Seed Bombs Away!

I finally had the perfect opportunity to make use of my Seed Bombs! Last Tuesday I knew it would be lightly raining for several days building up to a heavy rain Saturday. It didn't pour on Saturday like I hoped, but my rain gauge showed me 3/4" for the week. And it's supposed to rain again this weekend :) That should germinate my babies!

 here they are in one of favorite carry buckets :)

 and here's my primary target - the former Malibu Castle and Monsoon Lagoon

 oh I miss my childhood haunt :'(

 

 right by my local Metro station :)

The Malibu Castle now a bunch of ruins and vacant land being used as an "Auto Hotel" which means big cargo trucks park in humongous lot overnight and their drivers take a nap. I miss the good 'ol days when the mini golf was always busy and there was the Monsoon Lagoon open during summer. The Lagoon was a little water park that was torn down long before the Castle went under, it used to be in that large expanse of vacant land between the street and the Castle in that first picture of the location.

I think it's perfect for seed bombs because most of the land is not paved over. Also, there is green growth most of the year, even in summer. I think the weight of the trucks parking there compacts the ground enough that water gets trapped in many of the tracks for long periods of time. Many also runoff from guys rinsing their trucks off. Anyway, I flung more than three dozen seed bombs in all directions. This weekend or next week I'll be stopping for more pics to see how it goes.

The seed bombs performed great so far. Some broke apart on first impact. The ones I threw farther and at a lower angle bounced once or twice before breaking apart. Good, now moisture will get to the seeds faster and hopefully spread them out more :)

work

I also dropped some in the parking lot at the office. Lord that place could use some purtiness. I've also got it in the back of my mind to transplant some morning glories to climb up with the ivy there....

Aaaaaand - I also tossed some seed bombs in other random locations I drove by last week. I will try to get pics soon. It was after dark when I did most of them. I hope they take.

Possible Tomato Comparison Experiment

I read in Territorial's catalog recently that they are trying a technique new to North America of grafted tomatos plants, like you would graft trees. A delicious tomato variety is grafted onto the roof of a different vigorous and disease-resistant tomato rootstock. One of the coolest things about it is you can purchase a plant with a single graft (one variety) and they also have double grafted with two varieties on one plant! Now that's a space maximizer.

I got a reminder about it in an email update yesterday and I'm serioulsy considering order one or two to try it out. Of course it begs the question - Will one of these really grow better than a normal one I grow from seed? So of course now I need to start some Brandywines from seed so they'll be transplant ready by the time a grafted Brandywine arrives and can be planted near each other to get the same growing conditions and....

Uh oh. I think I'm gonna go a little mad scientist this year...

First Soil Tests

Sunday night I performed my first soil test on the flower beds in the front yard. I got the kit about three weeks back for under $10, read the instructions and collected soil samples about 2 weeks ago. The samples are from the four flower beds I grow flowers for mom in, from the center of each bed about a trowel spade deep. I took about 1/4 cup of soil, labelled each of them and set them in the sun for a day to dry out. Then they sat in the garage until three night ago :)

So for the kit I used has four different tests- pH, Nitrogen level, Phosphorous level and Potassium level. It came with enough materials for 10 of each type of test, color coded test tubes and a results chart. I read the instructions three times- once when I first bought it, again right before taking the soil samples, and again the night I did the tests. They were printed on fairly heavy gloss paper which was nice because the booklet stayed open to the testing page when I set it on the counter and I didn't have to keep flipping pages to reference the steps.

The soil from each sample had to be crushed into little bits which I did with the back of spoon, and as many pebbles and recognizable plant matter removed as possible. Then came a bunch of measuring- measuring soil into a tube for the pH, measuring water to mix with soil in anothe container to use for the other three tests, etc. Each test also used a little pellet of I don't know what in each tube to cause the color changes related to the type of test. Enough for 10 of each test (the test tubes are reusable). And then came shaking, alot of shaking, to mix the soil/water/pellets.

I like the results chart. It's setup perfectly to stand up against something and place all the test tubes in front for easy comparison. The hardest reading for me was the phosphorus, the medium and high levels were a bit tricky to tell apart to me. Could have just been my eyes, I was doing this at 11pm for some reason...

Results:



TEST#
1 - 7.0pH, Low Nitrogen, Medium Phosphate, Medium Potassium
2 - 6.5pH, Low Nitrogen, Low Phosphate, Medium Potassium
3 - 7.0pH, Low Nitrogen, High Phosphate, Low Potassium
4 - 7.0pH, Low Nitrogen, Medium Phosphate, Medium Potassium

Anyway, good news is pH is pretty neutral across the board. Bad news is everything is low on nitrogen and there are a couple other nutrient deficiencies to try to balance out. I'm wondering if the low N everywhere is from the Gro Mulch I've been layering onto everything, if it's still decomposing itself it might be sucking the N out of the soil.

Hmm.. is my fish emulsion 5-1-1 or do I need some blood meal? I need to dig into my gardening books to see which natural fertilizers I should use. I am tempted to open up that leftover half bottle of miraculous crack that's 12-4-8 on the East flower bed...

Afterthought, maybe I should test my compost when it's done to see how balanced it is....

Finally, Some Seed Bombs!

I seriously regret not getting this done back in November before the rains, but oh well. If anyone's curious a seed bomb is a pellet (or other fun shape) usually made of clay, compost and seeds. You can toss them into vacant/abandoned lots and other places that have been left to weeds and hopefully the seeds will germinate and prettify the landscape. Wish I'd known about this technique years ago, there are a few long time vacant commercial lots I'd always wanted to scatter seeds in, but didn't want to hop the fence and couldn't figure out how to toss the seed any distance. Mixing it with compost and clay solves the fence and distance problems.

You can find lots of different recipes on seed bombs at Guerillagardening.org, here and here :)

Last weekend I got together with Jean and we finally made them!

my conspirator, accomplice, partner! Jean and the flats we put the seed bombs in to dry out :)

 and some of our finished seed bombs

 (mine on left, Jean's on right)

As you can see, Jean wore gloves. I did not. Here soil balls came out much smoother than mine did (and she did not suffer so much from little bits of twig/stick in the compost poking her hands). I don't know if that will make a difference in the final product.

 I had printed up several recipes I found on how to make them which we basically ended up not using :9 We broke up clay from the soil in my yard into little bits. Then accidentally added an equal amount of compost from Jean's bin instead of 5:1 clay to compost most recipes were recommending. But it was actually holding together well and easily shaped. So then we said screw it let's do it this way and dumped in the California wildflowers seed large packet (it was probably around 14 grams like the B.I. large packets). Then we just rolled them into little balls. Simple.

We set them in two nursery flats Jean had to dry, I took one back home to my place. I don't think we really need to wait for them to dry out, they were holding together well and should fly over fields with ease. We did a second small batch with cosmo, marigold and.... I forget what other flowers :9 Jean help!

 The green bucket in the pics that looks full of dirt - that's not dirt. That's the 3 gallons of clay I dug up from the front border of my yard. I am glad that is out of the ground and I have space to mix in some nice compost (and maybe my border will grow in properly this year).

It really didn't take much in the way of raw materials. The green bucket with clay was filled to the brim when we started and you can see in the last pic we used very little of it, and add to that equal compost, then seeds. I think we each have about...4 or 5 dozen seed bombs. So simple. Why didn't we figure this out sooner?!

So this weekend I will be riding the neighborhood and going after the huge parking lot/dirt plot of the former Malibu Castle... mwuahahaha

THANKS JEAN!!! :) We must do this again.

Cloning Your Tomato Plant

Inspired by the Urban Organic Gardener, and continuing in the mad gardenist vein, I'm cloning a tomato plant! MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I'd forgotten you can root tomato suckers, preferably the strong ones that you've missed pruning for a few weeks. This is also a way to get a FREE tomato plant and extend your harvest :) Here I'm rooting a Yellow Pear sucker... I think.... I'm pretty sure... I should've labelled the darn thing :/

To root suckers: pick a good one :9 One that looks fairly thick and strong, growing good looking leaves. Cut it from the parent plant as long as possible, removed the lower 2 or 3 leaf branches (NOT all of them, it will still need to photosynthesize). If it's already got flower/fruit clusters on it, snip them off so they don't divert energy from growing a root system. Place the sucker in water as deep as you can, without getting any leaves underwater. The stem will begin sprouting roots within a few days, it's cool to look at. make sure to keep the water as fresh as you can, change it every couple of days at least so it doesn't stagnate. After it's grown several new roots a couple inches long it can be transplanted. Put it as deep as you can into it's new soil, removing more leaf branches if they're going to be below the soil level. Any extra stem that is buried will also grow roots and create a stronger root system. Keep the soil moist of course, be prepared to baby the plant a few days until it's acclimated to its new home.

I've been told you can also dip suckers in rooting serum which is a hormone to super-stimulate new root growth and often used for woody cuttings like herbs, it will give the plant an extra boost to sprout roots more quickly. Never tried it myself, tomato suckers root well enough on their own that I don't feel like spending the $$ on it.

Cut and Come Again Harvesting

It's more than just a variety of zinnia :9 Turns out I've been doing this for awhile, just didn't know there was a term for it. Basically several species of leaf/head vegetable can be harvested by cutting 3/4" to 1" above the soil, and allowing new leaves/heads to grow out from the stump. You'll have to continue to water the roots and put up with a stump, but in a few weeks you have more edibles without going through seed starting.

Above is a shot of my lettuce pot about a month ago. I harvested the lettuce from it about three weeks ago, and being the lazy butt that I am I just left the stumps there rather than re-potting it with new yummies.

Fast track to this last weekend and you can see that one lettuce stump is now producing three new heads for my dinner salad. The only drawbacks to this method are putting up with a less than purty stump for a few weeks, and the new leaves/head that grow back do not grow as large as the original.

This method will also work for kale. One stump is regenerating one...uh...clump of kale, and the other is sprouting two. These are growing very quickly and the leaves look more tender than the original plant...

Spinach, broccoli and cauliflower are supposed to regrow like this also although I haven't tried it yet.

Herbal Vinegar Hair Rinse

While going through The Bountiful Container cover-to-cover (this books is awesome, thanks Fern!) I came across their instruction for making herbal vinegars. To sum up it involves soaking herbs in vinegar to extract culinary or medicinal properties into the vinegar, herbs are strained out at the end. I don't cook much with vinegar (yet) but I was entrigued by the recommendation of using it for a natural hair rinse. Further online and book research says:

• Hair and skin naturally are slightly acidic
• Most hair and skin products are alkaline
• The regular use of hair and skin products upsets the natural pH balance of hair and skin
• Using vinegar as a rinse for hair and skin can correct the pH balance

Well, I'm up for using my green children in new and fun ways, so I decided to try it out. The most common recipe I found is to soak 1/4 Cup herbs to 2 Cups of apple cider vinegar (reportedly the best because it is closest to natural hair acidity, but any type would work) for 2 weeks.

Chop up 1/4 Cup of herbs, get your vinegar and your measuring cup. I used parsley (reported to intensify dark hair and make hair shiny) in this batch.

I used an empty wine bottle since glass won't affect the vinegar. The funnel held the herbs while I used a wood paint brush handle to push them down the bottle neck. This was little time consuming and can be frustrating. On another batch I used a jam jar which didn't give me any trouble. I also did a batch in a Pacifico beer bottle which has a standard opening but a very wide neck which I was able to stuff herbs into easily by funneling them with my hand and pushing them in with a finger.

After the herbs are in add the 2 Cups vinegar, then toped it with a bottle stopper. The mixture should be left to soak in a dark location for 2 weeks, and shaken once a day. I keep mine in the closet, when I dress in the morning I see them and remember to shake the mixture up.

When the 2 weeks are up strain out the herbs, most instructions recommend a brown coffee filter but a fine mesh strainer worked just as well. These last two photos are a different batch than above, made with lavender (reported to cleans out oil, encourage hair growth, and sooth the scalp).

It would be a good idea to label your herbal vinegar if you're making several. Also mark the date, a couple of resources mentioned herbal vinegars should be used within 6 to 12 months, although I am not entirely sure that is the case.

To use: wash hair with shampoo as usual. Mix 1 Tbsp of herbal vinegar with 1 Cup warm water and pour over hair, massage into scalp. The vinegar scent will evaporate as hair dries but the herbal scent will stay. You do not need to rinse out the vinegar, but if you really dislike the smell you may. I have found it easiest to pour the vinegar into a mug and take that into the shower with me, when I'm ready to use it I hold the cup up to add the water from the shower.

So far I have been using a herbal vinegar I made with lavender, rosemary (reported to encourage growth, make hair shiny, intensify dark hair, condition hair and reduce dandruff) and parsley for 2 weeks and I love it! I have been using the herbal vinegar instead of conditioner and I think it's a lot better in many ways. My hair feel softer and cleaner, it gets less oily between washes (I wash it every it every 2 days), I need less mousse to control the frizz (which is now not even very noticable if I forget to mousse), and according to friends it smells nice. I have to rely on my friends reports for the scent, my hair is too short to pull up to my nose for a sniff :\

A few days ago I had to use a regular conditioner instead of my vinegar and afterwards noticed right away that my air was not doing as well. It felt heavy and oily. I am now going to be sticking the herbal vinegars!

The experiment continues, I have made a few comparisson batches using lavender and parsley with white vinegar and with apple cider to see how much difference there is between them. If it's not noticable I'll be using white vinegar in the future since it's much cheaper! I need to collect more of my herbs to try out the different uses and properties. I have collected several glass wine and beer bottles to store them in and looking for more small sized ones to makes gifts in the future.

I can be a pollinator too y'know

this had better be mightier than it looks!

The other day I decided to act on the good advice of Mr Brown Thumb and help my strawberry plants out a bit. So far the strawberries I've been getting from my two plants were... less than thrilling. Downright tiny! Could it be from incomplete pollination? I'd had many bees and wasps when my radish and broccolli had flowered but since removing them not as many. Time to take matters into my own hand?

tiny. and also nibbled by caterpillars /:|

So a paintbrush and few swooshes later the existing flowers were pollinated...

And only 7-10 days later I'm thrilled with the results! Strawberries at least double the size I had been getting :) I also used the same method again last night for more new blooms on the plants. Oh I can't wait to eats zem!

Nasturtium Data for the LOTB Experiment

After a coupel of weeks of hearing about Nasturtiums in various blogs I finally bought a couple packets of seeds - then the next day Fern announces the LOTB Seed Scarification Experiment. Since I had already started growing some figured I can keep track of the data for her (even though I couldn't find the 'Spitfire' variety). So here goes my Nasturtium log:

April 5, 2010 - set 6 Nasturtium seeds to soak overnight in tap water straight from the faucet. 3 'Alaska' and 3 'Tall Single Blend' from Botanical Interests.

April 6, 2010 - Sow each of the 6 seeds in its own paper cup in Miracle Grow Seed Starting Mix. Set all six in the bathroom where the temperature is a nearly constant 66F and there is alot of diffused light.

April 11, 2010 - 1 Alaska Nasturtium sprouts (6 days from soaking, 5 days from sowing), the other 5 have not. Moved the sprouted Nasturtium to a south facing window to adjust to the light and heat.

April 12, 2010 - Move the 1 sprouted nasturtium outside with my other seedlings. The other 5 Nasturtiums have still not sprouted.

April 15, 2010 - Alaska nasturtium outside is doing fine. The other 5 still have not sprouted! Considering moving them to the south facing window sill in my workroom...but would that negate the value of my experiment data?

April 20, 2010 - NONE of the other 5 nasturtiums have sprouted!!! 15 days after sowing!!! I have relocated them to the south window in my workroom, perhaps the warmth of sunlight is needed... The Alaska that did sprout is doing well with the other green babies outside.

April 22, 2010 - Another Alaska finally sprouted! The other 4 are still dormant.

April 23, 2010 - Moved the Alaska that sprouted yesterday outside with the other green babies.

April 24, 2010 - The April 11 Alaska is doing great. I moved it into an 8" pot with a couple of radishes and out among my other big green children.

April 25, 2010 - Have a laugh with the Gin Master as she tells me they are called "nast-ERshums" not "na-STURDY-ums" *d'oh*

May 3, 2010 - My hope is renewed! One of the Tall Single nasturtiums has sprouted FINALLY! Moved outdoors to gather sun with my other Green Babies. The second Alaska that sprouted is doing well and its leaves are getting big. The first Alaska in the pot seems to like it's radish neighbors.

May 18, 2010 - Sorry for not updating this bit earlier: about 3 weeks ago the Tall Single that had sprouted kicked the bucket due to a heat wave it couldn't take :(

I added decorative little stones to the first Alaska nasturtium pot to brighten things up.

June 8, 2010 - However, the two Alaska in their pots are doing well. Both sort of stalled in growth for about a month when moved to pots, but are now gaining some height. Returning from a weekend trip I found the Alaska which sprouted April 11 has flowered! Bright yellow with a hint of orange. The stones are helping the soil to retain moisture far better than I expected! I can water every-other day except in the hottest weather (8" pot).

August, 2010 - Tried something different. Used the nail file method to make a soft spot in the seed coat of 3 Alaska and 3 Tall Single nasturtium seeds. NO soaking. Just to piss me off all 6 sprouted immediately and are flourishing of course. Happily one of the Alaska is a neon red, that will help change things up - the two from the spring were both yellow gold.

September 21, 2010 - I started 5 more seeds with the file method of a Night and Day variety. Two have sprouted already. I am sticking with the filing method for all future nasturtiums!