I have always liked African violets, for some reason I didn't get one until the year 2021.  The first African violet I got was a small weak plant that was not flowering when I got it, it had no variety name and was labelled as 'light blue'.  It was in a self-watering pot, which made it very simple to look after.  The plant grew larger and stronger, eventually it flowered, and ..read more

From time-to-time, people contact me to tell me about some incredible vegetable that they are growing, sometimes it is an heirloom that has been growing in their family for years, and they generously ask if I would like it.  I don’t have unlimited space, as I get older I have less energy to look after things, and while my climate isn’t too bad it can be a bit harsh and unsuited to some ..read more

Years ago it used to be common to read on permaculture sites how people would grow Chinese water chestnuts (Eleocharis dulcis) in those plastic clam shell pools.  People would usually also speak of having guppies in the water over the growing period.  Back then I was researching how to grow water chestnuts, and thought it was a great idea, but there were no tiny fish in the local rivers ..read more

Back in 2019 I bought some seeds of a flower called 'Johnny Jump up' or 'Heartsease' (Viola tricolor).  It is one of the wild pansies.  The flowers are pretty.  They have edible leaves and flowers, the leaves have a bunch of medicinal properties, and are said to self seed so easily that once you plant them they are there forever.  While they are edible, and have various ..read more

A few years ago, a grower friend sent me some seeds as a surprise (thanks Beauze).  There were some really amazing seeds in there.  I was delighted.  Among the packets of seeds were seed of a pitcher plant called Sarracenia leucophylla - Super Leuco.  I love the look of S leucophylla, and had always wanted to grow one.  I was very excited to grow seeds of a ..read more

When I was in high school I bought a small cactus, at the time it had a label that called it something along the lines of 'Snowy'.  It was an Arizona snowcap cactus.  The Arizona snowcap cactus is a small thimble cactus, Mammillaria vetula.  This is a species of cactus in the subfamily Cactoideae which is endemic to the Mexican states of Hidalgo, Guanajuato, and Querétaro ..read more

I like liverworts, they are interesting little plants.  They don't have a significant economic importance, and they are small, so mostly they go unnoticed.  Even though they are small, they have an interesting lifecycle, and there is something about them that I like the look of.  Thallose liverworts gametophyte with gemmae cupsWhen I was a child liverworts used to grow in the ..read more

I wrote in an earlier post about saving asparagus seed from my purple asparagus plants.  It was a bit of work, but the result was worth the effort.  I got a decen number of seed, then got my daughter to count out 100 seeds, I soaked them, then planted them, and recorded the results.  Planting one hundred seeds makes estimating the germination percentage both easy and ..read more

I have grown asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) from seed many times.  Growing from sed is fiddly and takes time.  It takes a few years to get a crop when grown from seed, which means that many people prefer to buy year old crowns instead.  Many heirloom asparagus varieties have a superior flavour and texture, but other than a few varieties nowhere sells plants.  I buy ..read more

This year I grew a tomato called Zolotoe serdtse (золотое сердце), this roughly translates to something along the lines of golden heart, or heart of gold.  I am not entirely certain how to spell this in English, Zolotoe or Zolotoye or Zoloto, I have seen all these spellings used in different places. This is a semi determinate tomato variety, that produces very early in the season.&nbsp ..read more