Cinnamon Basil

I have been growing quite a bit of Cinnamon Basil.
Cinnamon Basil usually has a reddish stem as well as a Cinnamon type smell and taste.
Below are some pictures of my Cinnamon Basil as well as some bulbs that I have growing. All of the pictures were taken 5-09-09

Some of my largest Cinnamon Basil Plants.

Cinnamon Basil with Daffodils and Tulips in the background.

Cinnamon Basil leaves on a plate to dry. I will then grind them up for basil seasoning.

Tulips with Daffodils in the background. I grew these with Life Seed Company bulbs leftover from the fall.

Dutch Master Daffodils in bloom.

Respectfully submitted,

Joshua

Plants indoors...Large Scale. Part 2

Below are some pictures of Greg's (my farmer friend) plants. The pictures were all taken 4/13/09. His plants were all growing fast! Greg had an incident where he got some organic gardening soil and it had high nitrogen level and it contained manure... Shortly after he planted over 120 plants in the new soil he found out his plants were all dying! He moved quickly to get his plants out of that soil and was able to save quite a few. Unfortunately he lost 80 tomato plants to that mistake. Greg then proceeded to throw that soil out into a hole his dog had dug. When his dog found out all it would do is bark at it! As Greg told me "even the dogs did not like that soil."
Greg's mistake when he purchased that organic soil was not checking to see if it contained high nitrogen levels and manure. The soil contained both with the result that when he transplanted his seedlings they were burnt. Seedlings cannot deal with the high nitrogen levels that a lot of common gardening soils contain, even though large plants can. The soil I and now Greg use is a soil that is in commercial use called Fafard 4-P. This soil only contains Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss, Processed Pine Bark, Vermiculite, and Perlite.
I recommend using a soil like this for seed germination. Should you purchase your soil at a local garden center I would first ask an employee if they have a soil for seed starting and then check the label to make sure it does not contain high nitrogen levels. The soil that my friend Greg used in the story above had a nitrogen level of 10-13%.

Tomato plants.
Pepper plants.

More tomatoes.

Plants in front of main window.

Biggest Tomato plants as of 4-13-09.

I have mostly finished up with finals at Colorado State University. I still have to go up to campus for a test Monday or Tuesday. I was planning to rototill a new section of garden today, but it is raining so I don't think that is going to happen.

Hopefully I will be posting more pictures today.

Respectfully Submitted,

Joshua

Plants indoors...Large Scale.

A farmer friend of mine named Greg started A LOT of plants indoors this spring. He ended up with over 960 tomato plants alone. That does not include all of the eggplants, peppers, squash, pumpkins, nasturtiums, artichokes, & herbs ect. The pictures below show some of his methods and plants.
All of the pictures were taken 3/06/09

Pumpkin plants. 3/06/09
Pumpkin plants. 3/06/09

Tomato sprouts. 3/06/09

Planting the sprouts into pots.

Gently packing the soil around the sprout.

Watering the newly planted sprouts with a gentle sink sprayer.

The warm, dark drawer where the germinating seeds are stored till they sprout.

The start of the sprouting method. Take a paper towel and get it moist with water. (please make sure it is a coarse paper towel as fine ones make transplanting the sprouts without hurting them virtually impossible.)

Next step. Place the seeds on the moist papper towel and then gently fold the towel up and place it in a ziplock bag. Finally place the closed ziplock bag in a warm, dark place. The seeds usually will be ready to plant in 3-6 days.

Wrapping the seeds in the papper towel.

I will post more pictures soon. Tomorow I hope to post pictures of how Greg's plants looked like a couple weeks after the above pictures were taken. Now I have to continue with my studies.
One good thing was that I found out I could take the final exams next week and that I have until the 8th to turn in all of my work! Yipee!

Joshua

Growing Plants indoors

This week is finals week at Colorado State University, so I am very busy!
Below are some pictures of the plants I had growing indoors in March 26 - 29, 2009.

Cinnamon Basil.
Stevia. Sometimes called The Sugar Herb.

Queen Sophia Marigold in Bloom

Alaska Nasturtiums. These are very good to eat. The leaves and flowers have a kind of pepper cress like flavor. I like to put them in sandwiches.

Plants in front of my southern window.

I will be posting more soon. Hopefully the next post will have pictures of plants production on a much larger scale!

Joshua

Catching Up

Wow.

It has been a very busy couple of months. Life Seed Co. has been doing a lot of shows, in fact we are doing one almost every weekend. We have done several in Colorado, one in Great Falls, Montana, and one in Pomona, California.

In my extremely limited spare time I have been growing about 50 or so plants in the house, and tracking the growth of the plants a farmer friend of mine is growing. As of today I have Marigolds, Zinnias, Lemon Sunflower, Squash, Cucumber, beans, and Hyacinth Bean in bloom.

Below are some pictures of some of the shows we did.

The Show in Great Falls, Montana. Picture taken an exibiter lounge terrace.
Wind generators in Montana.

Driving through Montana.

Montana.

Pirate Ship firing at the Colorado Garden and Home Show.

Lillies at The Colorado Garden and Home Show.

The Pirate ship at The Colorado Garden and Home Show.

Pirate Ship at The Colorado Garden and Home Show.

Landscaping at The Colorado Garden and Home Show during the middle of February.

The Colorado Garden and Home Show.

Me at Life Seed Company's booth at The Colorado Garden and Home Show.

Foxgloves in a landscape at the Colorado Garden and Home Show.

Columbines at The Colorado Garden and Home Show.

The Colorado Garden and Home Show took place in early to mid Frebruary. It drew 65,000 visiters last year.
I will post more soon.

Joshua

Time to start your Tomatoes and Peppers

Spring is on the way!
We at Life Seed Company recently attended the Colorado Garden and Home Show. it was great timing for us as it is now time to start your tomatoes and peppers as well as other start indoor crops.
It is ideal to start your tomato and pepper plants from seed indoors at around mid to the end of February.
It is also a good idea to start planning your garden and purchasing your seeds. You should start planting your cool weather crops such as peas and lettuce in mid march.
One great way to start your seed (this is the method we are using) is to place the seeds in a wet paper towel (or hand towel.) make sure the towel is wet enough to drip but make sure that the seeds wont be in standing water! Then place the paper towel in a plastic bag (like a Ziploc) and seal it. I would recommend having some air in the bag. Place the plastic bag in a warm dark place. Seeds germinate the best at 65 and higher degrees Fahrenheit. Once the seeds have sprouted I transplant them into plug trays although you can plant them directly into pots if you wish. I have found that most of the seeds germinate within 3-5 days. I have also been able to grow seeds that I have been struggling for years to grow using this method. Some seeds require nicking or soaking overnight in water. I personally have not had any success with the soaking method if I sprout the seeds in a paper towel. I have found nicking the seed to work extremely well however.
You can also start other plants indoors now. A friend of mine starts some of all of his vegetables now so that he can start getting zucchinis and other produce only 2 weeks after transplanting into the garden! That means he will be eating off of his garden by the first week of June. He then starts more of his plants later so that when the first plants start to slow down he can replace them with young vigorous plants and get two crops a year off of his garden! (by the way that does not necessarily mean starting the second batch indoors, You can plant the seeds directly into the garden after mothers day.)
Spring is going to be here so soon and it is time to get going on your garden. time to start tilling and putting fertilizer down (Fertilizer is especially important if you are using a type that burns plants as you will want to put that down at least a month before you plant.) time to decide what you will be planting and for the square foot gardeners it is time to consider how many days the plants you want to plant will take to produce and how long they will produce before they stop and can be replaced by another plant.
I myself intend to try some "square foot" gardening as it will be a new experience. (We live on 5 acres and the only space problems we have are if we can get on the tractor,rototill more ground and get water to it.)
It will probably be an interesting year.Best of wishes for your gardens.
I will try to post some pictures soon.

Seed Storage

As we get ready for another gardening season here is a couple tips on how to make your leftover seed last till next year. when selecting a storage place keep the following in mind and although you may have the ideal storage conditions try to find a place that is as close to the ideal as possible.

To store seed you need to have:

1. A cool storage place. The ideal temperature is below 50 degrees, but we like to store our seed closer to 35 degrees.

2. Another very important thing to consider is moisture. Moisture is a very good thing when you want your seed to germinate (sprout), but it is a very bad thing when you do not want your seed to germinate. keep humidity to a minimum and avoid any direct contact with water or water vapor.

3. Light. keep your seed in a dark place. The darker the better.

4. This one should be obvious: do not allow your seed to make contact with soil. although sometimes seed may last when in contact with soil it is a bad idea.

5. You need at least some air in your storage area. Seeds do breath, even though it is a very tiny amount of air that they require.

There you go combine all the above and your seed should last for years. After all, they have grown seed taken from the Pyramids. How did those seeds last all those centuries? Because of all the above.

Now for a brief description on why seed likes to be stored in the above conditions:

Every seed contains a small quantity of water. if that seed is in a hot place it "sweats" and if it runs out of water you got a dead seed. if a seed is exposed to enough moisture it will begin to germinate (sprout) and as that seed sprouts it will not have the necessities of life and it will quickly die. It is the same thing with light. Light helps the seed to germinate and it also causes the seed to "sweat." Soil has the ability to contain moisture and transport that moisture to the seed. just place a peace of paper on some soil and come back and check on it in the morning and chances are that the paper will be moist. especially if it is not in a container.
If you follow all of the above you will greatly increase your chances that your old seed will be as good as new for several seasons. I have witnessed seed that is almost 30 years old have a germination percentage of 90% or more. It was stored properly and it paid off.