A Great Day for a Seed

Steady drizzle falling from the overcast skies ....  a great day for seeds and ducks.  And spring flowers and salad greens.

I hustled around this weekend like a crazy person getting ready for wet stuff to fall from the sky!  It is a miracle. The plants, seeds, grass seed, fertilizer ... everything is happy.  Oh wait, there would be two big tuff Belgians mighty ticked off with the thunder.  And Miss Priss who will stand on the porch so as not to get her pretty paws wet instead of going for a pottie break.

The back yard is not on the irrigation system, so I was waiting for a good rainy spell to plant out the tomato and pepper seedlings in the pots along the back fence.  In pots - Check!

Every stage of seedling I have is out in the rain.  The little's and tween's are protected by hats - palm fronds, inverted plastic clamshells, and for the seedling tray that I just started this week - covered with a piece of dense weave sun block window screening.

My parents-in-law will be here late tomorrow.  Mom is having her hip revision Thursday.  I've been working and planning garden greens to feed her while she is here rehabbing with us.  Plenty of healthy greens to get her back in business.

We are in pretty good shape with the brassica's - plenty (I hope) collards, kale, mustard and chard.  Various stages of lettuce growth.  Some in ground, some in salad bins.   This past week I started a pot of amaranth, though I'm not sure that it is the correct variety for leaf production. 

I also started two salad bins - here hiding out under the palm frond!  One is planted with Jericho Lettuce the other with Anuenue Lettuce.  Jericho was developed in Israel and Anuenue by the Univ. of Hawaii.  It will be interesting to see how these do compared to the Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce.  My patch is going strong in the rotted out oak stump bed.  I was going to scatter some more seed today, and dang if I haven't ran out.  Hrrrmmmmph .... must fix.  It will be nice to compare the three growing at the same time.  The salad bins -  metal tray thingies I got from the Target dollar bins are working nice for lettuce.

The next fresh greens experiment will be micro/baby lettuce from the Red Sails and Buttercrunch that bolted.  Over there to the side, is a feeble illustration of how to tell when the seeds are ready for harvest.  The square is a bud that has not yet bloomed.  The circle is a bloom that has gone to seed and is ready to harvest.  You can tell because it turns brown and has a white fuzzy top.

When most of the branch is making seed heads; i.e. has already bloomed - cut them off and stick them upside down in a paper bag.  Let them sit in the bag in a dry spot for a time to completely dry out, then shake really good to loosen the seeds from the seed pods.  I'll probably send them through a shake cycle in a fine colander or sieve to separate the bulk of the chaff from the seed.

I gathered all the branches into a paper bag before the storm front came through.  Better to have some seed than drowned and/or blown away stuff.

This seed will likely not be good pure seed, seeing as how the Red Sails and Buttercrunch were bosom kissing cousins in the garden bed.  But, the knowledge gained from watching the process is invaluable.  If and when I must know how to save proper heirloom seed I will know what I'm looking for.  And I'll know even more after I successfully get this seed dried, germinated and growing!

I've taken a window sill plant tray that I already had and rummaged some plastic containers to fit inside.  Poked many drainage holes in the plastic and filled them with some starter soil.  And, it is sitting outside right now getting rain water enriched!  I'll start the seed inside our air-conditioned house, sitting behind the kitchen sink so that I can keep the tray misted.  Lettuce seed needs cool temperature to germinate - but seeds - any seeds really - don't need strong light to germinate.  Once the seed has sprouted, and the first set of true leaves are destined for an appearance will be the time to move the tray out to the grow lights or out to a shady & cool spot in the garden.  I don't expect to get full size lettuce;  I'm after baby greens to augment our summer salads.

It is a busy time in the garden right now; but a fun time.  Watching the growth and burst of life; and the butterflies and birds returning.  Good times.  And after the rain this week?  I'm guessing pure bliss.  And the empty rain barrel is refilled!  Replenishment and nourishment for all.

A bit tardy, but joining in Seed Sowing Saturday with Dave flaunting his coneflowers self seeding (jealous I am).

In addition to saving seed and protecting seedlings, I really did start another tray of seed.  Heat loving plants that will make their way into the gardens as the greens are eaten away.  Tuscan Kale (to replace all the plants that some critter ate in the back), Florida Cranberry, Lovage, Chicory, Italian Dandelion, Yu Choy, Radish Leaf, Perpetual Spinach, Argenta Chard and more Basil. 

I planted some of the sweet potato slips in pots, upsized one of the winged bean and planted the other winged bean in the back.  Oh, and the chayote vine is going gang busters; as is the sword bean vine.  All these vines will be providing baby leaves to our summer salads.

For now, lets enjoy spring showers!