Love in the mist – what an aptly named plant – whimsical wispy mist leaves surroundings a lovely seed pod. Like something from another planet. I came upon Nigella damascena when I apprenticed at Orchard Hill Farm. I’d been saving vegetable and herb seeds for a few years. But had done little with cut flower … More Love In The Mist
Oh, how I would like to be your Amaranth guide. To walk you through A. cruentus, A. hypochondriacus, and A. caudatus by way of A. tricolor and those other Amaranth species.. I would like to tell you which Amaranths have hanging flowers and which stand up straight. Which have white seeds and which black. And … More Oh, how I would like to be your Amaranth guide.
Poppies with their big showy petals and their fat green pods are next on #seedsavingformarketgrowers. There are a number of different poppy species. But what I have in mind when I’m talking about poppies are the species Papaver somniferum. And they are very high on the EASY seed saving list. In some cases you simply … More Poppies in your garden? Save their seeds!
Calendula will teach you about patience and harvesting seed at the right time and a bit about the frustration of seed cleaning. Patience Once the petals drop from calendula flowers, you’ll see green seeds sitting right there on the flower stem. Very tempting to harvest but if you go to rub them off the plant, … More Calendula And Patience In Saving Seeds
I’ve chosen Strawflowers as the first cut flower for #seedsavingformarketgrowers because it is so easy. Strawflowers clearly tell you when they are ready – the inside of the flower gets all fluffy and you can gently rub that fluff away to reveal a tiny cup full of seed. And that seed is pretty much perfectly … More Strawflower Seed Is A Great Place To Start
One of the biggest challenges in crop plan spreadsheets is how to create a clear crop map that is easy to consult but also automatically updates when things change. Here is my latest version – a combo made up of the formulas JOIN(), CHAR(10), and FILTER(). This combo displays your crop plan for 1 bed … More Dynamic Crop Maps For Your Crop Plan
So far on #seedsavingformarketgrowers we’ve been talking about seeds from vegetable crops. But you know what also goes to flower and sets seed that can be saved? Cut flowers! In fact cut flowers are some of the easiest crops to save seed from. Unless you’re the most rigorous dead header, you won’t be harvesting all … More It’s Time For Cut Flower Seed
You know how there are times in your farming career when you can grow more crop than you can sell? For a number of years, we were growing much more garlic than our clients were able to buy. So we started braiding garlic, and we were able to sell more of our garlic that way. Then we started … More FSA Tip #38 How To Price Garlic Braids
This sunflower came from a seed that escaped from the bird feeder. It survived squirrels, and chickadees, and lawn mower to grow tall then and then even taller. And when it bloomed it was covered in branches and then in so many flowers. Now, the flowers are putting on seeds and have hung their heads … More Sunflowers, chickadees, and lawn mowers
Last week, we brought in the Radish Seed Crop. Crisp pods covered the radish plants So we drove the tractor out to the field Pulled whole plants with roots and tossed them on a tarp – all in the same orientation Rolled the tarps up and stacked them on the wagon. These are going to … More Bringing The Seed Radish Harvest In
