seeds Archives - Linda Nelson

SOW BY NUMBERS

February 25, 2018

The southeast coast of New York has been blessed with a string of spring-like days lately, and I’ve been taking full advantage of it. What a gift! I’ve been able to turn my compost pile, do a bit of garden bed grooming, and seed sow a few cold hardy crops – all without being bundled up in a snowsuit. Sweet! Kovacs, my foster cat, looks on from the comforts of my office as I toil away.

©Linda Nelson 2018

We’re all familiar with the classic “Paint By Number” kits, right? Well, today I’m sharing with you, “Sow By Numberâ„¢”, a very practical method I created for labeling seeded vegetables and flowers that’s as easy as 1-2-3!

What you’ll need is –

a bunch of landscape fabric anchor pins
a plastic placemat with printed decor on only one side
permanent magic marker
a clipboard, paper and pen or pencil
scissors and a hole punch

Cut your placemat into a bunch of 1″x3″ strips. Punch a hole at the short end of each strip, making sure the hole is big enough to slip one prong of the landscape pin through the hole. Grab a label, write a number “1” on it and drive the pin into the soil at the site of where you sowed your seeds.

©Linda Nelson 2018

Log the number “1” onto your paper chart along with the seed type and sowing date. Your next label will be number “2”(obviously), and you will anchor it in a the site of a different type of seed. Continue this process for each type of seed variety that you sow. If you plan to succession sow a particular variety, label your marker with a letter next to the number and catalog those dates on your chart.

©Linda Nelson 2018

What’s nice about this method is that, no matter what you plant, the numbered labels can be used over and over again every year; simply create a new chart for each season. Your labels won’t blow away, either; the anchor pins keep them in place all season long. And……… you don’t have to painstakingly fit your descriptive scribble on a tiny little marker label. Now, THAT’S sweet!

Hey, did you know that window wells make perfect little cold frames for growing potted cool crop/winter sown seedlings? They do, try it!

©Linda Nelson 2018

Ahhh….. now it’s time to sit back and watch things sprout.

©Linda Nelson 2018

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MY, WHAT FASCINATING PESTS….

July 10, 2017

Devoting the weekend to yard work was both, blissful and tiring, and many tasks were accomplished. I was just about wrapping things up late Sunday afternoon, when I spotted this little creature hanging out at the entrance to my vegetable garden – a hawk moth.

©Linda Nelson 2017

A quite striking specimen, no? Well… striking, interesting and quite lovely as she may be, she’s also the egg layer of the tomato horn worm. And, you know what that means. Your prized tomato plants will be eaten while your back turned, by a green, horned and quite grotesque looking finger-sized monster. But, I hadn’t encountered any green monster worms while tying up my tomato plants earlier in the day.

I took a closer look, and lo and behold, I found tomato horn worm eggs. My, oh, my, are they tiny! They’re roughly 1/16″ in diameter; I removed ten of them from my four tomato plants.

©Linda Nelson 2017

And, look what I also found… baby tomato horn worms! They were just barely 1/4″ in length with a horn almost as long as their body.

©Linda Nelson 2017

Though I don’t like plant destructing pests in my garden, I found the afternoon’s experience quite fascinating.

Last year many of my pumpkin/squash plants had succumb to the squash borer (another pesky garden pest). This season I’m just sticking to squash species that the borer tends to ignore – butternut squash and Long Island cheese pumpkin. I got the cheese pumpkin seeds at a seed swap back in February, and pictured below is one of the plants.

©Linda Nelson 2017

Two years ago I acquired three little ‘Pixie’ grape plants. And, yes, I do mean little. The plants obtain a height of only 18-24″ at maturity, and they do not produce twining tendrils like standard size grape vines do. Do you see the little grape cluster? Adorable. There are two other clusters on this plant (which is only 12″ tall!) hidden behind the leaves.

©Linda Nelson 2017

Did you ever sow seeds, forget to label them, and then find yourself unable to identify the seedlings? Well, something similar happened to me with the plant pictured below. Back at the seed swap in February, which was the first time I ever attended one, I failed to bring ziplock baggies. Lesson learned! Some folks offers seeds in envelopes, and, well, many seeds found their way out of the envelopes and ended up….. in the bottom of my purse. I knew these particular seeds were bean seeds, but I had more than one variety in my possession, and they were all mixed up….. in the bottom of my purse. As it turns out, I’m growing heirloom Oregon Giant pole beans! I did some research on them….. looks like I’m going to need a much, much taller trellis 😀

©Linda Nelson 2017

And, last, but not least…. the art of shell gardening. It’s pest-free, maintenance-free and doesn’t break your back!

©Linda Nelson 2017

Well, that’s all for now.

Enjoy this beautiful summer day!

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POPPING POPPIES

July 6, 2015

I’m thrilled with the show that my bread seed poppies are putting on this year, and look forward to harvesting their seed pods. They’re quite trouble-free with regard to pests and such, and simply just do their thing. This particular annual species is Papaver somniferum ‘Lauren’s Grape’.

©Linda Nelson 2015

The seed packet will make a wonderful little addition to a decoupage project, don’t you think?

Zucchini squashes are just starting to plump up. (Note to self…. must fry up some blossoms.)Yum!

Oh, and I must try my hand at making kale chips.

My trusty-faithful hydrangeas never fail to deliver. I can always count on them.

I goofed (sort of) with the timing for planting onion sets. I took a chance planting some garden center freebies last fall, with the hopes of getting an early summer harvest. Instead, I got flowers. There’s no disappointment going on here, though. They’re great for fresh cut arrangements. I’ll just plant more next spring, which is the correct season for planting onion sets.

What a thrill to see that my water lotus garden is taking to life. I had a seed pod from an old potpourri package that was looking a little exhausted. It was at least ten years old, so I was more than ready to just toss it. I saved the seeds and sprouted them in a small glass of water. I then transplanted the seedlings to this lovely little glazed cache pot. The big challenge will be when it’s time to overwinter them at the end of the season.

Linda Nelson 2015

Cats make for fabulous decorative garden objects, wouldn’t you say. I’m partial, of course, for that’s my cat!

Enjoy your day.

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