Windowsill Updates

I'm taking a brief study break to relay some news through a photograph:

As you may notice, the tomato plant I've been babysitting is gone. I hear it is in a big pot now, happily swaying in the breeze and soaking up the sun. Lucky guy!

Here in windowsill land, though, a couple of other things have changed. My remaining spinach seedling is quite large now, though spindly as ever. Since the cool season is definitely over (it's supposed to be 80 degrees in a couple of days), this plant won't do very well outdoors, so it's time to harvest what there is to harvest. I've enjoyed having the spinach, and I've learned a bit in the process, so I'm satisfied with the experience even though the two seedlings never really grew big and strong.

Also, as you can see, my jade and spider plants are doing quite well. Unlike all my other plants, these are generally accepted to be indoor plants, and you can tell. If the spider plant keeps growing at this rate, I may need to repot it relatively soon. I also doubt it would take much prodding for it to put out a baby spider plant within the next year or so.

Well, it's time to get back to the grind. My next post will feature high-quality photographs for the first time in a long time, and I've been saving a few post-worthy locales for just an occasion. Thanks for bearing with my through this tribulation.

Next post: Summery container arrangements.

Devil's Icebox and Its Environs

Today I went with some kids from my dorm to Devil's Icebox, which is a cave, and some trails around it. I had a great time, and, naturally, I took a lot of pictures of plants.

First, though, check out this spinach I got. The greenhouse overwintered some of its spinach from last fall, and it began growing again this spring. The spinach soon bolted, though, so I was tasked with pulling it all. Even though it had flowered, the leaves tasted fine, so I was allowed to take home whatever I wanted. I took home a whole bagful, and gave a few plants each to two of my closest friends at school. Here's what I had left after that. It may not look like much, but there's real treasure in there. And lots of aphids and spiders, as it turns out.

Here's another photo unrelated to my cave trip. I saw this on my way to my car this morning and couldn't resist photographing it.

The cave pictured here is not the one we explored, but we did end up crossing this stream. I didn't take many pictures inside the cave because the bottom of it was a river, and I didn't want to drop my phone in it. However, some of my friends took quite a few pictures from in the cave, so I'll post them when I get them.

This plant is a wild Missouri edible, the mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum). These umbrella-like plants will produce apple-esque fruits later this year. The fruits are edible when cooked and can be incorporated in pies, jellies, and so forth. I've never eaten one, but I would like to.

I love mossy cliff faces. This one was quite impressive. The mud made it impossible to clamber over to that tree, though.

There was a plethora of wildflowers blooming at the state park we visited, and I didn't recognize any of them. There's a surprising but substantial difference in the ecologies of my native region and more northern regions of Missouri.

This is Devil's Icebox. This is the cave we explored. We did not, however, enter it this way.

These ornate ferns were all over the place. I quite enjoyed them.

Another unfamiliar wildflower. These blooms resembled snapdragons, except that they weren't in spike formations.

These flowers look like they might belong to the Phlox genus.

Again, I hope to bring you some in-cave pictures. It was a great experience, exploring some of the area's natural wonders. What has nature created in your neck of the woods?

Next post: me in a cave?

Small Mourning in the Morning

Note: My camera refuses to turn on for some reason, so until I find a solution, I will be using my phone's camera. You have my sincerest apologies.

In an ironic turn of events, as I was rolling up my blinds to let light reach my plants today, one of my spinach plants got caught in the blinds and completely uprooted.

So I had roughly a mouthful of baby spinach with breakfast this morning. I'm sad to see the thing go, but you can see the root system: it's visibly lacking in substance. This plant would not have grown into a normal spinach plant. My other one probably won't either. At the end of the day, though, it will give me a little nutrition, and I wholeheartedly appreciate that. I'm grateful that my runty spinach seedlings have made it this far.

Next post: weekend outing adventures!

Reaping the Benefits

Since the university's flower shop's cool-season plant sale is over, the greenhouse doesn't need its cool crops anymore. So I got to take some home today! Most of these are eating-size and will be eaten very shortly, so they won't be long-term additions to my plant addiction, but they're really cool and healthy and inspiring and yummy looking.

First is the broccoli (Brassica oleracea) plant. Broccoli really needs to be outside since you eat its flowers, so I'm going to give this one either to Scott's parents, my mom, or anyone else who could take care of it. Its foliage is pretty on its own, though.

This next plant, Lactuca sativa, should be familiar--it's lettuce! This cultivar is called 'Simpson Elite.' It looks soft, and I'm going to have some on a Jimmy John's sandwich tonight, so I'll report back on how it tasted then. I probably could get more out of these four plants by cultivating them, but I don't think the light conditions can support them for long.

This plant also Brassica oleracea, but it is better known as cabbage. This particular cabbage is an ornamental variety, but since it was never treated with pesticides, it's technically edible, so I'm going to eat it. There were non-ornamental varieties too, but they had fewer leaves. I reckon I could make a few servings of cole slaw with this.

Brassica oleracea is one of my favorite species of plants. This one species is amazingly diverse. Case in point: kale. This variety is ornamental in the same manner as the above cabbage, and it is also edible in the same manner. Kale, in my mind, is dismissed as a yuppie vegetable by many, but it cooks up just like spinach or collards, and it has impressive nutrition facts. Not surprisingly, kale's nutrition facts and broccoli's are very similar. Both have a low glycemic index; low fat and cholesterol; high fiber; high protein; high vitamin A, C, and K contents; and high iron contents. The biggest difference when comparing the two is their anti-inflammatory values. Kale is extremely anti-inflammatory; broccoli is only slightly so.

With all these new additions, my windowsill now looks like this:

And while I'm on the topic of my windowsill, here's an update on all my other plants. My thyme seedlings are starting to poke out their first true leaves, which is exciting. For a while I had wondered if they ever would. Oh, and this is as in-focus as the thyme is going to get--my camera just cannot handle objects this small.

Next are my spinach seedlings. They've developed their second sets of true leaves, which is good.

This might not scream Popeye right now, but someday...

My spider plant is looking about the same, but it seems significantly bigger than it was before. I think it enjoyed its stay at my house over spring break. These plants seem to tolerate low light just fine, but they don't really thrive in it.

The jade plant is doing well also. This is just such a sleek plant.

Finally we've come to the Swiss chard. I moved it to my windowsill so it could get more light, which has seemed to help a couple of the seedlings. They're still droopy. On the positive side, most of them (despite the fact that I couldn't get a good picture of this) do have tiny dots that will become their first true leaves. Perhaps the increased surface area of these leaves will help the plants maximize what light they have?

A little bit of research suggests that Swiss chard does not like moving from where it was originally planted. That might contribute to these plants' middling performance. Next year I will be able to plant outside to begin with (in containers, but it's the light that matters), so that should help. In the meantime, I'll see if these go anywhere when I put them out for the summer.

In another bit of news, I might be able to get my plant-loving paws on a purple shamrock and a wandering jew, two of my coveted houseplants from yesterday's post. What's even better is that it looks like I'll be able to get one of those plants for free. More on that when more happens.

Next post: a brief spring favorite (for real this time).

Spiders and Seedlings and Jade, Oh My!

There have been so many recent developments that I don't even know where to start. I'll arbitrarily follow the order of the pictures I took.

My spinach seedlings are starting to develop their first true leaves! Notice the difference in shape between them and the seed leaves. It's quite the contrast, and it will only become more different as time goes by.

My other spinach plant is trying to do the same thing this one has. It may just need more time. However, it seems kind of limp, and I'm wondering if the stem didn't get injured when I transplanted it. Time will tell.

The next order of business is my zucchini plant. It's still miniscule, but I believe it's trying to flower. I don't know if zucchinis can flower multiple times throughout a season, but if mine goes through with it, its new caretakers are going to have some microscopic fruits. They produce pretty flowers, though.

Now for some really exciting news: my thyme has sprouted! Well, some of the plants have. I may have to thin the ranks at some point because thyme seeds are tiny, so I have no idea how many I planted. But for now, I'm just happy that the seeds germinated! I don't think I've ever grown a plant from seed before, so this is an important accomplishment for me.

As you'll notice, it's extremely difficult to get my camera to focus on something as small as these seedlings, so they are blurry. The green dots are the seed leaves. You can see some of the stems.

Fun fact: when I was little, I thought the lyrics to the Steely Dan song "Reelin' in the Years" were "Are you reelin' in the yeast?/Stowin' away the thyme?/Are you gatherin' up the teas?/Have you had enough of mine?" Yes, I was destined to be a foodie even then.

My chard is still looking like this, though.

Nada.

The biggest news from this front is my two new houseplants that I propagated in class. This one is a spider plant. Spider plants are very efficient at filtering air, and they're pleasant in general. Spider plants are thus named because they reproduce by sending out stalks that have another spider plant-shaped plant on the end of them. They look like little spiders.

My second houseplant is a jade tree, acquired in the same manner as the spider plant. Jade plants are succulent, but they form woody stems eventually. I find them aesthetically pleasing (and mine's putting on new leaves)!

Here's an aerial view.

So this is the new and improved windowsill shot:

Perhaps the chard will soon join this happening array of friends. But until then...

Next post: flowers in my hometown!

It Has Begun!

I have a dream. I had a dream. My dream was to plant swiss chard and thyme seeds indoors and make them grow. My dream was is to turn:

(As the packaging suggests, these seeds were from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I strongly recommend them to anyone looking for weird (think blue squash and chocolate basil) or slightly different varieties. They sell vegetables, herbs, and flowers. They're into organic growing, if you're into that. They even sent me a free packet of sunflower seeds for ordering from them.)

 

and

 

Into food.

The "making them grow" part is still a dream (albeit ever closer to reality), but I planted said seeds last night, so I am one step closer to growing my first foods!

The variety of chard I ordered is called "Rainbow" (also known as Bright Lights and Five-Color Silverbeet, as it's a relative of sugar beets). If you look at my blog's (current) header, that's a picture of rainbow swiss chard. I think it's beautiful, and chard is one of my favorite vegetables--definitely my favorite green. And I have read that it can be grown indoors for baby greens. So I'm trying it!

Apparently soaking the chard seeds in warm water for 24 hours before planting aids germination and helps prevent root rot, so I'm soaking them as I type.

I know I'm not sowing very many, but this way I have plenty more in case something goes south with this batch. Once these are done imbibing that water, I'm going to plant them in this (possibly with a tray of some sort under it):

However, I did actually plant the thyme. I planted it in a basket (we'll see how that works as a container) that's sitting on my heater. You see, a heating mat would be nice, but that would cost money, so I just laid some cloth over my heater to insulate it and put the basket on top of that. Here's the cloth (some strips I cut off of some sweats today--I'm DIYing this thing).

And here's the seeds on top of it!

In addition to planting new crops, I transplanted some older ones into better containers. These little seed pots were generously donated by my mother. I was going to use coolie cups, but I'll save them for another time.

First, the spinach. Cameos by Scott's hand.

This one's looking a little leggy. It never hurts to try, though.

Next is the zucchini. It's actually getting a new home in a few weeks, where it can go outside and possibly produce fruit.

I also finally transplanted my wheat into this colander. Maybe I didn't do the best job, but I think it will work. It's crooked because it's been growing toward my window and thus light.

Here's the class photo!

And here's what my windowsill looks like now:

There you have it. My lilliputian bounty is on its way. Have you ever tried growing any of these plants indoors? What are your favorite seed suppliers? Have you ever had to rig a makeshift growing apparatus?

Next post: more greenhouse pictures (plus the planting of my Bright Lights)!