varieties you listed, Tuscarora and Cherokee, both require fairly long growing seasons, although Cherokee is the shorter of the two.

When saving seed from corn, there are two primary complications: Cross-pollination, and inbreeding depression. To prevent cross-pollination, do your best to grow as far from other corn varieties as possible. If you can't put distance between the varieties, put windbreaks between them, as corn is wind-pollinated. Or try choosing varieties that pollinate at different times of the year. If nothing else, try choosing varieties that have different colored kernels. Corn is an oddball in the plant world, because the seeds show traits from both parents right away. This is NOT a common feature, the seeds of most species only show traits from the mother plant until the seed actually grows. But with corn, seeds show traits from both before the seed even finishes developing. If, for example, there is a field of yellow dent corn nearby, and your neighbor only plants white flour corn, any yellow kernels that form in her patch have been pollinated by yellow corn.

Inbreeding depression is what happens when the "parent plants" are too similar. Some species, like pinto beans, are unaffected by inbreeding. Others are at the other end of the spectrum, and will reject pollen that is too similar to the mother plant. Corn, unfortunately, is highly vulnerable to inbreeding depression. When saving seeds from corn, it is best to save a few seeds from lots of plants, instead of lots of seeds from a few plants. Dry corns such as flour corn are easier to do this with than sweet corns, because sweet corn is harvested before the seeds are mature.

How many plants to save from depends on who you're getting advice from. Personally, I aim for 200 plants. Some say 100 is enough, others will tell you you need a couple thousand to be safe. At any rate, if the corn patch is small, you can separate your seeds by year, and mix in a pinch of seeds from a different year just before planting.

If this seems overwhelming, that's ok. This is why so many people don't save their own corn seed. But if your neighbor is up to it, it can be rewarding in it's own way.

Let me know what your growing season is like, and verify that your neighbor is looking for a true flour corn, and I'll see what I can find.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

It is a great choice!

I have about 15 packages of lettuce seeds so I would have to look at them to remember best choices among the others! Anything from Seed Savers will be a good choice.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

L. J. Any Hawaii advice for dakine from your time in the islands?

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Cameleon I think

[little jeremiah]

Is someone going there soon? Freepmail maybe....

[little jeremiah]

Oh, I just realized it’s the gardening thread, slides are okay. How soon? My fave island is the Big Island as it is laid back, much cheaper, more rural, much less tourism, and I have a lot of old friends there. One has a house she rents out for short term. Everyone I know is in Puna.

[daniel1212]

Let me know what your growing season is like, and verify that your neighbor is looking for a true flour corn, and I'll see what I can find.

Thanks for all the helpful info on this "art." The seed is for Guatemala, and the family (now my neighbors in the NE US) grow up farming there and has experience, but since I am better equipped to find things on the Internet then them then the dad, Gabriel, asked me to help in finding what there are looking for, white flour corn, which search has been an education for me, which you have helped.

Before I read you email I had been over their apartment for dinner, and showed Gabriel what I had found, as shown in my post here. He choose the Hickory Cane Dent Corn, which I ordered.

(white) 85/110 days. [pre-1875] Heirloom dent corn originally selected by Native Americans in N. Florida and S. Georgia. It came to be prized across the mountain South for roasting ears, creamed corn, grits, and hominy, and particularly for white cornmeal, as well as fodder for animals. Plants up to 15 ft. tall. 1-2 hears/stalk. Tight ears keep out ear worms. Large ears stay in the green milk “roasting ear” stage longer than most heirlooms. Small packet has about 80 seeds. $3.50

. - https://www.southernexposure.com/products/hickory-cane-dent-corn/

Any other seed suggestions you have can be passed on.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

dakine, L.J. used to live in Hawaii! You can see what she has to say.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Thanks for the feedback Diana and the alternative suggestion!

(They do provide a how too on starting up your native species meadow if someone is interested in doing this.)

[ApplegateRanch]

A FB friend asked me if this (”electroculture”) was real or not.

Electroculture search brings up ‘ground currents’ ether waves; crystals; several types of ‘antennas’; “genesa crystals”; pyramids, other New Age stuff: MAGIC, oh my!

First thing I noticed in the video she linked was the apples & oranges comparison: cabbages, and other low growers “before”; corn, pole beans, sunflowers, and other tall growers “after”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZqcfRJgzUo Is electroculture real? Electroculture Gardening and Farming

I think you can guess what I told her. LOL

[little jeremiah]

Aha, I see, you are moving to HI. Which island? I rented a friend’s house for a while and he had planted pineapples, I got to harvest some. Ultra sweet and good, not picked too early like pineapples in the store. Pineapples I think take about a year. Yum..Papayas are pretty easy to grow too, I think less than a year from planting to starting to harvest.

There are awful fruit flies that get a lot of crops, so greenhouses or row covers are often used for fruiting veggies like tomatoes and zucchinis. On the Big Island, not sure about other islands, there is a disgusting parasite that is hosted by rats and slugs and if a person ingests it, they are more or less impaired for life, to one degree or another. So one has to watch out for teeny tiny slugs on greens and other veggies.

You have to not mind mosquitoes on the Big Island, at least the wet side.

[LibWhacker]

You’re both better at this than I am! I had to cheat to get it. I sort of suspected it was a reptile of some type, but even then I thought it was headed up the tree not down,lol.