Branching Out's Seeds and Sprouts

[Phaedra]

So I am wondering, if you harvest coriander seeds by cutting the stalks when the seeds are still green and hanging the stalks upside down-- will the seed still dry to a tan colour, and be viable for seed stock? Here in the Pacific Northwest things get a bit dicey this time of the year, and if left to mature on the plant in the garden some seeds have a tendency to 'dry' to black mildew instead of drying to a nice viable tan colour. I have searched online, but not had an easy time of locating information from anyone who has dried down green seeds for replanting. This is a special variety called 'Pokey Joe', and I am very much wishing to save as much seed from it as possible.

I just did this year but didn't make a viable texting yet. I can do it and let you know once they germinate.

 

[Branching Out]

I just did this year but didn't make a viable texting yet. I can do it and let you know once they germinate.

How kind of you Phaedra-- let me know what you find out with the viability test!

 

[Branching Out]

We have had a couple of very warm, humid days (25C/77F) to putter around outside. It is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, and such hot weather is not typical for us at this time of the year; in fact, it is rather bizarre. Yesterday friends came to pick up seedlings of kale, chard, radicchio, cabbage,lettuce, and purple sprouting broccoli. It will be good having these starts grow in our six different gardens, so we can compare notes on how the plants do through the fall and winter. I gave them a garden tour to show off our bumper crop of late-planted Kron Prince tomatoes that are ripening all at once, and I was able to send them home with a Omarsko Kambe pepper so they can try it. Along the way the first ripe figs caught the eye of my Italian friend so we had a chance to nibble on those sweet fruits, as well as some tasty cherry tomatoes. It is wonderful to have gardening friends who get excited about growing new vegetables.

 

[digitS']

Oh my!

Further north but that big ocean makes a difference.

Fresh figs off the tree.

Stefano

 

[Branching Out]

A couple of days ago I had 6-cells with lettuce seedlings that were getting big and needed to be pricked out. I was short on time and the weather was rainy, so I popped some of them in a bucket full of compost and the rest were tucked in to a wheelbarrow that also had compost sitting in it. For now the seedlings have room to stretch their roots in a bright location with cover so the rain wouldn't beat them up too much. In a few days I will try to find a good spot to plant them out, possibly in containers under the roof overhang on the deck so the lettuce leaves will stay clean.

Then I refilled the 6-cells with compost and started a few more seeds including Prize Choy, Arugula, Mizuna, Vate's Dwarf Blue Kale, Red and Green Komatsuna-- and a really intriguing vegetable called Groninger Blue Collards. It is described as an heirloom blue leaf cabbage from Holland, and I can hardly wait to meet it!

Collards, Groninger Blue

Heirloom blue leaf cabbage from Holland. A lesser known green, it has been cooked like kale or collards for centuries. Groninger Blue has attractive wide leaves with purple mid-ribs. When braised lightly, it has a sweet spinach like flavour. Can be used as a baby green, microgreen, or bunched...

www.damseeds.com

This whole procedure took mere minutes. I keep telling my husband that the DTM clock doesn't start ticking until the seeds hit the dirt, and I am so very happy that I was able to plant some of the varieties that got missed in earlier sowings.

 

[Branching Out]

Last fall I was lamenting how floppy and hollow my Autumn Joy sedum plants were, in contrast to my friends tidy specimens. She advised me that she gave her sedum the 'Chelsea Chop', which meant taking hedge trimming shears to them in late May to coincide with the Chelsea Flower Show in London. I was skeptical about trying this as it involved cutting off the growing tips, but in May I decided to give it a go anyway. The good news is that it worked! My sedum plants are short and tidy, with no floppiness. I may try this technique next year on Rudbeckia as well, since my Rudbeckia were not happy through the summer this year.

 

[Branching Out]

Many months ago I started Fama Deep Blue Scabiosa seeds, and managed to get one seedling to survive. Apparently it is 'an easy to grow, 20'' tall perennial,' that blooms from mid-summer until the frost. I planted it in a spot that in hindsight was far too arid, but somehow it scraped by. I was so excited to see the first bloom on the tiny plant today. The blossom looks like a blue snowflake!

 

[Branching Out]

When we bought our house over 15 years ago there was only one tree worth salvaging, a spindly Ginkgo tree that was growing on a funny angle. Over the years it has filled out quite a bit. It still lists towards the west, but we love it for the shade that it gives us in summer-- and for the spectacular burst of golden yellow that it offers in the fall.

 

[ducks4you]

You have two of my Adirondack chairs!!!
I also have 2 Adirondack gliders, all made by an Amish shop an hour away from us.

 

[Branching Out]

Small world! Our Adirondacks were made by a local man, from scraps that he brought home from the cedar mill that he worked at. Since the materials were free he sold the chair for the incredibly low price of just $35, which was a very good deal at the time. Those chairs were well made and have held up well for over 20 years, but now as I get older I have no desire to be sanding and painting furniture anymore-- so I hope the paint that I used lasts a good long while.