If I am going to buy pinto beans from the store and plant them to make more pinto beans, then I need to use Aldi pinto beans for seed rather than Sams club. I planted my Sams club pintos twice. I had a few sprout, but the germination rate wasn't much to write home about. So I bought a bag of dried pintos at Aldi, planted a couple of rows(or I should say partial rows cause the rest of the bed was taken up by the Sams beans), and noticed yesterday that it looks as if all of them germinated and have poked their little heads out of the ground. Yay Beans.
I have heard over the years that seeds saved from store bought items, saved from non heirloom varieties or in this case, used from store bought dried beans, won't germinate. If by some weird chance they do germinate, I was told I wouldn't get a product true to the mother plant. I have found that to not be true. SO far in my gardening career I have planted popcorn, pintos, navy beans, cantaloupe, and watermelon from store bought items. I have also saved seeds from squash, peppers, beans, and pumpkins from non heirloom varieties and they have been successful. Every gardening season I end up with volunteers from previous seasons garden that pop up on their own. The main culprits are tomatoes, potatoes, squash, watermelon, and sunflowers. I once transplanted 23 tomato volunteers that had sprouted from tomatoes I had thrown off into the brush. We had cleared the brush in late winter and then when things started sprouting, so did they. These tomatoes did just as well as the ones planted that year. Produced the same amount, and same quality. The only year I had a weird product is when I planted some cucumbers that didn't germinate(or so I thought). I replanted and still no luck, so I decided to plant cantaloupe. Apparently they all sprouted and since I couldn't tell who was who I let them grow together. Uhhh don't do that with squash. They cross pollinated and I ended up with a cucaloupe, or a cantacumber if you please. Bad tasting thing, but a good life lesson. Another reason I am not on the heirloom seed band wagon is the fact if I am using heirloom seeds and my neighbor isn't; bees don't know the difference and my plants get cross pollinated. So no non hi-bred seeds anymore. Now that is my thoughts on the subject and I am sure there are others who would disagree, but this is my blog and it was created to voice my thoughts. So Nyah(smile; kidding people no one get mad). Now I will admit I do plant more of saved seeds than I would if I had bought them. That way I am sure to have enough germinate. I can afford to plant more of those seeds because a) they are free, and b) I have more of them.
The garden so far this year has been pretty good. Bombs this year are apples(no surprise they are still young trees), peaches, beets, and maybe my green beans. I keep thinking they will start producing soon, but the plants are taking their own sweet time. The plants look good, I just don't see anything on them. Replanting those today just in case. The beauties this year are blueberries, blackberries, tomatoes, peppers(green and jalapeno), lima beans,and herbs. The corn and peanuts are still growing so that is a wait and see. Potatoes were average. Not as much as before, but what was produced has been really good.
Today's agenda is bread making(in progress), and garden work. Well that and getting ready for work tomorrow. The boys will be cutting the grass if we can keep the mower working !@#$%^&. Excuse ME! SO off I go until another day when I can sit down and type my thought to share with those interested in what I have to say. Until then I hope everyone stay comfortable, cool, and safe!
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