Tuesday, August 18

lazy gardening tips


What does a lazy gardeners saved seeds from last season look like?
...someting like this!

This technique requires no washing, stripping, drying or sorting of sloppy seed and pulp! Plop mashed insides, in this case tomato ( works for cucumbers, zucchini...sloppy seeds) on paper towels, spread somewhat, leave to dry in cool dry spot. Fold and store or leave in piled stack. Write on each towel what type of seeds they are. When ready to plant out, chop paper towel into small bits and plant out seed/s (with piece of towel is ok). Voila! easy seed saving for lazy gardners. Works every time.

Ready to go today were last years best producers; yellow pear, green zebra, black russian and a pink 'somethingorother' (i just labelled that one 'pink' obviously thinking at the time that the rest of the name would be obvious when planting time came!). The weather does tend to push you outside at this time of year. The winter vege patches really need some serious attention dont they? straggling old sorry things they are at this time of they year.. I did attempt weeding and general prepping on most of the patches today but small person issues hindered the whole hog happenning -what else? and at one point nearly rolled himself sideways over the edge of a 2m dry stone wall and onto the driveway, how he managed such a feat under and behind the grapefruit and mandarin i dont know but small people have a way of doing the seemingly impossible don't they?, and quickly!

I did however manage to weed a carrot, beetroot and tomato bed and de-rocket the cabbage patch. I found a few cabbages that i had cut back ready to pull from last season , but didnt, and they have sprouted two leaders on either side of the cut and are producing small heads in each. A bi-annual cabbage! Extra perfect for the lazy gardner, but the ones i planted out a few months ago are really looking quite good, the 'foil' of rocket forest surrounding them really keeps the pests at bay as they cant see the leaves well when they fly over looking for cabbage! Brilliant companion planting.

Another lazy gardning trick that is a stroke of engineering brilliance is leaving last summers' bean stalks on the bamboo trellising we use. The old winding thick stalks provide the perfect easy grip surface for the new seasons peas on the rather slippery bamboo. Pea anti-skid, free. The peas i put in a few months ago have survived the onslaught of winter slugs and are now a good 2 ft tall.

Didnt quite get around to potting up the tomato seeds...

9 comments:

greenfumb said...

Hilarious, I like your style.
I actually think that my productivity has decreased since I started taking it all so seriously. I used to be able to grow carrots before I started really really wanting to.

Rixa said...

Love the paper towel idea. So do you store your seeds in the fridge? In a dark cupboard? Does it really matter?

Katy said...

Love the paper towel idea! See now I have no choise but to get outside x

Jessie Morris said...

Hi Kel

I am from Porter Novelli Adelaide, a PR company working with natural personal care company Burt’s Bees. We are about to launch an online survey asking Australian consumers about your concerns and attitudes to ‘natural’ ingredients – what ‘natural’ means to you in personal care products (such as hair, face and body products) and what matters about it. Between the people at Burt’s Bees and ourselves, we’ve decided we need to know from the source (you and your readers) so we’re posting here to ask if we may provide more information about the survey and a link via this site.

All sorts of assumptions get made in marketing and both Burt’s Bees and Porter Novelli Adelaide have decided it’s about time someone actually asked these questions of real consumers. We will share what we learn with you and with the health and beauty media, and we’ll post it on the Burt’s Bees website too. (A similar survey in the US, by the way, led to Burt’s Bees working with other major natural personal care companies to develop a national standard for ‘natural’ via the Natural Products Association)

What do you think? You can contact us at Adelaide@porternovellisa.com.au.

Many thanks,
Jessie Morris

Unknown said...

Hi Kel, I use the lazy paper towel method as well. Works a treat.

And I wish Burts Bees would bugger off. This is the third email/comment i have seen from the PR company today!

Gav

Pip said...

I like this idea Kel, think I will be giving it a go this summer as well.

Kale for Sale said...

I have to echo my appreciation of the paper towel seed saving method. I'd previously thought seed saving was comparable to learning photoshop which I've not been able to get my mind around either. This I can do. Many thanks! Have you tried this for peppers?

Kelly said...

greenfumb- hehe, carrots are fickle! dont give up.

rixa-i store them in my walk in, its darkish and coolish. As long as theres no moisture and minimal light it will be fine. you can put the dried wad in a container if atmospheric moisture is a problem.

katy-great! get out there!

gav- comrade! yes, its a bit umm..not sure how to describe it as this blog is public and therefore 'fair game'...but ...

pip- its a beauty! so easy, simple... a true no brainer.

kale- loving the photoshop analogy- its not just me!!!!! peppers have no sludge around them so i generally just put them in small paper bags and that does the trick.

Indoor grow lights said...

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