November 20, 2014

Good morning, as we slip into fall and move towards winter it is getting close to when I start sowing my next years Solanaceae crops. Some of those wonderful new world veggies that I can not imagine how Europe lived with out them until the discovery of the new world. Myself, I would be hard pressed to decide between the two major ones (my opinion), in fact if I could only grow one, I really could not decide. These are hands down my favorite veggies, Tomatoes and Chilis. Nothing like the taste of a red ripe tom chomped down on in the garden as the juice runs down your chin. Or peeling a fresh roasted chili and devouring it as the smell of roasting chilis fill the autumn air. Who really could choose between the two.

There are some reasons why I like to grow these veggies from seed. Mainly I like to grow open pollinated (OP) veggies as opposed to hybrids.

OP seed can be saved and you do not have to purchase seed every year. Hybrids curried favor after world war two. Who hasn't heard the words hybrid vigor. They have been passed off as superior to OP. Maybe in some aspects. If you are looking for even sized, even ripening, resistant to various garden pests, these would be your veggies. But YOU would never be able to save the seed. Something that large corporation seed companies would like to see. One little note these are all qualities that are found in OP seeds but not all in the same seed.

Like hybrids you can select veggie seeds with desired qualities. There is one book that I refer to as my seed bible. This is none other than the Garden Seed Inventory sixth edition printed by the Seed Savers Exchange. This is a book that lists all of the OP and heirloom seed that was available in 2004 for North America. This book, besides listing veggie varieties and descriptions also list sources for these seeds. For me it can be spell binding, but then again I am geeky that way. Looking through the book you can find traits like the hybrids. Of course where else did hybrids get their traits but from none other than OP's. A little note all heirlooms are OP but not all OP's are heirlooms.

I have mentioned on several occasions that I start the above mentioned Solanacae around the middle to the end of December. This is a time of year you would be lucky to find a cabbage plant for sale let alone a tomato. This is my numero uno reason for starting my own Solanaceae from seed. Not to mention because I grow a few hundred solanacae plants, the cost to stock my garden would be huge. They also would not be my favorites.

Another good reason to grow your own plants is that you will not inadvertently bring some critter or pathogen into your garden. Seed just do not have hitchhikers.

One of the other real cool things about seed, is they are by far one of the best food bargains out there. They are incredibly inexpensive when you consider your potential return. One can experiment with new varieties and if the new choice does not work out, you have only your time as the big expense. Of course growing from seed takes more time than just buying a plant.

Even though towards the end of December I have winter veggies that are ever so close to harvest I like to think the sowing of my Solanacae crops as the beginning of my garden year or for me spring has sprung

One last little note: take a look at a local seed rack, there may be a dozen toms to choose from. On the other hand in my seed bible there are over 65 pages of tomato varieties and around 25 varieties to the page. So many to choose from but think of all that diversity. This is exciting stuff!!!

Sadly last weeks freeze finished off the last of the summer veggies. Summer veggies from the first of March to the Second week of November, not a bad run! Of course there were some “interesting” moments to get here. But hey, the middle of to the end of December (just a few weeks away) and next years crops will be started. How cool is that!!

I did have some challenges this fall with getting my fall and winter veggies growing. Some of them were operator error and others were dealing with critters. I think the most amazing critter was the harvester ants. They were actually going into the seed beds and digging up the germinating seed only to haul them back to their nests. I solved this by burying fabric covers around the edges of the seed bed. No more problems. I have so much more to learn!!