T wrote:
....
So far, winter has not improved my soil. Your advice,
yes. Winter, not so much.

yes, so the next bit of advice is to grow
winter rye and/or winter wheat. give it a try.
see what happens.


One thing I learned is that don't count on seed exchanges
to give you the exact seed you think it is.

true, if a package says Open Pollenated then you
can assume the genetics might be mixed.

almost all beans i grow here are open pollenated
and i end up with odd crosses showing up. even
this year, i planted only two varieties of beans
(a new low for me, since i started) and i picked
some pods already that are starting to dry and
have found "odd" beans not at all like either of
the ones i planted. oh, well, i'm sure they're
edible.


Over half this year's
http://www.rareseeds.com/striata-d-i...Keyword=SSQ110
turned out to be something entirely different, but they
were fast growing and produced huge fruit, plus were
very tasty, so and wonder if I will reorder the same
seeds next year? The ones that were striata-d-italia
took a long time to produce.

i like to save as many seeds as possible for the
things that we grow other than the plants we get
from the greenhouse.

saves money if i don't mind the results and have
the space.


The
http://www.rareseeds.com/ronde-de-ni...Keyword=SSQ111
are a hoot and a half! Pumpkin shaped zukes! Plus
their leaves have a lot of wax on them. Maybe it will protect
against powder mold? We will see.

yep! are you growing them this year or is that
plans for next season?

we have tons of squash growing now (which is why
not so many beans got planted).

the cucumbers took a hit from the rains we had but
the vines still have green leaves coming back out so
i'll leave them.

we've ended up giving away most of the pickles we
made so if i can get another good crop and can find
some dill out where i tossed some seeds i'll make
another batch. they're easy to make.


songbird