I will be documenting my projects here. Writing is not my thing so it will be mainly pictures…
My goal is to produce enough seeds for my family’s needs and share the surplus in the seed library.
I plan to landrace most crops but keep separate subcategories for eating purposes (eg I don’t mix snap peas/shellies/dry or courgette/spaghetti/acorn squash).
Kale/collard mix - basically loose leaf brassicas. I plan to save the seeds separately: dark purple cavolo, purple cavolo, black cavolo, collard (sure to have the whole range when sowing next year)
radishes:
top left: leftover seeds (original commercial mix)
top right: new packet of mixed seeds
centre: saved seeds (F1) more vigorous growth, bigger radishes, less pest issues. Win!
selected roots, replanted for seeds (best from the 3 groups). Nice round radish, keeping like colours together (the clumps are planted close to each other so they can cross pollinate but I’ll save the seeds separately).
quick update on other crops…
parsnips are flowering, all looking good.
carrots had a final selection by slugs… some are ready to flower .fingers crosses.
leeks are about to flower.
no idea what the onions are doing…
broad beans are doing fine (some covered in aphids, others less so).
peas, some winners, some struggling…
turnips melted away… thanks slugs, wood lice and rain…
parsley is in flower, taking over the whole bed.
kale/collard mix has lovely pods.
cabbages were decimated by slugs. Still got a red, green, savoy and pointed green flowering at the same time so fingers crossed.
It’s now the turn of sprouting brassicas to go to flower, mix of purple sprouting broccoli and 9 star broccoli (the flowers are white, very pretty).
swiss chard/leaf beet and beetroot are about to flower at the same time which is a problem… they are not in the same area of the garden so I’m going to wrap the swiss chard group in fleece to keep the pollen from flying around (I hope it works).
