Seed Lovers Garden

Monday, March 23, 2020

What are you doing?

What are you doing during this insanity?
I'm watching cows doing yoga, horse leading a donkey, donkey following a horse, (not captured in this photo from my plant room window, but I can assure you, I have witnessed these things)

the multitude of wonderful birds visiting my suet feeder, giving a bird a bath,

having a dance party with another bird,

making candied ginger,

lamenting that I'm out of Coconut Chai Latte tea,

reading The Wildcrafting Brewer by Pascal Bauder,

reading Destiny of Souls by Michael Newton Ph.D.,

cranking the tunes and dancing like a wild woman, (no picture for that) checking on seedlings and losing my shit when I discover that a-hole mouse got my last Mimosa seedling, sewing, cross stitch,

(This is a Teresa Wentzler cross stitch done on linen. I started this close to two decades ago, I pulled it out in the last month and am telling myself to do just a bit every day. I do want to finish it, frame it and hang it on my wall. Probably the most intricate piece I've ever taken on.)

knitting,

(Two shawls; Il Glicine by Linda Allegra using James C. Brett's Northern Lights & Cozy Moments by Carmen Jorissen of New Leaf Designs using a Caron Cotton Cake. And lastly working on a pair of wool boot liners which is taking way to long to complete... plugging away at them.)

crocheting, shuffling stuff, throwing out stuff, and most of all just trying to stay sane. I'm not sure I'm succeeding at the sanity part, the fact that I'm working on a dozen things only proves how incredibly unsettled I am by what is going down.

I'm visiting my past by watching all 8 seasons of Star Trek Next Generation, it's kinda comforting. Finding some of the episodes hilarious, were they that funny then?

Saturday, February 29, 2020

Mango Madness

Well, I'm not very good at blogging on a regular basis. I think I have things to say and then that negative Nelly in my head takes over and says nope, no one wants to hear your rantings about seeds.

Tough, I'm going to rant about seeds!

I love trying to start seeds that I have no business trying to start. Seeds that even if I get them to germinate, will not grow here. Yet, I still keep trying.
Avocado's are easy, one just has to be patient, they do take well over a month before they crack and send out either a root or a leaf. I now have 3 avocado 'trees' growing in the plant room. They'll stay there until they perish or I get my glass house to grow them in. (Wishful thinking)

My latest attempts have been on mango seeds.

After soaking the seed for a couple of days, with daily scraping off of flesh, using a paring knife or fingernail. These were taken January 30, 2020. As soon as I cut away the flesh holding the seed together it popped open. These seeds really want to grow.

This picture was taken February 5, 2020. I lay the seed on a moist cloth, placed it in a container (a plastic container that had mushrooms in it), and placed all of that in a clear plastic bag. Does it matter whether it is in dark or light, I don't think so. I do think that warmth is a factor. I wouldn't put this in the fridge and expect anything, this was placed on a shelf out of the way, room temperature.

I accidentally broke the root when placing it on the coir, oops. Has not seemed to slow it down.
I planted it in coir (coconut husk) on February 19, 2020. My previous attempts at planting in dirt failed shortly after planting. I had buried the seed and hoped that a leaf shoot would make it to the top. After failing 3 times, I thought, I'll try it this way and see what happens. Ta da! Success. I do think that cleaning off the seed as much as possible is important, you don't want any mango flesh to start rotting and going moldy. They don't smell overly pleasant anyway so adding to that is probably not a great idea.

This picture was taken on February 26, 2020. Cool, I have a mango tree. :) As it grows I will update this blog.

Two more seeds cleaned off and placed in a container on February 19, 2020. I can't help it, it's a seed.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

The Birds

I love spring, well who doesn't, but sometimes I think parts of it are just for me.
The birds of prey are back. I play count the birds (of prey) every time I leave the house. Just today there were 7 on the way to work and 8 on the way home. Odds are good I was counting the same birds but there are really no rules to the game. I see the two big red tailed hawks sitting in the stands of poplar along Hwy 12 after Medicine River. Sometimes I see them in the act of the hunt, hovering in the air ready to dive. Phones are not my distraction while driving!
Cranes are back, I see them flying overhead, always an odd number, their massive wings effortlessly slicing through the air.
The geese, my favorites are everywhere. I haven't seen large flocks arriving back, but there are a couple in this field, a few in that field, a couple in the beaver pond and other ponds and wet lands.
As I was driving to work on Easter Monday, just past the mailboxes, I saw something out of the corner of eye. Always on watch for deer or moose around here, I looked out the car window and not 10' from me were 2 geese flying. They were almost parallel to my drivers window for about half a km. They stayed low to go under the power lines still just over the ditch. Wow, I was in an absolute state of bliss! I lost sight of them as I went around the corner to go down the hill, but I'm sure that tiny wonderous event was put on just for me. What a great way to start the day.🌞

Thursday, January 26, 2017

January '17 Ramblings

January 25, 2017
Mid-winter here, next to the middle of nowhere. Down the hill calfs are being born and seeing that makes me yearn that much more for spring. The buds on the trees waking up, swelling and bursting into green..... wishful thinking right now. I'm pretty sure winter will hang on for a couple more months.
Took a peak in the cold frame, the iris started last summer are still green. You know they're not actively growing but just seeing that bit of green stirs the lust for spring. Heuchera and geum are still green as well. Have you ever noticed what plants stay green under the snow? I'm always amazed by that.
We've had our first chinook for 2017, the break from that brisk chill of -25C is always welcome. I do feel for the critters though. Now that it's cold again, the surface of the snow is a hard crust. Sometimes it holds my weight, sometimes not and my boot goes down with the jagged crust of ice scraping against my knee. At least I have boots and jeans to protect me.

Battle of the thrips is continuing in the house. Brought them in from the yard last year. If you're not planning on growing anything, then putting thick black plastic and bark mulch down is great. A perfect climate for thrips. We have little in the way of chemicals to combat these critters, not that I would resort to using them, but when they take out a whole pot of shepherdia seedlings one tends to think of desperate measures. I've been using a solution of Murphy's wood soap, it does work for the foliage but not the soil. I'm hoping repotting will tip the scales in my favour, everything needs to be done anyway.

I've gone through the 100's of pictures that I take on my excursions and, here they are......

May 15, 2016 Taken from Windy Point. It was alarming to see how low the lake was. It is a dam so I assume water was let out. I've just never seen it that low.

Abraham Lake by the dam. You can see where the water line is usually.

Abraham Lake again, pictures taken September 14, 2016. Very high! One extreme to the other, I've never seen it this high.

One can usually walk out to that bit of rock that is now an island.

I've never seen this before but I will assume that it is rock and not a Nessie laying in wait.

White rose in the yard by the tack shed. I love the hips from this rose. Rich intense black and the smell as they ferment is simply mouth watering. I think they would make wonderful jelly or schnapps.

Blunt fruited Sweet Cicely, Osmorhiza depauperata. This grows in the yard. It's a pretty little plant and I'm hoping it will spread.

Thalictrum venulosum just starting to bloom.

Geum rivale, one of my favorites. I love the daintiness of it.

Beaked hazelnut, Corylus cornuta. First thing to bloom in my neck of the woods. This picture was taken April 3, 2016.

The beavers were fun to watch this past summer. I did manage to catch glimpses of them swimming but the pictures didn't turn out.

Aralia nudicaulis

Corallorhiza maculata

Thalictrum venulosum

Rosa woodsii

Mitella , Mitrewort in flower and in seed.

Cornus canadensis, Bunchberry

Top of Lake Abraham, top picture west, above picture east.

Androsace chamaejasme

Haven't figured this one yet.

Saw this herd quite a bit this year. Wild horses are always a welcome sight.

Shunda view point.

Highway 12, right side, left side. Love this view.

This is NOT a Ford Focus road. Just saying. How do I know? I tried it, and frankly I'm grateful I didn't have to call a tow truck to make it back down as far as I got. Just a cell tower up there, no cool plants.

Taking pictures of Lake Abraham never gets old to me. Anytime of day, anytime of year. I have hundreds upon hundreds of pictures taken at Windy Point.