I plan to use this topic to document my garden and what I did in it for all plants that have no thread of their own. For example, my tomatoes don`t deserve a thread of their own but I still want to document what I did with them.
On the 26.3 I sowed 15 small pots of Tomatoes. For this, I took all my saved seed, seed I had gotten from friends or bought (some as old as 2020) and tossed them all together. Then I put at least 20 seeds in each pot. As the grew, I selected the strongest, until i only had 3 plants per pot left. The main goal of this was to get rid of some old seed but of course this screened out the seeds that germinate slowly and plants that grow weakly. I only kept plants, that were able to stand on their own, not some that lagged and draped all over each other, because I give my tomatoes only a stick per plant, if this is not enough, sucks for them!
On the 3.4.2024 i sowed my broad beans. The seeds were from 3 different sources:
a pack of broad beans that I bought in a turkish shop. These came from Australia! The seeds were very big with a brown skin. Some of these seeds were used by me for a Hummus and after deciding that they are good, I decided to sow some of them
a mix of seeds from our European seed exchange. These were a colorful mix and very diverse in size. Some looked like table beans while other no doubtetly came from Green manure mixes.
As you can see, there is quite a lot of diversity in these seeds. As of the 20.5, they are still quite small. As far as I can tell, there has been no diffference in quality of germination.
Sadly, i didnt mark my pots, so I dont know at the moments which ones are the onions and which ones are the leeks. What I find fascinating is that the snails seem to have a strong preference for one over the other, even though I can see no difference between the plantsā¦
The germination between these batches was virtually identical, virtually all the gaps are caused by slugs!
I believe the Asparagus on the left is the Hative, the middle pot is the Asparagus from the seed exchange and the pot on the right is of course the Rhubarb. i had 2 little Rhubarb plants but one was eaten by snails bevore I evacuated the pots up onto the grill.
On the same day i sowed indoors as well:
Tomatoes āBlack Ethiopianā i got from a friend
Commercial variety Goldstar. Maybe this was an error, I haven`t been able to find out anything at all about this corn, but we will seeā¦
On the 19.5 I potted up all my tomato plants into bigger pots. I have about 20 pots of tomato. With some, I left the original three still in the same pot, looking forward to see how they will do in this setting (the real reason is of course that I had not enough potsā¦) These will stay the whole summer at the south wall of our stable, where they are semi-protected from rain. These last 10 days with rain every day will no doubt have been a challange for them. Additionally, there are some bought tomato starts and some tomatoes we grafted in my studiesā¦
On the 20.5 I potted the tomatillos. I took the biggest pots we had and put 3 plants per pot. These are at the most protected spot I could give them, at a south wall, beneath an old pear tree, but still quite sunny. I imrovised a cute little trellis made from cherry branches and held together by grass (Bromus hordeaceus) for them.
And for those who wondered why I always linked the source of my seed: https://pflanzenschaetze.ch/ is an new seedshop. It was founded only in 2023 by a very young man. He offers seed from old varieties, diverse mixes and starts. I am in awe that he has the guts to found his own firm and wish him only the best. So if it looks like surreptitious advertising, it is! I bought this year seeds from him and I was very happy with the quality. As far as I know, he only ships in Switzerland, but you newer knowā¦
itās great to follow your mountain garden, itās super interesting to be able to follow your context so particular and different! we will follow with interest
Hi Laura, must have been me with the asparagus. I guess the professional screens out the tinier seeds. I donāt own the material to do so. Sorry.
I always tell people at seedswaps to take loads. If it fails, they can try again. But seedtrain is different. Iāll screen better next year. Will have to invest in a better kit.
I seed in balconytrays very dense. I like to also try the smaller seeds. OK theyāre less likely to germinate but more likely to carry strange genetics from far. And since their āmomā was smaller and had less pollen a cross is even likelier.
Iāve had about a hundred asparagus plants last year and can only trace back a handfull. Theyāre easily lost in faster and robuster growing companion planting. And snails like them even more when sadly shaded out and weak. So keep moddycoddling them this season or grow them in big long pots. Iāve got a thousand seeds coming this year again in red berries.
But if you canāt wait buy plants, they take long to be big enough to harvest. I had three kinds.
Donāt think the rhubarb is fast either. Second year are like how you get them in the shops in my garden. I still havenāt tasted the first ones that i got three years ago. I just let them goā¦ And it was a fight to get them established the first year. Snails were adament they needed to die and ate them five times or something to the last leaf. Evil they can beā¦ But theyāre around and their seeds are beautiful.
Iāve got really early rhubarb on the go and normal one about 20 plants, maybe three varieties. A neighbor lady is so happy to make jams and then she shares.
Iām on the lookout for one thatās good later in the season.
Soā¦ Happy you share what doesnāt workā¦ Otherwise i couldnāt come up with explanations for the dissapointing germination rates and think of ways to improve myself.
Hey Hugo, you donāt have to apologise for your Asparagus, it may be that it germinates more slowly than the other. One small little plant is coming up, 3 weeks behind the other pot. Maybe your seeds are simply a little slower in waking up. Iāll report back if more of them germinateā¦And yes, I am fully expecting these perennials to grow veeeeeeery slow in the beginning.
My mother has a beautiful Rhubarb, at least 30 years old but probably even olderā¦I can put seeds into the exchange next year.
And concerning manually pollination the peas: I may try it this year, IF they even bloom, this endless wet weather isnāt that good for them. Always thinking positively, these year my selection pressure is really strong. Wet feet, cold rain, fungiā¦This year will be great for selecting survivors!
Nice, they should have some white varieties too, most of them where heat and drought resistant, they still produce even without watering. This is a photo of them from last year.
If I remember they are green in the beginning, but they change color very early. It should be there various green varieties and some yellow ones when the cucumber is ripe. I tasted when the cucumber is big, and I found that they are delicious in that stage too, for me better there, very juicy.
Update from the 5 and 6 of June. The very wet weather has taken its toll on my plants. All the 5 chilis I have planted out into the garden have been eaten by slugs. About half of the tomatos have vanished and the squash I have planted out into the grass arenāt there anymore. 4 of the 6 Tomatillos have been eaten.
On the bright side: the broad beans look healthy and the pole beans are germinating nicely now that it is getting warmer. Great that they didnāt rot in the ground. The corn is germinating too and the squash on the manure heap are thriving.
With the tomatoes: the first row of pots was of course much more affected, but I think I can see some differences which plants were more heavily predated upon and some were just nibbled a little.
