Monthly Archives: July 2014

Plantains, July 11, 2014

Garden, Plantains

DSC03538 Surprise! Plantains  are bearing  fruit in spite of the freeze last January.

If you look toward the top, you can see some new plantains forming above a flower.

DSC03540 This fruit bearing plantain is one of the plants which I had cut off last fall to get more light in my garden.  It did not die back to the ground as did some, which had probably already born fruit.  Also, its inner core could emerge through the dead tissue, whereas a really flopped over dead stem might prevent any living inner core from emerging.

My suspicion is that this will remain a small bunch, because the plant is not very tall, and started afresh this spring.  Obviously, last year this plant got a good start, before I cut it off.

The Little Red Hen

Education, Thought,

The Little Red Hen When I googled “public domain Little Red Hen”, and selected “Images of the Little Red Hen”, I chose this picture.  Occasionally, when we four were children, our mother, Regena Larrabee Seehausen, would ask us to do something when it was our choice not to do the task, and we refused.  She said, “Well, I’ll do it myself said the Little Red Hen.”  I don’t remember any dire consequences, of our refusal,  just the attitude of independence.

Garden, July 10 2014

Garden, Plantains, , , , , , ,

DSC03521 Garden, July 10.  No new plantings since last spring.  I got a garlic, newly growing from cloves I planted last spring.  I pulled it up because I thought it was a weedy piece of grass.

DSC03518 It looks like a small onion, but it smells like garlic.  We CAN grow garlic.

DSC03520 And plantains.  They need attention, but they grow really well here.

DSC03505 The little feathery seedlings are dill, which self-seeded from such seed bearing flowers (below).

DSC03517 The flowers are at the upper left, and the skimpy roots are at the lower right.  After they have gone to seed, dill dries up and is refreshed by the baby plants from its seeds.  A possible project would be to see where the dill from the seeds I saved could grow in our yard in different times and places.  Dill and plantains have completed the life cycle by dying back and propagating for future crops.  These are self sustaining.

Garlic could become self-sustaining.

DSC03510 Basil (right of center)is growing well here, but not a few feet away, where it could not sink its roots in.

DSC03509 Carrots are taking off now.DSC03511 Parsnips are growing well.

DSC03514 Kohrabi (light green in front) with a tomato plant behind it.

DSC03513 More tomatoes are visible among the plants in the upper left quadrant.  The newly planted tomatoes, which had sprouted in June among the front yard plants,  have all disappeared.  I wonder if snails eat young tomato plants.

DSC03512 Cabbage has not done too well here.  Here is a barely growing cabbage.

DSC03503 Lettuce grows, and I am going to see if I can get some seeds from these plants.  Some of it may have seeded itself.  The trouble with lettuce here, is that after snails become active, I am afraid they may pass on dangerous parasites that they leave on the lettuce leaves, unless I cook it.