Ha ha ha ha ha! Yes, you do have a point. Let’s say that, at least, my survivors who lived to make seeds were more drought tolerant than their neighbors, who kicked the bucket in protest over my climate conditions.
My own offspring from that cross (which I made in 2024) are on their second generation now. I had six survivors last year that I only watered every two or three weeks. Two of them didn’t flower last spring; they’re still alive now. The other four made seeds and then sadly died, so they clearly had a winter annual growth cycle instead of the perennial one I’m always hoping to find. I sowed some of their seeds, and now have I think three plants that are the second generation alongside them.
I’m not sure about much with the second generation yet, because they’re only a foot tall right now. I can say that they all taste good and overwintered without any problems, but that wasn’t exactly hard, because our winter this year was really warm — the lowest temperature we got was a brief dip to 16 degrees F. Still, I imagine they’re cold hardy down to at least 7 degrees F, since their grandparents were.
As for the first generation, four of the plants looked like kale with thicker-than-usual stems and a lot of underarm buds, which was exactly what I was hoping for. Two of them were smaller and didn’t really have either quality, but they also weren’t very vigorous. They made a few seeds, but not many. The vast majority of the second generation is descended from the four that were vigorous and had all the desirable qualities.
The most notable thing worth mentioning — other than the fact that the flavor was great — was that the two fattest, most vigorous plants exhibited obvious faciation in their stems. It only became obvious when they flowered — before that, the stems just looked extra fat. If I’d harvested them to eat as kohlrabi (which I definitely could have, if I hadn’t been determined to get more seeds to plant), I wouldn’t have realized it was faciation at all. It makes me wonder if maybe faciation is common in kohlrabi populations, and it’s one of the mechanisms by which they become so fat?
Well, when you’re talking daily highs of over 100 degrees and 0 humidity, it says quite a lot. Watering once a week under those conditions can be a real test.
That is pretty extreme, I don’t see how much at all could survive that on its own except maybe tough desert plants or things that go dormant in the summer. It isn’t quite that bad here.
On dormancy or a dormant like condition, I have been observing over the last several years that some common garden vegetables can do that and then grow back anew when cooler weather and real rain arrive. For example, bush beans if planted early can sometime make beans then dry up and die back. Then if they are short season enough and or the first freeze is delayed enough, they can regrow and make a second crop. I’ve been exploring it a bit, looking for ways to take advantage of it, with some good results.
Yeah, that’s definitely what it’s like here! “Tough desert plants or things that go dormant in the summer” perfectly describes all of our wild plants. Our summer weeds are things like amaranth, bindweed, and purslane. Most of our other weeds go dormant for the summer and grow vigorously through the winter. Like stars of Bethlehem, several Brassicaceae species, and grass.
To be honest, watering once a week is kinda optimistic for me. In theory that’s how often I water, but uh, sometimes I’m lazy, so it happens only every ten days or every two weeks . . . Still, I usually remember to water on time once a week during the stretches when it’s really above 100 degrees for several days in a row. Most of the time, it’s merely 95 degrees or so.
I do use deep wood chip mulch. Most of the time. Except when I’ve run out of it and don’t have time to deal with hauling another ChipDrop around everywhere, so there’s almost no mulch left anywhere, which is what happened last year. Also, have I mentioned that our soil is pure sand and drains way too quickly?
Anyway, full shade and water once a week is pretty cushy growing conditions in my garden. But that’s still pretty harsh by the standards of people in climates that get, like, some of that mysterious “water from the sky” stuff in summer. I’ve found I enjoy Brassica oleracea enough to give some populations of it cushy (for me) growing conditions in summer, that way the leaves don’t get bitter during the summer heat. When I have a huge excess of seeds, though, I just strew them wherever. I am wildly enthusiastic about the perennial kales I have found that don’t mind sitting in full sun all summer with very little mulch and barely being watered. They rock!
I really want to be able to grow out more things, and then taste testing the whole lot and retiring the ones I don’t like into the Serendipity Seed Box. We really want to purge/retire a lot of stuff that we don’t like out of our collection.
(Nods.) The way I tend to work, I have a collecting phase (where I’m accumulating everything in order to try it all out), the testing phase (where I’m trying out lots of things and making evaluations), the purging phase (where I’m getting rid of 95% of the stuff, everything that doesn’t fit what I like best), and the maintenance phase (where I put most of my effort into what I’ve already found works, and get great results).
Even when I’m in the maintenance phase, I’m always looking for new things to try — but those new things tend to be very specific, and either brand new or very hard to find (otherwise I would have gotten them to try already). Once I reach the maintenance phase with something I love, I tend to keep it going casually in the background and move back to focusing on the old things I love that I’ve been neglecting while I was busy accumulating, testing, and purging all the things to build a system for my new obsession.
I’m guessing this is a common pattern that many people go through.
I did make copies. The one on brown paper didn’t copy as nice and I’m wondering how to make these digital. Of course, I’ve got ideas.
It took me 2 hours to go through the box last night,and I stayed up stupid late to finish but so worth it. Of course, hubby and oldest son ask, “so, you have to ship this box every time you get it?” Yes, I said. But I’ve got, likely, between $100-200 worth of seeds that I get out of this, so it’s worth it. And seeds that I might not even be able to buy, for any price!
Who ever is in NY zone 5, you are amazing with your bags and labels! @MarkReed I grabbed one from your Egg Gourd Project. This is the time to plant, so I’ll get them out on Saturday. Of course, as of this morning,sitting here with my coffee, I have many many ideas. Now to write them down, make a plan, and work my plan!
Have y’all figured out I always have lots of ideas and lots of words?
I sent a bunch of seeds a couple years ago, cowpeas, beans, corn and other stuff but I don’t think I included any squash at all certainly not egg gourds. I occasionally grow a mix little gourds to sell for decorations but would not have included them because they are not fit to eat.
HA! Yes, your labels always have wonderful descriptions. I’m not a detail person, so I struggle with that, but I’m trying to learn. And I’m writing down all the things I want to save seed from this year…..
Yes, please PM me your address, I’ll get the box going on Monday, likely (or Tues, is Monday a Fed Holiday? not sure. Schools are all off, so might be)
Oh bummer that makes sense I usually photo copy the originals to make more copies so I’ve never re copied the brown paper! Many of my friends want them digitized too and the analog person in me loves having them only as physical beings, In hopes it makes people slow down and enjoy…but of course they’d be more accessible if they were digital, a friend scanned them a while back, it looks a little wonky on one side and I don’t have the local seeds one scanned yet but here’s the preserving zine which was on the brown paper that don’t photo copy well.
I sowed some of their seeds, and now have I think three plants that are the second generation alongside them.
Still, I usually remember to water on time once a week during the stretches when it’s really above 100 degrees for several days in a row. Most of the time, it’s merely 95 degrees or so. 
I’ve found I enjoy Brassica oleracea enough to give some populations of it cushy (for me) growing conditions in summer, that way the leaves don’t get bitter during the summer heat. When I have a huge excess of seeds, though, I just strew them wherever. I am wildly enthusiastic about the perennial kales I have found that don’t mind sitting in full sun all summer with very little mulch and barely being watered. They rock! 
but so worth it. Of course, hubby and oldest son ask, “so, you have to ship this box every time you get it?” Yes, I said. But I’ve got, likely, between $100-200 worth of seeds that I get out of this, so it’s worth it. And seeds that I might not even be able to buy, for any price!
Rachael, do you want me to PM you my address now?
