Major seed companies- high demand- order soon

[pamela]

knowin' by growin'. LOL
plant it, and see what grows, if it's nothing like the bean in question, it's was a hybrid.
do a germination test before hand to see that they are viable.
if the plant produces a different kind of bean, it's one of the hybrid parents, you can grow it out again the season after if you find it has qualities you like. It's like un-working a puzzle.
hybridization of plants is different from GM.

[spacecase0]

Aackkk!!  I just read the bottom of that Frugal Squirrels ad:

"Seeds are living organisms and therefore require some amount of oxygen to retain their ability to germinate. Due to High Mowing Organic Seeds Company's recommendation and in order to provide optimum seed storage our seeds are not packed with an oxygen absorber." 

I packed mine up with an oxy absorber    Guess I'll rip em out and put em in a ziplock bag in the fridge.  Oops!

I like Frugal Squirrels.  I've bought from them and gotten good service.

there are mixed opinions about the oxygen, there are lots of seeds that come up when they have been nitrogen packed, or kept without oxygen for many years.
the real trick to seed storage is reading up on how each seed variety needs to be stored in order to work well far into the future,
but I bet as long as your seeds are dry and cool, then they will mostly be fine.

[prepbuff]

Aackkk!!  I just read the bottom of that Frugal Squirrels ad:

"Seeds are living organisms and therefore require some amount of oxygen to retain their ability to germinate. Due to High Mowing Organic Seeds Company's recommendation and in order to provide optimum seed storage our seeds are not packed with an oxygen absorber." 

I packed mine up with an oxy absorber    Guess I'll rip em out and put em in a ziplock bag in the fridge.  Oops!

I like Frugal Squirrels.  I've bought from them and gotten good service.

there are mixed opinions about the oxygen, there are lots of seeds that come up when they have been nitrogen packed, or kept without oxygen for many years.
the real trick to seed storage is reading up on how each seed variety needs to be stored in order to work well far into the future,
but I bet as long as your seeds are dry and cool, then they will mostly be fine.

Anybody remember the "space tomato" seeds?  They were part of a NASA program -- genuine Rutgers (open pollinated) tomato seeds sent into orbit for about five years.  They were exposed to the extreme heat and cold of space, and I think were also exposed to the airless environment (uncertain about that).  I know they were bombarded by "cosmic rays", though! Decent germination rate close to earth-bound controls, too, and very few mutations.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE4D91E3AF932A25755C0A967958260

So, basically, if seeds can survive a trip to space, they'll probably be able to handle the canning situation -- at least for a while.

[Majestic]

{lots of interesting info...}
FLOWER: Corn is monecious, producing separate male and female flowers on each plant. Male flowers appear as tassels on the top of corn stalks and female flowers are pollinated via the silk emerging from each ear.

FarmerBrown, do you have any recommendations for good books for gardening newbies that tells all the info about kinds of plants that we might need to know? I mean stuff like the info in the quote above, from your post seems pretty key info to be aware of, to me. So what resources out there that you might have come across and could recommend to others here?

[farmerbrown]

{lots of interesting info...}
FLOWER: Corn is monecious, producing separate male and female flowers on each plant. Male flowers appear as tassels on the top of corn stalks and female flowers are pollinated via the silk emerging from each ear.

FarmerBrown, do you have any recommendations for good books for gardening newbies that tells all the info about kinds of plants that we might need to know? I mean stuff like the info in the quote above, from your post seems pretty key info to be aware of, to me. So what resources out there that you might have come across and could recommend to others here?

"basic seed saving" by Bill McDorman published through Seeds Trust, High Altitude Gardens, Cornville, Arizona     $5.95 plus shipping  44 pages of priceless information

[pamela]

http://www.seedsave.org/issi/issi_904.html

[See Live]

I just placed my order with a company in Victoria after reading a couple of posts.  I must say that what I do need to know more about is seed harvesting & storage so that when the companies run out of gear we can still get by.  Needless to say why I just renewed the membership for 2 years, not 1.

Peace.

[spacecase0]

seed saving instructions on the web for free.
http://www.seedsave.org/issi/issi_904.html

is that what you are looking for ?

[See Live]

spacecase0 you da (wo)man

quote author=spacecase0 link=topic=13982.msg249176#msg249176 date=1213912442]
seed saving instructions on the web for free.
http://www.seedsave.org/issi/issi_904.html

is that what you are looking for ?
[/quote]

[nadiaa]

Heck, I thought I was going to be OK planting heirloom organic seeds and then saving seeds from the veggies (gotta do more research on that aspect). But now am warned that cross-pollination may deliver a few surprises next year. My plot is not huge, so things are rather close together. Drat. Any ideas?

[See Live]

Nadia,

The best advice that I can give anyone who has limited plot space is to build your soil upward, if you can't build outward.  Compost compost compost and build that soil up up up.  If you can grow potatoes, grow 'em.  They thrive well in a vertical situation AND they are calorically more dense than most other vegetables.  That is to say you'll last a while on potatoes, but not for long on celery.  Sadly it is too hot where I am to grow them...but we have great coconuts.

Peace.

[HungryRaven]

I bought a couple years worth of seeds so if things collapse and I have a buffer in case my seed saving skills need improvement.  I grew some broccoli that had been sitting around with no special care for 8 years and I had about a 25% success rate. 

[spacecase0]

Heck, I thought I was going to be OK planting heirloom organic seeds and then saving seeds from the veggies (gotta do more research on that aspect). But now am warned that cross-pollination may deliver a few surprises next year. My plot is not huge, so things are rather close together. Drat. Any ideas?

there are ways to keep your plant DNA pure, such as covering the flowers with bags and hand pollinating,
you can also time offset when you plant things that can cross pollinate so that the flowers are not around at the same time.

and lastly you can stick to one type of each plant that will not cross with anything else that you grow that year,
just pick your favorite type of tomato and grow just that one.
pick your favorite corn and grow just that type of corn.
I have seen very nice gardens that work that way in a small space, the seed saving instructions that I posted the link to have the plants that will cross or not cross.
I know that it may be a pain to only have one type of pepper, corn, and the like,
but at least you will get one of each type of plant.
and some things like potatoes will not cross with each other, so you can have as many varieties as you like.

[the fiddler]

]FarmerBrown, do you have any recommendations for good books for gardening newbies that tells all the info about kinds of plants that we might need to know? I mean stuff like the info in the quote above, from your post seems pretty key info to be aware of, to me. So what resources out there that you might have come across and could recommend to others here?

Here are a couple good reads:

Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth - This one is all about saving vegetable seeds and is available through the Seed Saver's Exchange.

Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades by Steve Solomon - This is THE BIBLE for growing organic vegetables in the Pacific Northwest, but much of the information is applicable to any garden. Also check out other works by this author.

Hope that helps!

[Grower]

I'd also recommend you go through the archives for the doomer food thread. Tons of links to sites, book recommendations, recipes, etc.