This year, one of the things I've been trying to do during quarantine is share my garden and what it has to offer. I have always tried to fill my garden not only with pretty annuals that add color and splash, but with hardy perennials that slowly multiply over time and provide the foundation of the garden. Free plants are some of my favorite kinds! :)
As such, I've resolved to be more choiceful about seed harvesting and planning ahead for what I'll keep and what I can share with friends and family. I started this work during the first week of August when several of my garden selections started going to seed. So far this year I've collected the following: Larkspur, large form Rudbeckia, small form Rudbeckia, Marigolds, and Zinnias. I also collected seeds from a large white Alium (that is a new one for me) and will see what happens with those. If you don't know Alium... look them up, they are amazingly weird and wonderful!
Will all those seeds become next year's plants? Maybe yes, maybe no. But sharing them and encouraging others to give them a try is worth all the effort.
Here are some of the things I'll be doing for the garden this week:
Collect coffee grounds daily from the morning brew and spread them in the garden! The nitrogen in the them makes plants happy! They go along way towards helping poor soil to improve as they break down. You can also add them to planters!
Begin sowing Rudbeckia (Black-Eyed Susan) seeds in the garden. This seed can be thrown down into flower beds. They will chill over the winter and germinate in the spring. You will be shocked at how easy it is!
Keep up the seed collecting! I'll be watching my tall Phlox carefully in the next week or so for the little round seed pods to form. wait until they are dry and brown to collect them. But don't wait too long or they'll fall to the ground before you can get them!
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