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Hi All,

Meant to post this earlier.

Having said that I would be embarking on a Heritage seed stock revival, I have found it difficult to adhere to all of the necessary obligations at this time. I will therefore begin with potato, cauliflower and leek all of which are heritage crops.

This does not mean that I will be defaulting on the concept that we can get more from our heritage VAM type seed stock.

This in part is due to my brain not understanding that I am no longer a thirty something. It constantly challenges me to work as I did at that age, the mind is still keen! However the body finds it difficult to comply with that which the brain finds to be necessary to the task!

Now I know that a good few of the crops which I intend to cultivate in reality cannot be considered heritage!

However, I am also looking for good croppers and long keepers which have been seed saved for many years, and seemingly grow true to type.

This I hope will enable me to sever my links with the ever increasing price hype of garlic, potato and other mainstay crops.

Potatoes:-

Cara;- Organic, large tubers , large crop, good keeper in the necessary conditions circa 1973 or there abouts.

First Early

Ratte ;-Organic, an old French variety of Pink Fir Apple circa 1872, or earlier, with much less knobbly bits. It is considered, not surprisingly by the French, to be the origin of the English Pink Fir Apple potato. It has the same nutty flavour of PFA and is a good keeper. Gives reasonably good yields of firm waxy potatoes.

First Early

Congo:- Organic and ancient Variety with purple skin and blue flesh. This is a very late maturing variety and requires early planting, moderate cropper( not a lot for your money) suited to steaming and mashing.

I have tried to find its origin, many believe that very early explorers brought it back with them from South America and Peru in particular because it was found to both prevent and cure scurvy.

However its cultivars can be found in Spain, Australia, Canada, Scotland, and probably many more countries. The earliest documentation of this potato is circa 1615.

It has a massive root system and I am thinking that if infected with VAM's may well produce more tubers.

I will be experimenting with this potato through the VAM infection of its massive root system for a second time by injecting VAM's during mid season into said root system. This will be done to 10 of the 20 tubers which I have purchased. Now this I believe should show whether the infection of VAM's in fact has real worth within a larger root system to create a larger crop.

I will also be feeding this potato much more regularly with comfrey tea, the more feeding the greater the crop, within reason!

Now this is just a thought, but could the massive root system be because there was a dearth of nutrient in these native Amazon soils. This would seem logical to me, therefore if we feed this potato well it could produce significantly greater harvests.

As to the keeping qualities, there are conflicting reports as to how long this potato will keep after harvesting. But since it has been kept on long voyages and is a late main crop I believe that it should keep quite well.

It will also be a talking point when guests are fed, I can just imagine my son's face when confronted by blue potato mash. "I'll just tell him that's what Homer Simpson eats, as I remember the Simpson's always had blue mash on their plates"( this quote came from JBA seeds).

However since purchasing this seed potato I have read reports which state that if boiled to long it disintegrates. I am thinking that a pressure cooker may well be the best option.

First Early

Peas :-

Rondo:- an excellent cropper and will keep till next season when left to dry out properly.

Mario:- For lovers of mushy peas which I must admit I do love, will keep till next season when left to dry out properly.

Beans:-

Drying "Borletto bean Lamon" height approximately 9 to 11 feet, and will keep until next season. This is a meaty bean much loved by the good and great. Again don't know the heritage, however since it has been seed saved for many years I will go with it.

Seeds of Italy - BUTTERBEAN FAGIOLO DI SPAGNA (UK only)

The best method that I have found for drying peas and beans for seed saving it to let then dry on the plant until pods are hard and brown. Then cut the pods off and using needle and thread string them high up in the greenhouse to remove any residual moisture. It works for me but is only a suggestion!

Oh, and always use nylon thread for obvious reasons.

However you could just as easily shell the crop onto brown paper sheets in the greenhouse and hand turn them every day for a few days if conditions are sunny.

Shallot:-

Topper :- will keep from harvest until planting out time in spring. I don't know the history of this shallot so it will be interesting to see if it breeds true to type.

Cauliflower:-

Dwarf Erfuet :- also known as snowball, compact heads, cultivating this for the wife, circa 1830. this will be a challenge as I have never seed saved from Brassica.

Now this being a Brassica will not be included in my TP results.

Thomas Etty Esq.

Garlic:-

This will be dependent on the crop of Bella Italino, If the crop shows worth I may try a cross pollination with Vayo and seed save. Received my Vayo yesterday and will hopefully plant out tomorrow (5-11-11). This much later than I normally plant out garlic, but the deal was to good to refuse.

However you can I believe just as easily save the largest cloves from your July, August harvest and plant them out in mid September or early October dependant on your minimum temperature zone. For those living in Scotland I would suggest mid September.

If anyone knows different re clove planting please say so on this blog!!!

I have since found out that it is difficult to produce viable seed from garlic. This set me thinking that if the garlic flowers were mist sprayed with a dilution of EM's just prior to the opening of said flowers it may encourage seed viability.

This is just off the top of my head, but I'm going to try it out to see if it works. EM's seem to have an affinity with all plant life, so why not to the setting of viable seeds!!

Leek:-

Lyon :- Organic, was a very large leek circa 1883, it had a reputation of growing stocks 14 to 20 inches in length and 3 to 4 inches in diameter. However this was long before the advent of chemical fertilisers and the like.

Thomas Etty Esq.

This will be a challenge which I will really enjoy, it originated in Kelso on the Scottish borders. I will cross pollinate the two largest leeks and seed save from them.

I will be using comfrey tea, blood fish and bone, and chicken manure pellets and inoculated charcoal to cultivate this leek.

We can cultivate almost anything using these three ingredients, however to make this work we must saturate charcoal with them so that VAM's and EM's have an organic nutrient source to work with.

Sweet corn:-

Double Red:- 100 days until harvest, A red Sweet corn which is very sweet, and it is said, can be eaten straight off the cob in its milky phase.

It grows to a height of 6 to 8 feet and is very productive. Unfortunately very rare in the UK and can only be had from the USA, however it can be seed saved for future harvests as it is a reasonably old organic variety.

I gave my daughter's organic farming co-cooperative some seed to cultivate in one of their large polly tunnels, it was so popular that the plant meant for seed saving was also used!!!! This did not go down well with the community and the culprit was given a stern warning!!

If you wish to purchase this sweet corn here is the link ;- Corn, Double Red Sweet (Zea mays) seed, organic

Onion:-

Red Baron:- I like this onion, milder and sweeter, again am not sure of its heritage, but will do as with leeks and cross pollinate the largest 2 bulbs for seed saving. I have cultivated many different red onions, but this onion seems less likely to bolt in my opinion.

There is so much that we require to re-learn about true cultivation of the soil that I wonder how many will buy into this forgotten method of cultivation.

However as F1, 2 and 3 seed stock becomes increasingly more expensive we will ultimately require to go down this road. It is better done now than when its too late!!!

The french, and most of Europe don't buy F1, 2 or 3 seed stock!!, they rely on their heritage seed stock because it can be seed saved at no cost. We will need to follow their example, there was a time and will be again, when the common people of this country will require to cultivate their own food!!!!!

It definitely requires more of us, as in only using some of that which we have harvested for food and saving the best for seed stock.

It is after all an ancient technique of cultivation just like Terra preta. I am sure that the these ancient natives in the Amazon delta were well aware of this form of cultivation and used it to their advantage.

To feed a nation of approximately 20 million people 500 or 600 years ago would have required an expertise in cultivation which we can only wonder at.




These are only my thoughts, others will disagree.