Rick, thank you for making me feel better. You are way crazier than I am! I just have half a shelf & a crisper drawer full of seeds!

I'm afraid I don't really have anything on anyone's wishlist. I'm in a CSA this summer so I didn't even try to grow many veggies.

I'm not even really sure about my daylily seeds. The few pods I've picked so far either have far too few seeds to offer or the seeds don't look good at all. The seed pods for most are much smaller than normal but then again, so were some of the flowers. It wasn't such a good gardening year for me either.

It sounds like several people have not had a stellar year for collecting seeds. I better dig deeper into my stash. We have to keep the average above 20 packets each!

Jim, I have to agree with you as far as the "easy to grow" plants go....I much prefer those myself! What kind of cosmos do you grow? Last year I grew Bright Lights for the first time, and liked them because they stayed about 2 feet (less than 3). The other (Sensation) grew over 6' tall and were too big for where I planted them. I am growing Bright Lights again this year (will have seeds) and they are really brightening up 3 different areas I put them in. My marigolds are slow this year, most have just started blooming the past couple weeks and some did not germinate well. Weird.

That Petunia REALLY wants to grow! LOL! I have a pansy that self seeded from a pot I had WS'd in 2015. They bloomed all summer last year under a tree, and I got this gorgeous volunteer that has been blooming for 3 months, LARGE purple blooms. I am hoping it seeds more this year :D Isn't it funny how sometimes the ones that self-seed in the most innocuous places go to town!? My morning glories are doing nothing as well...Wait, I had my first bloom this past weekend..but no more since. They are at the top of an 8' trellis looking for more space to grow. I say BLOOM FLOWERS! BLOOM! Lovely Zinnias. This year I planted Violet Queen and Green Envy. Voilet Q first blooms a week ago. Still waiting for the green ones. This year is just SUCH a HOT, DRY year...I'm sure it's affecting everything

Bxn..those dianthus are GORGEOUS. Can you offer seeds that are "no ID purple"? in the swap or do they have to have a name? With the color, I'd be sold.

Jessie: Welcome!

Oh, Rick, you're in good company :D
I have bunches of seeds, but have only started collecting this years the past couple weeks, so have alot more to go. I'm also much more of a flower grower than veggies. I DO have veggie seeds I had good intentions to try this year, but just ran out of time/energy/space. I am growing ALOT of tomato seeds (tried 6 different varieties), some in grow bags as ran out of room

Question: Tomato seeds: Can I save tomato seeds from the ones I pick to eat, or do I have to let some get REALLY super ripe on the vine for seeds to be viable. I just thought of this, as I've never saved tomato seeds yet.

My first violet zinnia bloom



Malva Alcea in bloom...just started collecting seeds this week




Bonfire Begonia grew from leaf cutting taken last fall ... Grew some from seeds that just started blooming last week



Pale yellow (annual for me) hibiscus
(Abelmoschus manihot)

@Jessie6162 - I hope you do join, it's so much fun! It sounds like you have a nice variety of seeds to offer, too.

Rick - wow, I LOVE how into seed saving you are!

Elena - I'm on par with you as far as seed saving. I have a dedicated crisper drawer and about a shelf-size area (when condensed) of seeds not in the fridge. Right now, though, they are in paper bags by my office desk and a few are in plastic bags on my kitchen table.



Everyone/general - In the last two days I've found atleast three daylily seed pods that have been chomped on, with exposed seeds. The rabbit droppings nearby leave little doubt as to the culprit. This didn't happen at all last year, so I'm concerned about my daylilies. I still plan to offer some of my 2015 daylily seeds in the swap, but if this resident rabbit we have (I'm pretty sure he lives in our boxwood) destroys most of my 2016 daylily pods, I might have to hang on to more of my 2015 seeds than I anticipated.

I have and grow the two you mentioned Val both have failed to bloom so far this year ,(never had happened before )

Everybody has their own way of cleaning Tomato seeds , as long as their from ripe tomatoes , Most ferment the seeds a few days .. So do i , then I wash screen , and dry .

I have more I can add but for now I am watching , cleaning seeds and waiting ,

This one season where it does what it does

Rick I get way about seeds

Val said:
>> Question: Tomato seeds: Can I save tomato seeds from the ones I pick to eat, or do I have to let some get REALLY super ripe on the vine for seeds to be viable. I just thought of this, as I've never saved tomato seeds yet.

What I read always says "let them get as ripe as possible on the plant before picking". But I never tried saving less-ripe seeds. I think the effort of collecting, fermenting, cleaning, drying and labeling seeds is enough work that most people try to let the plant do its job completely before they step in and start working. You do want healthy, vigorous seeds, and ripening sufficiently is what makes them viable.

But if you expect the plants to die before you can leave a few ripe ones on the vine for more time (an extra week or two?), there's always experimentation. Maybe call it "practice" at fermenting, cleaning and drying. After you ferment, clean and dry some seeds from just-ripe tomatoes, sprout 10-20 on a damp coffee filter in a baggie. If few sprout, they were not ripe enough.

After all, "common wisdom" is often wrong. People and websites giving advice are no doubt right: "It is BETTER to collect seeds from over-ripe fruit so you know that the natural process of ripening is complete." But is it NECESSARY? If you're willing to accept low germination rates from unripe seed, and some sickly seedlings, you can collect less-ripe seeds and then test them to see what % are viable.

(The reason to ferment the seeds before cleaning and drying is to get rid of the "slime" that is loaded with germination inhibitors. If you don't ferment them, maybe you can reduce the dormancy with dilute hydrogen peroxide when you try to germinate them.. )

But my suggestion would be to heed every seed-saving site that I've visited. Leave some fruits on the vine until they are very over-ripe. Cracked and damaged fruits might be left on the vine if you have few enough of that tomato that you just HAVE TO eat most of them. I guess you would find out if they had rotted after you pick them.

@RickCorey - yay for runner beans! Pencil pod black wax I have already and not sure if I like it. Peas probably snap and snow but I am curious about English.

My garden hasn't done well this year. Only peppers have done better than last year. My new grape vine looked beautiful until a caterpillar came along. My cucumbers are a little behind but they didn't die (I've had trouble with cucumbers). My peas all died and didn't get much. Some beans are doing okay. Tomatoes....those have suffered this year. Hopefully next year will be better.

I've been debating doing a round of snap peas and snow peas for fall harvest. Will they do okay if we're in the 80-90's and will get cold in a month?

Littlecheryl I was thinking of doing some fall peas also , Have to see in a month or so


Tomato a red tiny tim


A yellow stunted only about 5 inches tall


They are setting on a blazing hot table , no fertilizer only moderate watering , terrible ,,, but not as bad as it looks all things considred





These are this years leek seeds germination test , Shown before about seven seeds ,, five little sprouts , Winter hardy here ,,

Rick, thank you for making me feel better. You are way crazier than I am! I just have half a shelf & a crisper drawer full of seeds!

I'm afraid I don't really have anything on anyone's wishlist. I'm in a CSA this summer so I didn't even try to grow many veggies.

I'm not even really sure about my daylily seeds. The few pods I've picked so far either have far too few seeds to offer or the seeds don't look good at all. The seed pods for most are much smaller than normal but then again, so were some of the flowers. It wasn't such a good gardening year for me either.

Val,
I just saw your wishlist. I have the forget-me-not Victoria Pink that I harvested this year. I think I also may have some left over from last year (they reseed for me so I don't start seeds). I will warn you that for the first time this year I got plants that were blue & lavender, not just pink. This year was the F3 or F4 generation. Turns out they will all revert eventually to blue unless you keep some pink plants indoors & pollinate them yourself. I assume if you do this every few generations you can be sure of always having pink flowers.

Littlecheryl said: ...
I've been debating doing a round of snap peas and snow peas for fall harvest. Will they do okay if we're in the 80-90's and will get cold in a month?

I haven't had experience with summers that consistently go over 80! It's a very good question.

I would try succession planting, say every two or three weeks, to discover the best date. If the first crop or two suffer badly from heat, pull them and put the 3rd and 4th crop right where the first two failed. Or interplant them and let the new ones choke out the old (but then the old ones will die and look nasty while the new ones are producing).

Actually, Dave's garden calendar says you're a little late for your location, based on first frost date:
Highlands Ranch, Colorado --> Kassler, CO
Fall Crops:
"Sow peas directly around July 16."
The latest recommended dates shown for direct-sowing any kind of pea is July 31.

But he also says:
"... remember that the numbers in this fall planting guide are only a starting point for you! "

Your microclimate and early peas may still give you some harvest.

I'm not positive that calendar takes average summer high temperatures into account.

Sorry!

bxncbx said:Rick, thank you for making me feel better. You are way crazier than I am! I just have half a shelf & a crisper drawer full of seeds!

Thank you!!

Cheryl, you never know, we might have a longer than normal season this year like last year. I'd say it can't hurt to start a couple and just see what happens!

Personally, I'm looking at this chart: http://veggieharvest.com/calen...

...although I'm actually 6a now, from what I've been told. I'm so disappointed that I didn't start anything this spring that I'm going to give it a go on some late-season planting of carrots, spinach, radishes, and a few other veggies--maybe cauliflower and broccoli? If it doesn't work, c'est la vie, but I'm eager for SOMETHING this year, so I'm willing to try it out. I'm also considering growing some garlic and shallots near my potatoes (the one thing I DID plant this year, and the mound is taking up the better part of a 4' x 4' bed!) as a companion plant.

Does anyone else have any experience growing shallots or garlic from organic shallots or organic garlic at the grocery store? I'm assuming that since it's organic, it shouldn't have any growth inhibitors on it and should grow just as well as if I were to purchase one of them online from a seed company, but it would help to have some confirmation through someone else's experience.

I was told that "all supermarket garlic now comes from China and is average at best".

Some vendors do sell heirloom garlic bulbs, some of those organic:
http://www.rareseeds.com/store...
http://www.territorialseed.com...

That garden calendar based on USDA Hardiness zone totally confuses me! The USDA Zone is only the average of HOW cold it got in each of the last 20 winters. Not WHEN. USDA Hardiness zone has little to do with your first frost date! I think their table that shows a first and last frost date as a function of Hardiness zone is pretty bogus.

I tried my ZIP code there, and they said: "arborday.org hardiness zones: 8 - 9". Pretty vague.

I haven't researched it, so I might be confident-and-quite-wrong.

Dave's calendar DOES look up first and last frost date for each ZIP code, not just the Hardiness zone. Those frost dates are not the ONLY factors, but they are much better than Hardiness zone for figuring planting dates.

http://garden.org/apps/calenda...

My Garlic is not sprayed or fertilized kind of small , but it does qualify as organic ,,

Red German , I can probably offer a few clovettes ,, if wanted not sure though ..

A bag of Bubils ?

Baggies of Bubils ,



German Red will grow perennial in Siberia .. Your zone is talking White sweet Garlic , I have not seen any wild purple Garlic in a long time around here ,
I have not pulled any in a while but I also have the Snake garlic , polish - russian traditional ,, and that is where it came from ,

Glad I asked about tomato seed saving...had no idea you should ferment! (Live and learn!)

Bxn - DID NOT know this about Forget me nots. I have a ton of blue ones that self seed, I thought I'd like to have some pink ones mixed in and/or in a specific shade garden off my deck!

Val, I didn't know either until this year when I started getting different colors. The vast majority of plants were still pink (75-80%) but I was told that more blue plants will come with each successive generation if you don't pollinate yourself.

It's been really hot and I've been really lazy but I will look up what dianthus that is. I think it's a Victoriana but if it is Im really disappointed because they are supposed to be fragrant!

DND, if you want to save your pods try spraying them with hot sauce. It will deter most mammals. In bad years (drought, etc) the animals start getting desperate this time of year. They need to add a lot of fat and if they don't have much choice will eat almost anything (including any fall crops you plant). The squirrels nibble on pods too so if they start I'll just throw out a handful of nuts each day so they can eat something instead of the daylily pods. Now I just need a way to discourage the raccoon I just saw the other day from raiding my garden!

Good call! I was considering going out and purchasing some bitter apple spray in a couple of days (after the rain were supposed to get) but I'd forgotten about hot sauce. I have some ghost pepper hot sauce that's sure to keep the critters away! I'll see how invested I am. Part of me wants to say 'it's not worth the effort, I'll still have plenty of seeds' and this is simply a way of helping me narrow down what I will have to plant next year, but I guess that depends on how voracious the rabbit is. If s/he keeps it up, I won't continue to leave the pods' survival to fate and I'll definitely be spraying...

Okay folks. I have met my minimum of 3, habanero, dill, and coreopsis. I will add them to the list momentarily. Question: How many seeds would you suggest per pack? I got more than I expected from the dill and coreopsis. A teaspoon? I could count them, but they're really small... The tomatoes are a little intimidating, maybe I will try that for next time. I have several echinacea seed heads drying, but I'm not sure if they'll be ready in time, or what they will end up looking like. I have 2 varieties, (purpurea & PowWow Wild Berry) but it's possible they are sterile, or self-infertile, so I need to test them first. I'm also going to see if I can harvest some gaillardia seeds (Arizona Apricot and Mesa Yellow), so I will keep adding as go.

I have some store-bought packs left over from this Spring, a couple unopened, and a couple that were opened and taped back. I stored them in my closet, so they have been cool, dry, etc. Would these be okay to put in the swap? Or perhaps I should test to make sure... These are mostly herbs and veggies.

Edit: Maybe Habanero is not a good choice, since I grew other varieties of pepper, and these could be cross-pollinated.

Jessie, many of the seeds offered in the swap come from store packs, so absolutely, I would recommend you put them in the swap if you have extra seeds from them.

As for the possible cross pollination of the peppers, I would just be honest in your description. You could list them simply as pepper seeds and say in the description they are habanero with possible cross of [fill in your other type(s) of pepper].