Garden Duds

These never sprouted. There's always a few duds in every batch of seeds, but I have never had so many before. Oh well. These are about to get dumped in the compost.

This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Veggie Mama!

Moldy Black Bean Seeds May 2008

Ok I have learned my lesson. Never save seeds in a plastic bag. Seeds need air.

Sadness! cause I got these seeds from black beans I grew. Was very excited about growing this years crop of black beans from these seeds.

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This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Veggie Mama!

How To Make Newspaper Pots

Step 1: Get a drinking glass, newspaper, and a box to place your finished pots in. I reuse pizza boxes.

Step 2: Tear each sheet of newspaper in half. I stack 10-15 single sheets at a time and tear them together.



Step 3: Roll each half-sheet with your glass to form a tube. Roll around the open end of your glass. Use just half of your paper; the other half should be left at top of the glass.



Step 4: Tuck in the paper at the top of glass into the glass.



Step 5: Pull the newspaper off the glass, being careful not to mess up the pot shape. You're almost done. Now turn your glass over and set it inside the newspaper, turning it to crunch it all in.



Step 6: You're all done! Now place your newspaper pot into your box.



Step 7: Fill each pot with dirt and seeds. Place on a porch or window in a sunny spot. Water each pot daily with a squirt of water.



In a few days you will see your seeds breaking through the dirt. This is a really good way to sow seeds for many vegetables. Then when seedling has sprouted and grown for a bit, you just plop each pot directly into garden ground; the newspaper is biodegradable and adds to the soil as it breaks down. Sowing seeds in newspaper pots helps a lot when you live in cold area and/or have a short growing season because it helps you get a jump start on your garden. It also helps if you have lots of wild animals roaming your garden area and/or birds who'll eat very young sprouts.

Enjoy!

This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Veggie Mama!

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Black Bean Seeds October 2007

You may remember, While I was pulling up the corn I saw I still had some black bean plants that I'd planted way back in the spring between the corn. They were still actually putting out new beans! but most of the pods were old and full of mature beans. Total coolness!

I'm saving the beans to plant next year. I planted my black beans from the dried beans I got at the store, so I have successfully planted from seed to seed. Pic coming soon!

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Lettuce Gone to Seed October 2007

Most of the lettuce has been long gone, here is a plant I let live out it's life cycle up on the balcony. I'm trying to collect and save as many seeds as I can for next year's planting...lettuce seeds are teeny-tiny though so it's gonna take a bit of time and patience.

Each puff is made up of little individual puffs that end in a sliver of a seed.

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Got Started on Garden

We got going on the garden today! Iyende, Scott, and Todd went with me to pick out the seeds and potting soil. Then when we came home the boys made the little newspaper pots for our indoor seedlings. Today we did Green Beans, Collard Greens, Carrots, Beefsteak Tomatoes, Broccoli, and Basil. Next week we’ll do 6 more veggies and herbs.

See more progress on: grow my own vegetables

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