So far...

I've been obsessively checking my babies for germination, and I've got a few heads popping up. I'm very, very behind this year and just finished my tomato sowing a few days ago, so the list will get longer. So far, here's what's up and leafing:

Amish Paste
Azoycha
Big Rainbow
Black Prince
Black from Tula
Black Sea Man
Brandywine
Caspian Pink
Cour di Bue
Dinner Plate
Early Glee
Esther's Cherry
Fuzzy Peach
Green Bell Pepper
Green Zebra
Hank
Heinz 1439
Kellogg's Breakfast
Marianna's Peace
Schimmieg Stuffer
Supper Beefsteak
Transparent Yellow
White Wonder
Yellow Brandywine
Zapotec Pleated

I also have a handful of eggplant and pepper varieties that are going strong, but I don't have that list entered yet. I haven't started my corn, squashes, or gourds yet.

I have an illness. A serious, tomato bourne illness. I can't wait for shredded Jerusalem artichoke, chopped tomato, fresh basil, and parmesan salad! Spring is here and the madness has begun.

New things!

I decided to change my avatar. I may change it back to the one I've had since I joined (over a year now!), but I figured I'd give this one a try for a little while and see if I adjust. Talk about living on the wild side, eh?

I've decided to do a fluffnflowers sale from 28 Nov.-1 Dec. in honor of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you haven't already checked out my shop, you might want to take advantage of this sale before the spring rush!

Buy 3 packs of seeds or $9 equivalent (not including S&H) and get a free pack of seeds! AND 15% off of any CUT GLASS growing kit.

Any better?

I worked on my Garden-in-a-Bucket idea today, and I think it looks pretty darned good!

Summer is winding down.

The nights are now in the 60s and the days are cooler (only reaching the mid 80s), and summer is obviously winding down. Leaves are starting to fall and a second rush of seed collection is happening.

I wasn't sure whether I was going to list seeds from my Northern Sea Oats plant this year or not, but I decided to go ahead and go for it. It's a fantastic plant, but I don't know how well ornamental grasses go over on etsy. You can see the listing here. It's one of the more attractive grasses I own, and I have plans for expanding it's growing area next year.

I also spent some time today breaking up another one of my monster lemongrass plants that was trying to anchor itself to the ground through its pot. People seem to find them appealing, which I think is fantastic. Not only are they attractive, but they're a joy to cook with. I'd love to know how people use them! :)

My kava got split up, but I don't know if it'll be listed this year. I'm trying to make up my mind, but that's sometimes difficult.

Tomorrow is my dreaded follow up appointment with a doctor that I've never met, so keep your fingers crossed that things aren't as bad as I fear! :) Hopefully, I won't have any blip in my online time.

Just because it says 'mist'...

I got a new hose nozzle a couple of weeks ago and I'm loving it! It's very heavy duty, has great heft, and all of the settings are different and work like as they should. Even better, it was rather inexpensive!

Today, I went out to check on my flats of winter veggies and found that they needed a bit of moisture. I dragged over my hose, knocked my handy-dandy nozzle to mist, and went at it.

Just because it says 'mist', I learned, doesn't mean that it's a gentle mist. Yes, it mists, but I'm short and being only a couple feet away with the nozzle is a bit too much for tender little seedlings. I've been working on my technique and found that aiming the nozzle over, rather than at, the flats works much better and the little seedlings maintain their heads.

So far, arugula, some spinach, broccoli raab, buttercrunch lettuce, swiss chard, kohl rabi, and kale are all making an appearance. I wish the fennel was showing, but the seeds I found were old and hadn't been properly stored. I may go get some fresh seeds for this winter, if I'm feeling motivated!

Lemongrass divisions!

My father-in-law expressed interest at having some lemongrass divisions, so I was only too happy to send him some. I divided up one of my plants for the year a couple of weeks ago, and set them out to recover in cups. Well, I pulled two out of their cups to send to him and this is what was in the cups:

I love these plants! They're impossible to kill, resilient, and amazingly tasty. What more could you want??

alysonscure

A great etsy seller, MeridianStudio, has organized a shop to help the family of Alyson, a young girl with lymphoblastic leukemia.

Please check out the beautiful contributions of other etsy members in the shop alysonscure.

I have donated a new project, an etched glass, upcycled herb garden.

Some fun newness!

I haven't been feeling well over the past week or so (cardiologist appointment on Tuesday, woot!), so I haven't been up and about in the yard as much. Yesterday, though, my guy was cleaning up the office and was trying to figure out what to do with his old 14" long 3.5" floppy file. I looked at it and was inspired!

It's a HUGE step up from my prior 'organizational' method -- the seed baggies were just tossed in a box. Now, each flavor of seeds has it's own pocket and the pre-packed bags that are ready to be shipped out are easy to find and I've got MUCH better inventory control.

Having everything so organized made me realize how many seeds I've actually collected this year! This 14" long file is completely stuffed, and I still have vials of bulk seeds not packaged yet.

Other than that, my winter basil is coming up. My Red Rubin didn't go to seed this summer after my guy conveniently mowed it down, so I started another pot with last year's seeds to keep indoors this winter. The little sprouts are so cute! I love the color that these have and they make such a great addition to pestos. Purple pesto rocks!

If all goes as planned, I should have plenty of seeds from these lovelies available on etsy for next spring.