#sustainable life

Got another garbage onion started, this time a sweet yellow onion. Looking at all the divisions in the center, it may send up shoots from multiple places meaning I can divide it and get more than one onion out of the deal. We’ll see!

For those who mentioned having trouble getting this to work, you do have to change the water daily. Not just add more, but pull the onion out of the dish, dump out the water, rinse out the dish, and put new water in (and obviously put back the onion). Other than that and temperature control (don’t let it bake in the sun or freeze in a draft), just leave it alone and it should sprout.

Finally getting my seeds started! Since I live in an apartment with no balcony or patio this will all be a 100% indoor garden. Never done this before, so we’ll see how it goes!

I’ve got:
▪rainbow mix carrots,
▪red Russian kale
▪salad bowl lettuce
▪Bloomsdale spinach
▪Oregon spring tomatoes
▪red cherry tomatoes
▪habanero peppers
▪sweet basil
▪Greek oregano

All are heirloom seeds.

Now, this seed starter tray is really nice. I’ve seen a few different versions, but I went with this one (years ago) because the company offered refill pellets so you can reuse the plastic tray and clear greenhouse lid (not pictured).

I will say that these little pellet refills also work well when put in eggshells for those who like to use their old eggshells as seed starter containers. They have biodegradable mesh around them that allows them to more or less keep their shape in case they’re too tall for the eggshell.

To use, just soak them for about 10 minutes or until they’ve expanded, then sink a single seed in the center of each one.

It’s amazing to me that food grows literally everywhere, but we’ve become so out of touch with nature as a society that we’ve forgotten much of this information.

Purslane and wild amaranth growing between the parking lot and the sidewalk. Both have leaves that can be simply picked and eaten raw (young leaves are best), and amaranth seeds can be used as a grain.

I imagine when I finally get land to grow fruits and vegetables, the weeds will only get pulled because they’re going on the dinner table.

Really though, I will have a section of land I’ll call my native garden where I transplant all the weeds and wild plants I find that are edible. Since they’re wild plants I’ll be able to just leave them alone until harvest. Easiest food garden ever!

I put the root end of a store bought white onion I ate into some water and it’s growing quite nicely; plenty of new roots and an obvious swelling in the center on top. Once it starts turning green I’ll put it in a pot.

Never grown onions before. This will be a fun experiment.

Freezing onion and garlic ends, and bits of chicken fat, tendons, arteries, and other stringy bits I don’t like eating (it’s a texture thing don’t judge me) for use making chicken stock at a later date.