“You should grow some bitter melon” is what Aabir told me when we were catching up on the phone. I’m a strong adherent to #bitterbetter so I was easily convinced. Aabir sent me some seeds he’d kept from his own garden. The original seeds came from his mother who got them from a cousin in … More More better bitter with Bitter Melon
This is a shop-vac full of squash seed. The seeds got in the shop-vac because we chop-chopped some squash in half, then we vacuuscooped the seeds out of the seed cavity. This is so much easier and quicker than scooping away with a spoon. It also separates some of the pulpy fibers from the seed … More Vacuuscooping Squash Seed
There’s a special smell that comes with rotting cucumbers. When you save cucumbers for seed, you let them get big and yellow. And you might stack them in a bin for a few weeks to let them get even more yellow and mature. (And maybe because you forgot to deal with them on time.) The … More That special rotting cucumber smell
Helen Skiba gets into saving Bupleurum seed and Dahlia tubers in episode 6 of The Seed Growers Podcast. Here are some of the highlights of the bupleurum seed conversation: • Planting schedules • Plant spacing • When seed is mature • Harvesting gradually through the season • Threshing and winnowing • Farm saved bupleurum seed … More Saving bupleurum seed and dahlia tubers
Rowen White talks about corn and squash seed keeping in episode 5 of The Seed Growers Podcast. Here are some of the highlights of the corn conversation: • Isolating corn in time and space to avoid cross pollination • Differences in growing corn for stock seed vs bulk seed • Evaluating small corn lots to … More How to grow corn and squash for seed
Marie-Claude Comeau of Ferme La Radicule grows certified organic seed with draft horses in Manseau Québec. All her seed is sold on contract to retail seed companies. In this episode Marie-Claude talks about why after working on vegetables and seed farms for a few years, she chose to focus solely on seed crops. How she … More The seed growers podcast episode 2 – Marie-Claude Comeau of Ferme La Radicule
The first episode of The Seed Growers Podcast episode 1 wraps up with Adrianna and Joelene of Empowered Flowers discussing how they grow 120 of cucumbers seed on a quarter acre Here’s a summary of the steps: Grow like a market crop Harvest fruit when they are very mature Pile fruit into a mountain Extract … More How to save 120lbs of cucumber seed
When the snow thaws, last year’s remaining zucchini’s are revealed. Once giant fruit – now frozen shattered cells on the verge of jelly. Kind of like some of the files you find as you dig into the deeper levels of your computer archives. The lingering traces of once mighty projects – now but a pile … More After the thaw
Another way to store seed is in a squash 3 important considerations 1?? I’m obviously not saying to put seed in a squash for better storage. The insides of fresh squash are pretty moist environments and generally horrible as seed storage containers. But if you haven’t extracted your squash seed yet, no big problem. It … More Another way to store seed is in a squash
Here’s a Cucurbit cheat sheet for #seedsavingformarketgrowers These are the 6 most common cucurbit species in market gardens. If you grow two crops of the same species. They will cross pollinate together. For better or worse. (In the case of Squash – mostly for the worst.) But if you grow two cucurbits of different species … More Cucurbit Cheat Sheet