Earlier in the year, I wrote about how we evaluate Tomato varieties with easy trials. Our lettuce trials are even simpler! Trial Goal I wanted small dense lettuce heads that didn’t take too much space in the garden but gave fantastic salads! That doesn’t seem like too much to ask for. We went through seed … More Evaluating Quick Lettuce Trials
I love growing out crossed up plants and selecting what we will save for seed. Brassicas are probably my favourite plant to select. Here are some pictures of what it looked like while I was selecting one breeding population last week. The plants I was selecting are the F2 generation of a cross between Tokyo … More 5 Steps To Rogue And Select Brassica Rapas
Last year, I selected my favorite Italian Dandelion plants from our market planting. I chose them based on the level of leaf serration, the red stem and green leaf contrast, and vigour. In fact, I’d actually been eliminating whatever I didn’t like all season long. Whatever was too green, too round leafed, or too marked … More Planting Overwintered Dandelion
Though I haven’t posted much lately, we have been keeping busy. Here are some pictures of this year’s radish seed production. WINTER RADISHES Winter radishes are big generally spicy radishes that are grown in the fall for winter storage. This purple radish is a F1 cross of a Red Meat radish (also called watermelon radish) … More Winter and Spring Radishes
When folks start saving seeds, their biggest fear is usually cross-pollination between different varieties. But unless you are selling the seed or trying to preserve it as a named variety, a little crossing won’t kill you. In fact, growing out crossed out plants can be a learning and aesthetic experience. With some crops, growing two … More Growing Out Crossed-Up Lettuce Seed
This week wrapped up planting cold hardy seed crops. I’ve also been spending time with in the rhubarb patch. I replanted radishes on 18″ spacing, two rows to the bed. Emily seeded these in an unheated greenhouse in March. A couple of weeks ago, as she harvested bunches for market, she picked out the nicest … More Field Update – Cold Hardy Annuals and Rhubarb Flowers
Today, we are going to look at how to calculate seed yields. This information will help you set your prices and will be useful in crop planning. We will look at Using your harvest data to calculate yield Consulting (and interpreting) reference material for yield data This post is one in a series on seed … More Seed Yields
How about we take a little break from profit analysis for a field walk … We’ve begun seeding and planting in the field. Our first plants go onto ridges. The ridges dry up quicker than the flat ground so we can plant 7-10 days earlier even if the field is wet. As the picture above … More Field Update: Brassicas in Bloom!
We grow quite a bit of our own seed, but our farm still buys seed from other seed companies. The high disease pressure that we face in our hot and humid climate keeps us from producing high quality seed for seed crops. In some cases, the crop actually succumbs before producing any seed. More often, … More A few thoughts on disease in seed crops
Part I stated that seed crops in wet humid climates should be planted further apart. This helps disease management and plant development. The other thing seed growers worry about is how does that affect seed yield? Crop Spacing and Yield A plant usually produces an amount of seed in function of its size. A small … More Give seed crops plenty of room! Part II