Winnowing Seeds for the Bulgarian Giant Leek Seed Saving Project

Seed saving requires seed cleaning.  In this video I use simple methods to clean the leek seeds from the Bulgarian Giant Leek seed saving project.  Without the use of fans, and without any breeze, seeds can be winnowed and "sifted" on flat tightly woven baskets.  The seeds will be ready in 2 or 3 weeks after final drying, germination testing and packaging.

Giant Leek seed project, cleaning, sifting and winnowing the seed. Seed saving requires seed cleaning. How to sift and winnow seeds using simple methods and baskets. Support my channel by using this link whenever you shop on Amazon.

Final Selections are in For the Bulgarian Giant Leek Seed Saving Project

I recently went through and picked the final winners in my seed leek trial.  This time I went for some short stout ones, but all were still probably at least 18 inches long.  I think size and up to almost 3 inches diameter are probably a little more practical than the really tall and somewhat more slender ones.  the leeks will now flower in their new home and seed should be ready by fall.

It's time to select the best leeks and move them to new spot in the garden to flower and seed. They are transplanted, mulched and supports put in place. They should be fine for the summer with a little bit of water and the seed will be saved in the fall.

Rawhide, Leeks and Roads

Apparently I can't keep up with myself.  Here is a backlog of recent videos on everything from rawhide to roads.

CULLING LEEKS

The difference between the different sections of the leek bed are even more obvious now, confirming more what I observed this summer, which is that the soil with charcoal (biochar) has what is generally referred to as heart.  That is to say it has staying power and isn't easily used up without regular additions of fertilizer.  I've been very negligent with this leek bed and it really shows on the control end with no charcoal, but not much on the 10% char end.  The 5% section is better than half way between the two others, but there is an obvious difference except that within one foot of the 10% section, the plants are nearly indistinguishable from most of the rest of the 10% section.  The very end of the 10% section drops off in size, but that may be due to the shape, of the bed, which is pointed on the end.  Also, many gardeners will have observed that plants tend to do less well on the ends of beds.  If you took the difference between the control end and the 10% end as at least 600% difference, that could be interpreted as the 10% char end making 600% better use added amendments.  That is a sloppy interpretation and doesn't take into account all possible factors, but it's still impressive and probably on the low side if anything. The leek seed from this project will be ready in the fall for planting about this time next year.

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ROAD SERIES PRIMER

This one is a quick primer for what will be a series on the design of graveled roads based on what I learned and have observed building mine, as well as paying attention to other unpaved roads and what happens to them in various circumstances.  It will have to potential to save a lot of people, time, money, unpleasant driving conditions, all while saving resources ultimately and keeping sediment out of stream beds.  In the meantime, you can download the handbook for forest and ranch roads for free here.  It is a dry read, but very worth putting to use if unpaved roads are a regular part of your life.  http://www.pacificwatershed.com/sites/default/files/roadsenglishbookapril2015b_0.pdf

A Quick primer on the road series. The basic philosophy of these fish friendly roads is to have a set of effective tools that can be intelligently applied to various circumstances to decrease erosion and keep the road surface, ditch soil and soils at drainage sites, such as culvert mouths in place instead of washing into streams. That approach is also conveniently more cost effective in the long run and will keep you driving on a better road most of the time.

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RAWHIDE HANDLE BRACE FINAL

This is the final part of the rawhide axe handle brace.  As usual for me, this series wasn't just about making this one tweak, but about rawhide and sinew and hide glue and context and related stuff.

The rawhide axe handle wrap/brace/collar is finished,dry and put to some use. It looks good and works great for protecting the wood from incidental damage. Using rawhide is a considerable time investment and there are other options that will work. But, for natural materials at least, I think rawhide is hard to beat for overall points.