Compost Surprise

Photo: Strawberry Plant

Photo: Mystery Plant

I fertilize my plants weekly with compost tea (i.e., water mixed with finished compost).  I allow certain seeds to enter my compost bin, and as you can see some of these seeds have made a home in my garden.  

I identified the first one as a strawberry plant, which I will happily keep.  I am also going to keep the second set of plants just to see what it is.

Continuous Sunflower Blooms

Photo: Successive Plantings of Sunflowers

The sunflowers are blooming against the fence.  I used last year's harvest of sunflower seeds.  The new flowers are smaller in size, and it is probably due to lack of consistent watering and over crowding.  I just threw a bunch of seeds in a row and covered it with soil.

I actually prefer the smaller sunflower heads for floral arrangements.  I planted a new row of sunflowers right in front of the old one.   I am staggering the plantings so that I can have a wall of continuous blooms.

Harvesting Scallion or Green Onion Seeds

Photo: Last Season's Scallion Seeds Sprouting

Photo: Scallion or "Green Onion" Seed Head

Turn left over green onion stalks into a whole bed of scallions.  All you have to do is plant the unused scallions in the soil, and allow at least one stalk to thicken and flower.  The flower will eventually form seeds, which you will use to plant a new bed of green onions.  You can continue to take cuttings from the other scallions for cooking.  

You will know when the seeds are ready to be harvested when the stem of the plant turns yellow, and you may even see some of the black seeds ready to spill out.  

Cut the stem under the seed head during a dry time of the day.  To save the seeds all you need to do is shake the black seeds into a bag or shake the seeds directly into your garden bed.  The seeds should sprout within a week as long as you provide adequate water.