You know you're a seed saver when ...

Different things are invasive in different areas. Just like some plants are considered annual in certain areas, even if the plant is really a perennial. Most of the time the growth is regulated by freezing temps. Individual states have lists for invasives but what is invasive in one area may not be so in another.

Actually Virginia Creeper is native to SC.

I had no idea but I'm glad I do. I think I will grind up these seeds then.

I am a bit confused on things involving the terms invasive. Like can a native plant be considered invasive and put on the noxious weeds list? That might be a silly question. A lady at the nursery told me they were non-native.

I think i sent a blank mesg. if i did i apologize, hit the wrong thing

Absolutely yes .. Just cause it's native doesn't mean it's not invasive .. each state has an invasive/noxious weed list. I accidentally thru ignorance almost let Sweet Autumn Clematis get loose in my neighborhood .. it took 2 years, over 50 fire ant bites and a 200 dollar doctor bill to finally get rid of it and I'm still not 100% sure it's totally gone.

I have one word for you about invasive!!!


KUDZU

Thankfully I've never put non-native invasives in the ground. I somehow managed to kill them off first. :)

My goal is to put anything invasive into a pot and use mesh bags or dead heading to prevent spread. I learned an important lesson with mint this year ... you can put it in a pot but that doesn't mean it'll stay there. It escaped out the drainage holes! I divided it up and put it into small pots until next year when I'll get them each their own and put a nice thick tile underneath them.

>> http://www.seedaholic.com

They do have some salvia I'm looking for, but I wouldn't pay that much for a seed spoon I can make with a coffee stirrer and a bamboo skewer.

And I was tempted by their Bok Choy, but I go to Kitazawa Seeds for my Bok Choy and other Asian vegetables. Their envelopes are generous enough for multiple sowings AND trading. (I gave away most of 4 paks locally before I discovered trading, here).

Besides, I went over my garden budget last month (and the motnh before that, and ...), so I'm practicing a LITTLE self-restraint until the next time I go on a seed binge ... so to speak.

You enablers, you! ;-)

Corey

(heh, heh)

I suppose I'm building character ... very, very VERY slowly.

"Lord, give me strength to resist temptation" ... but I'm not in any hurry.
Quite the contrary, take your time!

Corey

All my invasive plants and vines that are hardy always stay in a pot .. an easy fix for drain hole escapees is screen. I put a fine mesh screen in the bottoms of my pots .. also helps keep ants out of them.

"I suppose I'm building character ... very, very VERY slowly." Personally I think you are a character, you make me laugh. Yes, the thinning hair on the back of your head doesn't exist if you can't see it

We actually plant Sweet Autumn Clematis here. You haven't killed that have you Carey?
There was a thread on the Texas forum recently about them blooming now.

X-does it freeze in your area?

Yes it does .. gets into the 20's. I have a heated greenhouse.

>> you make me laugh.

Mission accomplished!

>> Sweet Autumn Clematis here. You haven't killed that have you

No, not YET. But I haven't planted any yet. It sounds like it grows big, and I have a small yard.

I loved "Star of Yelta" MG, but it got so big I have not re-planted it. I love the look of lavatera, but they sprawled over the only large, fairly fgood bed I have, now I have to move them even if they die. And the problem is ... move them WHERE?

Corey

I personally think seed savers are the Best People in the whole wide world! :-D

Sweet Autumn Clematis is really pretty .. that's why I got it in the first place .. I started to get suspicious about it when 5 rooted cuttings covered a 21 foot long fence in a few months .. then I started reading up on it! Ack! So I immediately dug it all up and BAGGED it and threw it out. I'm thinking I might have mowed over some since I use the grass catcher on my mower and dump out the grass clippings in a pile for composting - that's where it started showing up, in that area .. one day I didn't see it then the next day it started blooming and it had already started to climb trees. Again, I yanked up and bagged every bit I could find and threw it out .. a few months later .. there it is .. I was savvy to what the leaves looked like by then so I didn't have to see it flower to realize it was there. This kept going on for 2 years .. finally this Spring I was utterly determined to stop it .. I cleaned out the whole area down to dirt and sprayed weed killer every time I saw anything remotely green poking up out of the soil. In the process of doing this I ran into a fire ant pile and was summarily attacked. My arms were a mass of bites and I had to clip my fingernails down to nubbins because I was shredding my arms in my sleep the itching was so bad.

So far I haven't seen it again - I keep on the lookout and keep the weed killer handy.

Yikes! I have invasive Ivy and totally invasive and immortal wild blackberry.

Plus The Weed From Heck that emerged from my neighbor's untended strawberries. It chokes out everything in that corner except Star of yelta MG. It looks kind of like strawberry leaves, but it runners and invades worse than the Red Army. Once I tried weed killer, but some of the mist may have drifted because many convolulus and chard died, but the Strawberry-Weed-From-Heck laughed it off.

I went after some runners with a mattock, but they come back in the same spot.

Maybe I should not have sprayed it and then uprooted most of it the same day the neighbor moved out.
Maybe that released the weed killer from remaining W-F-H roots.

Oh, yes, and horsetail. It's everywhere, but seems to prefer terrible soil so I don't care as much.

And dandilions.

And other runner-y things that emerged as soon as I created any decent soil. But I take them as a compliment.

And some polite, tall, elegant weeds that have modest flowers, but considerable grace in their height and lacy foliage. We have an understanding.

Corey

Dandilions I now accept in my yard as something that I can make jelly out of.

If life gives you dandilions, make jelly?

Corey

Lisa - No ma'am I have not! It will be going in a nice large pot though to give it room to spread it's "legs" :)

Rick or Corey - I have to say you make me giggle too, and after today that's a good thing!

The condos I live in planted a load of ivy in the 80's which has spread, of course. The condo hired landscapers who trimmed it and then promptly dumped the "clippings" at the edge of property line ... Now we have ivy growing at the edge of our property line.

Then we started getting blackberry bushes growing in the ivy. They trim, then dump the clippings at the edge of property line and now we have blackberry bushes growing at the edge of our property line.

Now we have pine trees growing in the Ivy ...

Dandelion jelly?? Sounds yucky! It was bad enough to have to eat one...

You know your a seed saver when someone sits down at your kitchen table and when they stand up everybody laughs and asks "whats stuck to your butt?" Its a padded envie with a DG's return address on it, that happened to end up on a kitchen chair.Its even better because its your exhusband and the kids are laughing so hard they are crying! This is the way I know ther is a God and he has a sense of humor, however He did not pass it on.

Lisa,

I think that you have taken being a seedhead to new heights or lows!

"Hi! My name is Rick and I'm a seedhead ... butt."

Corey

Are you Rick or Corey or a seedhead with a split personality?

You know you're a seedhead:

...when you look forward to the little "POP" sounds of some pods drying on the counter because you know the seeds are ready!

Carey-What seeds might those be?

Also whats the best way to save Eggplant seeds? Is just scooping them out and let them dry enough?

Dandelion Jelly is kind of a pale yellow color and tastes like a mixture of honey, lemon and green apple. I was really surprised by the taste and decided that I really like the taste. I will make it again in the spring when I can get the flowers off the dandelion.

Lisa - ruellia that I know of - there may be others. One pinged me in the nose the other day!

Marti - my grandmother used to make something from dandelion roots too. She used to pay me a dime for every one I pulled up. lol!

Roasted dandelion roots were used as a coffee substitute. The roots also act as an antiviral agent, appetite stimulant, digestive aid, my help promote gastrointestinal health, promotes liver detoxification, also has mild laxative effect and studies show that it may increase live and gallbladder function.
The leaves support kidney function, has diuretic effect and is source of potassium. Dandelions are also a rich source of vitamins A, B complex, C, D and has minerals iron, potassium, zinc.

Oh, you made them out of the flowers....I didn't say they weren't good for me. I was little when my g'ma made me eat one and she told me that they were good for me.

>> "whats stuck to your butt?"

>> Are you Rick or Corey or a seedhead with a split personality?

Well, you aren't the first person to imply I can't tell my head from my butt.
And it could be true ... BUT ... I do NOT have a bald spot!

By any chance are you familiar with the TV series "Babylon 5", in one episode of which two characters go through a shtick:

"Life kicks you in the butt."
"But what?"
...
"but? but? Motor-butt? I do not think I like the sound of THAT!"

Great stuff.

Corey
"At least I'm not repressed any more!"

Heh, heh! ^_^

Oh my ... B5 .. my favorite show .. saved up for a year and bought the whole series .. one of my fav quotes is Delenn's absafragginlutely and all time favorite is marcus's:

"You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe."
Marcus Cole, Ranger to Franklin, A Late Delivery from Avalon

Amen, Xeramtheum.

One lady on a B5 Compuserve forum was working in her attic and fell between the joists and went right through.
She was hangng by her fingertips ... this was around Season Three.

The thought that flashed through her mind was: "I CAN'T die! I have to see the rest of B5!!"

Vir and Londo singing Centari opera in "Knives"?
G'Kar hoping the Emperor recoivers enogubt o be assasinated, "They'd only have to prop him up for a MOMENT!"
"Wonder how long THEY've been married?"

I also have the DVDs. It's time to re-watch it from the beginning.

Corey

I watch it from beginning to end about every 6 months ..

Ah yes the opera .. wasn't long enough!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtOjUevtLZA

"They don't write them like that any more!"

OK, Crusade was better in many ways.

But I LOVE B5.

"... the future frightens us ... "

Corey