Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Seeds! Our first "seed-saving" of sorts.

It is late January, and I am now pulling/cutting all of the dead stuff out of our planting beds. 
Just now.  
No no, it's totally normal for us to do things like this waaaay later than "normal." 
Anyways, the kids and I were excited to find:
- blue sidewalk chalk (immediately sampled by Cole - bleh!)
- mud!
- MORE chard making a break for it through ice (picture soon, this amazes me)
- seeds in some dead growth
- sawdust is hilarious on a small dog when you're little, humurous as a "grown-up"
- a short, fat piece of firewood is perfect for a tiny, 1 yr old butt to sit on
- I am the wood-splitting queen now that I have my own sharp axe!
Ok, but really, the fun thing about this is the seeds.  Last fall we gathered some seeds (Bulls Blood Beets and white onion of some sort that we love) and were thrilled with the sheer number of them from so few plants.  The seeds we found today though - which number well over a thousand (TINY seeds) - are Snap Dragon seeds.  I'm fairly sure that I've never mentioned how much we love a Snap Dragon.  They make our children go "rrrrooooooowwwwrRR!!!"  Their tiny, fat little fingers are almost always gentle as they make the blossoms gape, exposing thier furry tongues.  These seeds are from the 18"-24" and I have an inkling that they will either be magenta or "terra cotta" - my all-time favorites.  Simple joys.  I know that their mama plants will come up again this spring (plants are incredible, if I had to live outside all winter here, I would not be coming up in the spring), but am excited by the idea of their tall stems, loaded with blossoms, all over the yard.  May be the "Year of the Snap Dragon" around here.  It may also be the summer I need glasses from trying to plant itty-bitty seeds en masse.A word about the onion seeds:  some people have a heck of a time getting onions pollinated and producing seeds in a commercial setting.  We have had the exact opposite experience.  It seems as though our house has become an oasis for those helpful bugs that do these things for us; all it took was lots of flowers and a water source for everybody.  No sprays or chemicals of any sort either, which I'm convinced they appreciate. This is our first year saving seeds (obviously not into it yet!) and - so far - it's been great.  Should they not produce plants, I'll probably grumble a bit and keep at it until it works out for us!Much Love,
E
P.S.  I'm having a hard time getting this formatted right - please bear with me.

2 comments:

Tammie said...

i always love reading your articles, erin. you have such a delightful way of observing and expressing yourself.

Erin said...

Thank you Tammie :) I am so glad that you not only read - but enjoy - my posts!