Saving Legumes For HSL

I love being a member of the HSL as it gives me great access to seeds that I might not otherwise be able to get hold of. And if you've read much of this blog you'll know I'm slightly obsessed by seeds! It's also a great way to support these rare seeds to save them going extinct.

Each year you get to pick out six packets of seed from their list to try. The idea is that you get the seed to grow but with the aim of saving enough seed to send back so it can be looked after and sent out to it's members the following year. Keeping the seeds growing and in production is the best way of keeping them alive and away from becoming extinct.

Generally the numbers they send you are fine. Half a dozen tomato seeds is plenty to grow, taste and save the seed from, the same with a few dozen lettuce seeds. The only problems come when it comes to legumes.

Peas and french beans are easy to save the seeds from and there are lots of old varieties out there so they feature quite highly on HSL lists. The downside comes from how many they send you. I think this year I had 10 french bean seeds and 10 each of the two types of peas.

Now I completely understand why this is, it's rare seed and I should guess that a fair amount of the stuff sent out doesn't get saved and sent back to the HSL. But what it does mean is that for me legumes from them has become a two year project if I want to share the seed with friends and return any.

The first year will be to germinate and grow them on to produce plenty of beans or peas so that I can then grow a good amount of the following year. The following years crop can then be eaten and saved, distributed at our seed swap and sent back to the HSL, a great way of keeping these varieties out there!

Hopefully what we get from them will be worth it. the one dwarf french bean I've got from them has the following description "This black seeded French heirloom variety produces compact, bushy plants that display both drought and cold tolerance. Dark lilac flowers are followed by pencil pods; crisp and tasty when eaten whole and as podded green beans. When dried the beans have a lovely nutty flavour, and are particularly good for use in Mexican and Cuban recipes. Sow to harvest 85 days (approx.) "

This sounds just perfect for a veg for me, especially the bit about showing some cold and drought tolerance, just the type of thing that is needed on a system where you're trying to reduce inputs and get earlier harvests. I wonder how many seeds I'll get from my original 10?

Heritage Seed Library Order & Peas Boiling HARD

As anyone who reads this blog knows, I'm a little obsessed with seeds!

And when I joined our local seed swap group last year it seemed logical for me to join the Heritage Seed Library as well. 

They're part of the charity Garden Organic who try to promote organic gardening. They keep a bank of old varieties of seed that they are trying to prevent from going extinct with members breeding them each year. 

Each year as a member of the HSL you can pick six packs of seed from the list. The idea that you grow a few to taste and the rest to save for seed. The pack size is quite small so it might take a few years before you have enough seed saved to be worth sending back in to the library, instead spending your time to build a reserve. 

Last year was utter chaos for growing for me and I'm glad that I didn't have the last few seeds of anything as I doubt there will be any going back. But that's the beauty of it, some (good) years you can give back to the library and others you can just experiment and see how you do. With lots of members the risk is spread.

The list has lots of options to choose from and from this years I chose some that are relatively easy to grow without the risk of cross pollination. I picked:-

Scotland Yellow Tomato
Bijskij Zelty Tomato
Black coco Dwarf French Bean
Fat Baby Achocha
Bronze arrow lettuce (lucky dip extra)
Sutton's Harbinger Pea
Blue Prussian Pea

In the packs of peas there is only about 8 to 10 seeds so they need to be sown in pots, protected from everything!

I'm especially looking forward to growing Blue Prussian Pea as it's in an American book I own called "Heirloom Vegetable Gardening" by William Woys Weaver.

He describes the pea as "as a excellent split pea" But gives further advice on the storage of dried peas, "like any dry pea should never be kept more than a year. An insightful article called "Why Peas Boil Hard" appeared in the gardener's magazine (April 1831, 249) and explained that if peas are stored too long, they will cook "hard," never really softening no matter how long they are boiled. This observation is as true now as it was then, with one further footnote: peas stored for two or three years have also lost significant portion of their nutritional value. This is why it's important to date all stocks of dry peas and beans."

Really interesting I'm sure you'll agree, but I should imagine that the fact we can now store them in airtight containers and in vacuums would seriously increase their shelf life.

One years soup peas collected from a handful of peas - These are called Latvian Soup Peas or the "Grey Pea" 

So I'll try to build a stock of seeds from the 8 I have. Might take a couple of years, or the efforts of a mouse could wipe it out before I begin! Peas are easy to build up numbers though so I'm hopeful.

Anyone experimented with how long you can keep soup and dried peas for before they stay hard even when cooked?

Who else is in the Heritage Seed Library and what have you ordered for next years growing season?