A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

Happy Thanksgiving to you! Ours won’t be until November 25, always on the 4th Thursday in November. Enjoy your holiday, what’s on the menu?

Lentil shepherd's pie, brussel sprouts, garden carrots, huge garden salad w/fresh garlic vinaigrette, homemade pickled beets (my stepmum's) and we had pumpkin pie and spice cake for dessert! There is few occasions as good as Thanksgiving for overeating, maybe Christmas... Almost each dish had something from the garden.

Oh, the pie!!

 

[baymule]

Sounds delicious and I'm sure a good time had by all.

 

[jbosmith]

Love, love, love lentil shepherds pie!

 

[ducks4you]

Finally getting into seed saving. I am currently fermenting those seeds from the one lovely cantaloupe that I forgot I had planted. I need to clean them tomorrow and rinse, then air dry them. Must be a hundred seeds from the one melon!
If not, my seed eyes are bigger than my...er...um...GARDEN!!!

 

[heirloomgal]

Finally getting into seed saving. I am currently fermenting those seeds from the one lovely cantaloupe that I forgot I had planted. I need to clean them tomorrow and rinse, then air dry them. Must be a hundred seeds from the one melon!
If not, my seed eyes are bigger than my...er...um...GARDEN!!!

That is so great @ducks4you ! Always makes my heart sing when I hear people are getting into saving their seeds. Seeds make wonderful heartfelt, homegrown gifts too. ()

 

[heirloomgal]

When I see some of the things that have volunteered in the garden this year, I can't help but laugh at myself a bit. I plant seeds and care for them as if there lives depend on me, and my careful attention to their light needs, perfect soil moisture, warm temperatures. Some of them probably require that, but when I see these grow despite all rhyme or reason, or likelihood, it is a reminder that life marches on, and doesn't always need me as much as I think it does. I did not (purposely) plant any of these this year -

And this thing, every spring I put it out into the sun room. Secretly I loathe it, it's DH's thing, I don't do houseplants. If he can get it to bloom, it's incredibly beautiful, but he doesn't always provide the conditions it needs to go into a flowering period. So I suffer to look at it's perpetually parched look all year round. Every year I quietly hope life in the much too hot sunroom will finish it off. It has not worked yet, in fact it seems to do this thing it's doing in the photo every fall instead. I am never sure if it's new leaflets, or buds, but if we keep things going, this sometimes leads to bright pink tropical looking flowers.

 

[Zeedman]

Beautiful morning glories, @heirloomgal . And if you like volunteers, just wait until you see all of the tomatillos you will probably have next year! Ground cherries & tomatillos may start off as garden visitors, but they tend to become permanent residents if any fruit hits the ground. I still had volunteers in the rural garden this year, from tomatillos that were grown 3 years ago. Really fast-growing too, tomatillo volunteers might even self-seed in your climate.

 

[flowerbug]

this thing is a Christmas Cactus and the conditions for getting it to bloom are to put it in a dark cool place for long enough. a quote from :

How to care for and get your holiday cactus to rebloom

Easy tips and tricks for successful holiday cactus reblooming every year.

www.canr.msu.edu

"To initiate the production of flower buds, there needs to be at least eight days of 16 hours of dark and eight hours of light each day. Wherever the plant is placed, do not turn on the lights at night, even for a short period of time. That breaks the dark cycle required. The temperature should be around 61 degrees. Avoid placing the plant where it receives either cold or hot air drafts."

 

[heirloomgal]

Beautiful morning glories, @heirloomgal . And if you like volunteers, just wait until you see all of the tomatillos you will probably have next year! Ground cherries & tomatillos may start off as garden visitors, but they tend to become permanent residents if any fruit hits the ground. I still had volunteers in the rural garden this year, from tomatillos that were grown 3 years ago. Really fast-growing too, tomatillo volunteers might even self-seed in your climate.

Uh-oh............

 

[heirloomgal]

this thing is a Christmas Cactus and the conditions for getting it to bloom are to put it in a dark cool place for long enough. a quote from :

How to care for and get your holiday cactus to rebloom

Easy tips and tricks for successful holiday cactus reblooming every year.

www.canr.msu.edu

"To initiate the production of flower buds, there needs to be at least eight days of 16 hours of dark and eight hours of light each day. Wherever the plant is placed, do not turn on the lights at night, even for a short period of time. That breaks the dark cycle required. The temperature should be around 61 degrees. Avoid placing the plant where it receives either cold or hot air drafts."

Thank you @flowerbug! I've always wanted to track this info down!