FreeSeeds

Congratulations on receiving some free seeds!

The Free Seed Project has sent out free food seeds to a ton of people! If you're new to gardening, check out their site! I wish I had when I started, there's a lot of really useful information there broken down into easy-to-understand language.
However, they have quickly run out of these food seeds and are working on restocking more right now. But that doesn't mean the seed sharing should stop! Here is their Facebook group where some people are giving away seeds, myself included. If you are receiving seeds, just remember this one, simple thing to follow: pay it forward!

Below I have some details on the first batch of seeds I'm sending out (this batch is all reserved, sorry) so you have some details on what you're getting in the envelope

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Contents:

• Shishito Pepper (sweet): 15
• Jalapeno Pepper (hot): 10
• Red Bell Pepper (sweet): 10
• Yellow Bell Pepper (sweet): 10
• Lettuce Mesclun: 60 +-
• Mystery Bell Pepper (sweet): 25 +-
• Green Onion Seeds: 20 +-

Shishito Pepper

These are some wonderful, sweet peppers from Japan. They have a distinct Japanese flavor and go well in tons of meals. These seeds are from one of the first plants I ever got, pictured below! I was able to grow several plants from the seeds in the peppers, the plants produced a lot of peppers and so that's how I have a bunch of seeds left to give out. Don't forget to read the Free Seed Project guide from the link up top and consider these pepper plants like:
Warm weather (US Zones 4-12), full sun, medium watering, well-draining soil

Jalapeno Pepper

These seeds also came from one of the first plants I ever got! (also pictured below) It's still living and making peppers to this day, these are some pretty tough peppers! Be careful when you're handling the seeds not to rub your eyes or have any cuts. I always wear gloves when I cut the peppers from these guys open, and you probably should too. One time I cut a bunch of them into small pieces for a salsa recipe and I had discovered I had 5 wounds across my two hands and it burned for about 6 hours straight. They have a wide Scoville range but some of them are definitely on the spicier end. These plants like:
Full sun, a bunch of sun (at least 8 hours, up to 16), well-draining soil, high in nutrients, about 1 in of water per week but mulch around the base to keep the soil moist

Red / Yellow / Mystery Bell Peppers

These seeds came straight out of peppers from the grocery store from the winter, so they're still sprouting in spring right now! (I have also grown ginger, pineapples, and potatoes straight from the grocery store.) I have begun to grow a few of them in a seedling bed but I forgot to label them so they're all mystery to me! Labeling and writing things down can help a ton. They are similar to the other two peppers in linking:
Full sun, well-drained soil, high in nutrients and organic matter, mulch to keep soil moist
Here's what they will look like, for reference

Lettuce Mesclum

These seeds were given as a thank-you gift from Lukas Nursery in Seminole County for attending a free food growing seminar, shout out to them! These are a cool weather crop and, in Florida, I planted them too late to thrive. Searching the name brought the exact packaging up and what they like is taken right off the back of it:
Cool weather (50-70 Fahrenheit), well-drained and nutritious soil, keep moist (dryness will cause bitterness), plant seeds 1/8" down, part shade

Green Onion

This is one of my favorites, saving the best for last! I got these straight from the grocery store as well, as normal green onions. If you want to do this, chop the tops to eat and save a few inches of the bottoms. Most places on the internet say to save 2" but I saved about 5". Soak these in water and change water when foggy, at least daily, until the roots start growing out an inch or two. Then plant and take some off the tops when you're ready to add it to a meal! These took a full year to begin flowering but the flowers are magnificent, and each of the little bulbs in the picture below had 3-4 seeds in it. The first picture is the baby onions right after planting them a year ago! Green onions like:
Well-draining soil, full sun, moist soil (mulch this one too!), high nutrients

Thank you for reading! Thank you to the Free Seed Project as well! Not only will growing your own food add more plants and pollinators to the environment, but it will also help save our world in watering needs, transporting food, and they taste better too! If you are inclined to donate for the seeds/postage and know how to donate with cryptocurrency (or want to learn), you can do so on my crypto blog here. Happy growing!

Green Onions Flower!

We've all heard or read somewhere that these unexpected veggies do flower, seed, and everything of the sort, even the ones that are much easier to propagate (I can't wait until I see ginger flower as well!) Yet I found some of my green onions flowering recently! The flower appears right on the top of it where it's normally pointed. I wish I could have caught more of the development, but it's really cool where it's at! More pictures will be taken but here's what it looks like currently. Isn't it lovely?

And these are the day after when they've bloomed a little bit more!

Hello From A Pineapple

I just took this picture and thought it was way too cool looking! I bet this little guy loved the shield from the elements and mini pond that bromeliads offer!

Even After Devastation, Nature Prevails

I made a post about a tree that had gotten knocked down during a hurricane and then started to regrow, you can find it here, an Inspirational Tree.
This tree is at my work so I see it all the time and it has not stopped! This is the tree from a further-out perspective so you can see exactly how mangled the hurricanes made it.

and we still see these magnificent leaves growing anew, branches and stems and everything else ready to create life again. So next time you feel like you're at a place that no one can bounce back from, try to remember this tree again, holding on for dear life!

An Inspirational Tree

Sometimes in life, we feel like we're cut down, dismantled, uprooted, or somehow broken. Sometimes nature just happens that way, that's where the circle of life comes from.

And just as not all seeds will germinate, not all flowers will bloom, and not all stamens will meet pistils, there are also the plants that will overcome whatever challenge may be brought to them.

P.S. EDIT: this post was converted into a draft by mistake and did not post at the time it was written. It was first posted in late October, 2017.

A Post that Says Things

Sometimes in life...

We need a post every now and then so Google will know we're still active for a few months and we can eventually put ads on our website.

Serendipitious Dragonfruit

A few months ago, I was walking around Winter Park near a food truck event on Corrine Drive. Towards the end of the night, my friend and I went to get some food from the trucks we saw earlier; unfortunately, they were all in the process of closing down by this time. I asked a passerby cleaning his truck if there were any trucks still open. He said they were all out of food and offered a free dragonfruit in response (yes, I was just as puzzled).

Unfortunately, the dragonfruit went bad before I could eat it all, but it was not over. I had imagined there was a single, large seed in the middle (kind of like an avocado). Those of you who have eaten or grown dragonfruit may know, there are hundreds of tiny seeds inside! So I set them in a damp paper towel to begin germinating and shortly after, dozens of them began sprouting! I was amazed and can't wait until they grow into the stunning plants they will become.

Some comment about how the leaves are super thick like succulent leaves