Garden Chats

(Sorry quality isn’t the best. I didn’t have my iPhone with me; you don’t even want to know what I had to use.)

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Send me more photos, jackals… or it’ll be random garden-related article posts next week and every week!

What’s going on in your garden (wrap-up / indoor / retrospective / planning), this week?

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Many of us have wrapped up our gardens for the winter, and that’s a good time to take stock of what worked, what didn’t, and what we’ll do differently next year. If you’ve got even one or two photos of your harvest bounty, send them to me, and I’ll set up a potpourri post next week!

What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?

The penultimate one is a bit odd. Why would the city plant vegetables in a public plaza? Still, the mini peppers are very cute.

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Still keeping an eye out for the first frost, here north of Boston — it was in the 40s Thursday, and the 80s Saturday.

What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?

Top photo: I have nurtured 3 patches of Flutterby weed and they are a favorite for the Great Spangled Fritillaries but they are slow to spread too. Gonna work on starting some more next spring.

There were a couple of well established patches of purple coneflowers and they have spread nicely on their own. I’m gonna give them a boost and spread some seed in places where they are still absent.

In my woods are several good patches of May Apples and they are a favorite of mine. They like to hide their blossoms (and the resulting fruits) under their large leaves.

I built this bench above one of our hollers. It’s a nice quiet spot where I can listen to the snowmelt running down the hills during winter, feed the ticks in the spring, find shade in the summer, and enjoy the autumn colors. And commune with Miss Kitty who is buried there. I am going to plant some shade loving wildflowers on her grave next year.

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What’s going on in your gardens, this week?

Atlantic pigeonwing

 
Rudbeckia

 
Kudzu

 
Thistle

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I need more pics, people!

What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?

As the garden harvest season winds down, plants are starting to transition into their next critical stage: producing seeds for future use. Yes, you can order new seed packets each year from catalogues or hit up your local big box store for the latest varieties. But collecting the seeds of your favorite spent sunflowers, green beans or basil for next year is a fairly straightforward task that can help you save money and connect you to nature and the life cycle of each plant.

It can also ensure successful plants, because you’re using seeds from specimens that have been proven to thrive in your yard. “When we save our own seeds over time, [they] become adapted to our unique microclimate,” says Emily Murphy, regenerative organic gardener and author of “Grow Now: How We Can Save Our Health, Communities, and Planet — One Garden at a Time.”

Here’s what to know about collecting seeds, and how to preserve them for future use.

Know the type of seed
There are two types of seeds: open-pollinated and hybrid.

“Open-pollinated seeds derive from plants in which pollination occurs by insects, birds, wind, humans or other natural sources,” says Julie Thompson-Adolf, author of “Starting & Saving Seeds: Grow the Perfect Vegetables, Fruits, Herbs, and Flowers for Your Garden.” “Plants pollinated within the same species will produce seeds genetically true to type and that are similar to the parent plant.” These make excellent candidates for saving because the seeds are reliable and produce the same plant each year.

Hybrids, on the other hand, have been cross-pollinated between two seed lines, often for specific traits, such as better taste, yield or disease resistance. Although you can save hybrid seeds, it isn’t recommended because they are unpredictable. There is no way to know which characteristics will carry on to the next generation.

Choose your plants wisely
Not all seeds are created equally, even among a group of the same type of plant. “Choose plants that performed well in your garden throughout the season, produced big, beautiful, blemish-free fruit or pretty blooms, and avoided disease,” says Thompson-Adolf.

Also consider the processing required for the type of plant you’re working with. For some plants, including beans, brassicas, carrots, corn, lettuce and radishes, going to seed is the next stage in the life cycle. Preserving their seeds is known as dry processing and involves cutting seedpod stalks, drying them, separating the seeds from the rest of the plant and removing plant debris. Plants that produce seeds inside their fruit, on the other hand, including tomatoes, cucumbers and melons, require wet processing, which involves more steps, such as fermenting the seeds first. If you’re a first-time seed saver, it’s best to stick with dry processing, says Thompson-Adolf, because it’s easier…

Full details at the link.

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What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?