➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[Kusanar]

I have a quick funny story about seeds/growing trees. Growing up, my mom worked for "Longwood Gardens" in PA (look it up). She was a master gardener and bring rare plant specimens home from there and plant in her own gardens. My favorite "tree" was this one with huge spearmint shaped leaves, purple flowers and a specific seed pod I can't quite describe. I'm sure she told me the name a dozen times but it never stuck, to me it was called "my tree". Fast forward 30+ years when hubby and I are at Longwood for our wedding anniversary and I see those trees from my youth. It was Fall so the seed pods had formed and some had fallen on the ground. I spent a good half hour or so trying to nonchalantly take a few (ok steal) praying no one saw me. Hubby was mortified. I still have the seeds stored...I'll probably start them in house at some point.

My mom used to walk through garden centers and pinch leaves off of African violets... I at one point had a massive collection of stolen African violets. (if you didn't know, you can put the cut end of the leaf in water and it will grow roots and tiny little leaves, then you plant it, eventually the original leaf dies and you have a tiny plant that slowly gets bigger as it matures.)

 

[Cyprus]

I have a quick funny story about seeds/growing trees. Growing up, my mom worked for "Longwood Gardens" in PA (look it up). She was a master gardener and bring rare plant specimens home from there and plant in her own gardens. My favorite "tree" was this one with huge spearmint shaped leaves, purple flowers and a specific seed pod I can't quite describe. I'm sure she told me the name a dozen times but it never stuck, to me it was called "my tree". Fast forward 30+ years when hubby and I are at Longwood for our wedding anniversary and I see those trees from my youth. It was Fall so the seed pods had formed and some had fallen on the ground. I spent a good half hour or so trying to nonchalantly take a few (ok steal) praying no one saw me. Hubby was mortified. I still have the seeds stored...I'll probably start them in house at some point.

Did the seed pods look like either of these?

 

[debid]

I throw my avocado seeds in the dirt. I've mastered waiting patiently for them to grow. Usually takes a few weeks then viola green appears.

The instructions I found involved stripping fruit from seed and cold stratification for 3-6 months. So, they sat in a container of damp sand at the back of our refrigerator for months. The instructions warned of low germination rates and weeks to see anything happening above ground. I put 5 seeds per pot in four tall pots. I now have one seedling up in each of three pots. The first seedling emerged quickly and with three sepals but then it was weeks before the next two. Still have a pot with nothing showing yet.

 

[RUNuts]

my method is a little more complex. I throw them to the chickens to be ravaged. Then toss the pits in the compost heap. If anything sprouts, I pull them out and stick them with the tomatoes. 2 are dying, after the chickens helped replant twice, but we have 4 healthy ones. Waiting to see if they grow all summer.

What really upset me is the dog is eating the banana leaves. All the toys she has, she is mauling the bananas. Ugh, dogs.

 

[adrikeen]

Did the seed pods look like either of these?
View attachment 1440163 View attachment 1440164

Unfortunately no, the best way to describe the seed, until I can find it online or photograph my dried pod, is it resembled Seymore from Little Shop of Horrors (yes I'm serious )

 

[adrikeen]

This is probably the closest

 

[WVduckchick]

I have tomato plants sprouting from last years plantings! I didn’t plant any this year.

I definitely want some of those dwarf sunflowers though

I took some seeds from one of our female persimmon trees a few years ago and planted a bunch of them. Several lived for a year, lost a few. I now have 2 that have been in my kitchen window for about 4-5 years. I think I finally killed them

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

The only thing I can grow is weeds. And even they won't grow where I want them.

 

[Morrigan]

I have tomato plants sprouting from last years plantings! I didn’t plant any this year.

Cool. I totally need to try this. Did you overwinter the sprouts inside your house?

 

[PirateGirl]

My avocado tree I grew it from a pit of an avocado that I ate one day. It was about 2 feet tall, a year old, and had lots of leaves. Then one leaf fell off, then another, every 1-3 days another leaf would fall off. Now it is just a stick. It is not recovering. I posted in the gardening forum on BYC and followed any and all advice I could get. It was doing so well for so long and then it just stopped

Also virtually all my strong looking little sprouted sunflowers have vanished. I don't know if they withered away under the sun or got nibbled up, but virtually all gone.

There is lots of growth in my garden box. I'm not sure what's edible and what's weeds at this point, it all looks much the same

The ducklings that were meant to grow up with @KikisGirls balut babies (since living vicariously through her hatch wasn't enough for me) are now big and strong and officially moved in with the adult girls. I have put the drake in jail for awhile because he was still refusing to play nice. We may try putting them back together soon, but I think even the big girls are enjoying their break from the drake some days.

and Miss Sunshine is virtually back to normal. I don't know what was wrong with her. Sick, heart attack, or maybe she just suddenly has the will to live again. I don't know! but she begs for breakfast and dinner and I don't have to cook her eggs anymore and she even wants to go on walks sometimes.

and I acquired a nice pellet gun through a friend...