check out this baby-
we've got six of them, plus the russian giant, which of course i forgot to take a pic of before it started drooping *boo hoo* you can kinda almost get the idea in this photo (it's the one camouflaged against the trees) but it was a good metre or so taller than the others!
but anyway, the black seed pods were starting to fall off the yellow empress ones, so i pulled some of them down (our old loppers couldn't cut through the base of the stem!!) but when i popped the pods open they were empty!!? anyone know what is up with that?? do some varieties not produce edible seeds? or did i do something wrong..?? Viv? Sandra? Nikki? anyone know? edited- or could it be because they are *thunderclap* Yates seeds??!
and my first potato harvest-
looks alright you say? HA! the biggest one is about the size of a large egg. not a double yolker mind you... again, where did i go wrong?? these were from one of my early-ish taters (well, ok, half way between early & main-crop), they had flowered, yellowed & died back.. did i still not wait long enough??!
on the upside i have started harvesting some of our quinoa!! -
that is looking promising & prolific at least! :-D
we've got six of them, plus the russian giant, which of course i forgot to take a pic of before it started drooping *boo hoo* you can kinda almost get the idea in this photo (it's the one camouflaged against the trees) but it was a good metre or so taller than the others!
but anyway, the black seed pods were starting to fall off the yellow empress ones, so i pulled some of them down (our old loppers couldn't cut through the base of the stem!!) but when i popped the pods open they were empty!!? anyone know what is up with that?? do some varieties not produce edible seeds? or did i do something wrong..?? Viv? Sandra? Nikki? anyone know? edited- or could it be because they are *thunderclap* Yates seeds??!and my first potato harvest-
looks alright you say? HA! the biggest one is about the size of a large egg. not a double yolker mind you... again, where did i go wrong?? these were from one of my early-ish taters (well, ok, half way between early & main-crop), they had flowered, yellowed & died back.. did i still not wait long enough??!on the upside i have started harvesting some of our quinoa!! -
that is looking promising & prolific at least! :-D
5 comments:
Ooooh quinoa - cool!
I know you didn't mean me, given my gardening expertise, but I'm gonna show you this anyway:
http://www.suite101.com/blog/cottage_garden/beat_the_birds_to_sunflower_seeds
May or may not be relevant. Hoping not.
yeah i'm pretty pleased with it.. you just sprinkle the seed, plant out the seedlings then leave it to grow! then when the seed starts dropping off you chop the heads off (or the birds will get them) and let the seed dry out.. well worth doing since a) it has all 12 essential aminos, and b) the stalks provide lots of carbon for the compost, so it's good for maintaining a sustainable garden :D
enough of a plug you reckon? ;)
Hmm, don't know about the sunflowers, my first one has just lost it's petals, and I don't know if it will have seed. Might have to google that. As for the potatoes, our small ones were down to soil and position really. Our earlys and mains were both small, but the same variety that have self sown from last year were humungeous, but they were in a good spot. I think the small ones had too much sun and not enough good soil. The big ones had afternoon shade and are where we dump the ashes from the fire over winter. Seemed to not do them any harm. HTH.
Don't know about the sunflowers sorry - I used cheap old warehouse and they are full inside the shell...
Are your potatoes a variety of Maori potato? Mine were kinda small and I remember reading somewhere that they grow differently to regular spuds. Something to do with water - if they lack water at a crucial stage they either can't catch up or just start off where they left off whereas regular potatoes (do the opposite lol). Not much help eh?
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