Recently in Experiments Category

I've been pretty busy sowing seeds and last weekend came the time for the first round of "potting up" where the little seedlings roots were bursting through and searching for more room! Always an exciting time to see them growing so well, and so fast! The first to grow fast were the zucchini and pumpkin which are BIG seeds anyway so no surprise there, but the next were the tomatoes! Yay! These are Amish paste, growing up a storm and with there first true leaves :)

I mentioned in a previous post that I'd overwintered one tomato plant (my accident due to laziness and curiosity), and wouldn't you know it the plant is flowering!

How cool is that though? I've had the odd tomato off it in Dec, Jan and Feb but the flowers mean more to come! Who knew there was a chance of overwintering tomatoes? Just to prove it, here is a small tomato on this plant

This variety is Imur Prior Beta which is sized between a cherry and a slicer, usually around an ounce+ each. Just enough in a couple for a salad :) Which is perfect for me. I'll be growing this variety again this year!

As I mentioned in a previous post most of my gardening is by way of experimentation. I grew tomatoes from grocery store produce, and I've tried growing things out of season, in the wrong season, wrong time of year, but always I come back to grocery store produce experiments.

So bit of a back story to this experiment. Last year I bought some grapes from the produce market. Nice and juicy with quite large seeds. I ate them at my desk and once done had a large collection of seeds just sitting on the plate. Not one to waste I had a choice, save them or compost them. I decided to save them. Mid February I wet some paper towel and set the seeds on the towel and waited.

Now my germination rate was pathetic. One out of the bunch of about 20 sprouted, but it was also the biggest seed, so maybe the only fertile one? Hard to say. Anyway ONE sprouted!!! Focus on the positive! The rest became compost fodder :)

I grabbed a pot from the gardening supplies (ok it's an old canola oil container with holes in the bottom), filled it with potting soil and carefully placed the sprouting seed into the pot, and placed it in the kitchen window. 2 days later I had this:

Since then it's grown, a lot! I came into the kitchen one dinnertime and found it leaning right through the blinds to the window clamoring for sunlight! I'd say it's about 8" high and getting another set of leaves!!! I knew I had to figure out my grow light system anyway so now it's sitting under the grow lights in the hopes of straightening it out a little, before I try and harden it off for planting in the garden :) Once I find a place for it! Oh and the straw is for support, it is afterall a VINE!

The perfect place would be in the back (south facing, grapes love sun!) basically where the bougainvillea is now. Which means lots of work to get the bougainvillea out (or transplanted), the bed built and then transplant it. Till then I may look at a container or something. I have plenty of spare containers right now :)

Lots of work ahead with all these experiments!