Have I sold 16 people a pig in a poke?

[PiggyPokkyFool]

Name changed as this is very outing.
The facts: Saw YouTube video about growing tomatoes from a slice of tomato, had some v tasty cherry ones from supermarket so planted 3 slices with low expectations. 3 weeks later, 54 seedlings, transferred to larger pots expecting to lose half, 52 survived - nearly all grew looking super healthy - had 49 tomato plants. Couldn't possibly use all so planted some, gave away some and had 28 tomato plants left. Got the bright idea of selling them on our local group for 50p each - sold all bar 3 which I offered some to my much older, much wiser chum and he said " Oh, no thanks as they are probably F1s so won't produce anything". Have I sold 16 people a pig in a poke? Never mind friends who think I am a great grower

Piggpokkyfool. Thanks, and to dry and store, would I leave them on kitchen roll on a sunny cill for a while?

Must confess to only drying the ones I save as seed for next year and I just hang up the pods until they are dried out and then pop the seeds.

I'm planning to make hummus so will be soaking chickpeas - would they work for sprouting? I've never sprouted chickpeas but I think they are one of the ones that people sprout --- yes, google says you can: www.theroastedroot.net/sprout-chickpeas/

It's always worth checking with anything in the pea/bean family. Some families you can experiment with - cabbage family, for example, and rose family (with the exception of cherry laurel). But some families you need to know what you're doing - carrot family, which as well as parsnips, fennel, dill etc contains hemlock and giant hogweed; pea family (laburnum and various nasty African beans); potato family, where toxicity is the norm.

A mine of information on here

What a great thread.

Thats an awesome haul, celebrating another fab photo on here!

Where? I mean, I guess they are a hedgerow tree, where do they hang out, what sort of conditions? I'm off to look for a picture of the foliage.

I did think they looked like horse chesnuts for a minute, but they don't have the bottom tassle do they. . I know my stuff.

2.7 kg . Good work!

Wow - absolutely amazing photos. Sweet chestnuts? @BobTheDuvet - is that like ' chestnuts roasting on an open fire" if so my Dad used to do that for me when I was small - so yummy and that photo of those truly beautiful carrots are exactly what this thread is about - sharing our successes, bemoaning our failures and looking for guidance in times of doubt.

Bob I guess you're down south, then? UK is at the northern limit for sweet chestnut - the one along the road from where I grew up would have lots of nuts, but they never swelled.

I did think they looked like horse chesnuts for a minute, but they don't have the bottom tassle do they. Isn't that a top tassel? I take the bottom to be the scar where the nut joins the case of the fruit. The tassel is the remains of the flower. Horse chestnuts don't have the vertical ridges either.

Bob - impressed if you're doing most of your growing from saved seed not bought. Have you come across the Real Seed Company www.realseeds.co.uk/ - heritage varieties, and they encourage you to save your seed (and give instructions on how to do it) so that you need to buy seed only once and then after are doing your bit to save the heritage.

Isn't that a top tassel?

I guess it depends on your perspective . To me, and I professed my ignorance already, it seems like the bottom, and the bit attached to the shell is the top.

I can see how the 'bit it grows from' could be the bottom though. The tassel just seems like a tail, in my world.

I like the heritage seeds idea.

Hazelnuts will fruit within a lifetime. About 5-10 years.

Hi everyone, i've missed you all and your awesome veg (& chestnut!) hauls! I must get out foraging before it's too late. I've been in bed with a horrid flu virus and all the autumn garden work has been put on hold. The pumpkins are turning a lovely yellow even in this constant rain. Here are some pics taken when we last had sun..whenever that was! Also had a good cucumber harvest too..

Here's one which escaped! The cucumbers are quite thick skinned and a bit spiky. No idea what variety they are!

Bob No problem with germination. Non-F1 are no less reliable than F1, and since there is a greater natural variability you're more likely to get plants that grow well in slightly sub-optimal conditions. Since they're not F1, you can save your own seed and they'll come true - F1 you'll need to buy fresh every year.

Brief summary of F1 in terms that I can understand:
Take two stable varieties and cross fertilise them, in order to produce a new variety with some desired characteristic. For simplicity, just think of one particular gene. First variety has two copies of gene A. Second variety has two copies of gene B. So variety 1 gives an A gene to the offspring and variety 2 gives a B gene, so all the offspring are AB. This is the F1 generation ("Filial" I think the F stands for).

Second generation F2 obtained from F1: each F1 parent can give either an A gene or a B gene. So the offspring can be AA, AB, BA, BB with equal probability, so basically one quarter will have two A genes, one quarter will have two B genes, and a half will have one of each. This variability is why they say you can't save the seed of F1 varieties.

Now imagine several generations later, and the same thing happening with all the genes of the plant - you'll still have variability, with most of the resulting plants being somewhere in the middle. This is what happens in the wild, when you sow some red campion seed and get red campion plants, but with some variation (eg some with darker flowers and some with lighter flowers) and it's what happens in non-F1 garden varieties.

F1 varieties tend to be vigorous, which is why we grow them - but they're great for the seed producer because they have to be re-created from the parents every year, so everyone has to go back to the seed producer for new seed every year. Their other advantage, of uniformity (they're all AB genetically) is of use to the agriculturalist, but less useful to the gardener, who may not want all his crops to be ready the same week - more variability and hence a longer cropping period is a positive advantage to someone growing just for their own family.

My favourites from the Real Seed catalogue are a giant sugar snap pea with pods about 6 inches long, and the Asturian tree cabbage which goes on for years and years. Bit tough for cooking like cabbage, but done the Portuguese way, of slicing very thinly (like grass ) and used in soups or stews, it's great.