We also planted lots more seeds, including a flat of radishes for tangy microgreens, and re-potted an avocado tree that I started from seed a few years ago. It's now nearly as tall as our littlest Chilli!
March 20, the official first day of Spring, fell on a Green Chillis day! We ventured out to the garden to see if anything was springing yet... Pretty sure this didn't grow here! One young Chilli discovered a drink token from the VFW Post; afraid it will be some time before she can use it... On March 27, the brassicas we started two weeks ago had mostly emerged - their glossy seed leaves looking, as one Chilli observed, like tiny butterflies. Inevitably, some cells had more than one seedling vying for success, so we thinned them out to allow the strongest one to thrive. The thinnings didn't go to waste, though - we gobbled them up! Delicious.
We also planted lots more seeds, including a flat of radishes for tangy microgreens, and re-potted an avocado tree that I started from seed a few years ago. It's now nearly as tall as our littlest Chilli!
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What is the result of heating corn seeds until the moisture inside expands so much that the seeds explode? Popcorn! What is the result of applying the same practice to pumpkin or squash seeds? Popsquash, of course! We've had a few pumpkins hanging around the library as decoration since last fall -- pumpkins that volunteered in the garden from unknown seeds. This week, we decided to cook one up and see what it tasted like! When the pumpkin was sliced and baking in the oven, there was no way we'd waste the nutritious and delicious seeds inside. We spread them on a baking sheet, and stuck them in the oven, too (450 degrees, if you want to try this at home). Before long, we started hearing the tell-tale popping that let us know our seeds were roasting nicely. A peek in the oven revealed that the mini-explosions had sent a handful of them ricocheting out of the pan! Before long, the popping had subsided and we took out our popsquash (leaving the handful that had jumped ship to become popcharcoal at the bottom of the oven). While we waited for the pumpkin itself to finish baking, we munched on crunchy popsquash (some Chillis thought it benefited from a sprinkle of salt) and played a round of Garden Bean-O. The pumpkin turned out pretty good, too, and after eating some by the slice, we mashed the rest up with a bit of butter, salt, and pepper. Yum! It was an exciting day all around, as we also uncovered the results from last week's cucumber germination test. The Poona Kheera seeds appear to be quite viable! Only one of the Mexican Sour Gherkins had sprouted, so we'll leave them another week and see what happens. We did get some work done too, planting kale (Lacinato and Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch), brussels sprouts, and cabbage (Mammoth Red Rock, Copenhagen Market, and Early Jersey Wakefield), after observing how similar their seeds look -- not too surprising, since they're all from the Brassica genus.
And as a final bonus, we were treated to a view of our first seedlings: Alyssum wins the early bird prize this year! Runner up: Foxglove. It's been a long, cold, snowy winter here in Central Illinois, and it seems the majority of Midwesterners agree that Spring is welcome to arrive at its earliest convenience. We've had a taste of it the past few days, with temperatures venturing above freezing, and the opening of another gardening season at the library! The new batch of Green Chillis jumped right in with several activities... -- Germination testing for two varieties of cucumber seed (saved from 2011 and 2012, so we weren't sure about how viable they'd be): We lined up 20 seeds in a damp paper towel and enclosed them in a plastic bag. We'll check them periodically over the next couple weeks to see if any sprout, and that should give us an estimate of how many seeds we'll need to plant to get a given number of successful plants. -- Starting seeds in flats for several varieties that take a bit longer to mature: two kinds of petunias, three kinds of daisies, foxglove, and alyssum. -- Exploring the box of goodies received through the Herman's Garden Seed Donation Program through the Seed Savers Exchange. This is the second time we have applied for the program, and once again the SSE responded most generously. It was like Christmas in March, watching the Chillis dig through and exclaim over the colorful packets! "Purple Poodle Pole Beans? Oh! Purple Podded!" We rounded out our time by reveling in the sunshine and snow -- with a snowball fight in the garden! Here's to another year of growing!
(I've also -- slowly, yet surely -- been updating the blog from the past seasons. Check out the posts below for the story of our garden so far!) |
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June 2017
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