How to Harvest dill seeds

The dill in my garden is all gone. In late spring it started to flower a lot and it lost all of its leaves, then it dried and now is just a long stalk in the balcony. To not let it go in vain I picked up all the dead flower heads and tried to harvest the seeds. I got a bunch, enough to plant a new batch and a bit more.

The dill ready to be harvested

The way I learned to harvest the seeds is very simple.

• First, you need to wait until the flower heads get a bit dry while they are still on the plant. Just enough to see them mostly brown, but not as much that the seeds will start to fall.
  
  
• When they are ready snip off the complete flower branch and get them inside a paper bag heads first.

Just get it inside a paper bag to let it dry

• Let them be there a week or two until they finish drying and the seeds detach and fall into the paper bag. In case there are still some stubborn ones just give the bag a good shake.
  
  
• Afterwards just take away the spent flower heads from the paper bag and all you have left is the seeds

And that is all, enjoy your dill seeds.

Dill seeds ready for next season

I am not sure if I should grow dill again because, to be honest, I underused it a lot. In all the months that I had it growing in my garden, I think I only used it three or four times. The space on my balcony is very limited, and a the full grown dill was very big, almost my height. So, maybe I should put something different in that pot. But then, growing again might be a good encouragement to start using it more.

I don't know, I guess I will put a couple seeds in a starting pot and let mother nature, if they grow or not.

Making online gardening neighbors

One of the best things about blogging is being able to meet a lot of new people and make a lot of friends. I am able to visit gardens all over the world in a daily basis, and learn so much from the expert gardeners that take care of them.

Seeds from Diana from Kebun Malay-Kadazan girls

I got some seeds from australia

This past week I got a package with some seeds from my dear friend Diana from Australia. She has a blog called Kebun Malay-Kadazan girls. She has a very beautiful garden and gives a lot of great advices about growing your own food. I got the seeds as part of a contest she hold on her blog for seed week and as part of her participating on the project save the Bees. I was very lucky to be one of the winners. I got some poppy seeds, choy sum, basil, stock and others. I will be sure to prepare them as spring comes.

Thank you very much Diana. I will take a lot of care of the seeds and keep you posted on how they develop.

I was awarded the Mark's Veg Plot Chilli Award

Thank you very much Mark

I also was very honored in receiving the Mark's Veg Plot Chilli Award from my friend Mark from England. He has a blog named Mark's Veg Plot with fantastic advices on how to take care of your home vegetable garden. We have exchanged some mails, I was fortunate on helping him making tortillas, and got some good advices in return. Mark’s award makes me feel specially privileged because it is the first time he has ever give such distinction and also because he only granted it to four people.

Thank you very much Mark, I feel much honored.

Stylish Blogger Awards

Also, I was very flattered that I have being receiving a lot of stylish blog awards from several gardeners. I understand the stylish blog award works more as a recommendation, but I feel very proud that they consider my blog to be good enough to merit that thumbs up. I believe they consider carefully who to pass it on, and it feels great they think my blog to have such value.

Thank you very much, I really appreciate you picking me.

Jo from The Good Life
My Little Potted Garden
Rosie from My Garden Haven...A Fine Romance
Malar from MY LITTLE GARDEN

It is great how many people you get to know while online. I hope I get to know every one much better and that I get to make many more friends.

Thank you very much everybody for being my online gardening neighbors.

I apologize for my week without posting. I got sick this week and had to rest in bed a couple of days. It was just a cough, but it knocked me down enough. Now I am fine, and hope fully I will keep posting regularly.

Time to harvest the seeds from the globe amaranth

One of the favorite flowers of my garden this year was the globe amaranth (gomphrena globosa). It had an amazing color, with a lot of flowers and buttons.

Globe amaranth is definitely one of my favorites

Funny thing, globe amaranth it is native back at my country, but I didn't knew the plant until I got to japan. They are very common here. Usually they are grown in gardens as cut flowers, but it is also normal to see them as a urban wild flower. I have seen many growing on some sidewalks or on the ground patch around the train tracks.

Their name here is 千日紅 (せんにちこう）, which translates something like a thousand days red. I think is a perfect name, because flower's color last so long. Even now that mines were so dried the little globes still have very vibrant colors.

My globe amaranth was almost completely gone

Because I liked them so much, I wanted to have it again next season. So I decided to harvest some seeds from my plant. I wanted to wait until the plant dried completely by itself. But I don't really had the space, so when I moved things around to make space for the new rack I had to take it out.

I took out the heads from the dead flowers and save them apart to let them finish dry. I could tell many of the lower seeds were ready to pick but they still had a bit of moisture on the tip of the flowers. I think is best if I wait a bit longer to set them apart. I really hope they will grow well next season and bloom as nicely as this past ones.

I will store this Globe amaranth seeds after they dry

I would recommend to any gardener to have some on their garden. Because of their height I think they will make very nice background flowers. It is a beautiful plant, very hardy and with blooms that last forever. They even add a nice touch of color even when they are dry.


And remember, the carnival is on the 17th!

Be ready with a post about what do you plan on doing at your garden this year, maybe about one particular plant you want to have, a renovation you will do, a special patch you will grow, a new gardening technique you will give a try, or any other project you have prepared for this new year.

More winter vegetables to sow

Last time I went to the garden center, during the big sale where I got the flowers for last blooming day, I couldn't help but to peek around the seeds section; They had so many that I would like to try and that are still on season.
So, since I had such an amazing success with my homemade coldbag, I decided to give some more vegetables a try.

New winter veggies

I picked two new green vegetables to sow:

• Spinach Great vegetable for winter here. Rich in vitamins and minerals. I think It will be a great addition to my veggies. They must be sowed on autumn and continue to grow until early spring. It is funny, I didn't know spinach seeds were so colorful.

Colorful Spinach and Bekana seeds

• Bekana The Japanese version of the Small Chinese Cabbage. It is Yellowish-green with frilled leaves and white flat petioles. Great for stir-fry or soup. It grows all year round, really fast and very easily. Also, because its small size, it will be simple to grow it in my little balcony. The seeds are very similar to the Komatsuna

I will sow them inside a new coldframe I am working on. I hope they will be as successful as the last seedlings batch.

Stay tunned for the coldframe V2.0

Also, the blog carnival is decided! It will be the 30th of this month.

Be ready to post your favorite flower, vegetable, bush, tree, cactus, shrub, herb, moss, algae, fern, fruit, root, creeper, climber, grass, weed, bulb or any other plant you love (or more than one if you prefer).

Show us the best of your garden, meet fellow gardening bloggers and get some inspiration!

The seeds sprouted, the coldbag works!

Today, I found some komatsuna and lettuce seedlings already showing enough strength. I plant them last Saturday afternoon and the first ones started poking out from the soil the morning of Wednesday. I'm very surprised they sprouted so fast, I thought they will take at least until next week.

The first sprouts from my coldbag!

I am planning on letting them a bit longer on the coldbag, until they get some more strength. Although not much because they are already fairly tall. I don't want them to reach the top of the bag and get hurt.

Komatsuna is so easy to grow, and very tasty too

The only ones left to come out are the chives. I wonder if they will come out at all, because their season has been over for a while. I'll keep my hopes high though.

Komatsuna and lettuce seedlings

Also here is a picture of the pumpkin seeds I will try next year. I took them out of a little pumpkin I carved for Halloween. I have no idea if the seeds are viable. Sometimes the products they sell are hybrids, so even if they do sprout and grow into a full plant, I have no idea if they will give any new pumpkins at all. It is going to be a fun experiment.

My pumpkin seeds drying with the sun

For now, there is only step one, letting the seeds dry, then store them on one of my seed jars until next year. I hope they succeed.

My attempt at having a coldframe

Because the weather is getting a bit colder, and I still want to sprout some last seedlings. I decided that It would be a nice project to have my very own cold frame. Of course that with the limitations on space and resources of my little balcony garden, I can't have a proper cold frame, so mine would have to be a cheap and easy knock off version.

To build it I just decided to go with simple and cheap materials. I went to the 100yen shop (the equivalent of a dollar store in japan) and got a plastic fabric bag for clothes, also used a tray that I had bought before from the same place. One more thing, because the fabric bag still lets some air go trough I added an extra layer of plastic to avoid any heat to escape by convection.

My new coldbag!

The good thing about using the tray is that I can easily move the whole contraption inside in at night, if I want them to have an extra amount of heat.

Getting ready to set some new seeds

I got some seeds ready in the colorful started pots from the strawberries, and now just let them be and wait.

All set up, tight and tidy

It seems to be working well. The temperature inside has been one or two degrees higher than outside. Hopefully the seedlings will sprout soon and I will be able to have them ready before is to cold.

I decided to set three different kind of seedlings in it. Komatsuna and lettuce, to replace the ones I already finished on my big lettuce planter, and also chives because I think my garden was missing something from the onion family.

They get a nice amount of sun, to make sure the temperature raises

Hopefully it will work, I will keep posting to let you know how it goes.

My Seeds

Part of the fun of having a garden is all the planning involved on it. Being able to decide what we would grow next and where it would go is very exciting. One of my favorite parts is choosing among the infinite varieties of plants to grow.

My seeds box

I always get carried away imagining how it would be to grow this and that, and I always want to add a new plant to my garden. The only problem is that here in my little garden in Japan, we only have the very restricted space a balcony garden can provide.

Of course, this didn't stop me when getting seeds. Adding the ones I brought from Mexico and the ones I got here, now I have ended up with way more of what I would be able to have. I really doubt I can fit even a quarter of all this in my little garden. So, I am sure there will be very tough decisions to make next year, when I would have to choose what to sow.

I like to keep my seeds in jars instead of envelopes

Here is a peek into my seeds box for this year. That way you can help me decide.

• Chives. I just got this ones, I will sow them this week, hopefully they still can catch the season.


• Thyme I cave in to my impatience and I bought the plant, so probably I won't need these after all.


• Alyssum I have the plant too, but I doubt it will stand the winter, so they are my back up plan.


• Cactus A little bit of Mexico's flavor, but I have three bags, so I will give some away.

Komatsuna, Cilantro and Chile de arbol

• Chile I have chile serrano, chile ancho, chile guajillo, chile pasilla, chile poblano, chile de arbol y chipotle. It will be impossible to pick only one.


• Zempasuchitl The Mexican marigold, with a much stronger scent, I like this flower and it is very good for the garden, so this one is a keeper.


• Epazote An annual herb, good for condiments.

Alyssum, Cactus and Lettuce

• Komatsuna The one I am growing now is doing very well. So I think it can be a keeper for next winter as well.


• Cilantro Must have for Mexican food.


• Beans The beans I had this year didn’t do well. Even when they flower they did not got fruit. I brought some from Mexico, hopefully they can do better.

Chamomile, White flower and Beans

• Lettuce Another of my winter vegetables that is going great.


• Chamomile This one might go well on a planter with the Epazote, It would be a nice addition to the herb corner.


• Unidentified white flower I picked this one up from a sidewalk in shibuya, no idea what it is.

Beside all of this, I want to grow some pumpkin, some tomato, possibly blueberries. Also, I know there will be more plants that I won't be able to resist next year.

It is definitely too much for me, anybody want some extra seeds?

Buying plants in japan

Some days before I left for Mexico I went to the garden center to see if I could get some new strawberries, because mines didn't make it at the end. I really like going there, I get to see a lot of beautiful plants and also learn how gardening is in japan.

Yokohama Sakata no tane garden center

I got to sneak a little more photos from the main building. I admire very much Japanese aesthetics. I think is great how they display and arrange every element to fit with the others, and how they take a lot of attention to detail.

This time I got some photos of the wall displays for seeds, I like how the wall looks covered from side to side with little envelopes. Also another thing I always appreciate in the garden center is that they have a lot of flyers around with tips on how to grow the most common plants.

A full wall of flower seeds

Vegetable seeds

Other thing that I like is that the staff is very friendly and helpful. One time I was looking for some specific flower (Botón de oro/Tithonia), but I didn’t know the name in Japanese or English, so four very patient ladies stayed with me for around 20 minutes and tried to find out what I was talking about , we even tried with a drawing, at the end they look the Spanish name online and translate, and look for pictures there. That is not the only time, something similar happened when I was trying to ask about ladybugs, although it didn’t took that long, we figure it out with some drawing.

I had similar experiences in other places I have tried to get plants here in japan. I think is great how they treat customers, they are always nice to me. I think Japanese are very friendly and easy to approach.

another peek at Yokohama Sakata no tane garden center

At the end I did bought some plants. I got some strawberries and a new geranium, all of what I will talk in a new post.

Oh, one more thing, here in japan every time you get some plants they wrap them up with paper and some soft foam plastic taking a lot of care not to hurt the flowers. This is new to me, because in Mexico I am used to just get the plants bare or with just a tray and have to struggle to avoid damaging them. They even would make a reinforced handle in case what you got is to heavy or hard to carry around.

My loot, strawberries and a geranium

How are the buying plants experience in your countries?

Back in Japan

Finally I am back in Japan and back to the screen.

It was a very good trip, sort out the things I needed to do, spend some time with my family eat tons of good food and had lots of fun. The only problem was that I neglected the blog a little, but I learned my lesson and I will try to get more organized for next time. I'm sorry I didn't post anything or commented on other blogs.

Also I haven't forgot I promised a post on my garden in Mexico, but don’t worry I do have a lot of photos I took, and I will post them next.

For now a little getting back on track and looking how my garden stood. I left them in very good hands so this time I had no casualties and everything's seems to have continued to grow nicely.

I do have to do a little tidy up and some sort around, because some plants need some trimming and also because I need to make space to organize what I brought from Mexico.

I had a very pleasant surprise when I got back, remember the lettuce and the komatsuna I just sowed before I left? Well they certainly have been growing when I was away, now I have too many, I must thin them out soon.

Komatsuna and Lettuce overload

On a side note, Komatsuna seeds are one of the most interesting seeds I have seen. I have seen a lot of seeds with very different colors and shapes, but I don’t remember other seeds with a color like this, It is a very nice blue/aqua with a glossy finish, they look great when they are all together in my seed jar.

Komatsuna and Lettuce seeds

More seeds!

Ok, I just come from the store and I got a new batch of seeds, now it is definitely official, I cant sow all these. A giveaway will be a must, so keep on touch!

This is the complete collection so far!

Here is what I got this time

• Chile Ancho Thick red 15 cm chilly pepper also a must on Mexican food.


• Chile Pasilla Another chilly variety, good for sauces and stews.


• Chile Guajillo Yet another cilly, this one is for red sauce, and mole.


• Chile Serrano This chilly is used on the green sauce, along with green tomatoes.


• Alyssum I think I could get this one in japan, but I haven't seen it much. Plus seeds here are a lot cheaper. I just love the scent of this flower cloud on the morning.


• Camomila Good for teas, in Mexico we are also aware of its medicinal properties.


• Thyme Another herb for the kitchen, good for cooking with meat. This will go along the little herb patch I have.

I am worried about the seeds being only adapted for Mexican climate, but I think they will grow very good in Japan, my area has a very nice weather for growing plants. My other concern is if they will take them away at customs, but it should be ok too.

My time in Mexico is coming to an end, I don’t think I will be able to work deeply in the garden, I only pruned a little of the Bougainvillea, and took out some weeds, but that garden is really in need of a makeover. Maybe next time I come, probably in six months.

I really wish I could have had time to introduce much more of what we have here in Mexico, it is really a cornucopia of nature. Hopefully, next time I come I won't have so many things going on and I can give a relaxed tour for gardening. Also I am planning on going to south Mexico for next time, and if I have that chance, that will be quite something.

Still, I will do one post to introduce the plants we have around the garden before I leave, it's not much, but I really like them. Hope you guys will enjoy as well.

Seeds from Mexico

I have a delay on working on the garden because my fish tank suddenly got a leak, so all my attention was on that. For now the fish are Ok, but now I don’t have much time left for the garden and is almost time to go back to japan.

Yesterday I was finally able to do something garden related. I went to shop for some seeds. This city doesn’t have that much of a "grow yourself from seeds culture", so I had some trouble finding some. We usually buy the grown plant from the nursery, by trades or even collect plants and seeds from the wild. After some looking around I was able to get some nice seeds at little stores and supermarkets. I still have one more place to go, so I will probably get some more.

Here is what I got so far

Seeds from Mexico

• Desert plants (Cactus, Nopal, Maguey, and more) It would not be Mexico if you don’t have a fair amount of cactus.


• Zempasuchitl The Mexican marigold, this particular type has a very intense scent, I hope it can get me some butterflies.


• Chile poblano A very common Mexican type of chili pepper, one of Mexico signature dishes is made with this, I don’t think I can recreate, because I still need so many other ingredients, but I can have a bit of Mexico flavor at home.


• Epazote This one is a common herb in Mexican food, is a bit spicy and goes well with stew.


• Chile chipotle Other of Mexico signature chili, this one will require a bit more preparation since we usually have them dry, but I hope I can learn how to do it and get me some good sauces.

I hope this plants get to grow in Japan, I think they will with proper care, but I won't find out until next year.

I got way more that I could have in japan, so you will probably hear about a giveaway some time in the future, keep on checking.