This simple method of capturing seeds will work well with many flowering plants (especially those which produce a flowering “stalk”). In this picture, I am holding the mature stalks from just one broccoli plant. After the plant flowers, I just wait until the seed pods are nice and full, and a few of them have started to fall off - and then I know that they are ready to harvest. (more…)
I discussed in a previous post, Artichokes in Florida, that I was going to try my hand at growing these. Well so far the results are outstanding. On the left is one of the artichoke plants which I planted from seed only last month! As you can see, it is growing like crazy in “my secret formula” (no secret really). I decided to plant them in deep containers (more…)
I previously discussed the cheap method I was utilizing for the purpose of staking indeterminate tomatoes. In case you haven’t followed, the first part of this process is here. Well, my tomatoes have gotten huge and some are already 4′ tall since I planted them from seed in the first part of the year. (more…)
Well the tomatoes which I just staked are starting to load up with blossoms, and I even have quite a few fruit. However, one thing that I notice is that a few of the heirloom varieties are dropping most of their blossoms. Seen here on the left is one nice Black Krim heirloom, but most of the surrounding blossoms just fell off. I have also noticed the same thing happening with two of my Kellogg’s Breakfast heirloom tomatoes. (more…)
Well the heirloom tomatoes that I planted from seed 2 -1/2 months ago are already in need of staking. Because one of my main goals for this blog site is to promote the practice of low space, intensive, and “frugal” home growing, I am always looking for new ways to accomplish these ends. Therefore, I decided to try a different idea for staking my indeterminate tomatoes. (more…)
Here are a couple of the heirloom tomatoes that I grew from seed a couple of months ago. The two shown here are black krim and I have pictured them here to illustrate the genetic variability in open pollinated varieties like the heirlooms. Notice the difference in leaf structure and plant shape. Because of this variability, (more…)
Hmm, we will see about that(?) I tried to grow some globe artichokes a few years ago and some nasty fungus or other pathogen set into them when they had gotten about 2′ high. However, I am a sucker for challenges and especially like to try somewhat unconventional stuff that nobody else is growing in the area - that and the fact we love artichokes and they are now getting too expensive. Therefore, I am giving it another try. (more…)
This is the first time I have planted Arugula and I sure am glad that I did! It grows very fast from seed and is exceptional tasting in salads and other dishes. It is also fairly expensive in stores, and so this is another incentive to plant your own.
Pictured is a small section of plot in which I transplanted various “greens” seedlings one week ago (along with some seeds which I directly sowed which have just come up). Seen here are arugula, curly cress, and mustard greens - I featured the seed starting of these recently in the seed trials post using worm compost. (more…)
Hey, this is pretty cool! After having read a few articles on the seed germination benefits of worm castings, I decided to do a side by side comparison between vermicompost (dug from my ‘worm pit’) and regular seed starter mix. Referring to the pic (click to enlarge) the bottom row are seeds that I planted using my vermicompost and the top row are in the seed starter mix. (more…)
