VOCABULARY ON A SEED PACKET ~ Just in time to get those seeds started!

 

VOCABULARY ON A SEED PACKET

Determinate. These seeds produce plants that produce the vast majority of their fruit within a short time frame (like a week or two). Therefore, these seed varieties are convenient for home food preservation.

Indeterminate. Seeds with this label will produce plants whose fruit matures over the growing season, thus providing small yields for months.

Direct-sow. These seeds should be planted directly into the garden bed. Direct-sow seeds do not tolerate transplanting.

Open-pollinated. Seeds saved and re-planted from these varieties will "breed true," growing into nearly identical plants as the plant on which they were harvested.

Heirloom. These plant varieties are at least 50 years old and open-pollinated, so any seeds collected from these plants will "breed true."

Hybrid. These seeds result from a cross between two plants to produce desirable characteristics such as large flowers or disease resistance. Seeds collected from mature hybrids may not look or grow like the parent (will not breed true) and are unsuitable for saving.

Annual. These plants complete their life cycle in one year or less, requiring re-planting each year.

Biennials. These plants complete their life cycle in two years. 

Perennials. These varieties live more than two years.

Organic. These seeds are grown under USDA guidelines for soil quality, and the use of pesticides and fertilizers is limited to a shortlist of approved products. 

A view of the Blues

Spring flowers and birds to brighten your day

Turnip flowers are delicious to eat in salads, the bees love them and the seed pods are good to eat as well! I've saved seed and will use them to replant in the future. The small birds love the seeds too. There are plenty for all!    

Tulips are one of my spring favorites!

Delicious Winter squash

Our neighbor brought, over a squash that she had been given back in the fall of 2020 and it sat around here for another few weeks before I got around to cutting it up for eating.  It was so sweet and delicious that I saved all the seeds in hopes of growing some that are just as good. I'm not sure of the variety, but it might be a type of hubbard, possibly a green hubbard. 

Snow days ~ never know what February will bring!

 

Some successes and some failures - that's how the garden grows

 

Gardening is all about learning new things, using new & old methods for gardening and sometimes about failure. 

Success! The turnips, carrots, and beets that were allowed to go to seed from last year's crop seem to be a success. The turnips seeded first and the birds helped themselves to lots of seeds and helped me out by reseeding the bed! The photo was taken on August 1st and here it is December 2nd, in zone 6, and we are eating small, fresh turnips and greens from the garden. The carrot and beet seed took much longer to mature so should produce in the spring. Lots of little seedlings came up just from the seed dropped when we were harvesting the seed heads. 

Success! The Chicago Hardy Fig produced 3, little figs and one matured! Yes, I do consider this a success, even though the fig was only the size of a quarter. To me, this means that they can grow and produce in zone 6. I just need to get the conditions and fertilizing right!! 

Failure... While not a complete failure, the tomatoes that where grown in containers, in the greenhouse did not do as well as I'd like. The plants did not grow as tall as they should have and did not produce very many fruits. The fault is, partly, mine. 1. Got them planted late; 2. It got too hot too fast in the greenhouse; 3. Didn't stick to a good routine of fertilizing; 4. Maybe too many plants in one container. Will revisit this method in 2021! 

Houseplants have their uses...

 

So, here it is the last day of November. The weather has been wild here, wind, rain, snow and more wind. However, it's nice and warm inside and all of the houseplants that summered outside are enjoying being back inside. 

Not only do houseplants help clean the air in your home, some flower and give you weeks of colorful enjoyment. African violets are beginning to bloom, the Thanksgiving cactus is finished but the Christmas cactus is setting buds! The cyclamen, prayer plant and an unnamed succulent are also adding to the show. 

Many plants needed dividing last spring and there are quite a few nice starts to sell or gift. By selling starts I can make a few dollars to spend on seeds for next year's garden and also plan to sell seedlings of extra tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and other garden goodies. It's nice that they all play a part in helping fund my gardening enjoyment.

Here are a few of the ones I have this year: