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| Sorry for the bad pic. Southern light streaming in! |
Even with culling I still wound up with well over 90 plants! I'll give most to friends since I don't have enough room here in the City & not ready for the Country. I've got to keep experimenting, right?
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| Full growing rack! |
I let my broccoli, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage & romaine from the 'fall' garden, go to seed but wasn't having any luck actually getting seeds ... until yesterday. I finally had the romaine get a few of the dead flower heads get that puffy white stuff & sure enough there were seeds in there! Boy, I need better light & better sight to do much lettuce seed harvesting. I think I got about 1/8 of a teaspoon from 4 or 5 heads.
The broccoli was flowering but I couldn't tell if it had 'gone to seed' until yesterday when one of the separated plants had these on the top. Are these broccoli seed pods?
Sure look like it to me. Note: My Seed to Seed Saving Book is at the Country House & I keep forgetting to bring it home. And, I just haven't made the time to search the internet.
Nothing is happening with the Chinese cabbage or cauliflower & I may have to give up on those as I need to prepare the beds for the spring planting. Plus, I've read that you shouldn't let too many Brassicas(sp?) go to seed at one time.
Our cat (Rister) decided to lay in the area of one of the beds that I had covered due to the cold weather this past weekend. Carrots, onions & leeks under the cover, w/garlic in the uncovered area.
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| Just taking a nap |
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| What do I hear? |
Also had a couple of bananas that were reaching ripeness & decided to make banana bread using the small pans I had recently bought at an Estate Sale (4$ for 20 of them!).
On another note, moving In-Law's porch & extra buildings is proving to be more difficult than expected. But it is, so we'll deal with it. Should have everything (even the Crepe Myrtles) out of their current location this coming weekend, crossing fingers & toes.
The Driveway at the Country House was cleared but it has been raining almost every day since. Too wet to work. There are 2 VERY wet spots that will need to be filled in & the one over the actual branch will also need a large culvert installed. Plus, they are estimating 30 - 50 loads of dirt will need to be brought in! It all just sounds like much more than we had estimated cost wise. But, it has to be done, so something will be pushed aside until later.
18 comments:
Your bread loves look great and I bet they are yummy. Way to soon for planting in or out here yet but my mini green house should be put together soon. All those dried herbs on hand to cook with really saves money. I always hated losing any seedlings after so much TCL. Blessings! Lara
I say keep trying, there's always time.
That there is a beautiful growing rack, did you make it?
Yum banana bread, our favorite. Great find on the small bread pans, you wouldn't be able to find that quantity in the store for that price.
I know getting dirt for your driveway is an expense but in the long run, it will be well worth it. Especially if you don't have to rely on your neighbor.
Thank you Lara. I love having my own dried herbs on hand to cook with.
Sandy,
Husband built the rack one weekend when I was away on business. It works great! Those bread pans are quite heavy to be so small. I guess it's because there are so many of them.
And yes, the dirt is an expense but agree it will be worth it in the long run, to not have to rely on anyone.
We also have a couple of very damp spots on our road. In preparation for winter we all got together and, with the help of a digger loader, have filled the with a pile of stone for future drainage, and then sand on top. Hope it helps LOL
Nice post! I'm struggling too with harvesting seeds from some of these same plants. I've read on them, but reading doesn't always paint the right picture.
Good luck w/the drive. Sounds like something that would happen at The Compound. Always more than what we planned on...
Thanks Izzy. I wish we had access to stone. We'll probably have to purchase some gravel in the future.
Thanks Izzy. That one forgotten broccoli has been in that post over by the compost bins a long time. The books don't tell you how long it takes to go to true seed nor how long it will take to dry off while on the plant. I only accidentally kept that romaine & would have never gotten the seeds had I been impatient, like I normally am.
Wow! That growing rack is amazing! I have pretty much given up starting seeds - I have a friend who does a great job and always has extras. I should send you thyme - most of my front yard is covered in wild thyme, as is my side yard. I don't even have to grow it! That is a LOT of dirt - and it does seem that every plan takes longer and costs more than expected.
I would love to have too much thyme! It's one of my favorite herbs, right there with oregano, rosemary, parsley & cilantro. Most of the plants that I gave away last year, people gave me back produce. Especially one of my cousins that had a phenomenal year w/the German Cherry tomatoes. I got the last gallon bag full in November!
Wow, such good stuff going on here! Rister is too funny. I love your seed trays and grow lights. Maybe once we get the bathroom and bedroom done, and I can have some room, I should do something similar.
Thanks Leigh. My husband built the stand in one afternoon. No plans, just his thought process of what I had explained I needed or rather wanted. Rister is one big A Hole kitty, but I love him regardless of the scratches he leaves!
Wow, I've hardly started any seeds this year! You have so much started!
Thank you Manuela. I'll share. We're only about 3 hours from you, depending on which side of 'the city' you are on.
Ugh, I need to get my stuff started. You're in good shape!
Thank you. I dread when I have to start hardening them off in a couple of weeks. That's a lot of back & forth, outside, then back in & do it all again for the next few days.
Finally getting over here to read you and I have found a TON of stuff going on! We obviously have not started planting yet, but I love your comparison experiments, I used to do that at the first Calamity Acres. I can't bear to "kill" them off, either... the little plants... and always try to give away as many as I can. Your growing set up is great!
Thanks Mary Ann. So far, my SS are outgrowing the others. We'll see what happens for produce.
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