Seeds in Need of a Good Home

Seeds are small miracles that need to be shared (dill)

Last year I started my own holiday tradition. I don't put up a seed trade page. I put up a page where I list what I have and anyone can ask for them. No trades needed. So if you want something, just ask and you shall receive. Then I put out to the universe the seed that I'm looking for and lo and behold people offer some of it to me and not always the people I send seed to. Gardeners are such sweet people. Though the bulk of my seed will come from Fedco this year (I'm finalizing my order right now), I still love growing seed from other garden bloggers. It is a connection to them especially if they save the seed themselves (not necessary but nice).

This year I have a short list of what I want and a long list of seeds that need a good home so I'm going to list what I'm looking for first.

• Paste tomatoes 5 seeds in a variety are plenty, even just two is enough to figure out if I like a variety and save seed for future years.
  
• Romaine lettuce - I want to grow it again, but haven't a clue about varieties
  
• Tomatillos - I want green sauce next year. There seems to be about three kinds. The regular one, the large green one and the purple one. Anyone have clues as to which is best for sauce? Or which one would grow well in my climate?
  
• Dried Bush beans for me to trial

I'll take other seed like Asian greens I haven't tried and such, but the above would be my favorite since I can save the seed and keep it going from year to year.

Seed that I give away is of two types: seed that is commercial, but I no longer want to grow. This does not necessarily mean it is bad seed (ask Granny about how her pumpkins grew this year), but it just doesn't have a home in my garden for any number of reasons (I quit growing pumpkins because vine borers took them out each year). The second type is seed that I saved and have enough to trade some away. A warning: I have not done germination tests on my seed. I've never had a problem saving seed or getting them to germinate, but they have not been tested. I'll list seed by type and let you know if I saved it in the listing and will bold all the saved seed (because it is so much more fun than commercial). I'll also add the year that it was bought if it was commercial, or the year harvested if saved.

The best way to ask for seed is to send me an email which includes your mailing address. I'll try to keep the list updated as much as possible.

Saved seed drying on the dining room table

Tomatoes. My tomatoes were not isolated and grew next to one another. There is a chance of crossing. The odds aren't high but they are there.

• Tumbling Tom (2009 Wintersown)
• Early Ssubakus Aliana (2009 Wintersown)
• Chocolate Cherry (2009 saved)
• Market Miracle (2009 saved)
• Black Moor (2009 saved)
• Emma-Sungold F3 (2009 saved) good tasting red cherry, only an F3 so had not been stabilized and can produce children not like the mother
• Gabrielle-Sungold F3 (2009 saved) good tasting yellow 1/2" cherry, again only an F3 and not stabalized
  

Lettuce was isolated 12' which should be enough to ensure the type.

• Red Sails (2009 saved)
• Deer Tongue (2009 saved)
• Australian Yellow Leaf (2009)
• Simpson Elite (2008)
• Prizehead (2008)
  

Pole Beans. I received both dried beans from the Ottawa gardener which she had saved and grew them out. The cranberry was true to type. The Trail of Tears had 10% that were not true to type. It looks like they had crossed with the cranberry bean. I did not save seed from these plants (I ate them). I grew all my beans in the same bed and they were not isolated. You too might find a plant or two that crossed. If the Trail of Tears pod is not slim and uniform in color (first green then maroon) don't pass on those seeds.

• Ottawa Cranberry dried bean (2009 saved)
• Trail of Tears dried bean (2009 saved)
• Fortex (2008)
  

Radish

• Crimson Giant(2005)
  
• Pinetree Mix(2009)
  
• Reggae(2009)

Eggplant

• Slim Jim(2008)
• Lavender Touch(2009)

Peas

• Super Sugar Snap(2008)
• Mammoth Melting Snow Pea(2008)

Greens

• Tyfon Holland Greens(2009)
• Strawberry Spinach(2009)

Herbs

• Dill (2009 saved) I always have too much dill seed
  
• Coriander(cilantro) (2009 saved)
  
• Flat leafed parsley (2008 saved - warning sometimes parsley is not viable after the first year)
  

Flowers

• Ground control marigold (2009 saved)
  
• Johnny Jump Up (2009 saved)
  
• False Indigo (2009 saved)
  

Others

• Pineapple tomatillo (2009 saved) P. pruinosa and won't cross with real tomatillos
  
• Early Jalapeno (2009 saved - cage isolated from other peppers)
• Dark Green Zucchini (2008)

I really thought about putting in descriptions, but that is oh so much work. If you want to know how something did in my garden, do a search of the blog, or do a search of the 2009 Overviews (I'll finish them soon. I only have two more left), or do a web search. The overview posts go into a lot of detail about what I liked and didn't over the year and how things performed in a very wet and cold year.