Growing from seeds

This year, I have been experimenting heavily with seeds. I mostly buy my plants from HD but the selection are rather limited and those 6-packs have gone up in price considerably.

So far, I have been able to successfully grow many plants from seeds: Basil, Cayanne pepper, Eggplant, Zucchini, Okra, Onion, Tomatoes. I must have spent no more than $10 on plants and may be $20 in seeds so far. I started saving seeds last year and every seed I saved, grew :0

Eggplant from a discarded fruit
One of the white Japanese eggplants I bought last year was planted in a container and survived the winter. I ignored the small eggplant and let it ripe until it started to rot. I was going to toss it into compost but instead decided to experiment with its seeds. Those seeds germinated profusely within a couple of weeks of tossing them into an empty container.

I had to quickly transplant the crowded seedlings. Now I have at least 15 pairs of healthy plants transplanted in small containers and ready to go into the garden. These are about 1.5 month old, a bit slow growing but look healty. One of the container is Calendula and another with three melon-looking saplings is a Honey Dew - both grown from seeds. I have a bad habit of putting everything everywhere.



There are still about a dozen left that I need to find a room for soon


July 10, 2009
The plants are now settled in the garden. I managed to squeeze in some edamame in between.



Tamarillo (Tree tomato)
I planted the seeds back in February in a home-made mini-green house (plastic bottles). I few of them were killed by slug in a single night that I moved them to the main garden area. These survived and are doing very well. I am going to keep two and trade or give away others. Planted some more seeds the other day in the garde.



Chili (Cayenne Pepper)
I had about a dozen Cayenne Pepper that did very well last year. Quite a few ripened to bright red. Earlier this year, I bought some cayenne pepper from HD that were devoured by slugs overnight. That was when I started growing from seeds - cheaper if I lose plants that way.

I planted a handful of seeds from last year's chili into a greenhouse made of strawberry box and they came out heavy. These plants were about 3-4 weeks old. I still have some more thinning and transplanting to do.

Growing cauliflower

When I tried a couple of years ago, the flowers were about the size of my palm but looked more like white broccoli than cauliflower. I read somewhere that Cauliflower needs constant supply to nutrients throughout its life. This year, I did just that. I planted each with a gallon-full of compost that I make from kitchen scrap, green and brown cuttings and from sweeping the front yard for eucalyptus tree bark/leaves.

I love the blue-green foliage color of Brassica family. I have found Broccoli and Kohlrabi very easy to grow. Now I think Cauliflower is also not that difficult as long as you provide enough water and nutrient. I am not sure what variety I planted but it took about 5 months for these to be ready.

Bought these plants around Jan/Feb. 9-packs from HD was my second time growing cauliflower. The growth was somewhat slow.

This is around March. About 2 months after planting -

There is lilac growing behind these plants




Here is how it looked like on the last day of May.




A few days later... this was ready. It was a little over 3 pounds.


My almost 5-year-old daughter loved it.


This one is next, I think another 2-3 days and this will be ready.


Today, I picked two more (July 17, 2009), its supposed to get very hot the next few days, which can wilt the leaf and turn it yellowish.

Also, I need this space for eggplants.

This one is huge !! It must be at least 4 pounds and its very tight.

(Thats a quarter on top of it)

I could not resists... here is one more picture. This must be one of the best yield I had from my garden.

Edible Landscaping

I throw in everything I get - Guava tree, Naval Orange, Tree Tomato, Eggplant...

Eggplants are one of my favorite -

Must be my version of square-foot garden, just a lot more square foot....



Can you spot a luffa plant at the bottom ? It has only 3 leaves that look like maple leaf. There is also a leek plant that is flowering (can't see the flower, its more than 5 feet tall)


Luffa and canna competing for space in a 4" pot. I am going to transplant them in the garden today. Luffa has grown at least 6" tall since I took this picture a week ago. Its getting warmer here and looks like they like warmer temperature.