When Jilda's sister Nell gave us young collard plants, we weren't sure they survive. Our record of growing collards has been spotty. Nell promised these would be different. She's had these seeds since Carter was in the White House. Well, not these seeds, but their ancestors.
Each year, she plants them in several old bathtubs full of organic soil. You can dig down under her collards in those tubs and there are earthworms as fat as milkshake straws.
They are happy there and their habitat makes perfect soil for plants.
I recycled an old plastic water barrel and planted our small plants close to the deck in a place where it would get full sun most of the day. They were happy there. Even though we only planted five plants, it provided us several meals this fall. We were thrilled.
A few days ago, we noticed they are bolting. That means they're putting out seed blossoms. When I went out there today, it looked as if they were reaching for the sun. Soon we'll have enough heirloom seeds for a couple bathtubs filled with plants next year.
I like collards much better than mustard greens. The mustard greens are fuzzy.
ReplyDeleteAhhh Collards, mama's go to greens all my life. I sure wish I had inherited that green thumb. Mama always chided me, "YOU love plants to death Jack!"
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on getting your own heirloom collard seeds. The plants looks very hardy.
ReplyDeleteHugs, Julia
It's so nice when Spring actually Springs! I loved the year I planted lettuce early and had it all sitting about the front of the house in various planters and we ran outside and snipped up dinner! Our life is so busy now that we end up just buying it. But I remember how nice it was to grow something!
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