Gilbert Fritz

Would the carbon in the biochar replace all the carbon needs of the soil? Or just the structural part? Would the soil still need decomposable carbon to keep microorganisms happy?

Thanks Leora!

That paper had just the information I'm interested in.

Among other interesting points, one spring grazing actually increased yield of grain, although further grazing decreased it.

William, that is good information. I'll have to look into viking rye growing.

Could rye be planted in the Spring, grow till the weather heated up, be grazed or mowed, come back in the Fall, go dormant over Winter, and be harvested the next Summer, thus having grown for 18 months or so?

I know there are special spring planted rye varieties which go to seed that summer. I know standard rye planted in the spring as a cover crop will NOT produce seed that year due to lack of vernalization. But would grazing/ mowing allow it to survive through that first summer?

And if it did, would it have a significantly earlier harvest?

Bobb Quinn in Montana is dry farming squash, potatoes, corn, and other vegetables, even watermelons. His town of Big Sandy gets 13 inches of precipitation a year. It is a little cooler on average than Denver, CO, but not by much.

http://bobquinnorganicfarmer.com/dry-land-vegetables/

https://www.bigsandymountaineer.com/story/2018/09/05/news/bob-quinn-and-a-30-pound-watermelon/2214.html

I'm going to give it a try this year.

Just added more stuff to the lists.

Update: I've changed the way I want to do this: here is a new thread. https://permies.com/t/96861/Free-seeds

I have lots of free seeds to give away!

I had a similar post on here a week or so ago, but have now typed up a partial list and thought up some changes in how I would like to proceed.

A relative who has been saving seeds for years donated me a huge stash of different tomato varieties. I've worked with them for five years, and found the types that can stand up to our wacky climate. She asked me to pass on ones that don't work for me, so I'd like to do that.

I also have huge amounts of landrace tomato seed from past years that I'd like to share. Basically, it is just a jumble of thirty or so varieties, with the types that did best with minimal care in Colorado predominating. Everything from cherry tomatoes to slicers, different colors, etc.

And there is lots of commercial seed that is getting older that I'd like to get rid of. I'm trying to consolidate and focus on the stuff that is really important to me.

I’ve decided I don’t want seeds in trade; after all, the reason I’m doing this is that I have too much stuff to deal with!

Don’t PM me without posting on here what you want. That way, I won’t get duplicate requests. If a variety is marked “many” go ahead and request it even if others want it; I’ve got a lot.

More seeds will be posted shortly; I'll edit the lists.

For tomatoes and other small seeds, a single self addressed, stamped envelope should be fine for five or six packets. For larger seeds, you’ll have to send more for shipping; we can discuss that by PM.

Relatively old commercial seed

*radicchio, many packets
*sunflower, mammoth, skyscraper, several
*sunflower, micro greens, 50 grams
*Sweet corn, many varieties, heirloom and hybrid
*Early Purple Vienna Kohlrabi, many
*White Kohlrabi
*Snowball Cauliflower, many
*Swiss chard, fordhook, Silverado, many
*Beet, early wonder, gourmet blend many
*Escarole many
*Magentaspreen
*Huazontle
*Strawberry Spinach
*Chinese Mustard many
*Alfalfa sprouts
*Wild Arugula
*Santa Fe Grande Hot Pepper, Fatalii pepper,
*Hybrid Max’s Gold Zucchini
*Luffa Gourd, several
*Yardlong Bean, several
*Assorted zucchini and squash, many
Saskatoon Serviceberry
Stinging Nettle several
Perfection Fennel
Mulberry
Garlic Chives several
Alexandria Alpine Strawberry
Strawberry Spinach
Mexican Tree Spinach
Chives
Cultivated Dandelion
Scarlet Gleam Nasturtium
Chinese Parsley Cilantro
Lavender Vera
Echinacea Angustifolia
Broadleaf sorrel
Achillea millefolium
Purslane many
Pepper cress
Minutia
Lovage


*Much of this seed is non-organic but non-treated.

Old tomato seed: Most saved by home seed savers, all fairly old (up to 10 years; tomato seed should be still somewhat viable at that point. I know little about any of these varieties.)

Manyel
Acclaim
Sara’s Galapagos
Martino’s Roma
Aunt Gertie’s Gold
Matchless
Giant Belgium
Gregori’s Altai
Garden Monster
Japanese Trifel
Striped German
Orange Brandywine
Schulenberg’s Favourite
Moskovich
Azoychka
Sausage
Moravsky DIV
Latah
Black Krim
Sweet Gold Cherry
Tricolor Cherry (a mix)
Beefstake
Herman’s Yellow
Coustalee
Black Brandywine
Big Rainbow
Mule Team
Howard German
Tasty Evergreen
Siberian Pink
Willamette
Austin’s Red Pear
Brown Berry
Black from Tula
Currier
Isis Candy
Heinz Classic Processor
Old Brooks
Earls Faux
Grandma Oliver’s Chocolate
Costoluto Florintino
Tumbling Tom
Maule’s Success
Bloody Butcher
Abe Lincoln
Doucet’s Plum Red
Black Plum
Yellow Goliath
Polish Linguisa

My landrace tomato seeds: LOTS.

No practical progress made on this yet.

But I'm still interested and still researching. Before I do a large scale test I'll have to get some semi-permanent land, preferably without heavy weed pressure.

The patch I was getting ready to use a year ago turned out to have so much bindweed that I didn't want to bother trying to plant perennials, and I will only be able to use if for one more year. If I was to use it longer, I'd try to suppress the bindweed and then get perennial cover growing (other that the bindweed!) for these experiments.

But I did plant 15 pea varieties in a standard garden bed to trial overwintering. I think peas sown in September and harvested in July as a dry crop might work sown into a dormant summer pasture, if I can get them to overwinter. The problem is lack of snow-cover here in the winter. They are looking a little sad, but still alive so far.

Hi Deb,

Those watermelons do sound interesting, though I wonder if they predate European colonization. I know many native tribes adopted watermelons and traded them from tribe to tribe, so that explorers would find the melons had got there before them. Maybe these seeds were packed into an older container, or the pitch coating or radiation in the cave through off the carbon dating? I'd also guess that the germination of the seeds would show them to be old, but not quite that old. But who knows, the world is a strange place.

In any case, I'd be interested in the seeds.

I'll post a list of the non-tomato seeds that I have when I'm done sorting. The maxima squash are a landrace; I got the foundation seed from Joseph Lofthouse. They come in a wide range of shapes, sizes, and colors, like twenty varieties all mixed up.

I'd rather not spend a lot of time typing up the tomato varieties; there are so many of them, and many of them are old. I was planning to just send a bunch of packets to anyone who was interested. The proto-landrace tomato seeds are a jumble of maybe 50 different varieties. Eventually, only a half dozen types stood out in my garden.

I'll update this in the next few weeks and PM you.

I have free tomato and other seeds available.

A relative who has been saving seeds for years donated me a huge stash of different tomato varieties. I've worked with them for four years, and found the types that can stand up to our wacky climate. She asked me to pass on ones that don't work for me, so I'd like to do that.

I also have huge amounts of landrace tomato seed from past years that I'd like to share.

As I sort through my seed stash, I'll have more stuff. I'm trying to consolidate and focus on the stuff that is really important to me. I'll probably have lots of maxima squash seed from last year once the new batch is processed. I'll update this as I get more stuff ready to go.

Much of this seed is fairly old, but most should still germinate.

I'm going to ask that you pay shipping, but otherwise the seed will be free.

The tomato seeds can just be sent in an envelope. Other seeds will need a padded mailer.

So, if you are willing to send me a self addressed, stamped envelope or mailer, send me a PM of what you want, and I'll get my address to you. First come first served!

If you have seeds you'd like to swap, they could cover the postage; let me know what you have.