The Seeds are Here!!!!!
By omanigarden
9 comments
It was very hard to decide which seeds to start with. One problem was understanding how much space I actually have to work with compared to how much space would be required for the items I really wanted to plant. So, I had to do without some things. I decided to start with these and then whatever doesn’t work well this year I can replace with another.
So the 2012-2013 garden will include the following.
Basil (Sweet Italian), Bonnie Best Tomato, Campbell’s Soup 1327 Tomato, Cowhorn Okra, Cumin, Flax (Common), Green Sprouting Broccoli, Habanero Pepper (Orange), Henna, Iceberg Head Lettuce, Kale (Lacinato), Kentucky Blue Pole Bean, Lavendar Vera, Marjoran (Sweet), New Zealand Spinach, Onion Tokyo (Long White Bunching), Oregano, Parsley (Italian Flat Leaf and Triple Curled), Peppermint, Pinto Bean, Rosemary, Snowball Cauliflower, Straight Eight Slicing Cucumber, Super Sugar Snap Peas, Tansy, Tendergreen Mustard/Spinach (cross), Tendersweet Carrot and Upland Cotton.
Now, a couple of exciting comments to make.
Henna and cotton are plants traditionally grown in Oman. An effort is underway to get these seeds locally, as well as local Indigo seeds. It would be an honor to grow the native seeds in this garden.
I recently saw a “poster” on a social media about the drastic reduction of plant variation for some key vegetables, most of which has occurred in only the last 80 years. Before knowing that, we made an effort to purchase heirloom seeds, untreated. We couldn’t always get untreated as we were purchasing late in the US planting season. (Treated seeds will be replaced next season with untreated.) However, they are all heirloom seeds which means they have a minimum of a 50 year lineage.
The exception to this is the Cowhorn Okra we have just received; it’s dated pre 1865!!! How cool is that, we ask!
We are also attempting to obtain colored cotton seeds that will produce blue cotton and green cotton. Again, we ask, how cool is that!
Of course, the coolness goes away if we can’t get the seeds but stay tuned and let’s see how this plays out.
Patience will be a huge virtue here!
23 Jul, 2012
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Comments
Its quite a task I think
24 Jul, 2012
Lol. That is a real Project. Like it! :)))
What does that Tree of Life mean?
25 Jul, 2012
Thank you everyone for your comments. Yes, it is quite a task and maybe too ambitious but I won't know until I try!
The Tree of Life (the above chart) is a mapping of ten different seed crops that were available in the US as of 1903. (That is not to say this is the complete list.)
Of these ten crops each three digit number (top half of the chart) tells us the number of varieties for each of those crops in 1903.
Then look at the bottom half of the chart and see the new number, just 80 years later. For example, beets, once having as many as 288 varieties had only 17 varieties by 1983. That was nearly 30 years ago. I'd be afraid to see what these numbers are today.
Hope that helps. :)
25 Jul, 2012
It reminds me what Bible says:
"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit."
Very interesting. This is really a useful scheme, taking a lot of information in a small picture. This was the way how in old times a lot was said by few words, wasn´t it?.
Yes, it is interesting that in a one century so many crops dissappeared, but maybe this is evolution in breeding, although Darwin would not call this evolution, as it takes much more time, measured in thousands of years. The same happens with humans. In one century their biology has changed enormously in many ways, too. In many ways not for their sake.
26 Jul, 2012
This may be getting off the subject of gardening, Katarina, but I am only just beginning my journey about crops and health for personal reasons. It has begun with the realization that a chemical company has purchased many of the seed supply companies throughout the US. I've not read that this is linked to the diminish in the variety of crops but I understand enough to know to check out my seed suppliers first and make sure they are not owned by Monsanto.
There are also "treated" seeds which I can't help but think are linked to the diminishing variety. It just seems you can't keep adding chemicals to our food supply and expect that it will go unaltered; "it", being the food itself or "it" being the poor people who unknowingly eat it for survival.
Please, tell me more about the biological changes you've mentioned. (I need a good scare! Yikes!)
26 Jul, 2012
:)))
Will need some time, my child. In the evening. Scare is then more efficient.
Ok, I did not understand what you meant that "chemical company has purchased many of the seed supply companies". Can you explain it? I am not American, so I even do not know Monsanto. Althou, referring to what you said, I am often curious, why all devil projects have "saint" in their names ("santo").
26 Jul, 2012
To quote from an old popular song or maybe much further back....... "money is the root of all evil"
26 Jul, 2012
:))
Pamg @ don´t talk about music, please, as I am immediately caught in :) I know something similar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxVWpXFcn9c
26 Jul, 2012
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Wow, good luck with that!
23 Jul, 2012