Cedar's Garden 2011

[Cedar]

FINALLY, I got my seeds started 6 weeks late, but it couldn't be helped from being ill, working and taking care of a baby. But I went through my stored heirloom seeds and figured out what I was/was not planting this year for rotation and what I just could not live without. It takes 5 hours to go through my seeds. This is what got planted into flats today:

"Rubine" Brussels Sprouts
"Evesham's Special" Brussels (rare heirloom)
"Purple Sprouting" Broccoli
"All the Year Around" Cauliflower (endangered  heirloom)
"Early Jersey Wakefield" Cabbage (endangered  heirloom)
"Wheeler's Imperial" Cabbage (rare heirloom)
"Late Flat Dutch" Cabbage
"Copenhagen Market" Cabbage
"Red Acre" Cabbage
"Brunswick" Cabbage (endangered  heirloom)

"Tequila Sunrise" Pepper (rare heirloom)
"Hungarian Yellow Wax" Pepper
"Golden Californian Wonder"  (endangered  heirloom)
"Sweet Chocolate" Pepper (rare heirloom)
"Californian Wonder" Pepper
"King of the North" Pepper (rare heirloom)
"Medusa" Pepper
"Cow Horn" Pepper (endangered  heirloom)
"Miniature Yellow Bell" Pepper (rare heirloom)
"Feher Ozon Paprika" Pepper (endangered  heirloom)
"Taltos" Pepper (rare heirloom)
"Thai Hot" Pepper (endangered  heirloom)
"Red Cap Mushroom" Pepper (rare heirloom)
"Tobago Seasoning" Pepper
"Sante Fe Grande" Pepper (rare heirloom)
"Black Hungarian" Pepper (endangered  heirloom)
"Hot Portugal" Pepper
"Nepalese Bell" Pepper (endangered  heirloom)
"Hinkelhatz" Pepper (endangered  heirloom)
"Joe's Round" Pepper (rare heirloom)
"Fatalii" Pepper (rare heirloom)
"Aurora" Pepper (endangered  heirloom)

"Listade de Gandia" Eggplant (endangered  heirloom)
 
"Purple de Milpa" Tomatillo (endangered  heirloom)
"Aunt Molly's" Ground Cherry
"St. Timothy's" Tomatillo (rare heirloom)
"Toma Verde" Tomatillo

"German Gold" Tomato (endangered  heirloom)
"Ailsa Craig" Tomato (rare heirloom)
"Brandywine" Tomato
"Old German" Tomato (rare heirloom)
"Mexico Midget" Tomato (endangered  heirloom)
"Black Krim" Tomato (rare heirloom)
"Manitoba" Tomato
"Principe Borghese" Tomato
"Purple Prince" Tomato (endangered  heirloom)
"Silvery Fir Tree" Tomato
"Nebraska Wedding" Tomato (rare heirloom)
"Stupice" Tomato
"Egg from Phucket" Tomato (rare heirloom)
"Garden Peach" Tomato (rare heirloom)
"Free Emerald Evergreen" Tomato (rare heirloom)
"San Marzano" Tomato

"Hill Country Red" Okra (rare heirloom)

"Rossi Verona Aida" Chicory

"National Pickling" Cucumber
"Miniature White" Cucumber (rare heirloom)
"Boothby's Blonde" Cucumber
"Poona Kherra" (rare heirloom)

"Giant Prauge" Celeriac

"Black Beauty" Zucchini
"Potimarron" Squash (rare heirloom)
"Canada Crookneck" Squash (endangered  heirloom)
"Long Island Cheese" Squash
"Yugoslavian Finger Fruit" Squash (rare  heirloom)
"Burgess Strain Buttercup" Squash
"Pennsylvannia Dutch Crookneck" Squash
"Australian Butter" Squash (endangered  heirloom)
"Swan White" Squash (endangered  heirloom)
"Saffron Prolific Straightneck" Squash (rare heirloom)
"Naked" Squash
"Mammoth" Pumpkin (endangered  heirloom)
"Butternut" Squash
"Potimon Red Curry" Squash (endangered  heirloom)
"Conneticut Field" Pumpkin (endangered  heirloom)
"Kobocha" Squash

 "Prescott Fond Blanc" Melon (endangered  heirloom)
 "Minnesota Midget" Melon (endangered  heirloom)
"Pride of Wisconsin" Melon (rare heirloom)
"Hale's Best Jumbo" Melon
"Noir des Carmes" Melon (endangered  heirloom)

"Small Shining Light" Watermelon (rare heirloom)
"Moon & Stars" Watermelon

"Orange Zinger" Calendula (rare heirloom)


These I got planted planted into the raised beds a week or two ago:
Lettuce - "Asian Baby Leaf Mesclun Salad"
Lettuce - ""Blush Batavian" - Crunchy Lettuce Trio
Lettuce - "California Spicy Greens"
Lettuce - "Cut and Come Again"
Lettuce - "Forellenschluss"
Lettuce -  "Italian Misticanza" - Gourmet baby Salad Heirloom
Lettuce -  "Monet's Garden Mesclun" Heirloom
Lettuce - "Reine des Glaces"  HeirloomSecure
Lettuce -  "Renee's Stir Fry Mix"
Lettuce -  "Renee's Caesar Duo"
Lettuce -  "Ruby & Emerald Duet" Farmer's Market Blend 
Lettuce -  "Sanguine Amerliore" Rare heirloom
Lettuce -  "Sea of Red"
Lettuce "Yugoslavian Red Butterhead"  (rare heirloom)

Also in the raised beds/new garden already planted is:
Kale - "Siberian" (rare family heirloom)
Kale - "Dwarf Green"
Broccoli - "Purple Sprouting" Overwintered and I need to pick a bunch of already

There is also various varieties of grape cuttings, various pre-15th century apple & Pear trees, various heirloom strawberry starts, "Five Color Silverbeet" Swiss Chard which I hope will go to seed soon, and ALOT of 9-10 ft tall "Evesham Special" Brussels sprouts which are soon heading to seed.

Soon I will be able to till up my garden.. the hunt for a new belt is ON! (Still)



Photo Above: "Hidatsa Shield Figure" Bean
Photo Below:" Painted Mountain" Corn





Photo Above: A few of my 500+ heirloom seeds varieties awaiting patiently for their turn to be planted

Cedar

[Morgan96]

Dang.... sounds ambitious and wonderful.
how much room do you have to get all these in the ground?

[kenny1ram]

What was your source(s) for these?  I'm not familiar with many of these.

[Cedar]

Dang.... sounds ambitious and wonderful.
how much room do you have to get all these in the ground?

It has turned into an obsession! Like I LOATHE beans and I have over 30 varieties I counted the other day. But I cannot let any of them not get planted from time to time, as some of them are said to be extinct, but yet I have them.. and have the original packet the original seed came in. Some I know only 3 of us which are growing a certain variety. Some I plant and then send to friends houses for them to grow and then after they get their fill of whatever the plant is producing, I get the seed off it to renew my stock.

Good thing my daughter does not seem to be a picky eater and I do serve them to guests and at the potluck I go to once a month.

It depends on the year of how much room I have to grow things. This last year and this year in Oregon I only have 2,900 sf, at my farm in Canada I had 3,500 sf, plus a greenhouse, but with the shorter growing season (90 or less days), I actually grew less yield up there on a larger garden,  than on a smaller amount of garden in Oregon but with a longer growing season (Zone 2a Versus Zone 8b). I grew up with a 1/4 acre garden and learned gardening and seed saving from my father.



Photo Above "Barlotto Linguadi Fuoco" bean (French Climbing Bean from 1800's)
Photo Below: "Brunswick" Cabbage from my fall garden. Good eating and kraut cabbage introduced pre-1876.



Cedar

[Cedar]

What was your source(s) for these?  I'm not familiar with many of these.

From all over the world, literally. I started seed saving around 1996. My dad saved seed, but only about a dozen types. Soon after I started, it became a crazy hobby and I now have over 571 heirloom and rare heirloom varieties in vegetables, herbs, grains, dye plants and more. I also graft and preserve pre-15th century English and French varieties of apples and pear cultivars.

Some I have gotten from seed catalogs here in the states, as well as a few picked up in Canada in the 9 years I lived up there. Over time though, many varieties are dropped from commercial seed catalogs. Most people do not know that we lose about 10,000 named varieties of heirloom seeds each year.. they go extinct and they are not saved in the worldwide seed banks. Some are said to be extinct as they have not found sources for them, but I know I have at least 3 varieties of vegetables which are listed as 'extinct' and are not, for I have them.

For many years I have been hosting Seedy Saturdays, which is an educational event as well as a seed swap meet. I have worked with major seed banks in the U.S.A., Canada, Israel, France, the UK and other places, as well as from different seed house companies. I have many seeds from the people who come in and drop off seed to share. Some of the really fun ones are like "Ireland Creek Annie" bean which I got from the original family that had grown it since the 1930’s when it was grown on Ireland Creek Farm in British Columbia, Canada. Or the hollyhocks which were raised by a family since the 1860's in Ontario, then they took them to British Columbia many years later and then given to me 2-3 years ago.



Photo Above: "Ireland Creek Annie". Which makes its own broth/gravy when you cook them.

Some, like the "Saint Timothy" tomatillo, was given to me by a friend who got them from a mission in Mexico. She is also a hard core seed saver. She also gave me a start of "Roy's Calais" corn. "Roy's Calais" flint corn is one of Vermont's heirloom corns. It was grown by the Abenaki Indians, and was the only corn variety that survived the snows of June and hard freezes of July, 1816. It was grown by a family in Calais, Vermont since shortly after the Civil War, but was nearly lost to the world. Can be harvested in as little as 85 days.



Photo Above: "Roy's Calais" Flint corn. Flint corn is the type of corn preferred for making hominy, a staple food in the Americas since pre-Columbian times. Because flint corn has a very low water content it is more resistant to freezing than other vegetables. It was the only Vermont crop to survive New England's infamous "Year Without a Summer" of 1816.

Cedar

[LvsChant]

This is some amazing stuff, Cedar. We have some wonderful gardeners who are doing great things with their plants... if you need more folks to plant and save seeds from here on the forum, I'll bet you could find several who would do well at it. I know I'd be very interested in this once we move to our homestead and have a garden again. Perhaps it would be a good thing to have the plants grown in various regions and seeds saved from those places?

[fritz_monroe]

Since you have some seed that is thought to be extinct, you should join something like Seed Savers Exchange and get others growing the same variety.  That way if something should happen to you or your seed stock, the variety will continue to survive.

[Cedar]

This is some amazing stuff, Cedar. We have some wonderful gardeners who are doing great things with their plants... if you need more folks to plant and save seeds from here on the forum, I'll bet you could find several who would do well at it. I know I'd be very interested in this once we move to our homestead and have a garden again. Perhaps it would be a good thing to have the plants grown in various regions and seeds saved from those places?

Thank you.. these I like showing off to perhaps get more people aware of what heirloom/heritage varieties and breeds of vegetables, fruits and livestock mean to us, even if people don't realize it. I was quite pleased at having over 450 people at the first year Seedy Saturday here. It was a concept I brought down from Canada with me and no one had heard of in my area before here in Oregon.

I do hand out seeds (NO MORE THIS YEAR PLEASE!) to people to promise to try to grow out the seed to my specifications (especially if they are a newbie seed saver - as I NEED to keep them pure). They keep half of the seed, pass 1/4 onto someone else (hopefully more than one person with directions on how to save the seed) and then 1/4 comes back to me to freshen the seed in my seed bank. But since it takes 5 hours to go through all the seeds these days, I am done going through them for the year until December 2011/January 2012.

It is good to have them in different areas. Seeds of Diversity Canada has a 'status' on many species of vegetables and it is not only important to know the status of how common or rare the variety is, but also how well they are distributed. Now alot of the seed I have, being that I was in Canada for 9 gardening seasons, my seeds have been (mostly) geared for short/cold 90 days or less seasons. The "Yukon Supreme" Sweet corn that I have, only one catalog carries it and I think they had a meltdown with it so it was not available for 2011. Three of us friends raised it, me in Oregon, Dawn in Colorado and Tom in Pennsylvannia. I had the wet cold summer with occaisonial hot days; Dawn is in the Rocky Mountains, so hers was grown at a high dry altitude and Tom had a hot hot summer. We are sending a 1/3 of what we grew to each other so we can breed all these traits in hopefully over time. It ought to take 3-4 years theoretically.





Photo's Above: "Yukon Supreme" 45 day sweet corn

Cedar

[Cedar]

Since you have some seed that is thought to be extinct, you should join something like Seed Savers Exchange and get others growing the same variety.  That way if something should happen to you or your seed stock, the variety will continue to survive.

When I can afford it, I do belong to SSE and Seeds of Diversity Canada (as well as the American Livestock Conservancy as well as Rare Breeds Canada) and I originally joined SSE in 2001. I need to contact SSE, the USDA and SoDC to see if they would like some of my seed which is said to be extinct.

To get others to grow more, I belong to the grange as well as a pilot project for community gardens in our town. I distribute seed to those people as well, with the intent of them learning how and why to save seed, for them to keep some, for them to pass some on.. and some returns to me to keep my seed bank fresh. Like I have 14+ varieties of corn and I cannot keep all of them separated by time or distance, so I farm them out. I also hold seedy Saturdays to encourage people to learn about seed saving. I usually start them out on the EASY FIVE, which is beans, peas, lettuce, pepper and tomatoes.

This is where I held my Seedy Saturday this year http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtIU8oDeK60 as I have friends there and they donated the space. Gus did an awesome job at time lapse filming it for a couple hours out of the 8 hour event. We had over 450 people attend on a first year event. I was very happy with how many attended. There was 200+ varieties of seeds that went out the door and 72 varieties that people brought in to trade.

And if I die, my seeds are willed to someone...



Photo Above: My favorite lettuce "Yugoslavian Red Butterhead". I have always grown this one since 2001 and I have 29 varieties of lettuce alone.

Cedar

[Cedar]

Since it was on the brain and I was out to feed rabbits, I armed myself with my camera, a bowl and a knife to see what I could find for dinner out in the garden. I was admiring my second year plants which are going to seed. Other than it takes awhile to go TO seed, raising Brussels Spouts to seed is not difficult at all, as long as you can keep it away from other flowering brassicas (cabbage family).

Picture Below: "Evesham Special" Brussels Sprouts. They are nearly 9-10 feet tall right now. I don't need all the plants, I think there is 10, so I will be chopping them down soon so I can till and put something else in their place. Probably squash as a rotation.



Picture Below: "Snowball" turnip flowering (an all white mild turnip, my favorite). Don't mind the grass, it was a sod garden last summer and I have not tilled since August. I also have "Purple Top White Globe", but I prefer the "Snowball".



My peas in the raised bed have emerged (photo below) . I have about a 8 foot row of this variety, which is "Carouby de Maussane" snow peas. I would grow them just for the flowers. The plant gets to 7-9 foot tall and have lavender & purple flowers. The pods also never get tough, although they can get quite large.



Picture Below: "Golden Self Blanching" celery. This is a lovely green-yellow, dries well, has old fashioned celery taste and will flower soon, attracting alot of beneficial bugs. I have been munching on this all winter long, both fresh and dried, put into soups.



And although it is started to not have tight heads on it, this "Purple Sprouting" broccoli tastes marvelous (pic below) and I picked a bowl full for dinner tonight. Not sure how I am going to cook it yet. Maybe a broccoli and cheddar soup?



Cedar

[TexDaddy]

Cedar, I have to say it. You rock! +1

[kenny1ram]

Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing...(just need to get on your list come december)

[Cedar]

Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing...(just need to get on your list come december)

Thank you, I enjoy photography as well. One day maybe I will get ambitious and post my seed list here, it is complete with pics.. if you read it, grab a pot of coffee and some sustenance.



Photo Above: "Potimarron Red Kury" Squash, an heirloom variety I got from France. This variety is a good keeper, from 4 to 8 months.

Cedar

[Cedar]

How to save Seed from Brussels Sprouts

All brassicas will cross with each other. Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts cross readily with each other, as do radish, mustard, Chinese cabbage and turnip. Cross-pollination is done by honeybees and an isolation distance of at least half a mile between varieties is recommended, preferably 1 mile. You can only grow one brassica out each year or cage it and only open to insects when the other ones are shut.

Off-type plants can be removed at any time. I select for the most sprouts, tight sprouts on the stalk which come to harvest right around Christmas-time and after. I also select the ones the aphids don't hang out at. The second there is a aphid infestation, I carefully bag it, cut it and burn it.

Harvesting is done carefully when 60–70% of the pods have turned brown and most of their inner seeds are light brown and firm. It shatters out of the shell easy. BE CAREFUL! Pods can then threshed with sticks and sifted by hand, but I usually do them by hand over a clean 5 gallon bucket or over a close woven basket that I can winnrow from.

Dried seeds can be safely stored for at least three years. Place seeds in jars, manila envelopes, cloth or mesh bags, plastic containers, or foil envelopes. The best containers are air-tight, such as a sealed glass jar, metal can, or foil envelope. Protect seed from sunlight. Store seeds in a cool, dry location. Place the seeds in a refrigerator for longterm storage. For short-term storage, keep the seeds in a cool, shady and dry place.

I keep my seed where seeds get everything they don't want. I keep them in a duffle bag (in case of a house fire I can grab them quick), in a cool, dark, dry place, all things which are not condusive to growing.

The Brassica family is not one which I would start people out on for seed saving. It goes to seed it's second year and it is too easily cross pollinated which means the next generation will not be pure seed. Over time I will post other easier crops to start saving seed on.



Cedar

[Cedar]

Cedar, I have to say it. You rock! +1

Thank you! can I talk you into growing out some "Tequila Sunrise" pepper seeds one day then? Thanks for the +1!


"Tequila Sunrise" Status: Endangered and Distribution: Poor

Cedar

[TexDaddy]

...I talk you into growing out some "Tequila Sunrise" pepper seeds one day then?...

Absolutely!

[cohutt]

Good work you are doing Cedar-.

[average_joe]

Cedar you guys are a fantastic addition to the TSP forum! I'm so glad you decided to join us and take the time to pass on your knowledge and post pics!  It is much appreciated. I always enjoy your posts, they're very informative. 

[Hraz]

Wow, those seeds are beautiful.

[Cedar]

Good work you are doing Cedar.

Thank you, I hope I am. My main goal is to educate people what heirloom vegetables (plants and livestock too) are and why it truely matters that we keep as many of them from going extinct as possible, especially with the GMO plants which are now out there.

Cedar you guys are a fantastic addition to the TSP forum! I'm so glad you decided to join us and take the time to pass on your knowledge and post pics!  It is much appreciated. I always enjoy your posts, they're very informative.

It was actually an accident I found the site. I still have not been able to listen to more than 1 of the podcasts. I was looking up a picture of a B.O.B. for my friend to explain what one was, when I told her I was revamping mine for including the baby and found the B.O.B photo section here. Then found the forums when I was down and sick to pass the time, I started reading and posting between naps.

Wow, those seeds are beautiful.

There are so many pretty seeds and vegetable plants out there. Most people do not realize there is lettuce outside of "Iceberg", that there really is more than 5-6 kinds of apples and that a pumpkin is not just a pumpkin..



Tomatoes Pictured Above, Left to Right:
"Nebraska Wedding" Late 1800's heirloom
"Old German" 1800's heirloom from Virginia
"Stupice" Heirloom from Czechoslovakia
"Black Krim" - Old Russian heirloom
"Free Emerald Evergreen" - 1950's heirloom

Cedar

[Cedar]

Cedar's Challenge to Anyone Who Reads This

Learn to save lettuce seed this year. Have an apartment? Yeah, whatever... I am not taking any excuses. You can grow it in a pot on your window inside. Lettuce has to be one of the easiest, if not THE easiest seeds to start learning with. I had 30 row feet on a 3rd floor apartment once, you can do it too. Plant your lettuce in the spring. Harvest it, but when it starts to get tall and spikey (and might even taste bitter) let the stalk grow and it will eventually flower.



Lettuce produces perfect, self-pollinating flowers, which means they usually fertilize themselves before the flower opens. Each flower produces one seed. Flowers are grouped in little heads of 10-25 flowers all of which open at once for as little as 30 minutes. Anthers are fused together into a little cone that completely surrounds stigma and style. Style is pushed up through anther cone and is coated with its own pollen. Mature head lettuce (like "Iceberg") may need a slit (two or three inches deep) across the top to encourage flowering.

Separate varieties flowering at the same time by at least 20 feet to ensure purity.

SELECTION TRAITS:
Leaf color: red, DOMINENT GENE. Leaf color is controlled by at least two genes with a number of variations possible. Generally, hybrids produced by crossing red and green varieties result in red offspring.

Leaf shape:
no lobes, DOMINENT GENE
oak leaved, RECESSIVE GENE
Seed stalk formation : bolt resistance, RECESSIVE GENE

Seed color:
white seeds, RECESSIVE GENE
black seeds, DOMINENT GENE

HARVEST: Some outside leaves can be harvested for eating without harming seed production. Allow seed heads to dry 2-3 weeks after flowering. Individual heads will ripen at different times making the harvest of large amounts of seed at one time nearly impossible. Wait until half the flowers on each plant has gone to seed. Cut entire top of plant and allow to dry upside down in an open paper bag. I also just gently bend the stalk over a paper bag then tap the stalk and LOTS of seed tends to fall in. I go back in a few days and do it again.

PROCESS: Rub with hands to remove remaining seeds off the flower in the bag. If necessary, separate seeds from chaff with screens, but I have blown into the bag (don't inhale when the fuzz is blowing around for pity's sake) and the flower heads will stay in the bag and the fuzz will come out. The seed is generally too fine to use in baskets to winnow.

Lettuce seed comes in white, tan, and black. Different varieties will have different colored seed. Such as my "Yugoslavian Red Butterhead" has white seed, but "Tango" is black.



Cedar

[cohutt]

+1 on seed saving

I've done it with Amish deer tongue and black seeded simpson.  No brainer

I haven't bought spinach seeds since fall 2009 - Bloomsdale is easy and very productive

I have let my wintered over Arugula go to seed - odd, a lot different than lettuce and spinach.   There seems to be a large number of sealed seed pods all up the stalks - below the flowers

[rhiannon.douglas]

loving the photos cedar!

Incredibly jealous of your seed collection, I can see some varieties that we've had and loved in there. Continuing the lines of heirloom varieties is such a fantastic thing to do, for yourself and the greater community. So many open pollinated varieties are being lost and forgotten.

Our collection is being built back up after our move, I have a package on its way here!

[Roswell]

Cedar, you are doing some awesome work.  I love it!  +1

I'll definitely be contacting you in December

[QuiltingB]

Cedar -
I have looked all over the internet for detailed info on brussel sprouts - even my 2 seed saving books don't have the info I needed this spring.

Last fall was the first time I grew brussel sprouts from seeds - and did they ever grow - sort of.  Usually we have mild winters here in e. Texas, but the past few have been very cold and this past fall my sprouts froze.  (Texas Ag folks recommend that where I live to start brussels sprouts in the fall only) I started some more and planted them in mid winter - past the recommended date - and they grew only a few feet tall - but with big beautiful leaves.  In April they shot up seed heads and started producing yellow flowers.  I reluctantly pulled them because the stem never grew the 2 or 3 feet it should and never produced full sprouts at the leaf joints - only a few mini leaflets. 

I couldn't find any info about sprouting and seeds - so I just assumed that if they started to produce flowers that they would never produce sprouts.  I also didn't want seeds from a plant that didn't produce fruit - and my turnips were seeding.  Anyway, the weather was getting just too warm and I don't think the sprouts would finish producing in out 80+ degree days in March/April.

Am I missing anything?  Should it have produced sprouts before it tried to product flowers and seeds?  Did the plant think it was in it's second season?

I've been having troubles these past couple of winters - plants are going thru unusual brutal freeze/warm 60 degree +/another below freeze for a week/repeat cycles and are bolting early.  Same thing happened with my bok choy - it flowered and produced seed pods but never produced a usable head of cabbage.

Any info would be much appreciated from you - since you've been there & done that.

[Cedar]

Usually we have mild winters here in e. Texas, but the past few have been very cold and this past fall my sprouts froze.  (Texas Ag folks recommend that where I live to start brussels sprouts in the fall only) I started some more and planted them in mid winter - past the recommended date - and they grew only a few feet tall - but with big beautiful leaves.  In April they shot up seed heads and started producing yellow flowers.  I reluctantly pulled them because the stem never grew the 2 or 3 feet it should and never produced full sprouts at the leaf joints - only a few mini leaflets. 

What variety are you planting? Is it open pollinated or hybrid? Some get taller and some are shorter. I am growing one variety called "Evesham Special" and I have NEVER seen sprouts get this tall. Usually the ones I have grown in past years were only a couple 3-4 ft tall, not 9-10.

I am suspecting that they got chilled enough they thought they went through 2 years, which is why they went to seed before giving you any sprouts. WHEN you do see sprouts though, when you start questioning if you ought to pick them or not, pick them.

I couldn't find any info about sprouting and seeds - so I just assumed that if they started to produce flowers that they would never produce sprouts. 

By the time that you are seeing flowers, you have lost them for sprouts. Not all is totally lost however, you can stir fry the flowers, you can eat the leaves. All the Brassicas originally were the same plant, but bred over the last couple hundred years to either be a cabbage head, a broccoli crown, brussels sprouts balls, kale for their leaves.. nothing says you can't eat your 'failed' brussels sprouts plants.

I also didn't want seeds from a plant that didn't produce fruit - and my turnips were seeding.  Anyway, the weather was getting just too warm and I don't think the sprouts would finish producing in out 80+ degree days in March/April.

You were wise on that. Or you could be creating a completely different brassica type LOL.. And the brassicas do indeed tend to be a cold weather lover.

I've been having troubles these past couple of winters - plants are going thru unusual brutal freeze/warm 60 degree +/another below freeze for a week/repeat cycles and are bolting early.  Same thing happened with my bok choy - it flowered and produced seed pods but never produced a usable head of cabbage.

With your bok choy doing the same thing, it is not you... it is Mother Nature and the whacked weather we have been having the last couple of years. Hedge your bet. I have not grown anything in Texas, but plant some in the early fall, plant some in way early spring and see what each of those do in your location. not lot of them, but 2-6 at each of those seasons. You could be in a micro-climate there too and might just be able to pull off a crop of them.

I do not always recommend this either, as I am a rare heirloom advocate, but grow 2 kinds of Brussels. One hybrid (H) and one open pollinated (OP). The (H) will tend to produce a bit more consistantly, but your (OP) you can save seeds from if it produces and then goes to seed for you later. I would trial it.. being that is tends to be warmer in Texas than Brussels generally like, I would try that experiment.



"Rubine" Brussels Sprouts, an heirloom variety not often seen in the garden or stores. Grows to 48"

Cedar

[Nicodemus]

Wow, you're doing some great things, cedar!

I'm glad that you ran across the forum.

Please keep us posted.

[Cedar]

My flats have germinated and are emerging from the soil. I have about 288 tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts and cabbage coming up.

I sprinkle ground cinnamon on my flats as a preventative for "Damp-Off". "Damping off" is the term used for a number of different fungus-caused ailments that can kill seeds or seedlings before or after they germinate. You can see the cinnamon in the photo.

Seed can become infected with a fungus, causing it to darken and soften. This can kill it before the seedling emerges, or cause the seedling to be weak, sometimes getting "wet" and then decay until it falls apart.

A seedling can be infected after it sprouts, (which is when most people tend to notice it) or even after it appears well-developed. Most people notice when the plant mysteriously thins right where it touches the ground, until its stem at that point rots and it falls over. It looks like it has been 'pinched'.

Cedar

[Cedar]

YAY! Finally after MONTHS of searching for the right belt.... it only took six trips to NAPA, one to a small engine place, multiple calls back and forth between the Canadian manufacturer and the USA manufacturer, one call to Salem, Oregon, one trip to Salem, Oregon, I finally can return to Salem, Oregon tomorrow to go get my rototiller belt. Hopefully it is the right one. Maybe I can till this week?


Photo Above: “Royal Burgandy"  String bean. Heirloom 1957
STATUS    DISTRIBUTION
Secure    Good

Cedar

[Sister Wolf]

just shared a link to this thread on the TSP forum facebook page.  I can't believe that I hadn't seen this before today.

You're amazing, woman.  +1 from me!