The spring is fully up and running here in the Blue Mountains and we are entering what looks like a very productive summer growing season this year. The typical El Niño weather patterns mean high instability and changeable weather for us here during summer in the higher elevation coastal areas of Australia – not just drought as some people seem to think – the dry comes next year in the winter. We have been having days of very warm sunny weather interspersed with sudden significant rain and storm events. This actually means good growing conditions for many food plants as long as the water supplies are kept up during the heat. It also means especially good seed germination during the hot days. 2022 was the wettest year on record for the Sydney region. So now It’s a sunny year for you to try out a few new plants and catch up with restocking the seed collection. Along with the very wet weather in 2022 we had very low daylight hours so things just did not grow well or produce seed. It’s the night time now if you haven’t already to put in the beans and get a good solid crop. Here’s a few random interesting ones… The names are often odd and can have long complicated narratives and histories connected with them. Some are just generic and descriptive. The ones here show some of that – YinYang aka ORCA aka Calypso as it’s from the Caribbean area. Fort Portal Jade from the city in Uganda where they are known for being very drought, heat and disease resistant. PeaBean which is mysterious and a bit controversial as it’s got a very old growing history but a wide range of forms and colours and looks very similar to the Yin Yang but is sometimes placed into another species. Cressy Edamame which is a pale white form of SoyaBean that you eat when immature in the pod. There are several forms and colours of soybeans including yellow, black and white seeds. ‘Anto Nearly Round’ – for those people who like things that are close to being round but not fully round. It’s a strange old heritage variety that is sometimes listed as an adzuki (Phaseolus angularis) , but this one is probably just a very old Phaseolus vulgaris variety related to the Speckled Cranberry genetic line. And the small colourful patterned Lima Bean ‘Civil War’ which is supposedly a selected Lima Bean variety from Kentucky that a veteran picked up on the way back home from the US civil war. Apparently Lima Beans were always used in nutrient field rations for US soldiers right through the last century and so were then later considered to be emergency food that was seen with contempt by many after the 50’s. And possibly the most entertaining but also most objectionable is the Lazy Housewife which was actually named thus because it produces so heavily and has no strings so requires very little effort to get a meal.
It’s that time again!
This is just a quick reminder that the next scheduled meeting for the year 2023 of the Mid Blue Mountains SeedSavers is on at the Bullaburra Progress Hall this coming weekend.
Sunday 3 December 2023 from 10 am till Midday
Help celebrate the Blue Mountains SPRING!
It’s time to put more seeds and seedlings in and plan for the upcoming sunny growing summer and into autumn. There are still seeds to be harvested from the late winter that have ripened up in the recent warming sunny patches of weather.
Come along and talk about growing things with like minded people.
Hope to see you there celebrating the current productive growing season!
The address for the Mid Blue Mountains Seedsavers website is:
https://midbluemountainsseedsavers.org/
We do now have a Facebook page as well:
https://www.facebook.com/Mid-Blue-Mountains-Seed-Savers-1629533990602860/
These regular notifications are sent out directly from the website if you subscribe to that email notification list.
Mid Blue Mountains Seed Savers 