When Should I Plant Flower Seeds?

The following question was posed on Yahoo answers, but the amount of space they allowed me to answer was not nearly what was needed for me to fully answer the question. In order to provide supplemental information and help others that may have similar questions, I am providing my full answer here:

The question of when to plant flower seeds is relative to your area and the type of seed being planted. In general, you want to think of the "time to plant flower seeds" as the time within the seasonal cycle of your area more so than the literal time of year.




Ideally, you want to start the seeds as early as possible so that you can maximize the amount of time you get to enjoy your blooms. But if you plant the seeds too early, it is possible to stunt growth of young seedlings or kill them altogether. The best thing to do is look on the packet or look up a grow guide for the individual species you are growing. This will give you an idea of the seasonal conditions that are optimal for the given species you are trying to grow.

But let's talk about some general terms. If you are dealing with flowers such as poppies you actually want to start them very early in the season. I can say from experience that cosmos and leonotis nepetifolia (klip dagga) are not flower species that will be hurt from planting too early. You will see many packets or grow guides talking about starting the seeds as soon as the ground is workable. In this case, it means that once the ground has thawed enough that you can work in it, you can plant your seeds. Again, these are seeds that can tolerate and may even benefit from cold or frosty conditions. So when you talk about the time that this occurs, it goes back to being dependant on area.

It seems that the most common recommendation you will run into is plant the seeds after the danger of frost has passed. While the seeds themselves may be able to withstand frost, these are usually plants whose seedlings are frost tender. Many seeds in nature have mechanisms to prevent them from germinating all at once. Packaged seeds have a tendency to produce quicker and more regular germination to please the customer. But it removes the plants defense from the "irregular" nature of weather. So if you were to plant a species whose seedlings are frost tender too early, you may end up with a spout of nice weather that causes most of your seeds to germinate only to experience a period of frost that kills your seedlings. So if you pick a time in which you know the danger of frost has passed to plant your seedlings, you can avoid this problem. In many areas, May is suitable for this. But in other areas you might even wait til early June. On the other hand, you will be able to plant earlier than May down south.

But all of this speaks about planting outdoors. Many growers get a head start on the season by starting seeds indoors or in something like a greenhouse. Again, this will affect the question of what month you can plant. If you have suitable conditions, you can technically start plants or flowers in any month, and you can grow just about any species (even tropical) plants in your location. But the key to this is being able to provide suitable conditions. Indoor light simply cannot match the light outdoors. Even a well-lit window probably has less light than a shady area outdoors.

When you start your plants indoors you have to consider two things. The first is whether the conditions are suitable to maintain the plant long enough to get it outdoors. Seedlings tend to require lower light than established plants. This makes sense not just because seedlings are smaller and have less biomass to maintain. Seedlings often get their start beneath leaves, branches or under the shade of other plants. As they grow higher, they eventually find the light they need to maintain adult growth. It seems that nature understands this and has made seedlings adaptable. If your seedlings start out very tall and skinny, it is likely that your house lacks the light even to maintain seedling growth. For this, you would want to supplement the light with a grow bulb or compact fluorescent. But imagining you get past this, you do not want to start your seedlings so early that you pass the seedling stage before you can get them outdoors. So even indoors, the time of when to plant can be dependant on where you live and when the weather is warm enough outside. But it will give you a head start. As for determining when indoor planting is right, you can often look on the seed packet or in a grow guide for help. Of course, if you supplement the natural light in your house with something like fluorescent lights, you can often determine yourself when you want to plant because you will have sufficient light to keep the plants going beyond what natural light alone may offer.

The second thing you want to consider about starting seeds indoors is called hardening off. Essentially, this is the idea of getting your seedlings used to the harsh outdoor world. As mentioned before, the sun will be stronger outdoors. Just as people tend to get burned easily early in the season after lack of sun exposure, so do plants. To get your plants used to these conditions, you want to gradually expose them to the outdoors over a period of time while also increasing the amount of light you expose them to until they reach their final growing place.

Here is a basic plan for hardening off: Start them off in complete shade for a few hours a day. Over the next few days increase the time the plant it outside until it is outside all day. Monitor the plant for any signs of stress. Then eventually you want to gradually increase the light exposure until you find that your plant can tolerate its final growing place.

Some packets and grow guides will actually mention starting seeds indoors x number of weeks before the last frost. But they do not explain much of what I have just described. This will help you in such cases. Starting flowers from seed can be a bit more work than buying plants. But with seeds you will usually be able to get a lot more flowers and a lot more variety for the same price. Each year your skill will improve so that growing from seed will be second nature. But if you have any reservations about your ability when starting out, go for easy-to-grow varieties like Grandpa Ott's Morning glory, cosmos, klip dagga, California poppy, Purple coneflower (echinacea) or sunflowers. You can find seeds for most of the locally, but we also carry them at World Seed Supply. Perennials such as echinacea will return each year while some like Grandpa Ott's morning glory have a tendency to reseed. So you initial efforts will pay off in the long run. Don't be discouraged. Happy planting!

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Why Mulch?

Mulching your garden will improve your plants’ health and save you time in the garden. They say time equals money. Well, mulching equals more spare time for you. So, if you are not already doing it, here is some “valuable” information. Many of us might already be mulching our flower beds to control weeds. But the benefits of mulching are not just limited to weed control. Mulching allows the soil to retain moisture and heat longer. It can extend a growing season. It also provides an environment that houses beneficial insects and works to improve your soil over time. Mulching can even reduce infestation.

You may very well be familiar with mulching when it comes to landscaping and flower beds. Landscapers often use mulch to keep weeds from overtaking their projects. So why not do the same in your garden? If you haven’t been mulching, then you’ve probably been busy fighting with weeds that compete for light, moisture and root space with your plants. But in today’s world time is precious commodity. And gardening is supposed to be a hobby, not another chore. Any idea that saves time is usually a good one. You can use straw as an inexpensive alternative to traditional mulches. By putting a thick layer down, you block new weed seeds from reaching the soil below while starving seeds that are already below of the light they need to thrive. This is not to say that it will block every weed. After all, life has a way of adapting to just about any obstacle. But it will certainly free up more time to spend on the more enjoyable endeavors in your garden.

Another way mulching saves you time is watering. Just as the mulch creates a barrier to weeds, it does so with moisture. Mulch blocks the sun’s rays from directly beating on the soil. At the same time, mulch keeps soil moisture from evaporating right out into the air where it disappears. After leaving the soil, moisture can remain in the mulch itself where it is still of more use to your plants than if it had dissipated. By conserving water, it means that you will spend less time watering. This is beneficial to the environment and to your water bill. Just like time is money, water is money. So even if you have a sprinkler system so that watering time is not so much an issue, mulching will still help you save in other ways.

Mulching can also benefit you timewise by extending your growing season. Just like mulch will help maintain moisture, it acts as an insulator. In this way, it can insulate the roots of late-season crops so that you may be able to get some extra growing time out of them. In some cases, mulching the roots can even help perennial plants survive the winter in an area where it might otherwise just miss being able to do so, due to cold temperatures. It may not do much for the leaves and branches of the plant. But if the roots are preserved, the rest of the plant will regenerate much quicker and stronger than growing from seed. Or depending on the case, this may save you the time and space of having to bring plants indoors for the winter.

On the other side of the spectrum, mulching can buy you time in the early part of the season too. Mulching can help you get an early start on the season with seeds you are sowing in the ground by helping keep the soil a little warmer. A loose layer of straw will also work well to help shade new seedlings from the intense sun until they get on their own feet. By this, we mean having a layer of straw (or other mulch) that is not packed so that there are gaps in between the pieces where seedlings can grow. The shadows created by the pieces of the mulch will create shading for seedlings just getting off to their start in life. As the seedlings grow, just add more mulch until you have the thick layer of mulch you will need later in the season. This shading will keep them from being stressed while improving their moisture supply to ensure your seedlings get off to a better start. And getting back to the concept of time, a better start should mean quicker growth. So you may spend just a little less time waiting for your plants to start producing.
Along with these benefits, mulching will also improve your soil quality. Healthy soil is an entire ecosystem with the plants only being one part. Mulching helps provide a home for beneficial insects, fungi and micro-organisms. Insects like ladybugs, centipedes and spiders help by feeding on potential pests. Mulching also has a tendency to attract earthworms, which are often good indicators of soil health. Earthworm castings, which is a nice way of referring to the solid waste of the worm, have countless benefits to the soil. Castings act as a fertilizer and can increase a plant’s ability to absorb nutrients from the soil. The castings also contain bacterias and microorganisms that, just like the worms, help break down organic matter. As organisms break down the mulch, it will help provide additional nutrients to the soil. By working with nature’s natural chemistry you can forgo the monetary and health expenses of using chemical fertilizers.

Another good thing about mulch is that it allows you to foster that ecosystem in your garden in a way that it is partitioned. The microorganisms and insects that break down organic matter tend to lie primarily in the soil below the mulch. The mulch layer prevents splash up during watering that can introduce soil-borne diseases to the foliage of your plants. This mulch barrier also works out well for fruits like cucumbers and melons that may lie on the ground. While their roots can still partake in all the benefits of the mulch, the fruits can lay atop the mulch layer, keeping them away from excess moisture as well as many organisms that might invade the fruit. Instead, the fruits are left up above that layer with you, the one who will be doing all the eating.

At the start of this, you may have thought of mulching as just an extra thing to do in your gardening this year. But mulching is one of those extra steps that pays for itself. If you can take a single step that will save you time, money and at the same time increase productivity, then only poor planning should prevent that step from happening. We could go on further about the benefits of mulching, but this article is very much about saving time. And I think we’ve spent just enough to get the point across.

Perlite vs. Vermiculite: How to tell the Difference

Several years ago, I had an experience where I specifically needed perlite for a gardening project. When I got to the gardening section of this store, I discovered that they were out of perlite. I asked a store employee for help, and he confirmed that perlite was indeed out of stock everywhere in the store. Instead, the employee tried to sell me vermiculite, insisting they were basically the same thing. While this is true in one respect, this mistake could also ruin your project. While working for the same purpose in one respect, perlite and vermiculite are completely opposite in another. So it is important to know the difference between perlite and vermiculite so that you are never influenced to do something that could ruin your gardening projects by incompetent store employees.

Vermiculite and perlite are both non-organic soil additives that are used to aerate the soil. As rooting mediums, they offer this same benefit. Vermiculite is a spongy material made from mica whereas perlite is a type of highly porous volcanic glass that resembles pumice. Perlite appears as small, round, non-uniform, white particles. Some people mistake perlite in potting soil mixtures for Styrofoam balls. While both mediums are used for aeration, they cannot always be used interchangeably.

Both perlite and vermiculite are great at retaining water, but vermiculite retains much more water and offers a little less aeration than perlite. Vermiculite literally acts as a sponge that will retain water to the point of saturation. Perlite holds water by having a large amount of surface area within the nooks and crevices of its vast pores. But being porous and made of volcanic glass it allows excess water to drain much more readily than vermiculite.

In a case where you have especially thirsty plants and want the soil to hold extra water, vermiculite would be a better choice. You might find that perlite will dry out too quickly in this situation. But if you were growing cacti, you would eventually discover that the amount of water vermiculite holds would lead your plants to rot. Perlite, on the other hand, would be well-draining and suitable for your cacti mixture.

Vermiculite is also used in mycology to add moisture to the substrate that mushrooms will grow on. Perlite would fail miserably at this task. Perlite can also be used in mycology or horticulture to raise humidity levels. Because perlite has more surface area, it fosters higher humidity by evaporation off this extra surface area. Vermiculite would not work as well for this though because it would retain much more of that water.

So essentially, perlite and vermiculite are the same in that they can retain more water than many other things, and they can aerate soil. But vermiculite differs from perlite because it retains water and creates a soil mixture that retains water, whereas perlite fosters a well-draining soil mixture. Likewise, vermiculite’s tendency to retain water makes it a good additive to mushroom substrates but a bad candidate for increasing humidity. Perlite’s hard, porous nature makes it a great mechanism for increasing the humidity of a given area but disqualifies it as a candidate for creating a substrate that will retain moisture.

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How Hardy is Silene Capensis?

One might think that silene capensis would be rather tender being from South Africa. Well, apparently silene capensis can tolerate freezing temperature better than most plants. The silene capensis plant shown above has been subjected to freezing temps for at least three straight days with the thermometer dropping as low as 27 degrees F. According to Wikipedia, it seems that silene capensis can tolerate temps down as low as -5 degrees C (about 23 degrees F). With the leaves in such good shape on young plants, I am willing to bet that this species can withstand even lower than what Wikipedia predicts.

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Growing Kratom Indoors: How to Grow the Easy Way

It seems that some people make growing kratom seem harder than it really is. But don’t be scared off from getting one of these wonderful plants because the truth is that kratom is rather easy to grow and will put on growth rapidly compared to a lot of other plants. Some guides have made it seem like if you do not have an expensive lighting system or a special soil, your kratom plants are doomed. Well, we’ve had a bit of experience with growing kratom indoors over the years, in all sorts of environments, and we’ve come to realize that a lot of that information leads to a lot of unnecessary worrying.

At least one popular kratom guide suggests that commercial soils are unfit for growing kratom plants. But we have had nothing but success by growing kratom using plain Miracle Grow potting soil, a tip we saw being recommended in another guide and decided to test ourselves. We’ve also had similar success using our own soil mixtures to grow kratom. We’ve found that mixtures that are fertile and well-draining will generally work. But we have experienced firsthand how proper soil ph is also essential to growing kratom. It has been suggested that the ideal ph for growing kratom is between 5.5 and 6.5. Without the proper ph, kratom will not be able to take up the proper nutrients from the soil, and it will exhibit signs of nutrient deficiency. In one soil mixture, we used compost that proved to be on the alkaline side. This caused a sudden change of yellow, blotchy leaves on the affected kratom plants. After adding some sulphur to acidify the soil, it corrected the problem.

We’ve also experienced soil ph changes in some other kratom plants due to water. After noticing similar changes in kratom leaf color as we did with those that were growing in the compost, we tested the ph of the water we were using. Despite that we were using distilled water, our tests showed that the ph of the water was extremely low. As distilled water interacts with the air, it can cause the ph to change significantly. In this case, the change was enough to damage our kratom plants. You can test your water if you happen to have a good ph meter on hand when growing kratom. Unfortunately, a good ph meter will usually run about $100 and cheaper meters are considered unreliable. Otherwise, you can periodically test your kratom’s soil using a soil test kit.

We recommend using a large pot for your kratom plant simply because more room can’t hurt. But we have also found that kratom does not become rootbound quite as easily as other plants. We’ve maintained some bushy kratom plants in what would be considered small containers, so they can survive. But larger containers will allow your kratom plants to spread out below the soil, take in more moisture and grow quicker. It will also mean that you can get away with watering your kratom less frequently because the pot will hold more moisture. Some kratom growers will water their kratom plants more frequently, but we recommend watering the plants well whenever the top of the soil starts to dry out. This seems to supply enough moisture for rapid growth without subjecting the plants to standing in water that could promote root rot and other types of disease.

When it comes to light, it might seem that you need a High Pressure Sodium system to grow kratom because kratom loves light. Kratom does seem to greatly enjoy that type of light and will grow nice under such intensity. If you’re looking to pamper your kratom plants, HPS or LED is certainly the way to go. But kratom also will grow very well if placed directly under fluorescent lighting, which is much cheaper to run and can be set up with significantly less cost and effort. Even a single 18 watt (120 volt) compact fluorescent bulb has been proven to work for growing small kratom plants without the plants suffering any maladies. We have also found that a 100 watt (120 volt) full spectrum halogen bulb can support one or more kratom plants. A 24-hour light cycle will work if you do not mind the extra electricity consumption. With that said, it seems that more light will in fact produce darker kratom leaves with redder veins, and this is likely where the emphasis on heavy lighting comes in. Kratom vendors seem to identify various strains of kratom by the redness of their veins. But, in fact, a kratom plant with very red veins can change to have purely green veins depending on the conditions. We suspect that this phenomenon is similar to human skin tanning under more sun exposure.

Another condition that kratom requires is high humidity. The average humidity of Bangkok, Thailand tends to be between 90% and 94% during the morning. But it can range between 53% and 70% in the pm hours depending on the time of year. This suggests that kratom has at least some natural exposure to medium range humidity. While you do not want your kratom plants to be in a dry environment, you can easily create suitable humidity without exhausting yourself. Humidifiers can be used to give your kratom plants a humidity boost, but they are expensive to buy and run. Plus, these devices use up unnecessary energy. Instead, there are other options for giving your kratom plants the proper humidity.

Kratom leaves are waxy, and so they hold onto moisture more easily than say salvia leaves. This seems to provide a bit more room for error when it comes to a short-term humidity drop killing a kratom leaf. You tend to have some extra time to notice visual clues that your kratom plant could use more humidity. A higher humidity will produce much nicer kratom leaves with more of the characteristic glossy shine whereas kratom leaves in lower humidity tend to be more roughly textured and perhaps a little discolored. Kratom also has a tendency to drop leaves when it is really unhappy.

You can use the leaf texture to determine when adjustments are needed before dropping takes place. If you can get your humidity to up around 90%, your kratom plants will probably never complain. But judging from the climate of Bangkok and our personal experience, you do not have to be alarmed if you see fluctuations in your humidity. It’s normal for humidity to fluctuate even within a self-contained growing environment, especially as temperatures fluctuate and cause more or less water to evaporate. But it should be easy enough to keep your average humidity up to a suitable 70, even where your external humidity is lower.

Since external humidity tends to fluctuate and may not reach 90%, even at a high point, it is best to keep your kratom plants in some type of contained environment. It is easier to control humidity in a container. For example, small kratom plants can easily be kept in a fish tank terrarium with a light placed directly overhead. Continual pruning will be needed to maintain size, but your kratom plants will probably be very happy inside. You can spray the sides of the terrarium every so often or even fill the bottom with an inch or two of moist perlite if you want to add additional humidity. We do not recommend direct misting as a substitute for true humidity because it is only a temporary solution and does not provide the same type of humidity as evaporated moisture. If you have a grow closet with a lot of plants, it is likely that there will be enough moisture in the air simply due to evaporation from the soil. But if ventilation or other factors keeps the air drier, adding an aluminum roasting tray of moist perlite to the vicinity will work in this case too. The idea is not to become overly focused on temporary humidity fluctuations but to try to maintain a high average humidity and pay attention to the visual clues.

Aside from humidity, temperature is rather important when it comes to growing kratom. The ideal temperature for growing kratom is between 75 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. However, most households tend to keep temperatures around 68 degrees. This would be considered similar to low wintertime temperatures in Thailand, but we have found that kratom plants will still grow decently in this range. So you do not need to live in a tropical climate or roast yourself out of your house to grow kratom. Artificial lights will also add as much as 20 degrees depending on ventilation and the type of lighting. So you can easily maintain ideal temperatures in an average household. Anything below 65 degrees Fahrenheit, though, would start to noticeably slow your kratom’s growth.

We have exposed kratom plants to wintertime temperatures as low as 50 degrees. But as temperatures dropped into the 50’s, we had leaves that turned red in color and eventually dropped off. In our test, the kratom plants remained under these conditions for weeks before the leaves totally dropped. However, in some cases, dropped leaves may still be capable of growing back once temperatures rise again. On the other end of the thermometer, it has been suggested that growth slows significantly if kratom plants are exposed to temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. But we have experienced good growth even with steady temperatures as high as 96 degrees.

In retrospect, it seems that kratom does allow some leeway with regards to its conditions. It is not quite as demanding as many people believe as long as you take some time to provide an adequate setup. It is not exactly a plant that you can leave by your window, but neither is it a plant whose conditions are hard to meet with the proper planning. As a general outline, situate your plant in a large pot with some Miracle Grow potting soil or a similarly textured mix with a ph between 5.5 and 6.5. Place the plant(s) in some type of contained growing environment such as an aquarium or a growing closet that will help maintain humidity and temperature levels. Provide some type of direct artificial light overhead, whether HPS, LED or fluorescent. Keep in mind that the stronger lights will provide nicer leaves, but the fluorescents will certainly provide sufficient light to maintain healthy growth.

When it comes to maintenance, aim to maintain temperatures between 75-90 degrees Fahrenheit, which your lighting and contained environment should help achieve. Monitor the humidity, adding moistened perlite to the environment if needed. Water your plants when the soil just starts to dry out. Fertilize with a liquid plant food according to the directions on the packaging. Watch the leaves for signs of drying out or nutrient deficiency. Periodically check the soil ph, especially if you notice discoloration. And don’t forget to take plenty of pictures to post online. If you have not yet gotten a plant feel free to visit the World Seed Supply's Kratom Collection Website and check for availability www.kratomcollection.com

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How to Grow Klip Dagga (Leonotis Nepetifolia)

Leonotis Nepetifolia, more commonly known as klip dagga, is one of the easiest enthobotanicals to grow. Leonotis Nepetifolia tends to get quite tall, but it is a great choice for beginning gardeners as long as they have the appropriate space. While smaller plants can be grown inside, klip dagga is more of an outdoor plant. Klip dagga is usually grown as an annual but can be kept perennially. This flowering stalk, which can reach 10 feet in height, is normally grown in the ground. But it will grow in large pots as well. We at World Seed Supply have grown full size klip dagga plants in pots that were approximately 11” deep and 11” in diameter. While these leonotis plants did not have any trouble reaching their full potential in pots that size, it is worth noting that the dagga plants had a tendency to fall over simply from getting too tall. Therefore, actions such as using a larger pot, tying the plant to some type of support, or cutting back growth might be suggested for growing klip dagga. Potted plants will also require more regular watering than those in the ground, especially in strong sun.

Leonotis Nepetifolia can grow in a wide variety of soils, even those that are somewhat infertile. But naturally, klip dagga plants will prefer soils that are rich and well-draining. As for many of our outdoor plants, we prefer to use pure compost for growing klip dagga. Compost seems to produce leonotis plants that are much healthier with larger leaves and thicker stems. It is normal to see plants with leaves that are 6 inches

or more in length (not including the stem). Despite being giants, leonotis nepetifolia plants have roots that are comparatively shallow. About eight inches of compost placed on top of ground that has been tilled will give the best results.

You can choose to start your plants directly in the ground, in a container outdoors or in a container indoors. Don’t become too focused on any of these as a requirement. Do what suits you best. Either way, you should still end up with skyscraping plants by the end of the season. Klip dagga seeds are not killed by freezing and will readily germinate from seed scattered by the year’s previous crop, even in the northern U.S. However, our experience has shown that seed started outdoors where the winters are cooler will sometimes be delayed in germination until favorable temperatures begin, usually in late May to June.

Leonotis nepetifolia seeds started indoors will give you a head start on the season, but they will need to be hardened off. By that, it means that the small klip dagga plants will need gradual exposure to the outdoors, during which time they are likely to lose leaves. Even so, it seems that leonotis nepetifola is one species that will benefit from being started indoors ahead of time, at least in the north, as long as the appropriate acclimation steps are taken.

On the other hand, if you are not confident that you will be able to properly acclimate your klip dagga plants or you do not feel like putting in the effort, it makes sense simply to wait until the weather warms a bit so you can start your leonotis seeds outdoors. At that point, you will either start seedlings in a separate container, which will allow you to select the best ones and transplant them in an organized manner into some kind of flower bed, or you will start them in the ground directly. Just be sure to choose a final location in full sun. An ideal transplantation size for leonotis nepetifolia plants is about 4”-5”.

You should sow your leonotis nepetifolia seeds at a depth of about 1/8”. For the most part, klip dagga seeds germinate easily and hold viability well. We have found klip dagga seedlings growing quite readily in different areas, including the soil of certain cacti pots where klip dagga seeds inadvertently landed. However, we have also encountered a few instances where growers had trouble getting klip dagga seeds to germinate. In some instances, the problem has been solved by increasing watering. One tip that should be minded when watering is that the soil must remain evenly moist for enough time that the seeds can absorb the water. This is a general watering tip that applies to growing many types of seeds (but not all). Sometimes, even a heavy dose of water can be counteracted by a strong sun or dry air that dries the soil too quickly. In that case, mulching the soil with some hay or moving a container to a slightly shadier spot might make a difference. Indoors, misting the soil surface deeper or more frequently could help. A steady, even soil moisture with considerable warmth should be your goal. In fact, we’ve had good results with starting leonotis seeds indoors using bottom heat. That coincides with our findings about outdoor germination increasing in the later months, which means a temperature increase could potentially benefit your dagga grow early on.

Once your leonotis plants are growing in their final locations, all you need to worry about is keeping them adequately watered. These tall plants will generally soak up as much as you can water them. We recommend watering leonotis plants deeply every one to three days. Fertilizing is optional, particularly if using compost, and can be done monthly with an organic fertilizer. Leaves and flower petals can be harvested throughout the growing season. Seed pods can be harvested in the fall by cutting the entire flowering stalks from the plant. Lastly, don’t forget to take pictures!

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World Seed Supply’s Easy Pickle Recipe

Ingredients:

Pickling Cucumbers
4 Cloves Garlic
3 Cups Water
¼ Cup Kosher Salt
1 gram Coriander seeds
½ gram dill seeds
3 sprigs of fresh dill and/or 1 tsp dried dill

The number of cucumbers you will need will depend on the exact container you use and the size of the cucumbers. We generally find quart size Chinese soup containers or full pint mason jars suitable. An ideal cucumber size is about 3”, although you may end up with different sizes in your batch.

Start out by slicing your cucumbers into spears. Afterwards, you will want to slice your garlic thin and then cut the slices in half once. When you are close to being done, add your water, kosher salt, coriander, and dill seed to a pot and bring to a boil. Place your cucumber spears, sliced garlic and fresh or dried dill in your container. Once the contents of your pot reach a boil, add them to the container as well. Set the container aside until it cools, then refrigerate. Allow 2 days or more for best flavor. It’s as easy as that. In just minutes you can have all the exceptional pickles you could want.

Feel free to adjust the garlic and salt to your taste. You may also substitute more of either dill seed or coriander seed if you do not have both. It is also worth noting that you will tend to have a bit more brine than you will use in one container of pickles, so you can always carry it over to the next container. After you eat the pickles from one container, you can reuse the brine many times for later batches.