Chance's Garden Everything Forum Blog

I'm eagerly awaiting the restocking of seeds at Two Seeds In A Pod.

Twoseedsinapod . com (in case you're wondering)

They're restocking day by day, and I'm eagerly adding everything I want to my cart, just waiting for all the things I want to be ready.

They have such fascinating watermelon offerings, and I'm gonna buy them all (except for the ones I already have), but they have several unique offerings.

They have ones with what looks like an ancient Mesopotamian script written into the seeds, Çekirdeği Oyalı in white, yellow and red flesh, a red seeded variety, and some white seeded varieties.

Look.at these photos, and ask, "How could I not buy these seeds?!"

FYI, Çekirdeği Oyalı means something like, "embroidered seed," or, "lacey seed," which makes a lot of sense.

It's pronounced this way, if you care to know:

check-ear-day-ee o-ya-luh

So, I promised earlier I'd make a decent attempt to cover the perennial fruit plants I'm growing, or have on order, and then a list of things I'm still planning on adding to my yarden. There are other projects I'd like to embark on, but they'll need to wait until I buy more land.

This list won't be exhaustive, but it should convey much of what I've got going on.

Here's what's currently in the ground since I started planting in this property in 2021:

- Apple (Aztec Fuji, Liberty, another one I can't remember)
- Pear (Two varieties, I forget which)
- Blackberries (around 15 varieties, thornless, thorny, and some wild specimens)
- Raspberries (two or three varieties of black raspberries, two reds)
- Hardy Kiwi (5-6 females, 2 males)
- Cherry (Tartarian, Stella, Utah Giant?
- Peach (Saturn, Belle of Georgia, 2 unknown rootstocks from failed scions from the world's worst nursery, TyTy)
- Plum (Toka, Elephant Heart, Weeping Santa Rosa, Two wild plum seedlings grown from seed I harvested from some of my favorite local plums)
- Mulberry (Tea's Weeping, Black Beauty, Kokuso, a white fruited variety I forgot the name of, a volunteer seedling of unknown provenance, and I have a contorted mulberry that looks like it is dead)
- Apricot (Chinese Mormon)
- Nectarine (two varieties, I forget which)
- Nanking Cherry (three white varieties and two red varieties)
- Honeyberry/Haskap (Six varieties across 12 plants)
- Bush Cherry (two varieties, one from the Romance series and one from the Eastern Europe)
- Strawberries (White Pine, a native strawberry harvested within 100 miles of f my home, and a couple different reds, Albion and Seascape  I think, probably a thousand plants since I let them run and I started with 175 plants)
- Chilean Guava (three varieties, supposed to be the cold-hardiest, and I'm zone-stretching)
- Jujube (GA-866, Shanxi Li, Zigzag)
- Shipova (Mt Ash/Pear Hybrid)
- 1 each of Gooseberry, Black Currant, White Currant, Red Currant, Flowering Currant
- Almond (three varieties)
- Quince (Crimea and Kaunching)
- Grape (around a dozen varieties across 16 plants, table grapes rather than wine grapes, including some of the most cold-hardy muscadine/scuppernong varieties)
- Pawpaw (7 seedlings from an orchard with exceptional genetics)
- Service Berry (two varieties)

That's probably just about it.

Here's what's on order:

- Peach (Black Boy, Indian Free, Indian Blood, El Dorado)
- Cornelian Cherry (Elegant, Ekzoticheskiy, Marina, Yantarny)
- Autumn Olive (Amber, Charlie's Golden, Dzevera, Garnet, Marron)
- Columnar Apple (7 varieties)
- Apple (Queen Cox, Honeycrisp, NY#75414-1)
- Asian Pear (4-way multi graft)
- Mirabelle Plum (4-way multi graft)
- Zaigler Pluot (4-way multi graft)
- Strawberry (Albion, Fronteras, Flavorfest, Jewel, Galletta, Eclair, Quinault)
- Blackberry (Thunderhead, Columbia Giant, Twilight)
- Raspberry and Hybrid Brambles (Himbo Top, Joan J, Double Gold, Tayberry, Dorman, Cascade Delight, Glencoe, Royalty Purple, Brandywine)
- Nectarine (Arctic Babe)
- Goumi (three seedlings, Carmine)
- Honeyberry/Haskap (Blue Sea)
- Medlar (Breda Giant, Royal, Dzevera, Marron)
- Mulberry (Trader, Mojo, Girardi)

Here's what I'm still looking to add to my orders through the winter:

- Peach (Lemon Elberta)
- Goumi (Wang Bo seedlings from Cliff England)
- Passiflora Incarnata/Passionfruit (improved fruit stock from Peaceful Heritage, plus all the cold-hardy stock from Snowdrop Farm)
- Apricot (Canadian White Blenheim, White Knockout)
- Pear (looking to add a blood pear and another European pear)

Looking to add in the next 1-3 years:

- Seaberry (probably four females and one male)
- Persimmon
- Akebia and its cousins
- Himalayan Honeysuckle
- I've got a pal in New Zealand, and we're working out how to get me some seeds from some of their wonderful fruit, including two plums specifically, Omega aka George Wilson and Black Dorris
- Schisandra/Magnolia Berry (both 5-flavor berry and southern schisandra)
- Nut shrubs, like hazels/filberts and such
- Probably a bunch more stuff because I'll never stop...heh

I've only gotten fruit off of, maybe, 15% of the varieties I've planted, but I'm expecting fruit on another ≈30-40% next year. The new stuff next year will need to wait a few years, and most of the new stuff this year will need to wait awhile too.

However, I can't keep up with my strawberries already (and I'm even digging them up and transplanting to my project area to make room for new ones), and my blackberry production next year will be beyond my family's ability to consume, so our neighbors are going to experience, most for the first time, a smorgasbord of blackberry varieties with distinct flavors, textures, and juiciness. That'll be be fun to share. I'll get a lot of apples, cherries, pears and nectarines next year, assuming no stupid month-later-than-usual frosts. I'll get some jujubes, and a couple quince. I'll get a buttload of mulberries. I'll have a decent crop of raspberries, but not enough to neighbor share yet. Next year will see me rolling in the honeyberries, likely up to 50lbs of production assuming a good year.

Anyway, I'm also doing a lot of seedling development and using those in my project area. It'll be interesting to see how those play out in several years.

The excitement I feel at the development of my yarden and the promise of joy that comes from stuffing one's face with one's homegrown bounty is unquenchable and persistent. What a glorious world I've been blessed to live within!

Okay, updated orders (heh, I'm almost done for the winter, I assure you):

I have good-enough screenshots for two more orders below, one from Raintree and one from Bay Laurel, but I also added these from Cummins:

Nadia plum
Obilinaja plum
Harrow Sweet European Pear
Rousselet de Reims European pear (aka musk pear)

I'm thinking I may skip the blood pear because I've been reading on the growing fruit forum that perhaps it's kind of a shitty variety that doesn't produce reliably, so I'm going to hold off until I can secure a superior variety of blood pear.

All I have left, in terms of perennials, are the passiflora incarnata plants from Peaceful Heritage and Snowdrop Farm.

I've got three more seed orders to make as well:

- Two Seeds In A Pod: They're germination testing and adding seeds almost daily. As soon as all of their watermelon offerings are live, I'll make my move.
- Wild Mountain Seeds: A Colorado group that farms and does their own breeding work. Their tomatoes (and tomatillo grex) are wonderful, but it's their sweet peppers and peas that I'm most interested in. Their pea grex is the most productive, heat resistant, fall double cropping pea I've ever grown. It holds up to my 100°F+ summer days and then revivifies when temps drop back into the 80s.
- Wild Garden Seed: Home of the best diverse lettuce mix available for purchase, in addition to some wonderful breeding mixes of flowers, herbs, and several other food crops.

Oh, dear, I've just stumbled upon this interesting resource:

Mail-order seeds, rare varieties, amazing selection, old school ordering sheet only, like Cliff England.

https://www.sandhillpreservation.com/

Unless they’ve changed, they’re an excellent source of heritage, sweet potato varieties.

Yes, but they've experienced some setbacks.

We, my family and I, experienced a singular event in the history of our time here in our home.

I was doing some chop N drop, and noticed that one of my wild chicory plants was shriveled where before it had been thriving.

I bent to inspect and noticed that the root was entirely missing.

"Fuckin' voles," I thought to myself just before seeing a slithering form inside the hole. I startled back about six inches, thinking maybe I'd found a snake's burrow.

Nope, I noticed a leg as the slithering continued.

That's when I found this little buddy (who apparently loves Chicory root), and I didn't even realize we had salamanders in the area. It's a Western Tiger Salamander, which is a mole salamander (burrows), and its range extends from Canada to Mexico and east to Oklahoma and the Dakotas.

It's not yet metamorphosed into it's FINAL BOSS FORM. My youngest daughter delighted in holding it. 😁

FYI, the mature Salamanders are known to eat vole babies. This is a welcome new buddy in the garden.

In doing a little more research, it's likely, actually, that the voles dug the hole and ate the chicory, and the salamander is just opportunistically stealing the existing tunnels.

Sounds like a critter I'd want to keep happy!

Some stuff from EFN coming soon. I'll probably make another order once 2026 stuff lands.

I'm basically a seed house, except I only have enough seed of each variety to grow out between 10-1000 plants.

Hundreds of varieties, and then I save seed both individually and in swarms.

My seed collection didn't fare well at all during my transition stage from my old home to a 9 month layover at my FIL's house before buying my current home. Indeed, almost nothing germinated worth a damn after getting cooked in his garage. That's my fault for not being a better steward.

However, it's now growing again and will be healthier than ever in a year or two.

Then I'll be able to trade, sell, and gift a lot more seeds than I already do.

Also, the Wild Zion Plum seeds I've been stratifying (technically Springdale is where the tree is growing, hilariously on the side of the road, looking for all the world like it belongs there in the maintained greenery along the sidewalk) have been in the cold for almost 90 days, so I'm gonna check on 'em tonight to look for radicles.

So, medlars.

I've never eaten one, or even seen one in real life, but I've sure read a lot about them.

For example, medlar seeds are famously difficult to germinate.

The germination advice I've read suggests a soaking, then a short warm stratification, then cold stratification, then warm stratification, then cold stratification, then germination. This process occurs over 18 months to longer than two years, though germination can occur during the second warm stratification and those seeds should obviously be planted then, rather than cold stratified again. Medlar seeds can also take three years or more in the soil, though usually one winter or two will do the job.

This is due to the bony testa (seed coat) that medlar seeds posess in addition to the deep morphological dormancy that the seeds exhibit. This means the seeds are not physiologically mature when the seed is shed, and the embryo must continue development and dormancy mechanisms (like Abscisic acid) must been neutralized.

Scarification, especially with acid, is sometimes used to soften the testa, as with many other hard seeded plants, but the hard seed coat is only one of several barriers to germination. It's mostly morphological and hormonal obstacles.

I've got some medlar seeds in my stratifying fridge right now, but I've also got some plants coming bare root next year.

I'm going to try medlar, and enjoy it I'm sure, and then I'm gonna do some breeding work, because it's a fruit just crying out for improvement. I imagine more hasn't been done with medlars for the following reasons:

1) Betting - people are turned off by the idea of letting fruit "rot" before you eat it
2) They look unappetizing when they're fresh picked and look disgusting when they're ready to be eaten
3) The difficulty of germinating seeds
4) A spoonful of spice-flavored mush isn't appealing to many people

Much the same could be said of the various edible hawthorns, which medlar is either one of or is almost one of (there's a taxonomical argument about this, is mespilus actually cretaegus, or is it a parallel lineage from a common recent ancestor?), in terms of a fruit with wide-open opportunities for development combined with unusual elements and stubborn germination limiting that development.

I've got edibles hawthorns on my list, azeroles and Chinese Hawthorn and so forth, but they'll hold until I have more property. Same thing with persimmons. They're a fruit I want to grow, but I'm running out of room and they're lower on my list than others.

By the way, if you want peppers, you can go here and get some incredible offerings:

https://www.banesbest.com/

https://www.mattspeppers.com/

This is one of my experiment areas.

These are all cuttings popped into a soil blend and hoping for the best while, simultaneously, each of these has a stonefruit seed planted.

There are also onions and walking onions in most of these pots.

Next year, I'll take the successful cuttings and seedlings over to my project area for planting.

The work never ends, and neither does the joy.

Just found this cucumber breeder offering seeds to about a hundred different chate/famous/acur/quishuim(all the same melon species, but which are used as a cucumber and are typically easier on digestion), plus around 50 cucumber species.

Not open until November, but I'll be jumping in then.

https://cucumbershop.com

Here's an update on my long-lived, cold-hardy (-5°F), perennial kale plants:

They're doing great, even the one that almost died last year.

And, I've got two new ones that volunteered beside my deck.

The one that gets eaten to a stub every spring by aphids is recovered and has nice succulent leaves, as it always has in the fall.

The giant beast got a trimming, by about 75%, and I've staked one of the two towering branches, they're about 4' tall, and it's looking like I'll be able to create a tree kale with some good staking. Cool. 😊

Nice looking kale Chance. Do they flower for you? You say you raised them from seed.

Two of them have flowered, and they've flowered every year. The beast and the one that almost died from a brutal summer and irrigation issues last summer.

I know some perennial kales don't. These ones came out of a diverse growing of some breeder's mixes and a bunch of selected varieties all interplanted and selected in 2020 and the two oldest are from that year while the rest are children.

Exciting times.

One of grapefruit flavored wild plum seeds has germinated, and the others look like they're doing the same. I'll leave the rest in stratification until spring, but I've just planted the one that's already germinated.

I'll bring it inside when the winter sets in, since it won't be hardened off yet, then plant it out next spring.

Hopefully, and I'll find out in a few years, it's true to its parent. I'm considering driving down there this winter to harvest some scion wood, just in case, because I've never tasted a plum anything like it.

Just signed up for Chip Drop, and scheduled a drop.

I've got to verify my address via the postcard they send me, which will arrive in the next week or less, and then I'll be on the list.

If you don't know, it's a service to deliver free (or almost free, if you prefer) arborist wood chips to your home or property. It'll contain other organic matter, and they'll also deliver logs if you prefer.

They're international, so check 'em out.

Just enter "Chip Drop wood chip delivery" into your search bar and you'll find 'em.

Shout out to Justin Rhodes for the tip.

Here's a guide I put together for sourcing rubus varieties:

```
BRAMBLE VARIETIES AND WHERE TO BUY THEM
Compiled from NARBA catalogs, Cornell Nursery Guide, and nursery product pages.
Stock changes every season. Patented varieties are sold only by licensed nurseries.

LOOKUP GUIDES (START HERE)
--------------------------------
Cornell Nursery Guide for Berry and Small Fruit Crops
Main page:
https://blogs.cornell.edu/berrynurseries/

Raspberry cultivars and which nurseries sell them:
https://blogs.cornell.edu/berrynurseries/raspberries/

Blackberry, hybrid, and other Rubus cultivars and which nurseries sell them:
https://blogs.cornell.edu/berrynurseries/blackberries-etc/

Nursery contact directory used by the Cornell guide:
https://blogs.cornell.edu/berrynurseries/nurseries/

NARBA nursery list (raspberry and blackberry suppliers):
https://www.raspberryblackberry.com/for-growers/nursery-list/

COMPLETE SELLER WEBSITE LIST
--------------------------------
Agri-Starts
https://www.agristarts.com/

W & J Awald Farms
https://wnjawaldfarmsinc.com/

Berries Unlimited
https://www.berriesunlimited.com/

Boston Mountain Nurseries
https://bostonmountainnurseries.com/

Burnt Ridge Nursery
https://www.burntridgenursery.com/

Daisy Farms
http://www.daisyfarms.net/

Edible Landscaping
https://ediblelandscaping.com/

Fedco Seeds
https://www.fedcoseeds.com/

Food Forest Nursery
https://www.foodforestnursery.com/

G.W. Allen Nursery
https://gwallennursery.ca/

Hand Picked Nursery
https://www.handpickednursery.com/

Hartmann's Plant Company
https://hartmannsplantcompany.com/

Honeyberry USA
https://www.honeyberryusa.com/

Indiana Berry & Plant Co.
https://www.indianaberry.com/

Kriegers Wholesale Nursery
https://kriegersnursery.com/

Nature Hills Nursery
https://naturehills.com/

Norcal Nursery
https://www.norcalnursery.com/

North American Plants (wholesale / tissue culture)
https://www.naplants.com/

Nourse Farms
https://www.noursefarms.com/

Nutcracker Nursery
https://nutcrackernursery.com/

One Green World
https://onegreenworld.com/

Peaceful Heritage Nursery
https://peacefulheritage.com/

Pense Berry Farm
https://penseberryfarm.com/

PhyllaTech
https://phyllatech.com/

Rabbit Ridge Berry Farm
https://rabbitridgeberryfarm.com/

Raintree Nursery
https://raintreenursery.com/

Saint Lawrence Nurseries
https://www.stlawrencenurseries.com/

Silver Creek Nursery (Canada)
https://silvercreeknursery.ca/

Strawberry Tyme Farms
https://strawberrytyme.com/

Trees of Antiquity
https://www.treesofantiquity.com/

Turnbull Nursery / Garden Center
https://turnbullgardencenter.com/

Weeks Berry Nursery (Oregon plant nursery)
http://www.weeksberry.com/

Whitman Farms
https://www.whitmanfarms.com/

UK / EU sources for Japanese wineberry
Blackmoor Nurseries — https://www.blackmoor.co.uk/
Chris Bowers & Sons — https://www.chrisbowers.co.uk/
Bluebell Nursery — https://www.bluebellnursery.com/
Gardens4You — https://www.gardens4you.ie/

Also cited in Cornell/NARBA lists, but with limited or no easy retail cart:
Berlin Seeds, Double A, Highland Hill Farm, Magnolia Gardens Nursery, Schlabach's, Spooner, Walker, generic "Wholesale Nursery" listings.

--------------------------------
BLACK RASPBERRIES (Rubus occidentalis)

Allen — Kriegers
Black Cap (wild-type/seedling) — Burnt Ridge; generic wholesale
Blackhawk / Black Hawk — Kriegers
Bristol — Nourse, Fedco, Indiana Berry, Kriegers, Nature Hills, North American Plants, Food Forest, Daisy Farms, Double A, Awald Farms, Turnbull, Berlin Seeds, Highland Hill Farm
Cumberland — Kriegers, Burnt Ridge, Food Forest, Boston Mountain/Pense, Highland Hill Farm, Berries Unlimited (packages)
Hidden Gem — Peaceful Heritage
Jewel — Nourse, Fedco, Raintree, One Green World, Indiana Berry, Kriegers, Hartmann's, Nature Hills, North American Plants, Food Forest, Pense, Peaceful Heritage, PhyllaTech, Strawberry Tyme, Weeks, Daisy Farms, Double A, Awald Farms, Turnbull, Berlin Seeds, Hand Picked, Silver Creek
Logan — Burnt Ridge
Mac Black — Nourse, Fedco, Indiana Berry, Awald Farms, Berlin Seeds, Hand Picked Nursery
Munger — One Green World, North American Plants, Norcal, Weeks, Trees of Antiquity
Mysore — Agri-Starts (wholesale liners)
New Logan — Kriegers, Food Forest
Niwot — Nourse, Fedco, Indiana Berry, Pense, Peaceful Heritage, Double A, Hand Picked Nursery
Ohio's Treasure — Hartmann's, One Green World, Edible Landscaping, Rabbit Ridge Berry Farm
Pequot Lakes — Hartmann's, One Green World, Honeyberry USA, St Lawrence
Shekinah Tahi / Tahi — Nourse, Fedco, Raintree, Berries Unlimited, Pense

Most named black raspberries at one nursery: Kriegers (Allen, Blackhawk, Bristol, Cumberland, Jewel, New Logan)
Best modern retail set: Nourse or Fedco (Bristol, Jewel, Mac Black, Niwot, Tahi)

--------------------------------
PURPLE RASPBERRIES

Brandywine — Indiana Berry, Food Forest, Kriegers
Chemianus — Norcal
Glencoe — Indiana Berry, Agri-Starts, Raintree
Royalty — Nourse, Indiana Berry, Raintree, One Green World, Nature Hills, Burnt Ridge, Food Forest, Kriegers, Strawberry Tyme, Turnbull, Awald Farms, G.W. Allen

--------------------------------
YELLOW / GOLD RASPBERRIES

Anne — Nourse, Indiana Berry, Kriegers, One Green World, Raintree, North American Plants, many others
Cascade Gold — One Green World, North American Plants
Double Gold — Nourse, Indiana Berry, Kriegers, Raintree, North American Plants
Fall Gold / Fallgold — Indiana Berry, Kriegers, One Green World, Nature Hills, North American Plants
Honey Queen — North American Plants, One Green World

--------------------------------
RED RASPBERRIES — SUMMER / FLORICANE

Amity — Kriegers, One Green World, North American Plants, Weeks
Bababerry — One Green World, North American Plants
Boyne — Nourse, Indiana Berry, Kriegers, One Green World, Nature Hills, Burnt Ridge, Food Forest, many
Canby — One Green World, North American Plants, Indiana Berry, Weeks, Burnt Ridge, Strawberry Tyme
Cascade Delight — Kriegers, One Green World, Raintree, Norcal, Burnt Ridge, North American Plants
Cascade Harvest / Dawn / Bounty — One Green World, North American Plants, Norcal
Chemainus — Norcal
Chilcoten — Weeks
Coho — One Green World
Cowichan — Norcal
Dormanred — Boston Mountain / Pense
Encore — Nourse, Hartmann's
Festival — G.W. Allen
Finnberry — North American Plants
Jeanne d'Orleans — G.W. Allen, Indiana Berry
K-81-6 — Indiana Berry, G.W. Allen
Killarney — Nourse, Indiana Berry, Kriegers
Latham — Nourse, Kriegers
Lauren — Indiana Berry, Pense, Strawberry Tyme
Lewis — North American Plants
Malahat — Norcal, North American Plants
Mammoth — Cornell guide
Meeker — Raintree, One Green World, North American Plants, Norcal
Moutere — Cornell guide
Nova — Nourse, Indiana Berry, Kriegers, Raintree
Prelude — Nourse, Indiana Berry, Kriegers, Pense, Food Forest, many
Saanich — Raintree
Raspberry Shortcake (dwarf) — One Green World, Nature Hills, Raintree (Bushel and Berry)
Souris — Turnbull
Taylor — Cornell guide
Tulameen — Hartmann's, Berries Unlimited, North American Plants
Tulamagic — Cornell guide
Vintage — North American Plants
Willamette — North American Plants

--------------------------------
RED RASPBERRIES — FALL / PRIMOCANE

AAC Eden — G.W. Allen
Autumn Bliss — Indiana Berry, Food Forest, Nature Hills, Norcal, North American Plants, Pense, St Lawrence
Autumn Britten — Raintree, Burnt Ridge, Hartmann's, Pense, Strawberry Tyme, Turnbull
Caroline — Nourse, Indiana Berry, Kriegers, One Green World, Berries Unlimited
Crimson Beauty / Blush / Giant / Night / Treasure — Indiana Berry (Night, Treasure); One Green World (Giant); Berries Unlimited (Beauty, Blush, Giant, Night); North American Plants (several Crimson types); Awald Farms (Giant, Night)
Heritage — Nourse, Indiana Berry, Kriegers, Raintree, One Green World, Nature Hills, almost every berry nursery
Himbo-Top — Nourse
Imara — Nourse
Jaclyn — Hartmann's
Joan J — Nourse, Indiana Berry, Raintree
Josephine — Cornell guide / older catalogs
Kokanee — Norcal, North American Plants
Kwanza / Kweli / Mapema / Rafiki / Sarafina / Shani — Nourse Farms (Advanced Berry Breeding line; some require grower contact)
Nantahala — Indiana Berry, North American Plants, PhyllaTech
Polana — Nourse, Indiana Berry
Polka — Nourse, Raintree, Pense, Norcal, Strawberry Tyme
Red River — G.W. Allen
Red Wing — St Lawrence
Rosanna — Raintree
September — Cornell guide
Funberry — One Green World
Emerald Carpet — Raintree

--------------------------------
THORNLESS ERECT / SEMI-ERECT BLACKBERRIES

Apache — Indiana Berry, One Green World, Berries Unlimited, North American Plants, Agri-Starts, Pense, Food Forest, Burnt Ridge, PhyllaTech
Arapaho — Kriegers, Berries Unlimited, North American Plants, Agri-Starts, Pense, Nature Hills, Raintree, Food Forest, Peaceful Heritage
Black Satin — Raintree, One Green World, North American Plants, Burnt Ridge, Nature Hills, Weeks
Caddo — Nourse, Indiana Berry, North American Plants, Agri-Starts, PhyllaTech
Chester — Nourse, Kriegers, Raintree, One Green World, North American Plants, Nature Hills
Eclipse — One Green World, Raintree, Berries Unlimited, North American Plants, Agri-Starts, PhyllaTech
Galaxy — Raintree, North American Plants, Agri-Starts, PhyllaTech
Hall's Beauty — Raintree, One Green World, North American Plants
Navaho / Navajo — Kriegers, North American Plants, Agri-Starts
Osage — Indiana Berry, Berries Unlimited, North American Plants, Agri-Starts
Ouachita — Nourse, Kriegers, Berries Unlimited, North American Plants, Agri-Starts
Ponca / Sweet-Ark Ponca — Nourse, Indiana Berry, One Green World, Berries Unlimited, North American Plants
Sweet-Ark Immaculate — Berries Unlimited, North American Plants
Sweetie Pie — Raintree, Berries Unlimited, Agri-Starts, North American Plants
Triple Crown — Nourse, Indiana Berry, Kriegers, Raintree, Nature Hills, North American Plants, almost every blackberry seller
Twilight — Raintree, Berries Unlimited, North American Plants, Agri-Starts
Von — Indiana Berry, North American Plants, Agri-Starts, PhyllaTech
Big Daddy — Berries Unlimited, Agri-Starts, North American Plants
Snowbank — Raintree, Agri-Starts, North American Plants
Natchez — Nourse, Indiana Berry, Kriegers, Berries Unlimited, North American Plants, Agri-Starts (very widely sold)

--------------------------------
THORNY ERECT BLACKBERRIES

Brazos — Agri-Starts, Pense
Chickasaw — Burnt Ridge
Darrow — Kriegers, Turnbull
Hull — Kriegers, North American Plants, Food Forest
Illini Hardy — Strawberry Tyme, Nutcracker Nursery
Kiowa — Indiana Berry, Agri-Starts, Pense
Shawnee — Indiana Berry
Thunderhead — Raintree, North American Plants

--------------------------------
PRIMOCANE BLACKBERRIES

Prime-Ark Freedom — Nourse, Indiana Berry, Kriegers, Raintree, One Green World, Berries Unlimited, North American Plants, Agri-Starts, Pense, many
Prime-Ark Traveler — Indiana Berry, North American Plants, Agri-Starts, Pense
Prime-Ark 45 — Nourse, North American Plants, Agri-Starts, Pense, Norcal, Magnolia, PhyllaTech
Prime-Ark Horizon — Nourse, Berries Unlimited, North American Plants, Agri-Starts

--------------------------------
TRAILING / PNW BLACKBERRIES

Black Diamond — One Green World, North American Plants, Magnolia, Whitman Farms
Columbia Giant — Raintree, One Green World, North American Plants
Columbia Star — Raintree, One Green World, North American Plants, Burnt Ridge, Magnolia
Columbia Sunrise — Raintree, One Green World, North American Plants
Kotata — North American Plants
Marion / Marionberry — Raintree, One Green World, North American Plants, Weeks, Magnolia
Metolius — Magnolia; check NAP / OSU-licensed nurseries
Newberry — North American Plants
Obsidian — North American Plants, One Green World, Magnolia
Olallie / Olallieberry — One Green World, North American Plants, Weeks
Onyx — North American Plants; older Raintree catalogs
Silvan — North American Plants
Waldo — North American Plants
Wild Treasure — Raintree, North American Plants
Loch Ness — Raintree, One Green World, North American Plants, Magnolia, Peaceful Heritage
Oregon Thornless / Evergreen Thornless — UK and some U.S. garden-center lines
Cascade (trailing) — Raintree

--------------------------------
HYBRIDS AND OTHER RUBUS

Boysenberry (thorny) — Raintree, One Green World, North American Plants, Pense, Agri-Starts, Weeks, Magnolia
Boysenberry (thornless) — Burnt Ridge, Pense, Weeks
Loganberry (thornless) — Raintree, One Green World, North American Plants, Food Forest, Weeks
Tayberry — Raintree, One Green World, North American Plants, Pense, Weeks
Dewberry — generic species listings
Baby Cakes (dwarf blackberry) — One Green World
Thimbleberry (R. parviflorus) — Raintree, One Green World, Hartmann's
Salmonberry (R. spectabilis) — Raintree, One Green World
Japanese wineberry (R. phoenicolasius) — mostly UK (Blackmoor, Chris Bowers, Bluebell Nursery, Gardens4You); uncommon in U.S. trade (invasive in parts of the East)

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Okay, Two Seeds In A Pod order placed. Still a few varieties that weren't available that I want, and I'll snag 'em later, but I figured I'd take advantage of the Labor Day sale.

Have some stuff in a cart from Native Seed Search.
Still need to place the Wild Garden order.
Same for Bane's Best.
And for Wild Mountain, but their seeds aren't available yet.
Same situation for Cucumber Shop, seeds won't be available until November.
I need to call Cliff England, and see what kind of package I can put together from him for $300-$500 (looking for his Wang Bo goumi seedlings, persimmon seeds, pawpaw seeds, and probably some haskaps as well, plus anything else he thinks would do well in my project area).
I've also reached out to Ken Asmus, and I'll see what several hundred dollars and a phone call or two can shake loose from his wonderous collection (I'll be focusing on plums, persimmons, and his incredible collection of nut bearing plants, and again, whatever he thinks would be worth trying in my project area).
But, I'm closing in on completion of seed orders for next year's garden.

I'm waiting on Peaceful Heritage to have their Passionfruit plants and seeds available, and I'll order from Snowdrop Farm at that time as well, to complete my hardy passiflora collection and my fruiting perennial orders for the winter. Although, if all the varieties of goji berries I'm waiting on become available, I'll jump on those (including a purple, a yellow, and some new introductions out of China).

Also, I'm still quite interested in Sea Buckthorn, and I may put together a collection of two males and 4-8 females this winter. If not this winter, then next year.

I'm propagating with gusto, too, from cutting, roots, and seed. Gonna do some grafting in my project area this upcoming late winter, and that's pretty exciting. I have weeping Santa Rosa, Toka, and Elephant Heart plums, which are Japanese/Japanese-American hybrid plums, so they'll graft onto the American and Chickasaw plums in the project area. I'll graft as many scions as I can from my January pruning. I'll be planting a ton of plum seedlings next year to bring in my favorite specimens from the project area back to my yarden and they are often even suitable for container growing, so I can have some increased flexibility (I'm running out of room, even in my abnormally dense planting style).

I'll be propagating the hard to source plants bigly next year (cornelian cherry, goumi, etc), and will enjoy watching the new population develop from seedlings in my project area. I'll be able to start selecting in 5 years or so.

Okay, anyway, Chance Rants ™️ over for now.

If you want to know what kind of obsessive psychotic gardener I am, here's a fun little tale:

I currently have a stress fracture in the medial cuneiform bone of my right foot from overuse in the garden.

Keep in mind I'm an elite athlete with only 2 injuries in my 20+ years of intense physical training.

It's just that I spent around 40 hours a week since February on the garden, in addition to my Job and family duties (I don't sleep a lot, heh).

So, now I'm gimpin' around. But, there's a miraculous little gel pad that sticks to the bottom of the foot, and dancers use them for a similar overuse injury (sesamoiditis) that happens as they beat the padding out of the balls of their feet.

It's made a massive difference, but I'll be recovering from this silly injury until spring. Just in time for more...

Might as well, right?

This is a volunteer lettuce that held off from bolting until late July, and was drought tolerant. These are good seeds. I harvested some already, and I'm just gonna toss these ones in the yarden.

You can see which of these giant kale cuttings are taking root and which aren't.

The peach and mulberry are in that liminal stage where they're not dying out, but they're not yet really doing anything else either. We'll see how it goes.

I frequently try rooting cuttings from pruning, often just in the soil, and with no hormones or rooting aids. It's just a constant experiment to see what will root. I have pretty low success rates, but not zero, with these random attempts.

The blend of potting and garden soil in this bucket seems to be working well, actually.

Same mix in all of these.

These are blackberry, black raspberry, mulberry, peach, almond, quince, and grape cuttings. There are also onions and walking onions in almost all of the pots.

I'm having good success with the blackberries and black raspberries. Looks like the mulberries are gonna take, at least a couple of 'em.

Probably not for the quince and grapes (the grapes were too small, but I tried anyway).

The peach and almonds are staying alive, but I'm doubtful. I water them with willow water, FYI.

Oh, I've also got stone fruit seeds in almost all the pots.

All but two of these pots, at least the ones with successful cuttings and/or seedlings, are going into my project area next spring.

NOTE: The black raspberries make it easy to determine which cuttings have failed, because the canes turn almost black. Pretty cool feature.

I've got two Saughterhouse Peach seeds in stratification, and I direct seeded an entire peach in one of those pots (the one with the green flag on the left), as well as one more pit that I planted earlier.

What I realized is, about the Slaughterhouse Peach seedlings, is that they're the perfect locally adapted rootstock. It's disease free, even on the bank of the canal where fungal issues would have an easy time taking hold, and it's a dwarfing rootstock perfect for my desire to keep the trees in my project area, at least the ones closest to the game trails I'm expanding into paths, at a small enough size to be harvested by people on their feet.

Plus, it's free, and I'll be able to harvest many more pits next year (assuming no issues), to create a large supply of rootstocks for grafting my current varieties into my project area, and for adding some of the heirloom varieties my neighbors are growing (this is a long time fruit growing area, and it still is, with many orchards and remnants of orchards dotting the area) into my own system as well as the project area.

I'll also do some seedling grow outs to determine fruit quality and consistency from the Slaughterhouse Peach. If it's relatively true, I'll offer some seeds and get it out into the world as a named variety (after lots of trialling) in that manner. If the seedlings are pretty divergent, then I'll propagate from cuttings and send some stock out to some nursery friends in that manner. Probably will do both.

Next year, I'm also going to be harvesting a shit-ton of seeds from my favorite wild/wild-ish plums from my project area to offer to others who are interested in growing them.

I'll have pictures and details as often as I can with those, but that's about a year away.

Cekirdegi Oyali is a good variety! They thrived for me even in cold Vermont.

M Ljin wrote:Cekirdegi Oyali is a good variety! They thrived for me even in cold Vermont.

That's great to read. All of my melons have to pass the direct sowing test. Did you grow the red fleshed variety?

This one was yellow fleshed. I did direct sow as with all cucurbits.

M Ljin wrote:This one was yellow fleshed. I did direct sow as with all cucurbits.

Excellent. That's the one I don't yet have. It's not yet available for order, but it'll be added to the collection when it is.

I had the robot assemble a guide to biochar, using the literature.

It's got a lot of useful information, and is intended as a primer for a neophyte.

I've attached it below, if you're interested.

Mine came from the Hudson Valley Seed Company. They have them for sale here:

Regional less so to you, but seeds still!

https://hudsonvalleyseed.com/products/cekirdegi-oyali

As an additional recommendation, I'd suggest adding clinoptilolite and vermiculite to your compost, in addition to char.

To take things one step further, I'd suggest adding Azomite to your compost as well.

If you were to purchase big bags of each from a good source, it would cost between $100-$200, depending on the source and the bigness of the bags.

You could mix the amendments together, keeping a bin handy next to your compost, and simply add a few handfuls/scoops (a small bucket or pot works as a scoop) on on top (or underneath) each new addition to the pile.

You can add up to, say, 15% by volume, but even, say, 1% will make a difference in the final product.

If you want to know my thinking here, let me know and I'll elucidate.

M Ljin wrote:Mine came from the Hudson Valley Seed Company. They have them for sale here:

Regional less so to you, but seeds still!

https://hudsonvalleyseed.com/products/cekirdegi-oyali

Same situation, it would seem.