Adventures in seed saving and other fun fall activities

*lukewarm* Yea, sustainability.

Erm, AHEM, I mean, woohoo! ;)

This bit of cold water on the happiness that is my garden stems slightly from seed saving, a bit of a messy time consuming process for some seeds (like Malabar spinach), but still a very important and cost saving process.

(red stem Malabar Spinach)

My slight gripe is that I forget teeny tiny little spiders really enjoy chillin' and making a home on the tiny flowered racemes of plants such as basils, lemon balms and perilla.

Whilst gathering perilla seed for the giveaway (still up and going if anyone wants it or the malabar spinach!) I was cutting a bunch of the perilla recemes to trying to get just enough seed for one packet and avoiding any spider webby looking bits as well as possible.

Despite my efforts when I started seed extracting, little spiders started scurrying around EVERYWHERE.

I'm not nervous about spiders themselves; I'm just nervous about getting bit because I have unfortunately pretty bad reactions to mosquito and spider bites (serious burning, itching and swelling to grapefruit size bites sometimes).

And I really hate Benadryl, so bites (as I probably have ranted before) are a problem and I really DIS-like squishing spiders, even if there are million of them running around me because hey, spiders are pretty good.

Needless to say, I thought to myself as I was being nibbled on, "Ouch. ouch. ouch. They're. tiny. little. things. They'll probably---OW, produce tiny little bites?"

So yes, the bites were little.

Until 2 minutes later, where they were about 10x what they were before and I headed for the neem oil, which doesn't relieve itchiness immediately, but when it starts working, it really works.

Seed saving tomatoes are a snap at least, every time you eat one you can eat the fruit and squish out the gelly inside to add to water and let it ferment. Then clean, dry, and save.

Okra and beans are easy too, sweet "let 'em dry on the vine/stalk!" and then bust 'em open to get to the seeds AND save.

(Scarlet Runner bean)

It's just those herbs, those darn, darn herbs with their leeeetle flowers that attract leeeeeeeetle bugs, which THUS attract leeeeeeeetle predators (aka spiders) that get to me. *shiver* I can still feel tiny spiders crawling all over me!

(Purple Perilla, AMAZING no tiny spiders made a cameo here. Anneliese, I SWEAR I got all the spiders off before I mailed you your packet of seed!)

Anyways, fall is a stupid busy time, more than spring is I often forget.

Gotta (1) seed save, (2) re-pot outdoor things for inside, (3) plant perennials in the coolness of fall, (4) plant fall/winter vegetable garden, (5) take cuttings for propagation, (6)  Divide any spring flowering perennials, (7) Offer to rake people's leaves for composting!!!

AHHHHHHHHHH! *runs around collapses*

Happy Autumn to you and don't die of overwork!

A Dynasty is Over: Great Wall of Spinach cut down

The weather being colder and I, in anticipation of sweet, sweet sugar snap peas and snow peas decided it was time for the malabar spinach to go.


(Well, most of it)

I am experimenting (aka 'being lazy') and seeing what will happen to the spinach after the frost/during the winter and on (if it doesn't get too gross as the plant is almost succulent-like).

I am curious if the spinach will self seed itself for next year as I dropped plenty of berries/seeds on my first seed collecting harvest.

My malabar spinach, the red stem, "Rubra" variety, was quite lovely to behold much of the summer and once it started to seed and the weather become not so pretty, its color change was akin to those "love it or hate it" situations where you enjoy a plethora of yellow-pink-orange-ish colors with the fading green leaves and hot pink stems, or you think it sort of look like vomit.

Either way, it didn't look too palatable.

The twine trellised vines were pretty easy to take off all together, and while I'll go through and save some more seeds from the piles of malabar spinach vines, I am trying to figure out a good way to potentially compost them or if I probably ought to solarize the lot because I am nervous about utterly self seeding my compost pile with it.

The seeds shouldn't survive the winter, but in a compost pile, things do surprisingly well, and we know how warm it can get in there...

Ugh, now I need to re-string the fence again for peas, luckily it'll be a while yet before they need the support much if at all!

So, goodbye sweet faux-spinach! Next year, if things work out, I may try to see if you are freezeable!

GIVEAWAY (different one): Let the tasty spread, Malabar Spinach!

Malabar spinach was one of the great successes this year, creating the first Great Wall of Spinach in history (I can only presume... if anyone wants to challenge this, please take me up on this, send me a postcard or pic to dispute me, bring it!).

So the Great Wall of Spinach became the Great FLOWERING Wall of Spinach and I figured, once again like the perilla, I will have PLENTY of seed to go around and I will only need enough for my crop next year (if it doesn't come back on its own by possible heavy mulching like the stevia) and for relatives.


So, why not share once again?Once again, the rules are, just post a comment which I will then reply to your email address for your actual address to send you some free malabar spinach seeds that will fit in a regular sized envelope/not cost me more than a stamp to send to you.

This giveaway will be open for a month after this is posted and is free for the continental USA. I'd be happy to send outside the States, but would really really like to have some sort of S&H help there.

These seeds will be HARVESTED, DRIED, and PACKAGED by me.. so all the laborious work is going on all on my end, woohoo, I mean, wait--- HURRAY, really we all win, I get seeds in general, as do you and I also get the pleasure of knowing I am spreading some edible gardening goodness around!

I won't be able to attest as to the results of germination for the seeds, but hey, you're still getting something free just for a comment and ain't this so American? ;)

PS For those not even interested in growing malabar spinach, the fruit of the seed is well known to be a great dye. Purplish-dark mauve, trust me, my fingers have evidence.

Well, that was a little weird....

Randomly, I finally found the time to thoroughly read the edibleMemphis that came in the mail a while ago (ignoring my article because dude, I wrote it, and as usual I felt could have done more with it. AUGH perfectionism, 'tis a CURSE!)

Anyways, it was just interesting to see Adrian Miller of the "Eau Sucre Begets Red Drink" write about the hibiscus sabdariffa when I mentioned it in my blog recently after the magazine publication... that Jonathon Devin mentioned ornamental peppers... with same weird coincidence as above... and that Ben Smith of Tsunami wrote about Asian greens and talked a bit about Malabar spinach... continuing odd coincidences.

Granted this is a food/garden magazine... but specific things like the hibiscus and spinach were a little odd.

Am I developing some sort of telepathy? If so, what other powers might manifest? Adamantium claws? ...or mutant healing...?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vQ2RVqJCNM

Fer chrissakes people, MUTANT HEALING.

Malabar Spinach, should be renamed Spinach Steak

I have NEVER been able to get real spinach to grow here and discovered this little beauty:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basella_alba)
MALABAR SPINACH. More like, Spinach Steak, more like Great Wall of Spinach here:

I was seduced into getting 2 packets of these seeds from Park Seed (http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/5660/), and was saddened when I saw the 50 seeds to look very little, needing about 3-5 seeds per hill it stated on the packet and that germination was "lower" when seeded outside. Hmmm... I needn't have worried.

I am impressed by the reddish color of the stems (it is often grown as an ornamental), and it's vigor... looks wilty in the heat, but perks right back up at night and in the morning. It seems a little upset by the space I've given it and is invading the area I devoted to scarlet runner which I thought was vigorous. Oh woe Scarlet Runner, you may have met thy match!

It's oddly pest resistant, possibly due to its muciliginous nature (good for thickening soups like okra), but the leaves, OMG, the leaves are so juicy and have gotten as big as the size of my head(!) and hold so much water that when you bite into the leaves, or bend the main leaf stem you can SEE water MOVING through the veins/cells!

EVEN MORE EXCITEMENT abounds on my part to find out that this lovely vine can be propagated by cuttings, and I can overwinter it/let-it-overtake-my-home-over-the-winter-instead-and-become-eaten-by-its-sheer-enormousness!

I understand that if mulched well it might return, so... maybe I won't take cuttings...?

For $1.75/packet, I think I've made it back pretty easily. I may need to call in the neighbors though to keep it in check!

(Also, as my husband says, why the hell does anyone eat real spinach if we have this??? It grows vertically thus takes up less space, is relatively carefree, healthy for you, handles heat well, has few pest problems... duh?)

On another note, it is time to once again due battle with the cucumber monster plant:
The base has strawberry plants and between the cucumber and strawberries are okra plants... I hope they are not eaten by cucumber, vegetable cannibalism can be so cruel.