Onion and Shallot Seedling Update. 1.24.22

 The onions and shallots are doing pretty well.   About the same as previous years.

Unknown Shallot, seeds from a planted grocery store shallot.

Ambition hybrid Shallot.

Red Whethersfield heirloom onion. I might plant more of these seeds. They are a long-storage onion.  Edit:  Why think about it?  I went ahead and planted a 2nd container.   That way I wont say, later, "I wish I had planted more".  :-)

Yellow Spanish Sweet Onion, also heirloom variety. Some more seeds germinated. I think they are just old seeds and it's harder for them to wake up. Like me. :-)

Camelot Shallot. These were also old seeds. This is more than enough shallots, but they should keep many months in a cool dry place, so we'll eat all we grow.

First Bloom. 1.24.22

 A few buds are opened on a flowering cherry in the chicken yard.

The variety is "unknown".  Several years ago, I grafted a bloom spike from a flowering cherry tree in Vancouver, onto a volunteer wild cherry seedling.  This is the result.

Planting More Seeds. 1.24.22

 I gave up on the first Echinacea seeds.  From my reading, they don't maintain viability long at all, maybe a year at best.  I planted fresh seeds for those.  I found an old packet of dwarf carnation seeds dated 2014.  I don't recall ever growing them.  Eight years is a big stretch, but if I don't plant them, I won't know.  So I planted them too.

I also planted some Gloriosa Daisy seeds.  They are described as perennial Rudbeckia hirta, but some sources state that early planting can give same - year flowers.  Growing perennials from seeds can be very rewarding.  All of the mystery is taken out.  It shows one doesn't have to buy a potted plant for ten bucks, a three dollar seed packet will produce an entire row.   There is a sense if accomplishment, "I did that'" instead of "I bought it".  Even more if the seeds are home saved, but you have to start somewhere.

Of the peppers I planted earlier, only the Jalapeños and Serranos have germinated so far.  I'm trying a new packet of Thai Dragon, plus a planting with more Tabasco pepper seeds.  And a Hontaka Cayenne from the Chili Pepper Institute at the University of New Mexico.  I also decided to play with miniature tomato varieties, Micro Tom Tomato and  Red Robin Tomato  The plants grow the size of small pepper plants.  If they grow, I can see how they do under LEDs.  And last, starting some wild-type Coreopsis for the "will the damn deer eat them?" flower bed. I haven't planted a couple varieties in the photo, yet.

 

Seed Viability Testing. Capitano Beans. 1.24.22

 Here is the conclusion for the Capitano bean viability test.

Roughly 5 or 6 seeds appear to be viable,  Some are already rotting and others are questionable.  I think what I'll do is, plant all of the packet thickly. If enough grow to get a crop, I'll see if I like them and save seeds.  If they don't grow at all, that's OK,    Beans get planted when it's warm, maybe May or June so it will be a while.

Testing Bean Seeds For Viability. 1.18.22

 I was sorting old seed packets and found this one.  I don't know how old it is.  Five years?  Two?  Ten?  I don't recall ever harvesting this variety.  The packet was opened so I must have planted some.  It's a mystery, sort of like where did they bury Jimmy Hoffa.

I looked these up. They are a yellow pod Roma type bean. Why would I buy that? Well, there are the seeds. I decided to test them for viability. If they don't grow, the whole packet becomes chicken feed. If they do, I can eat the sprouts and, when it's warm and the air is perfumed by apple blossoms, I can plant the remaining seeds in the kitchen garden. Or maybe when the air is perfumed by rose blossoms. Apples might be too early. Count out 15 beans. Place them on a wet paper towel and fold it over twice.

Place them into a generic zipper sandwich bag, then onto the seed starting mat.

Now I can sit back and watch them grow.