Category Archives: seeds

Mar9

Cilantro coming up & New homes for the fairies

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Cilantro coming up & New homes for the fairies
The cilantro I planted last week in an old salad container is coming up beautifully. I kept the lid on until this morning to create a humid sprouting area for the seeds. In front is a small glass where I have a couple plants rooting in water, including the only surviving piece of a gorgeous geranium from last year which my puppy attacked.
 
 Here is another set of herbs that I planted last night in individual peat pots (I have a couple hundred I got for free on the side of the road!) Note the closed lid creating a steady, moist environment for the seeds. Also note the SNOW we still have mountains of here, despite the fact that rain and flooding melting everyone else’s in town earlier this week. We are so sheltered here on our shady mountainside.
 
Adorable tiny birdhouses I found yesterday for $2 at the local thrift store. They’re too small for any real bird, but very cute. The one with a windchime is going in my dogwood tree outside the living room, and the other one, which still has it’sbrand new tags on it,  is going to one of my mother’s trees, where the fairies have asked for more birdhouses, small and large. She has many fairy groves on her property, where the trees are each adorned with several windchimes, birdhouses and feeders, and the birds adore the special places. The most sacred tree, the third largest maple in the state, we call “The Mother Tree” and she also has prayer flags and candles around her.
 
Jan15

Buying Seeds for the Garden

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Buying Seeds for the Garden

Now, now, just because I won’t be planting so much this year, you didn’t think that meant I wasn’t dreaming about seeds and gardens, did you? Ha! I just wrote an article for Equine Wellness Magazine yesterday all about planting edible flower, herb and vegetable gardens for your horse (the issue is coming out in May, I believe)… I simply can not get away from the leaf and shovel :)

My very first blogpost ever was about seeds, and I am reposting that post here because it is very appropriate for the season. Enjoy!

“Having turned the corner through the dead of winter, our days are getting longer and everyone (at least here where I live) is dreaming about Spring and days that don’t begin with a stoking of the fireplace. Seed and plant catalogues are a great way to feed the mind and soul during winter, with beautiful images of flowers and vegetables, herbs and exotic grasses. I recently found a great article from Mother Earth News that had links to seed companies all over America. This is a fantastic resource, because when you buy seeds locally you are accomplishing two things: you are supporting local business communities and your plants are more likely to thrive in your soil, having been bred for generations in that spot of earth.

When you are reading about seeds, you will come across the terms Hybrid (F1), Open-Pollinated (OP) and Heirloom. Hybrid seeds produce specially bred varieties that are often disease and drought-resistant, or have special production properties. They are also usually designed to create more seed buying and protect the seed company’s economic interest in their stock, which means that they will not breed true: if you want the same plant next year, you’ll have to buy the seeds again. If you try and use seeds you collected from the plant, they will grow into a different plant, generally with different fruit production, or not even germinate at all.

Open-pollinated seeds breed true, and are often organic or grown without pesticides. You can save seeds from an open-pollinated plant and expect the exact same plants the next year. Environmentally, they present a better heritage for our children because these seeds are dependable and safe. Heirloom seeds are generally considered open-pollinated seeds which have been growing true for over 50 years or plant generations — these are the seeds of our grandmothers, and theirs. Some heirloom varieties are endangered, and I love knowing that I am preserving a little bit of istory by planting these varieties in my garden.Here in Connecticut, I chose to order from two companies. The first is Comstock, Ferre, which had many OP seeds to choose from, does a lot of their own growing, and is the oldest seed company in the United States. How cool is that?? The other is a small company just a few towns aways from me, in a really tiny town, actually, called John Scheeper’s Kitchen Garden Seeds. I also have some seeds from last year from Park’s and Seeds of Change that I will use up.”
Another great resource for those of you who are uber-serious about saving and using your seeds for next year is the fabulous book, Seed to Seed.
Mar25

Milk in the Garden — milkin’ it for all it’s worth!

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Milk in the Garden — milkin’ it for all it’s worth!

We drink a gallon of milk a week, fresh from the farm. The farmer brings us our milk in recyclable gallon plastic jugs, which pile up until I can get to the recycling center. They are big, and they are unsightly. They get on my nerves.

Until now! I have come up with several uses for gallon jugs in the garden and on the farm. The first use I came up involves using a serrated knife to cut the bottom of the jug off about 1.5 inches from the bottom. This creates a very nice single unit “greenhouse” for spring seedlings in the garden. Use the discarded bottom to start seeds in, or place under pots to catch water.

Holding the handle, you can further cut away part of the “greenhouse” to create a nice feed scoop.

Or, use the container to make the gorgeous plant ID stakes pictured in the post. I cut off the bottom of the jug with a knife, and then with scissors I cut the flat portions of the jug off. Then, I cut the flat portions into strips varying from 4-5 inches long. With two snips, I tapered one end to a point. They look very much like the white ones you can buy at stores, except that they are translucent. I made over 50 strips from two jugs.

I’m sure this barely scratches the surface of what can be done with milk jugs. I used to store mead in them. You can cut the top half with the handle of to create square-ish bins. Decorate the edges with bits of ribbon for a pretty, and safer, effect. Or, leave the jug whole, cut a big door at the bottom and some windows, decorate and paint it and you have a dollhouse or toy car garage… Anyone have any other uses for them?