Branching Out's Seeds and Sprouts

[Dahlia]

I grew Arizona Apricot Gaillardia from seed, and instead of being uniform each plant has its own bloom characteristics. The most charming grasshopper was nestled amongst the buds.

The orange ones remind me of some yummy summer time drink like mango-orange! So pretty!

 

[Branching Out]

We stopped in at West Coast Seeds today and they had such a lovely autumn display of gourds and squash.

 

[Branching Out]

This little spider snuggled right in to the leaves of a Horehound plant that's growing along the edge of our driveway.

 

[Branching Out]

We finally had two days in a row with only minimal rain, so we pulled the remaining St. Valery carrots to make room to plant a few early garlic varieties. The carrots were sown April 14th from seeds received as a free gift from Baker Creek Seeds; they have a wonderful crunch, sweet taste, and excellent yield when grown in a raised bed. I gave the bed a top-dressing of compost and some dry organic fertilizer, and then placed the cloves in position before poking them in. 48 cloves in total of Japanese, Thai Purple, and Shandong.

Second garlic patch took a bit longer to prepare as there were dahlias to move, zinnias to cut back, and also a bunch of pansy plants to relocate. In the end we got it done just before the sun went down. 90 cloves in that plot, including Lithuanian Purple, Aglio Rosso, Klamath Wild, and Silverwhite. Garlic doesn't cross, but when I cracked the bulbs there was one Klamath Wild that looked markedly different than the rest. I segregated those cloves in their own section so I can make a comparison at harvest time.