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Just a couple of things going on before the onslaught of bloody, sweaty, and tearful fun to be had when things heat up outside. 1) crabapple cuttings. My first attempt two springs ago was a grand failure. This season seems to be going my way. I have 35 rooting from five different trees. Some might be used as root stock if I can figure out grafting. I’m also attempting around 30 grapevine cuttings, which also previously bombed. We’ll see... 2) Greenhouse peppers and field tomatoes, round one. The next sowing will be in a couple of days for seedling that will go directly in the ground outside. 3) Worms! A friend gave me some of her excess red wrigglers and I’m enjoying the 💩 out of being worm compost caretaker. It’s odourless, produces a ton of top quality fertilizer, and it’s extremely simple to do. 🙌🏼 #themoreyouknow 🌈 Mic drop.
Thanks to the good folks at @annapolis_seeds for this bonus packet of millet. It’s a pleasant little bump in my quest for #sustainability. With luck, I’ll never have to buy millet from a supermarket again. After two seasons, we’re pretty much there with dry beans, but as they are easy and a joy to grow, I’ll always have my eyes peeled for aesthetic varieties. So far, biannuals (onions, carrots, etc.) are the only crops I’ve been too lazy to attempt seed saving. I’ll get there... #thinkingahead
The first seedlings to emerge this year. I tossed in waaaay more #lavender seeds per cell than I normally would but I’m trying to break a miserly habit of over seed saving. Now I have to murder three of these, multiplied by around 72 because the whole tray is germinating #thirdworldproblems. Really looking forward setting up several understory layers to our non-existent #foodforest. I have a general plan but my ongoing life-problem is not pulling various proverbial “triggers” until everything is manically in place. Instead, I’m just going for it. #foodsecurity
Behold, crushed cayenne flakes! This has truly been a labour of love and inefficiency as the the effort required of this one-man jam (or pepper, rather (puns!)), aka, growing hot peppers in a short-season Canada, is not super practical without tactical organization. Getting there.
Strawberry popcorn. I picked up a packet of these beauties at a seed exchange and foolishly planted them in a greenhouse whose temperature, despite the emergency of my fanning hands, went beyond the thermometer’s 50C (122F) max. The result was two of these little munchkins 🤦🏻♂️ No matter. Two stunted cobs have provided me with 20 times the seed I purchased, so, you know, next year... #hardknocks #mistakesweremade
BAM! 600 garlic cloves in the ground. Only 1,800 more to go 😩 Learned some lessons from and since last year and they are gooood this season. I’m currently working on a huge dehydrator to turn the substantial leftovers into black garlic. Cross your fingers I don’t burn the house down. 🧄🧄🧄 That device in the first pic is a scrapped together dibber. An upgrade to last year’s handle-less original that had me nosing around the dirt like a goddamned animal. I learn by doing, folks.
