Be Fruitful and Multiply
I am always amazed about how a plant will produce 100s of seeds in order to reproduce. I was cutting a store bought cantaloupe and digging out the seeds, when the wife asked if we could plant the seeds.
Of course you can. But, there are some varieties of fruit that won't reproduce, so know your source.
Anyway, as I separated seeds on to a paper towel, I thought how about how little amount of seeds I used to get plants growing. Just recently, I planted six pumpkin seeds in two pots in order to replace my pumpkin plant that was attacked by a bug. All six seeds created plants and I transplanted them into my Front Micro-Garden. Apparently, getting seeds to germinate is easy for me, getting them to bear fruit is a whole nother issue.
So, as I sat there spreading seeds out, I wondered how many I really needed. I know the packets I bout only had a couple dozen or so seeds. This one melon had at least 100 seeds, way more than I could use, since seeds only last a few years. I decided to stop at the amount you see below, which was barely a quarter of the seeds available.
When people start gardening, they probably don't think about the harvest of seeds they will get. When I hear people say that we can't grow enough food for the expanding population, I am just amazed at the narrow minded thought. Even on STEEMit there are gardeners growing things in small plots or even without dirt. Just because the natural method for a plant is to spread as far and as wide as possible to grow, doesn't mean that plants can't grow in smaller places or just about anywhere.
Below are my first cantaloupe from my Front Micro-Garden. One is ready for harvest. I put very little work in getting them to grow. I didn't do anything someone else who can shovel dirt can do.
To me, growing your own food is freedom, just like having a car is freedom. Sure, I could let someone else do it, but that takes the enjoyment and the sense of accomplishment away.
Get out there and garden! GardenAnywhere!
nice information...
Dude those look great! We've got soil issues down here. Mostly clay type so you have to being in some kind of other soil to properly grow.
If you look closely, you can see the red clay under the ripe one and the black plastic under the other one. I dug a trench and filled it with bag dirt, that was the only way to grow things there.
Ahhhh. Good move. Ill make a mental note here. I put in some raised garden beds in my back yard, filled them with soil. Only problem is we have rabbits that like jalepeños, so nothing is safe.
You have to mix it with basil and other plants that deer and rabbit hate.
Cool. Ill look into that. They literally eat my peppers down to the ground.
Well said! Good luck with these next batches 😊
Don't know if you're interested but I want to offer all the same since you're a gardener and also put the biogas bug into my head. To join our steemithomesteaders slack group. Info is below. Thanks
https://steemit.com/steemithomesteaders/@greenacrehome/announcement-steemithomesteaders-slack-community
Thanks. Not sure if I have the time for the other social stuff, but I will keep it in mind.
That in my country is called having a good hand. From what I have been able to verify since my parents have had orchard all the life is that some people have more luck not only with the germination but also when it is transplanted to the orchard. My father, for example, has a much better hand than my mother or me. While he almost germinates everything to me germinates just over 50%. I love to see you're self-sufficient.
Not self-sufficient yet. So far, my yields have been snacks and not a full meal.
Here we call it "having a green thumb". I have a sister who says she can't grow anything, so she's the only one in the family having trouble. But, she has done a great job with her house plants.
Have a green thumb. Hehehe. What curious. Even if you only have one lunch, you are taking away from your daily meals a lot of unwanted chemicals, plus the awesome taste of self-cultivating vegetables compared to supermarket vegetables.