Spring doesn't mean.......

....it's time to plant outside.

Nope it's just a date on the calendar really.  It does mean that typically the weather is warming up and the snow begins to melt, and certain flowers begin to bloom.  But although you may have the urge to plant those seedlings outside once it is spring on the calendar DON'T.  Some seedlings just aren't ready to go outside for some time yet.  

Here in NY (at least my area of NY) it is another month before I can plant many of my seedlings outside.  In fact it is snowing right now. You have to wait for your last frost date.  This is the date that on average there won't be any freezing temperatures after.  Know your zone and your first and last frost dates.  They are different in each zone and area.

To find your zone go here and type in your zip code.

To find your fist and last frost dates go here and type in your zip code.

An important thing to remember is your zone typically doesn't change each year, but your frost dates to a point do.  Granted the dates will be about the same every year but it's good to check to be sure.

So don't go planting anything outside until you check those frost dates...make sure you are within your window.

How to kill a spider plant

So raise your hand if you own a spider plant. Keep it up if it has babies. Continue to keep it up if you have given away tons of babies.  Ok you can put it down now.  I love my spider plants.  And love it when they are producing babies.  It means I am doing something right.  Being a good gardener and plant care taker I would never want to kill a spider plant.....slow it's baby making down maybe but never kill........

But thats what I almost did to a few of my babies.  Spider plants are indoor plants but even up here in New York they can benefit from a little time outside in the summertime.  See mine were no longer producing any babies.  They were just well just there.  So putting them outside in the summer air helps them grow stronger and suddenly I had baby shoots all over the place.  But then being in NY a frost came.....

As you can see it just about killed my plant.  I have several containers of spider plants and some didn't make it...this one seems to be recovering but you can see it was quite full and was very pretty.

Todays lesson?:
Pay attention to the weather when you have indoor plants basking in the sun outside.  Frost WILL kill a spider plant.  Now if thats your goal yea for you!

Sorry it's been so long been having issues logging in and been busy.  Going to school to get my business degree to go with Irish Gardens, and was busy with the farmers markets.  But I have lots to post about so get ready to learn some stuff and enjoy some pictures.

The making of a new plant

Making baby plants is fun.  Kids will love it.
Here we have 2 kinds of mint that I placed in water 2 weeks ago.  About 4 days ago roots began to grow and now they are longer and more of them.  It is an exciting way to make baby plants.  Not only is it fun but also produces a bigger plant that starting one from seed.

In this picture I took a Japanese Maple and a Hydrangea and placed them in water.  Just over a week later the Hydrangea is sprouting roots all over.  In fact it is doing so well that it has begun to bud....yup this newly made baby plant is only 2 weeks old and is about to flower.  Starting from seed it would take sometimes over 2 years before you see flowers.

Not all perennials will root in water, and some won't even root.  But taking a cutting of your favorite bush or tree and seeing if it does is fun and can be very rewarding.  I still can't believe that the Hydrangea rooted in just water....

Have you every made baby plants?

New USDA map

Well it looks like they have updated the Hardiness Zone map the first time since 1990.  I have been changed from zone 5 to 6,  Time to go shopping for new plants that will survive in the new zone....

For all my Gardeners that read this here is a link to the new page.  You can type in your zip or even zoom in to your state.

New year been busy

It's been a while since I have posted and I am truly sorry for that my friends.  I have been a busy little bee.  See as most of you already know I have decided to start a business - Irish Gardens.  And this spring will be the official grand opening so I have been busy ordering supplies and updating the website.  Racking my brain trying to figure out how it will all fit together.

But in doing so I have left my readers here in the dark of what is going on.  Well let me tell you this year I will have lots to talk about here.  Because of the business I have many new plants...and just about every new plant that I have to sell will also be a stock plant for me to grow and learn about.  See I want to offer advice on the business site (although some links will just bring you back to the blog....why rewrite what I wrote) but I can't offer advice if I don't know about it.

Like the one big thing I am learning about this year is rooting cuttings.  Taking part of one plant and creating a new one.

I haven't forgotten about GBBD Carol so don't worry that post will be coming tomorrow....I have blooms...I really do....I just need to take the pictures....so sad even the camera is being neglected.  So I promise to get more posts up as I have lots to talk about soon.

Hope you are all having a good year so far.

Using layouts

Everyone has their own way to keep track of their seedlings.  A way of knowing that this day they were sown, this day they were germinating, and so on.  Developing your own way is important but sometimes for the new gardener they aren't sure what to keep track of.  Here is how I do it.

Here is a picture of one of me seedling trays.  As you can see I don't have any labels but lots of seedlings.  The arrow at the top is my way of knowing what side is what.

You may have to expand this picture to understand it but this is the layout for the seedling tray.  I have it named so I know which tray it is, in case I have more than one tray that have the same cells.  I also have the date in which the seeds were sown.  Each square represents one cell and has a number assigned to it.  Below the diagram I have each type of seed listed by their number.  You can see that the first row is all 1's and there for using the "legend" it is marigolds.  Many of the squares also contain a date now.  Some more than one.  Each date is the day a seedling appeared.  Some have a date and a x2 next to it.  Meaning that day 2 seedlings appeared in that square.  I know it seems silly to explain that but it helps me keep track of how long it takes each seedling to emerge.  Some were consistent and all started showing with in days of each other and some have yet to even emerge.

Using this chart and date method allows me to keep track of not only how long it took for each seedling to emerge but as they don't all grow at the same rate allows me to use the information to plan the garden better.  I can also use the information and see how viable the seeds are.  If some of the seeds were harvested from my garden I know which are good or not.  If they were purchased and are a few years old then I can see if they are still good.  

It's also interesting to see that though 5 cells were planted with marigolds 1 cell doesn't have seedlings yet, but they call came from the same package. 

When the seedlings get transplanted I simply cross out the cell they were in.  I usually like to keep the sheets so that I can use them in following years as a guide.  These seedlings worked well in this type of container or these didn't.  Things like that.  

It's important to have your own way of logging events.  You may not care when the seedlings emerge just when they harvest.  Or when the first true leaves appear.  But as long as you keep some sort of log you will have something to help you in following years.  

Coke bottle fun

Have you ever gone into Walmart right before a holiday or big event?  Seen the Odd Shaped Coke Bottles?  Like around Super Bowl time....Football shapes, or Ball shaped in December.  Well here is a cool thing you can do.  It combines your garden and crafts.

Potpourri in a bottle:

Make a gift for that special football lover, or an ornament for the tree.  Here is how.

Step 1 - Drink the coke.  Very important step.
Step 0.5 - Buy the bottle - Guess we should do that first huh
Step 2 - Rinse the bottle well and dry out as best as you can
Step 2.5 - Remove lable
Step 3 - ADULTS ONLY FOR THIS STEP PLEASE!!!! Using a knife/scissors/utility knife cut small holes around the bottle.  I did 4 around the middle.  This step allows the smell of what we put in to come out.
Step 4 - Chose the scent - Any nice smelling Herb is good, rose peddles....etc be creative
Step 5 - Add scent to bottle - best to have dried herbs but fresh cut is fine
Step 6 - Replace the cap on top - keeps the mess down...
Step 7 - Add colorful yarn around the neck of the bottle....making sure that it is tight enough to hold the bottle if hung.
Step 8 - Give to recipient....or self

Here are the 2 that I have in th house.  The Snowball Coke Bottles.

Have some lavender?  Add it to a bottle.  Add yarn if you please.  Or like me I just have it sitting on my desk.  Every so often I like to give it a little shake to let a fresh burst of Lavender into the air.

Here we have Cedar Shavings.  They smell great and again shake for a fresh burst of scent.

For the hanging ones I added a ziptie around the neck first and tied the year to that.  But each bottle has 4 hold around it's middle .  I chose the middle because with Herbs after a while shaking will also crush the dried herbs....and you may make a mess.  I am sure that there is a far better way to allow the smells escape but as of yet I don't have one.  

I don't recommend glueing the top onto the bottle so that you can change the herbs out or just change scents. Or add more.  

Granted the guys in your life may not like this but the ladies will.  And it can make for an interesting conversation piece.

Mint the magical herb- The uses

So earlier we talked about growing, harvesting, and storing your mint.  Now lets talk about some of the reasons to grow mint and how to use it.

Uses for Mint in the Garden:


We already talked about the variety called Pennyroyal and it's mosquito repeling ability.  It is the strongest of all the the mints in smells but that doesn't mean the others don't have their own special garden powers.  Just plan ol' ordinary mint is used as a repellant for these pests:
Ants
Aphids
Cabbage Looper (Mostly just the Spearmint variety)
Fleas (Pennyroyal)
Flea Beetle
Fly (Pennyroyal)
Mosquitoes (Pennyroyal)
Squash Bug
White Cabbage Moth

Plant Mint with these plants to get a better yeild:
Beans
Broccoli
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Chinese Cabbage
Collards
Tomato
Roses (pennyroyal)

So you see Mint is very useful.  It's handy that it is a wonderful smelling plant as well.

Mint in the Kitchen and Medicine cabinet:


Most people hear mint and think candy-canes, peppermint patties, stuff from the kitchen.  Although yes it is good for that it also has some other uses when eaten.

Medicinal uses:
Digestive Aid
Cold
Flu (morning sickness too)
Stimulant (kinda like coffee)

So other than physically cooking with it how else can this wonder herb help these ailments?  Sachet, Jelly's, Candies, and my personal favorite....

MINT TEA!

And man does it taste good.   So good I have pictures and instructions to make a nice glass of hot or cold mint tea.  Perfect for that cold you are trying to fight off as winter has arrived.

Ingredients:
Boiling water - 6 cups
Dried Mint leaves - 1-2 Tbps
A tea diffuser

To start get that water going in the tea pot.  It's easiest also to have a separate container to actually brew the tea in.  Gather your dried mint.  I put them on a plate so that I could crush them to release the oils.

A good close up of the mint...partially crushed

This is your diffuser.  Once you have the mint crushed put them in this.  This is then placed into your container and boiling water is poured over it.

Aiden guy wanted to help me by wiggling the container to help mix it up.  It is best to leave the diffuser in the water for about 10 min.  I put the lid on to help keep the heat in.

Beleive it or not the mint turned the water to a more tea looking color.  The trick to this part is two fold.  If you are just going to drink the tea at this point flavor to your liking.  Add more water if too minty.  Add honey.  What every you like.  If you want to use it to help clear up the sinuses I would use more mint and less water.  This way the smell is stronger.  In this case you may just want to inhale the vapors.  Although drinking the tea while still hot will do this as well.  If you prefer your tea cold.  As some ice.  It's perfect for the summer.

So as your days are getting colder and the colds are getting stronger, go get some of that dried mint and make some hot tea.....or make some hot chocolate just use minty hot water.....

Until next time.  Have a wonderful Holiday.

Mint the magical herb

A popular herb for making candies, mint has many more uses than just playing with your taste-bud's.  This versatile herb has medicinal purposes as well as the culinary.  But something else most don't know is how important this wonderful smelling plant is in the garden..

So lets learn a little about Mint

Growing Mint:


There are many different varieties of mint, and they all have one big thing in common.  They are very invasive.  Now hold on thats not a bad thing....ok it can be but it can be controlled.  Mint is a wonderful container plant.  Check out this Pennyroyal plant:

A little wild and everywhere but....this plant in particular you want in a container and a container everywhere you may be.  Pennyroyal is a VERY strong scented herb.  (WARNING - PENNYROYAL IS NOT EDIBLE)  So strong scented in fact it is commonly used in aromatherapy.  But it true claim to fame is it mosquito repellent capabilities.  Yup those pesky bugs we deal with in the summer time hate this plant.  So although not grown for cooking....a very valuable plant.

Mint in general like I said is invasive.  You can plant in containers or in the ground.  If in the garden though you may want to plant it in a container that you also put into the ground.  Mint can also grow very very fast...so watch out.  They are also very hardy.  You may think they are dead....but keep watering and you would be surprised as to what may just come back.  Mint is also a perennial herb...yup thats right it keeps coming back.

Harvesting Mint:




Now for my favorite part of having mint growing in the garden.  You get up one morning and go to tend to your plants and instead of this:

A small tame mint plant you find this:

Mint over taking it's place.

Is this bad?  Goodness no....it just means you get to harvest.  Since it is morning get out those sharp herb cutters we call scissors and cut.  Now if you really want go ahead and cut all the way down to the dirt.  But I find (and it's recommended) that if you cut down to the last 2 sets of leaves on the stem...it stays bushy and will provide you will a lot more harvests.  Some people say not to harvest until you see blooms forming.  But I am impatient and have found no problem with harvesting before there is even a sign of a bud.  Course if you want seeds you have to let it go.  

In the morning the smell and the mint oil's are at their peak-est.  Meaning when you cut the stem you will smell it...and your fingers will for a while too.....hmmmmmm mint.

Harvested Mint leaves:

So now you have some fresh cut stems.  What to do now? Well if you want you can use some now.  You can put the stems into a cup of water and enjoy their fresh smell for up to a week.  Or you can always dry them..

Just look at those freshly cut mint stems.

There are 2 ways that you can dry them.  One is to gather these herbs by the base of the stem and tie them together.

Pretty much like this.  I like to use twist ties.

After that place them into a paper bag and hang in a cool dry place.  Make sure if you have more herbs drying you lable your bags with what and when.  Can get confusing.


Or if this just doesn't sound like something you want to do you can do my favorite way of drying them...is keeping them loose and putting them in laundry bags.....

Like these -  They are great for allowing air to flow around the herbs.  Making them dry more even and sometimes a little faster.  Also you can tell when they are done easier.  With out disturbing them as much.

Word of caution - Please make sure that you lable some how so you know what herbs are in what bag and when you put them there.  I know from experiance that oregano and mint look a lot alike when they are dry.  I put a # on each bag and then in a special notebook I write what I put in that #'d bag and when.  The when isn't always necessary unless you like to keep track of how often you harvest.  But it can also help you to know when to start checking to see if they are done or not.  Usually it takes about a week.  I hang mine in the laundry room.  It gets the least amount of sun, heat from furnace, and far less traffic.  Yes the dryer does add some heat to the air but it doesn't seem to effect them.

Once they are dry store them in an air tight container.  Glass is best.  I like to use the small Jelly canning jars.  They are seethru and hold a lot.  When you go to store them just the leaves.  The stems are not really edible.  A good way to tell if they are ready to store is if you run your fingers down the stem the leaves fall off.

Next:  Using your dried mint.

Herbs in the kitchen - Garlic Chives

Growing, Harvesting, Saving, and Using Garlic Chives in the Kitchen
Since it is winter and all I thought that maybe some tips about herbs and their uses would be handy.  My sister Melanie writes a blog that started with trying new things in the kitchen.  She has tons of different dishes for readers to try.  She has even writen a post here on my blog.  Well I could never be as good a cook as her, she just has this passion for it.  But since reading her stuff and starting my gardening adventures I have been trying to get a little bit more creative in the kitchen.  Finding ways to bring my garden to the table. 

So in honor of my little sister I tried something new last night and would like to share it with you.

For the first Herbs in the Kitchen post I bring to you the Herb:

Garlic Chives

More commonly known as the Chineese herb or Chineese Chives.  Found in a lot of their dishes. 
Growing, Harvesting, Saving:
They have a Garlic/Onion smell to them.  Easy to grow, but not as easy to to preserve.  Ok thats only partially true.  Chives don't really dry well like most other herbs.  Maybe I am just doing wrong....and that is very possible as I am still new.  But I found that Freezing them work great.  The nice thing about freezing herbs is that when you go to use them you are actually using them in their fresh state.

Lets start at the begining.  1st of course you would need a plant and have it growing in your garden.  Whether that garden is pots on a balcony, or on your window sill, or in the ground in the yard.  From the above picture you can see that this herb looks a lot like grass.  And to be honest it kinda grows like grass.  The more you cut it the more it grows.  As long as like grass it has water and sun.

So you have the herbs growing.  Good now...time to harvest.  For this herb there is no real time period as to when you can or can 't harvest.  If there are green leaves (grass blades) you can harvest.  But the longer they are and the older the plant the better you are ofcourse.  So you want to use some just head out to their location and simply cut them.  It's best to leave at least 1/2inch above the soil when you cut. 

Now the next step for us is going to be the freezing of the chives.  Cut the chives so that they are smaller.  Basically chop them as if you were going to cook with them now.  Do you have a free icecube tray?

  Try these from the dollar store.  They are great little trays that make tube shapes icecubes.  Great for water bottles and I have found also for Herbs.  With a dry tray put your freshly cut chives (or any other herb you chose) into the tray.  Try to make it even accross.  The with a measuring cup add water to the tray.  I used a measuring cup because it would be easier to control the amount that went into each place with out loosing any herbs.  Once full simply put in the freezer.  Once Frozen-

You have Chives in and icetube.  The really nice thing also about this is just take out a tube from the freezer and put it in what ever dish you are making.  It adds a little water but usually not enough to have to alter other ingredients.  Make sure you put these tubes of chives into a ziplock back and lable it.  When frozen all herbs tend to look alike.

Useing:

Now for useing these frozen little treasures.  I used them for Pork Chops.

Pork Chops with Garlic Chives and Worcestershire sauce.

Ingredients:

4 Pork Chops

3/4c Worchestershire sauce (w-sauce)

3-4 Frozen chive tubes

1/4c French Fried Onions

Not being a big fan of pork chops I am always looking for ways to cook them.  These 4 chops above I cut at least in half.  Mainly to reduce cooking time but also cause I like to remove as much fat as I can...and that kinda make pork peices instead of chops.  But I wanted to show the size of them before there are 4 here.

So in a seperate bowl you will dip each chop into the W-sauce and then place into the warm frying pan.  In the pan add some of the cubes of chives.  The water will melt and help keep the chops from sticking as will the w-sauce.  Flip them often and stir the loose chives often as well.  For an added flavor I added the French fried onions and the rest of the chives after the chops had been cooking a few min.  If there is left over w-sauce in the bowl after all have been diped and and in the pan then add that to the pan as well.  Cook the pork untill no longer pink inside.  About 30 min over med heat.

The end result was a very moist pork chop that all ate.  If you want you can serve the french fried onions but we didn't....I just used them to add another flavor to the meal. 

Enjoy and let me know if you try this and how it comes out.

Be sure to stop by my sisters blog too and try some of her meals out.
http://www.itsmysideoflife.com/



Preparing for winter

Something I recently read was the importance of preparing your garden beds for winter....or rather for the following spring.  Granted nature takes care of it's self out there with out our help but there are things that we can do to help nature along. 

As your growing season comes to a close like mine has it is important to understand a few things:

1) The difference between Annual and Perennial plants 
2) Dead and dormant plants
3) Protection vs no protection.

First lets talk about #1....Annual vs Perennial.  Well Annual plants are good for one growing season.  They more than likely can't survive a winter.  Does this mean that inside they can continue to grow?  Not always.  It just means that they can't take the cold and that they do not reseed them selves.  Some though have a very specific life cycle.  Now a Perennial plant is one that reseeds it's self and or can survive outside in the winter.  Morning Glories for example are actually a Perennial.  Though most of us will cut the plant back to the ground they will grow back the following year...in the same place.  But they will also spread...as they are a self seeding plant...unless you catch all the seeds.

Something that I have most recenly learned is to watch your plants durring a few frosts.  My rose bushes still have leaves and look fine...just a little stiff in the morning.  But my basil became droopy and died.  The Morning glories also did this...and they also started to smell rotten...but again they will come back.  Watch your plants and find out what they do.  Get a book and find out if they are annual or perennial. 

Ok for #2-  Dead vs Dormant.  A tree that has lost all it's leaves during the fall is not a dead tree right?  Mostlikely it is just dormant.  And come spring new leaves will emerge.  Dormant plants can look as though they are dead for a while but dead plants will usually start to take on a very different look.   This is also where knowing perennial vs annual will come in handy.  Some of my Mint plants have lost all their leaves and appear to be dead but I know that they are perennials so I leave them be cause they are just dormant.  Where my basil plants the leaves didn't fall off they just dried up and the stems became a lot thinner. 

Now for #3 Protecting the garden or not.  Well honestly I beleive you can go either way.  Established plants I feel are ok to go unprotected.  By Established I mean have been planted and survived at least one winter.  The baby trees we planted this past may although they had leaves and are there for good....they are still young and have not weathered a winter yet....so they could use some protection.  What kind of protection should you use?  Well I am going to say what ever you feel  you need.  In NY putting row coveres over small fragile plants is not really an ideal situation...at least I don't think so...we get so much snow I think it would just end up crushing them.  Being this is my first true year of gardening I have chosen to use a ground cover.  This past August we accuired bags of ceder shavings from the fair grounds.  I used these to cover the ground around young plants and over all the gardens that will be planted as edible next year. 

Here is the kitchen garden now covered in wood shavings....on the right you can see some lettuce still growing.  An annual plant that can take a little freezing.  And on the left you can see the broccoli trying to poke thru the shavings.  Also another annual plant that likes the cold. 

 And here is the garden that had the corn in it this year.  After this was taken the pea plants still planted here were removed as they were actually dead.  But underneath the shavings is chives and mint...both Perennial plants.

And here is my now very empty greenhouse.  On the right there are carrots still planted.  Although these are grown as annual plants they are acctually biennial plants.  If left planted for 2 growing seasons they will go to seed.  But in addition to that if planted before the first frost you will have some ready to eat as soon as the ground thaws.  Oregano, Mint, Chives, Lettuce, and Chocolate Mint are also planted in here....though they are hard to see as they are under the shavings.


Although ceder may not be a good choice...although my greenhouse smells wonderful....there is an advantage to this.  Like leaves the wood shavings will become compost.  They will give the young plants still in the ground a few extra degrees of warmth during the winter and also help keep moisture in as the spring thaws the ground. 

Once the gardens are ready for the winter you can start planning for the spring.  Granted you may not beable to get the seeds you wish to plant yet but you can deside where you want to plant them.  How to start them.  And also how many and when you want to plant.  The winter gardener is still busy...it's just a lot of paper work till closer to spring.

Storing seeds

So now that you have learned how to collect seeds your ready to go out into the neighbor hood and see what you can find.  But wait.....just gathering seeds isn't quite that simple is it?  Sure it is....as long as you have a plan before you go.  For instance when I went out I made sure I had a jacket or pants with lots of pockets.  This way each variety of seed that I collect can have it's own spot away from others.  And it also allows me to be sure that they don't get mixed.  Unless you know what the seeds look like for sure it's best to have some way to keep different kinds seperate till to arrive back home.  Small ziplock bags, envelopes, pockets, what ever you have handy that you can use to help keep them appart. 

Once home it's time to lable and store the seeds.  The Seed Site is a great site to go to for seed packets.  You just simply pick a design you like and print it off.  Cut out the shape glue or tape  together and presto a home made seed packet that is perfect.  http://www.wintersown.org/ is another site that has lost of good seed packet templates.  There are tons all over the internet.

Here are some examples from the 2 sites I listed.  These are some easy ones and can be very usefull.  They all have lots of room to lable the packet. 

So whats supposed to be on the lable?  Well for one you need the type of plant and if known the variety.  Another is when it was collected.  I just put the Month and Year.  This comes into play when you go to use them.  Since the gardens are pretty much going dorment right now mostlikely you are collecting seeds for the following year.  Or maybe you are giving them away.  Well it is suggested that you not use seeds over 2-3 years old.  So the ones I collect this year are most likely going to be good till 2013.  But again that will also depend on how they are stored and what kind of see they are.  Some last longer than others.  Now you can still use them after 3 years but their viability is questionable.  But hey give it a shot...you may be surprised.

Something else to consider when lableing these special collections is to put days till germination, depth, spacing, etc.  Things that you would find on a traditional seed packet from the store.  This way when you go to plant them or someone who received as a gift goes to plant them the information is right there.  I put that information on the back or on a index card filed with the packets. 

The Potting Shed gave me a seed saving kit for winning a contest on facebook.

This really cool little kit came with tins to put seeds in as well as Glassene envelopes to store seeds in.  Lables to put on both as well.  Even a pencile to write with and seed markers to use when planting.

It also came with a chart to assist in seed saving.  There was a card inside as well that gave some basic instructions on how to use the kit/save seeds.  I really liked the kit...in fact I ended up buying another one.  They have kits on the site for kids too.  I can see how a kid would love to use this kit as the tins have clear lids so they can see the seeds.  And as most seeds are dry and there for somewhat hard they make noise in the tin.

Having a kit like this actually got me very interested in learning how to save seeds.  I enjoyed my greenhouse and other gardens this year (still am actually) and untill I won this kit I hadn't even thought of saving seeds for future use.  But I won the kit and said well I can't just let it sit there.....I need to use it for something.....and I did. 

So print off some seed packet templates and have them ready, put on a jacket and grab the camera and kids.  Head outside and see what you can find that you could plant in your yard next year.  Come on you know that those really pretty flowers that are growing up your neighbors mail box would look really nice in your garden too....so go get some seeds.  Teach the kids how the life of a plant doesn't end every fall but begins anew with a tiny seed.

Collecting Seeds

On a nice fall day you head outside and take a walk.  As you pass a neighbors yard you see that once beautiful garden laying dormant and wish you had some of their flowers.  Well since it is fall most likely there are seeds that you can gather. 

Besides the colors of the trees fall is a great time of year.  Although your garden seems to be sleeping it isn't.  The last stage before that long winter nap is happening.....the setting of seeds.  Some may have already produced and released their bounty but many are still holding on to their treasure.

Collecting seeds can be fun and educational.  Learning what each plants seed pod or seed looks like.  Discovering that there are many sizes, shapes, and colors to seeds and seed pods. 

 Here is a good example of how different seeds can be.  The 2 black seeds are Morning Glory seeds.  The 2 big white ones are Moon Flower.  Both plants seem very simular in nature as they are both climbing vines and the leaves are virtualy the same.  But the flowers and seed pods are very different.

Here in these two pictures are both seed pods for Morning Glories.  They look very different though.  Both plants are indeed Morning Glories but in this case the seed pod shape and size are clues at to the variety.  The first is from my Heavenly Blue.  Large blue blooms. 

The second is from a vine on a neighbors fence. These blooms were significantly smaller in size as well as different colors.   The pods weren't the only difference either.  To gather these seeds I just simply had to touch the pods and they broke open.  Where my Heavenly Blue pods required a little more work...not much but a little. 

This pod here is from the Moon Flower vine.  Like the seeds a lot bigger than the Morning Glory.  These also take much longer to fully develope.  And are not as plentiful as Morning Glory.  Mostlikely because the amount of pollinating insects at night is far less than during the day...so not as many of the blooms will become seed pods.

 
Here is a close up of the 2 different Morning Glory seeds.  On the left you can see 3 larger and more oval like shapped...these are the Heavenly Blue.  The others are the ones from the fence.  The mini blooms.

This funny looking thing is a seed pod for a Mimosa Tree.  For these you have to make sure that they are brown not green.  Green is still growing. 

And here you can see what the seeds inside look like.  Although these all came from the same seed pod they are all different.  The basic shape is the same but size isn't.  If you were to open a green pod you would see that most are all the same size.  It is during the drying stage that they shrink...some more than others.

The Rose of Sharon seed pods are very different in many ways.  Although for the most part the seeds with in are the same from variety to variety unlinke the Morning Glory ones sometimes the pods will differ.  In size for one but also in time to maturity and ammount of seeds. 

These Rose of Sharon seeds all came from one pod.  But the next pod I opened had 2 seeds.  very different in numbers but both looked very much the same.  The hair you see is called wings.  It's how they get around when the pod is fully open. Carried by the wind.

I went to a few different sites to find out what to look for in terms of seed pods that are ready and that aren't.  What the seeds look like, and how to go about germinating them.  The following sites are really good to use to identify mystery seeds the kids may bring home http://www.theseedsite.co.uk/, and http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/seedid/ were 2 really good ones.  I used them to find out what this crazy looking seed was.  Turns out it is Clematis.