Thursday, June 25, 2015

Saving seeds

 The garden harvest is just about to begin. This is the time that everyone dreams of, when you're inundated with never-ending streams of zucchini and tomatoes. There have only been a few zucchini so far, so they're still a treat. Come August, I'll be passing them out to anyone walking by on the street, I think.
     In the meantime, there are seeds to dry from the spring garden. The chamomile is a new addition to my garden this year, thanks to a seed gift from my in laws. I'll save all the flowers as they bloom, and then let them dry to use in teas. I have fond memories of chamomile, because it's popular in Germany as a soothing, healing tea. I had the impression from Germans that chamomile tea cures stomachaches, headaches, stubbed toes, flu, and pretty much any other ailment you can think of.
My not-so-fancy drying station is my living room shelf. That's one of the points about living in a small home - there's no spare rooms. So my seeds dry in the living room, my miter saw lives on the bedroom shelf, and my hand tools are stored under the bed. It's a cozy way to live.

4 comments:

Gill - UK said...

Glad that the chamomile is producing results. In my UK garden the strawberries are beginning to ripen so soon we'll be getting out the strawberry recipes. A few of the strawberry plants are outside the protective netting and the blackbirds are certainly enjoying those. They seem to prefer their strawberries a little under-ripe.

alexis said...

you don't have any problems with the cat or dog accidentally knocking over the seeds? (I imagine the other objects are safer)

de-I said...

One year we had zucchini and we solved our excess problem by sneaking by Daughter #2's house (who was in Albuquerque at the time) and dropping bags of zucchini on their doorstep when they weren't paying attention.

Renee Michelle Goertzen said...

Uncle de-I, what a creative solution. I will remember that in the future - watch out, neighbors!