Saving Summer Seeds

One of the most fascinating pleasures of gardening is seed saving. Collecting seeds is a continuous endeavor, you can't be in a hurry and you cannot be a tidy gardener. You'll have to let things go a bit and enjoy the cycle and seasons of the garden. Each flower has its own unique, self-contained seed pod where the seeds are stored until they are ready to scatter. As the summer sun heats up, the pods dry and rattle and crack open, spilling hundreds of  seeds effortlessly to the ground.
This morning, one of my favorite neighbors and I spent a couple of hours meandering in the garden. We collected calendula, zinnia, sweet pea, sunflower, hollyhock and delphinium seeds. If you look closely, you will notice seeds in an amazing array of shapes and sizes. We noticed spirals, hooks, spears, and round disks!   The birds are already starting to collect their seeds!

 In my garden, the hollyhocks and delphiniums are especially prolific, coming up every spring, ready to take their place in the garden beds. Hollyhocks are magnificent, but need to be kept under control. They have huge stalks and take up lots of valuable space in the garden. I like to seed them along the back fence ( if I can help it). The delphiniums are dainty, and don't demand as much space, they are much easier to work around. Although, not pictured, one of my all time favorite re-seeders are zinnia's. They are easy to grow and last all summer long.

Make sure that the seeds are dry before storing. You can use a paper bag, and shake the seeds loose from their pods. Let some seeds drop to the ground for next year (you can't really stop that!). And, share them with someone you love!  We like to put them in a little glass jar and store them in a cool, dry place.

My lovely neighbor collects a little of each color, she knows exactly what she wants!

Don't forget to look for bugs, they are everywhere!

 My neighbor and I thank you for meandering with us ... Let us know if you'd like to swap a few seeds.

  Have a wonderful Summer Day!

A Taste of Summer

Tomatoes aren't just round and red any more! They are fluted, lobed, scalloped, flattened, puckered and heart shaped. The colors and shades are glorious. They come in variations of pinks, oranges, golds, maroons, redish-browns, and shades of purplish-blacks. The flavors range from, sweet and meaty to fruity and tart or dark and smoky. Look at what we've been missing!

Varieties include, Paul Robeson, old German, Rutgers, Stupice, and Black Cherry

Matt's wild cherry, clusters of 1/2 inch, very sweet, cherry tomatoes cover this plant!

Cherokee Purple

Perfect for a nice tomato sandwich! (my grandpa's favorite!)

Barbara at Tigers & Strawberries has a great post on heirloom tomatoes here.

Also posted at Food Renegade!

Some Like it Hot!

I was up early this morning before the heat of the day set in. It's not easy gardening in this Arizona heat. There are however, certain plants that are loving these long, hot, humid summers days. As long as your plants are getting a good deep watering every few days, (don't drown the roots, they need oxygen to breath), they seem happy to just be left to grow. Straw and extra mulch will help keep soil cool and moist. First on the list, okra. I planted ours from seed in- between the peppers. Once the temps reached 100 degrees this plant went crazy! The pods are very fast-growing and need to be harvested daily when they are 2 to 3 inches long. I love okra. You can throw it in soups and stews as a thickener, or just fry it up in some olive oil with garlic and other summer vegetables. I like mine crispy. Okra can take over and this one is five feet tall. It does shade the peppers nicely though. Which brings me to my next heat loving plant. Peppers.

These hearty plants belong to my husband. They are his number one favorite garden crop. He usually buys transplants in every variety that he can find, and hogs all of the garden space! He does however, keep us stocked with delicious salsa for many weeks. He usually plants in the spring (March) and keeps them covered when frosts arrive. Most of the pepper plants make it through the winter months here in Phoenix.

Our varieties include: Sweet Banana, Anaheim, Habanero, Jalapeno, Serrano and Cheyenne.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds has a great variety to choose from. Next up, herbs. Warm weather herbs easily make our garden green and lush throughout the summer. Many of our herbs are planted in pots to keep them from getting out of control. We enjoy rosemary, thyme, tarragon, oregano, mints, lavender and of course basil loves a spot in full sun.

If you want spectacular color and texture in your garden, plant sunflowers and zinnias. Always a cheery addition, my zinnias re-seed themselves each year and fill in all the empty spaces where nothing else will grow.

Lastly, sweet potatoes. Make sure you pick out a large, sunny spot for these vigorous vines. They would do well in a corner of the yard as a ground cover. This is only our second year as potato farmers, so we are excited to see what we will find beneath this mass of vines in a couple of months!