can't wait to shake my tree!!!!
Remember last month when I was planting pine nuts in their shells to try and grow a nut tree?!? The fruits of my labor (or nuts of my labor) have arrived. Baby pine trees are shooting up all ova' in the pot - so many I don't even know what I am going to do! Possibly go on a tree planting binge in Big Sandy Mush and put a few in separate pots to examine how they grow (that is for my inner scientist)! :) It's a really neat looking seedling, with all those tentacles swirling out from the center pine goodness! What is totally amazing is I have had those pine nuts for about 3 years, in the fridge and many look to still be vital. Never underestimate the power of life.
XoXo
I like to try and start trees from seed - especially nut trees! In the bag here are some pine nuts...mmmm...that are getting too outdated to eat but might have some life in them to plant some pine trees from seed. The best way to do this is to get a a handful of (preferably organic) nuts still in their shell from a local grower at the grocery or farmers market, since that will make the chances of your tree lovin' your climate alot better (remember to double check that they are locally grown). Experimentation is cool too though- these pines nuts were grown in New Mexico, but I have still had them sprout little pine trees in flower pots where I dropped shells I was cracking to eat.
Just to make sure I have a goooooood chance of something coming up I took a big ole' handful of the pine nuts and put them all at different levels in the soil. Some are just patted down, some buried deep, some buried shallow- which is my attempt to imitate nature's way of dropping the seeds and then all kinds of junk happens to them after that. Growing up in New Orleans I use to watch the squirrels bury the pecans for the (not all that cold) winter - pretty deep in the ground, and that is when the strongest trees would grow up out the soil. Go Pine Nuts Go!
XoXo
I confess that I have a bit of a seed saving obsession. Everytime I find seeds inside my organic fruits and veggies I feel like I struck gold...possibly this is some deep biological farmer instinct, maybe it's in my DNA, or most likely it's from reading lots of self sustained farming books. I love growing trees from seeds I save from my fruit and nuts- this little proud guy pictured here is a apple tree! I have planted bunches of trees everywhere I lived, cherries, pecans, peaches and a variety of apples. It's totally organic & easy to do: When you eat an apple, just pop out the seed and stick it in some dirt, keep the dirt moist & thinly mulched...and wait for the joy of your tree seedling to pop out! If you want to try a peach seed, then soak the hard hull in some water for a day then crack open with a nutcracker and plant the almond shaped seed loosely under the dirt. For nut trees, just stick some nuts in their shell down in the dirt (pine nuts and pecans grow really easily).
