Welcome to Denver, where the common wisdom is "don't plant until after Mother's Day" (May 9th this year), and even then, sometimes you'll get a frost (or a hailstorm). Sooooooooooooo I am just now starting some seeds indoors!
But I am very excited because I am planting BIG PLANT SEEDS. My building is going to have a community garden this year which they are hoping to have built raised beds for us ready toward the end of the month. I've tried growing things in pots on my balcony in years past, but there are some plants that are kind of too big for the pots I have. If I had had extra money, I would have bought giant size containers, but I have been living on a shoestring. So certain things that I would have liked to try I couldn't, but this year I can!!
Yuan halping me start seeds
Yes that's right, I'm finally getting to try growing jack-o-lantern size pumpkins! My little Samhain (Halloween) loving heart is happy. It's my favorite holiday and I have always wanted to grow jack-o-lantern pumpkins. :D
Since both of these packets of seeds are YEARS old (one of them says 2013, the other I can't even find a date, it's probably older than that), I went ahead and started ALL the seeds. I figure only some of them will germinate being that old, so this way I'll be sure to get a few plants (I hope). OTOH, I may be overrun with pumpkin plants, which, yanno, is a pretty good problem to have. :)
I am doing that thing where you start seeds in paper towels, mostly because I need to buy potting soil, but also I think this will make it easier to see how many start so by the time I get some more soil I can save time and space by putting them in dirt after they've sprouted.
On a related note, I also started turnip seeds! ^_^
Big root vegetables are also a difficult thing to pull off in pots. I've tried carrots before with not much success. But turnips are delicious, and I'm not allergic to them! Related though because turnips are actually the original plant you carve for Samhain - pumpkins only became a thing in the Americas. In Ireland it was (is?) turnips. Can't imagine what that looks like? How about this:
this image is all over the interwebs but it's an example found at the Museum of Country Life Co Mayo
That would put the fear into a malicious spirit, no?
And finally, I started cantaloupe seeds!
The packet is again from 2013 so I put all of them in there but I also added some that I had collected just from scooping them out of a cantaloupe from the store. Cantaloupes actually grow well in Colorado, but again, rather a large plant to try and grow in a pot on the balcony, so I'm happy I get to have a raised bed in the courtyard this year!
I will probably be starting more seeds intended for the balcony later, smaller things like herbs and probably tomatoes (I always try tomatoes with mixed success, lol), as well as some more tree seeds.
I took a peek, by the way, at the area I had guerilla gardened in the fall with some homemade compost and clover seeds. It's an area that's mostly bare dirt under a tree that is always getting washed away in the rain or when one of many (MANY) of the neighborhood dogs pees there. Yes, literally, I have seen a big dog pee and cause a stream to runoff down the little hill, across the sidewalk, and into the gutter, taking dirt with it. The poor tree is inundated with dog piss and cigarette butts (I'm always cleaning them up over there), so I thought they could use some healthy compost and maybe some clover to fix nitrogen in the soil and prevent erosion. So far, there are some really happy weeds growing there, lol. We always get weeds around there too, but these ones look HEALTHY. I think they like the compost as well. 😂 No signs of clover yet, but it is really early in the growing season for us, so I'm not giving up hope. The building next door has clover in their front beds and I haven't seen theirs yet, either, so I think we're okay still.
Photo from last fall. Note the little line of landscaping rocks I put at the bottom to try and help prevent some of the runoff.
That's a year's worth of compost making, btw! Small scale apartment homesteading FTW. 😄
Have a great week in your gardens, everyone!
Mogga and seeds what could go wrong, we're yet to plant and seeds for vegies etc, saying that we have cultivated a bath and planted some peppers and Gourds, the next thing is removing the ground Elder, a herculian task, looking forward to seeing more.
I need to start a new flat of grass for him on the balcony - Yuan has his own little garden spot:
Small scale apartment homesteading indeed @phoenixwren! So now I don't feel so bad about our small scale regular homesteading compost. With all the animals to feed we struggle to get compost going with what little remains of veggie and fruit peelings. Well done on getting seeds going so late in the season. I'm also on the other end of the continent (and agricultural season) to most so we're also about to wrap up as winter approaches
Hey, even a little bit helps! :) Years ago when I lived at my parents' place I dubbed this corner of their very neglected backyard, "compost corner." All that meant was, occasionally I threw food scraps back there, just free on the grass.
To this day, the rest of their backyard is half dirt and suffering, their front yard is full of chemical treatments and is the only part that gets watered and is also suffering, but Compost Corner is a veritable JUNGLE of healthy bluegrass that will grow a foot tall if you let it.
They still don't listen to me about compost, though.
Guerilla gardening, a surplus of pumpkins, and a community garden? What's not to love?
May all your seeds sprout!
That's such a great blessing: may all your seeds sprout. Thank you! 😄
I am surprised you can plant tender things so early in CO! Here where I am in New England, I wouldn't dare put them out before May 31, our last frost date. Because of that I won't be starting mine until May 15th, as they get far too large to handle by the 31st.
This last seed starting I did I started a couple things dated 2013, namely marigolds. But I bet they all come up, as I've had 12 year old marigold seed do just fine.
It's a very narrow window between "likely to frost" and "likely to heatstroke your seedlings" here that doesn't last very long. According to the super, the raised beds will hopefully be ready the third week of May, which is probably good timing.
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Ooooh! So exciting!! You must promise to document that for us. 😁
That turnip head is decidedly creepy! By the way, is any of your ancestry from the British Isles? They say we should eat what grows in our region and if you're good with turnips, perhaps that fits. Having said that, I feel like you've mentioned some greens are an issue and brassicas were a British staple for many years.
I love that you found a place for your compost. Although I'm guessing that will be able to go to the community garden when it starts.
I will totally be taking photos and documenting in the community garden! :D
Yes, my ancestry is German, Scottish, English, Irish, and Mi'kmaq - so around or above the 45th parallel, on both sides of the Atlantic, lol. And in many ways, that fits - dairy is a staple now, and milk products are very much a Celtic thing. I can do some fruit and veg that is "northern," like apples and turnips and squash and such. But in others, it doesn't fit - all nuts and seeds are out due to nickel content; leafy greens and broccoli family and other veg for the same reason. I have a headcannon that nickel allergy is where "the fae can't do iron" comes from (because iron has a lot of nickel in it), and I'm really just descended from faeries. :D I mean, Nuada of the SILVER arm (silver is OK if you have a nickel allergy), and Dannan weapons made of mysterious metals that the people of the iron age couldn't identify ...possibly titanium? Because titanium is also safe for nickel allergy. 😁
I like your head canon, makes perfect sense to me!
If you're part Mi'kmaq, then I'm guessing that some of your ancestors cam to the Americas by way of Canada, eh? I'm guessing that might give you possible Metis ancestry.
Some of my ancestors immigrated from the British isles to Canada through Newfoundland.
Yup! My maternal grandparents are from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. My paternal grandparents, one was from Germany, and the other, her parents were from Germany, so I'm only second generation USAian except for the one grandmother I never met.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, Metis is a separate group that has its own culture, in which case, not that I know of. I know my family tree as far back as who got off the boat/was the last full blooded anything and the earliest white people on this side of the pond for us was 1880s or so, maybe 1870s, and they stayed in the maritimes. Grandma was Irish-Scottish-Mi'kmaq. :)
The metal allergy would certainly explain the leafy greens being a no but the root of the turnip being okay. In can't say I like turnip myself, at least not cooked. Not big on brassicas cooked in general, but broccoli is okay. Not sure on my ancestry, but definitely some Norse there filtered via France. Then likely Mediterranean in my mum's distant past.
Real food for thought on the Fae connections. What we call mythologies now usually have their roots in truths, they just had different ways of explaining it. My guess is that each tribe would have developed differently, depending on their evolution and that would have brought about different traits. Then add their culture to that and you really do almost have different races. They'd have been more isolated, too.
Have you ever had colcannon? My grandma always made it as turnips-potatoes-onions, and it wasn't until adulthood that I ever heard of people putting cabbage in it, lol, but it's really good grandma's way.
Hard yes. It always makes me make a face when people flat out ignore the historical-mythological record when trying to figure out the ancient past. Like, no, Mr. Bible Literalist, I don't expect you to take it all literally, but consider what it might mean.
So in the Invasion Cycle of Ireland, the Milesian Celts, aka the Gael, are from Iberia. They're the ones who encountered the Tuatha De Dannan, the faeries. Modern DNA tests say that Irish people have some DNA in common with people from Spain and the explanation I always hear is "wow, those Spanish sailors from that ONE armada ship that crashed in Ireland in the 16th century sure got around" and not THE MILESIAN CELTS ARE FROM MOTHERFUCKING NORTHERN SPAIN, YOU NITWITS. It makes me batty!
Another little headcanon of mine is that another of the people talked about in the Invasion Cycle are the Fir Bolg, who are supposed to originally be from somewhere around the Mediterranean. One of the translations of the term "Fir Bolg" is "Dirt Movers" and the supposed explanation for that is that they carried dirt form their homeland with them in bags on their backs to Ireland to plant their crops in. I find it wildly improbable that ancient people thousands of years ago were sailing off to a new land and thought, you know what we need to carry all the way from the Mediterranean to wherever the fuck we're going? Loads of dirt. I mean, maybe a symbolic bag of dirt for spiritual reasons, sure. Take a piece of our home with us. But enough to farm on? Considering the timeline, I feel like the far more probable explanation is that they were the first agriculturalists to arrive in Ireland. Archaeologists know that up to a certain point the island was inhabited by hunter-gatherers, and then farmers showed up. "Dirt Movers" sounds to me like "Tch, look at these fools plowing up the dirt to put seeds in when the forest provides for free." But that's just my theory. :)
Oh no, I could spend hours conversing about history! I don't know where to start here!! 🤣
Before I lose myself I'll just say I'm leaning towards your theory on the dirt movers. The symbolic soil part seemed probable, then you said farming and that just makes so much more sense.
I mean, maybe I'm wrong. The ancients hauled the bluestones all the way from Wales to Stonehenge. But hauling enough dirt to farm in on ships from the Mediterranean to Ireland is kinda a different beast. And given what we know about different waves of people from archaeology ...I just kind think it's more likely it was about the people who brought western-style agriculture. Also, "when they first showed up they had bags of dirt" seems less likely to be the reason for the whole name of a people than "they're constantly working in the dirt as like, their lifestyle," imo. LOL
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I've been using up some old seeds lately as well and had very high germination rates. You might be overrun by pumpkins. I think I might be....
Maybe I will guerilla garden some pumpkins. >.>
Yay for a community garden! That will be fun to see how it progresses. Squash and melons definitely need some space, so I'm glad you will get to experiment. I think I've seen that carved turnip picture before. He's definitely creepier than a lot of the pumpkins I've seen. 😂
And compost for the win every time!
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I grew “Sugar Pie” pumpkins last year with almost too much success. Much smaller than Jack-o-lanterns (but each one the perfect size for making a pumpkin pie). No seed starting needed, direct sowing worked fine. If you’ve never planted pumpkins before, beware. Vines spread like crazy and the leaves are huge.
The flowers are edible and a great addition to salads.
I love a little pumpkin pie with my whipped cream. :D
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If you want to do tomato plants in pots, just make sure the pots are large enough for the root system. I use 15 gallon pots for the tomato plants in my greenhouse, usually 1 plant per pot. I tried 5 gallon buckets and the plants just didn't do that well. If you're growing a cherry tomato plant, usually those will do OK with a smaller pot than the bigger type tomato plants.
5 gallon buckets is what I have. So that does explain the "meh" results.