Tip for growing seeds

I recycled my egg shells because they have so many vitamins such as protein and calcium that can help seeds grow faster than growing in a Jiffy pallet (Home Depot). Isn't it awesome... it's free and less garbage for you to throw...Definitely start recycling you egg shells.

I noticed that it grow faster putting in an egg shells versus planting on a cotton.
My tip is not to over water it because there is no hole to escape water. You a sprayer to put water. It just need to be moist.

You can add egg shells into your garbage composed to do your homemade fertilizer for your garden at home...sweet stuff right??

Good Luck!

Rocoto and Aji Amarillo pepper plants

One day I received a package from my mother in law and inside it I found some seeds in an envelop. So I had promised her I was going to plant this. Actually this seeds were from Peru. They are Rocoto & Aji Amarillo peppers. I am so excited to plant these seeds. I placed them on a container lid with some cotton as the base. These seeds will grow anywhere as long you water them daily.

I didn't put anything for the seeds to grow except to just water them daily. After few weeks they've grown beautifully.

Since they've grown taller and the roots are spreading, I put them on a pot. I let them grow in this pot for couple of weeks.

This is after 2 months and they are about 3 inches tall with more leaves.

Look how many pepper plants I have now from 1 small pot.

Care:
It's pretty simple to care for these plants. They need to receive 6 hours of sunlight and water them daily. I normally put rice water 4-5 days and water for the remaining days.

Two days ago, I went to flea market and Home Depot to buy pots, soils and fertilizer. I want them to grow faster before winter hits. I am getting nervous because the weather is dropping at night to 65F. I put them inside because the temperature inside my apartment is around 75F. Also, I don't feel secure leaving them outside during the night because we have a lot of wild cats here. In the afternoon the weather still pretty warm like in the mid 80F.

I just moved them to a bigger pot

They are about 5 inches tall now

I am trying this product, I'll update if it works

Well... I am so excited and I hope I can see some vegetable soon. Yeyyy!!

My Sweet Basil

I bough my sweet basil plant almost two months ago. When I first bought it, the leaves were yellowing, I guess they didn't take good care of it. Today it's growing big and green. It smells really good too.

This is a picture 1-2 weeks when i bought it. I cut off the long stems and change it to a bigger pot. I have taken few stems for stem propagation. I also made pesto sauce twice from this plant. It's turning out great and am so happy! =)




 Caring for this sweet basil is very straight forward. It needs water once a day. It likes its soil to be moist but not wet. I used rice water 4-5 times a week and normal water in between. The water needs to be room temperature or a little warmer. It doesn't like cold water!!! I normally water it in the morning. It needs at least 6 hours of sun. Since we got a lot of sun here in San Antonio. So it totally likes it. 

If they start growing flower, cut it off so that they don't die. Also, when they grow flowers and you want to make pesto from their leaves, most likely the taste will be bitter. This is because they are old. So, if you want your basil to grow longer, take off their flowers. They will grow busier if you cut their stems once a month. and they branch out more.

I had mentioned, I was experimenting stem propagation. There were two method I experimented with which are 1. putting stems inside a cup of water and 2. plotting stem in the soil and cover it with plastic bag without exposing to sunlight. I believe both should have worked. But I must have done something as a result the second method didn't work.The 1st method works by doing this:
I cut the old stems and put it in a water for 2-3 weeks. They will start growing roots and once they start rooting, they you can put in a pot with soils. You can multiply your plants. Give it a try!!

1st method  2nd method

Successful of stem propagation :)

I am so happy. I look forward every morning to wake up and see my plant have grown.