I do nurture some wild verbena in my yard, care for five trees, and I have some potted cacti. That's it. I may never plant another seed.
Still I find seeds interesting on several levels.
Over the last couple of decades I've hearing that it has been getting more difficult to obtain seed that produce excellent food plans than it once was. I've also been told that there are more excellent seed available then ever. What have you heard?
I've also heard that it is also difficult to get food plants which produce good viable seed. What has been your experience.
This is desert country and there is no commercial agriculture here. Many old timers have told me that a variety of fruit trees have been grown in the area, but that most of them quickly died within a month or two without summer irrigation. There was a experiment growing garlic in the 50s that seems to have bee productive. Jojoba plantations are surviving. I've also heard that there I were still some productive Indian milpas up until about WWI.
If I decided to try to grow some food plants what would be a practial way of selecting seed producing plants appropriate to this high desert region of Southern California? Water is expensive and getting more so. How can I go about finding excellent food plants appropriate to the available climate, soil, and expensive water.
How could I efficiently produce my own seed here? How may I preserve viable food producing see over multiple generations?
How might I calculate the likelihood of high economic benefit of truck gardening here and producing my own seed?
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