Saving Seeds: Lettuce and Green Beans

DISCLAIMER:  The information provided here applies to plants that are heirloom, organic or open-pollinated.  Attempting to harvest and re-grow seeds from hybrid plants is not encouraged, as the plants may not perform correctly or the seeds may not even germinate.

As a new gardener, one of the things I really enjoy is sitting down with a stack of seed catalogs and figuring out what I'm going to grow next year and how to arrange things in the raised beds.  But seeds and seedlings can quickly become expensive.  And why pay for something that you can easily get for free from your current plants?  Lightbulb!  Why not save the seeds?!


Harvesting Lettuce Seeds

We eat a ton of lettuce and have enjoyed growing some buttercrunch lettuce this year for the first time.  When the weather got warmer, it bolted - that means it started growing upward exponentially and eventually flowered and went to seed.  I posted about my naughty, bolting lettuce back on June 9th.  Since lettuce leaves tend to get bitter once the plant bolts, I considered yanking it out and giving the space to more peppers.  That is, until I found out that lettuce seeds are among the easiest to harvest and store.

Fast forward 3 weeks and the plants are now about 3 feet high and have cute little yellow flowers on them.  And this is where the magic happens!  See those grey poofballs in the photo that kind of look like teeny dandelions?  That's where the lettuce seeds are.

Harvesting lettuce seeds is insanely easy.  Just pluck off the spent blooms that have dried and turned into "mini dandelions" and rub them between your fingers.  The tiny seeds will pop right out.  Be forewarned:  the blooms are sticky with sap so you will end up with some of it on your fingers.

Buttercrunch has black seeds, but some lettuce seeds are white, depending on the variety.

Lettuce flowers only stay open for about an hour or so and the flowers won't all dry up at the same time, so you will need to revisit the plants every 1 or 2 days to pull off more dried buds.

Once you are finished, place the seeds in a sealed container in a cool, dry place.  Make sure you label the container with the type of seeds and the year they were harvested.  No more buying seed packets!

Seed storage time:  3 to 5 years
Germination percentage:  85%

I'll be planting another crop of lettuce in the fall and will use some of these seeds in the process.


Harvesting Green Bean Seeds

Green beans are another really easy seed to save for the beginning gardener.  Our Contender and Bush Lake bush-variety green beans that are pretty much done producing.  I decided to not pick the last remaining beans and let them dry on the plant.  They need to dry and mature on the plant, so don't pick them before they are dry.  This can take up to 6 weeks but, in our Sahara-like weather the past couple of weeks, it didn't take anywhere close to that long for mine to dry out.

Once they are dry and brittle, you can pull them off the plant and open the pods by hand to remove the individual beans.  If you're harvesting these in the fall and frost is a danger, you can pull up the whole plant and hang it by the roots in a cool, dry location to let the pods dry up.

Seed storage time:  3 to 5 years
Germination percentage:  75%

HINT:  Designate one or two bean plants as "seed" plants only at planting.  Don't pick ANY pods from them to eat and then harvest the seeds once the pods dry up.

If you look closely at the picture, you'll see some immature beans that are a little smaller and whiter than the mature beans.  It's questionable whether these are viable but I may plant a couple of them just to see what happens. 

Here in Missouri, we can replant beans all summer, so I may pull up my plants and replant another batch.  We were really enjoying the fresh green beans while they lasted!

 

A Note About Storing Onions

Since we're talking about storing things, I wanted to show you a picture of something I had mentioned a week or so ago about storing onions in pantyhose.  This is pretty old school - my grandmother did this with her worn out stockings.  It allows the onion to stay cool and dry with air flow, and it keeps any enterprising bugs out.  Plus you can tie the pantyhose around a nail or shelf support and hang the onions up.  Just add an onion, tie a knot, add an onion, etc. etc.  Then untie when you're ready ot use. What a great way to recycle and reuse!

Til next time,

I'm linked up to this week's Country Garden Showcase, Garden Life Linkup, Tuesday Garden Party and Monday Barn Hop.  Go check out what everybody else is up to!

Harvesting and Storing Onions

If there's one good thing about this warm, dry weather we've been having, it's that it's perfect for onions.  I've been hovering over mine for about two weeks now waiting for the majority of their stalks to fall over.  They reached a pretty respectable 2 feet tall, despite my moaning all spring that I am a terrible onion farmer.  I was really afraid that I had planted them too deep or that I had left them in the ground too long.  And, of course, there were the naughty onions that tried to flower.  But other than fretting over them, I haven't done anything to them other than throw some straw around them when I planted them on January 30th. 

That's almost 6 months of waiting, so onion farmers must be some really patient people.

Harvesting Onions

The big question I needed to answer as a first-time onion grower was "how do you know when your onions are ready to harvest?"  Here's what I found from extensive research.

You can actually harvest bulb onions at any time, as the green stalks are edible and great in salads.  But, if you are growing onions for storage, the rule of thumb for pulling up the bulbs is to wait until the majority of the stalks have fallen over and the ground is dry. 

No need for digging...just grasp the onion plant by the thick stem and pull.  They come up rather easily, as onions are shallow growers.  I only had one monster onion that gave me a little grief and I had to use the hand spade.

Preparing Onions for Storage

Once they're pulled, move them to a location that is out of direct sunlight (like your porch) and place them on a screen (like an old screen door laid flat) so that air can circulate around them and dry them out completely.  Some folks swear by leaving them out in the sunlight for a couple of days, but just be aware that white onions will discolor if you do this.  I'm moving mine onto the front porch.

As the onions dry, any soil remaining on them will also dry and fall off.  Brush off any remaining dirt to encourage the drying process.  When they are dry and flaky like the ones you buy in the grocery store, put them in a mesh bag and hang them in a cool, dry place.  They'll store for about 6 months if you follow these simple steps.

TIP:.  If you're like me and don't have any mesh bags, old panty hose are perfect for storing onions.  Just put one in, tie a knot in the hose, and repeat for each onion.  As you use the onions, just untie the knots or use scissors to snip the hose and free the onions starting at the bottom.

I'm pretty  happy with my first onion harvest.  A couple of them were about 2.5" in diameter and I had one set of sisters (2 onions that grew together), but the majority of them were pretty large at about 4 inches.  These are insanely easy to grow and can even be grown in containers, so I encourage you to give onions a try in your own garden.

It's gardening and canning seasons, everybody!  You can get some great ideas on the Garden Life, Farmgirl Friday, Ole Saturday Homesteading Trading Post, and Carnival of Home Preserving blog hops. 

Those Naughty Onions

I've been crowing for a couple of weeks now about how good my onions look and I should have known better.  I jinxed myself, I think.  Because look what I just found in the garden.

See that little bulb on the end of the stem in the center of the picture?  That's a soon-to-be onion flower.  Some of the onions have bolted because of the crazy weather we've been having.  I knew this was bad but, since this is my first time growing onions, I had to do some research on what to do about it.  I mean, do you just snip the bud off and let them continue?  Do you harvest them?  What gives?

Well, it IS bad news. Onions flower during their second year and temperature fluctuations can cause them to do this.  Once they start, you can't do anything about it except harvest them.  And they probably won't store for very long.  I pulled the three that had the buds on them and here's what I found.

Absolutely nothing.  While these are still good to eat (both the white and green parts), there's no huge bulb on the end.  Aaaarrggghhh!  I thought I had done everything perfectly - side dressed them, good dirt, etc.  I really hope it was the weather.  Any ideas?  I guess I'll have to plant some more and see how that goes over the summer - they take about 8 to 10 weeks, so I could be harvesting again in June or July.

On a good note, though, I just pulled (and J. ate) our first strawberry grown here at Cranky Puppy Farm.  He reported with a grin that it was very tasty and sweet.  So at least I can grow s-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g.  It is rather cute, isn't it?

Toodaloo 'til next time,

Linked to: Garden Life, Farm Girl Friday, and Ole' Saturday Homesteading Trading Post and Monday Barn Hop hops.

How Does Your Garden Grow

It's certainly looking like Spring around the ol' urban homestead, so I thought we would take a little tour today to see what Mother Nature has been up to lately.  So put on your sunscreen and your floppy hat and let's go!

Ooooo...our first ever strawberries! I swear I checked one day and there was nothing and then I turn around and there they are the next day.

Looks like there are all kinds of baby plants waking up right now. I never ceased to be amazed that I can put something in the ground and life springs out of it.  Simply amazing and beautiful!

Little baby Sugar Baby watermelon, Contender bush green beans, and spaghetti squash arriving on the scene. These are all new guests for us here at Cranky Puppy Farm this year and they seem to be coming on nicely so far.

The onions we planted last fall seem to be progressing nicely.  I think you're supposed to harvest these when 3/4 of the greens fall over.  All I know if that the necks are huge on these things!  They really like being in bed with the strawberries.

J.'s Early Girl tomatoes that already need to be staked.  These girls already have blooms on them!

And now for my favorite part of the garden....



A close-up of my gorgeous black bearded iris - my favorite flower.   Look at those colors on the inside of the flower and the delicate veining on the petals.  See the shiny specks?  I suspect that's pollen that's been carried out on the fuzzy legs of every-busy bees.  By the way, these flowers are HUGE.  They're about 5 to 6 inches across.

 And, not to be outdone, the Climbing Blaze rose that I planted last year to train up around the door to the coop is going to bloom this year.   We had one of these in our front yard just off our front porch and it was beautiful.  You just have to stay on top of keeping it pruned, because it can quickly become a maneater.

Looks like I may get a bloom later today or tomorrow.  I really need to get out and get this thing trained up and over the arbor over the door to the chicken coop.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour today as much as I did.  I can't think of a better way to start off a Monday after a stormy weekend than with sun, fresh air and some of nature's beauty.

How is YOUR garden doing?

We're linked up to this week's Garden Life, Barn Hop #58  and Tuesday Garden Party hops. Go check out what everbody else is doing!