Branching Out's Seeds and Sprouts

[Branching Out]

Such helpful advice-- thank you all. I will have to really keep my eye on these pods, because I would like to have them for fresh eating. Good to know that they make excellent dried peas though, if they get away from me. I have never heard of Carrick Seeds before, so I will have to take some time to read their catalogue and maybe add a few varieties to my wishlist for next year.

It was interesting to hear of your success with sowing peas in a gutter Crealcritter. I watched videos showing how to do that, but have yet to give it a try. First I need to scavenge a nice short piece of gutter that would be easy for me to manage, and then I will give that a try. It seems to be perfect for transplanting them without any root disturbance at all.

And the baby crib idea for cucumbers is very creative too. I have some sort of a wooden panel with slats that is similar to the shape of a crib side wall, and I hope to employ it this summer for vining plants. Currently it is in our very messy carport, with many other 'useful' items that I have collected. Our place is starting to look like the set from "Sanford and Son'.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

Grape hyasinths are a pain in the toosh!

 

[heirloomgal]

"Round, green seeds’ only disadvantage is that if you drop them they will roll a long ways!"

I thought, don't they all?

 

[Branching Out]

I managed to prune one of our three small raspberry patches the other day, which was a very pleasant way to spend an hour on a sunny spring afternoon. This particular patch is a favourite variety to prune because it is a fall-bearing (aka 'ever bearing') variety, and it does well when all of the old canes are cut down to the ground in late winter. No having to sort through what stays and what goes-- just clear cut. These raspberries produce canes with small spurs that are not too prickly, and it has no lateral branches to get tangled up with other canes. The only lateral growth is short 4" fruiting branches that dry up and snap off easily. This is a good quality, because it provides me with dozens of 5-7' tall canes that are perfect for making home made trellises (raspberry canes for the uprights, and apple prunings woven through for the laterals), or for poking in the soil as short bean poles for semi-runner beans. I have even managed to use some of the canes for two summers, as they cure nicely. They are strong and lightweight, very much like balsa wood. I have no idea what the name of this raspberry variety is, except that they are small, red, and yummy.

 

[Branching Out]

Something, likely deer, has been munching my Asiatic garlic. There are five different kinds, with the Asiatic located in a strip running up the middle of the patch. They only went for the Asiatic, and ate the tops off of all of them!!

 

[Crealcritter]

The do say that cinnamon helps, and I ended up sprinkling it all over my tray of blocks that had mold growing. I think that, and allowing the tray better air flow so it could dry out made a difference. Preventing the mold is far easier than getting rid of the mold.

Can I sprinkle ground cinnamon over emerging blackberry seedlings? I don't think it would hurt anything, but it's the start of a cobbler

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Crealcritter]

Something, likely deer, has been munching my Asiatic garlic. There are five different kinds, with the Asiatic located in a strip running up the middle of the patch. They only went for the Asiatic, and ate the tops off of all of them!!

Deer I had a polite one last year. It walked right between the rows of cabbage. Didn't nibble on any and didn't step on a single plant.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Branching Out]

Late evening sun on the crocuses.

 

[Branching Out]

We needed hay for our pet rabbit, so yesterday we went to the feed store and were kind of shocked by the price of hay. In terms of size it wasn't even the super long bale, but rather what they refer to as a '3 String Timothy' bale. It is imported from Washington State, and the price was $46CAD plus tax (about $38USD, with taxes in). This bale will likely feed our bunny for six months; can't imagine having to buy 15 bales a month to feed a horse though.

 

[flowerbug]

I thought, don't they all?

if you drop a million bean seeds on wooden floors you will get some interesting bounces. yes, i've probably dropped that many by now.