I’m starting to worry that my sanity is going to wane this winter when my plants go dormant and I won’t be able to play in the dirt anymore. I’m thinking of nurturing seedlings and trying to grow some interesting things either indoors or in a makeshift greenhouse over the winter months. I’m drying some parts of my plants that I hope will grow into future plants. I want to try to grow some stuff from seed. I’m thinking about taking a black bean, a garbanzo bean, a few lime or lemon seeds, a grape tomato and an avocado seed and planting them in small pots and seeing what happens. that probably sounds a little crazy.
Urban girl that I am, I have this growing interest (ha ha, no pun intended, though it works out nicely) in watching things I’ve planted grow. Especially edible things I’ve planted. I’ve kept the same rosemary, sage, mint and oregano alive for two growing seasons now. I managed to salvage my hibiscus, my little tree-looking plant, and my aloe all from having frozen on the porch last winter (the tree plant was a total resurrection). I have two other Texas native plants that are in their second as well. I also discovered the re-emergence of my sweet basil from last year. I must have thrown some of the cut part that had bolted into the mint pot. It took to seed and started growing about halfway through the summer.
I learned about pruning plants back when half my plants died and I figured I’d better cut off all the dead parts - I didn’t KNOW you were supposed to do that! My tomato and jalapeno didn’t produce any fruit at all. Okay the jalapeno produced two tiny peppers this spring that promptly got eaten by caterpillars, and there’s been one teeny, tiny pepper that I plucked today, hoping to put the sucker in a pot since the plant is dying.
I have this urge to grow my own food. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how far removed we are from what we eat. It all comes in a can or a box or a pacakage or we scoop it out of some sort of bin or pour it out of a glass or plastic container. I know it’s unrealistic to grow ALL my own food, but I want to grow some of it, more that just herbs.
Anybody know how to construct a makeshift greenhouse for small pots? I’m feeling a little crazy today.
you can rig up plastic around a space and make sure it’s pretty well attached to the ground. if you have a patio area (i can’t remember your layout well enough) that’s a good place to try it. it’s also the best bet for protecting anything that you can’t bring in - blocks the wind and whatnot. it’s what my mom always use to do in the winter.
how would you do this in an apartment as small as ours? hmm…I”m thinking shelves to save space….i found this linkafter searching ‘Starting Vegetable Seeds Indoors’