Thursday, March 17, 2011

Starting Seed

No, this is not a primer on how to plant seeds.  If you can't figure that much out on your own, you shouldn't bother keeping a garden.  
Amaranth just barely peeking out on left.
Quinoa jumped out like a rocket.


This is a journal, after all.  Recently I planted several items, and tomorrow I'll put down the rest.  The seeds that went in six days ago included Amaranth, Quinoa, Chamomile, Tarragon, Lovage, Tansy, Angelica, Hyssop, and Anise

After six days all but the Angelica, Lovage, Tansy and Anise have come up.

The first to come up, almost instantly, was the Quinoa. And funny enough, I used food grade quinoa that I bought at the supermarket for about $1.50 a pound.  That's a much better price than paying a buck for something like one gram, or 28 to 250mg, which most seed packs carry. 

I must make a note here that I was not completely happy with the appearance of the Angelica seeds.  I bought them from a dealer at the flower show, the packet was $3.00. That's a hell of a lot for a packet of seeds, but no one else had them, so I took a chance.  The seeds looked like they were all broken, and frankly I'm not sure if that was just the outer casing of the seed or not.  They have not come up yet, but if they still have time. The packet says it takes from 14-21 days, but most seed packets say that.  It's only been six or seven, so I'll be patient. 

On right Tarragon and Chamomile growing nicely,
with Hyssop putting on a good show.

I also put down several sunflower seeds three days ago, none have come up yet.

Today I planted more lovely seeds, Basil, Purslane, Rue, and Borage, along with some flower and veggie seeds.

Yesterday I found Feverfew and Opium Poppy, both of which will be started tomorrow.

My next assignment is to go on-line and locate some of the herbs that I cannot find retail.  I already have some White Sage seeds, however, remembering where I stored them will be an assignment on its own. Tomorrow I will find a dealer who can send me some Sweetgrass, Wormwood, Yarrow and Elecampane, among others.  Strangely I haven't seen yarrow on the shelves, I thought that, at least, would be easy to get, but so far have not seen it in stores.   

Grocery Store-bought Quinoa seedlings after 4 days.





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