Growing Celery from Celery, Weeks 1-3

I bought some celery mid March to make some chicken stock, which turned out fabulously by the way. Normally I'd throw the celery butt in a container to be fed to the worms later, but this time I saved it.

Nine hours after cutting the stalks from the butt, I plopped that butt in a shallow container of water.

That next morning, when I upped the water level, Spooky began showing some interest.

A couple of days after that, day 3, I could really see that the celery was actually growing. I gave it more water.

Three days later, day 6, the growth was quite impressive. Almost freakish. It actually looked like celery. I mean I'd have guessed it was celery even if it wasn't growing from celery. I gave it more water.

Day 7, I added water to the celery dish, shoved Spooky's nose out of the way (black arrow), and rubbed my eyes because it looked like the celery grew half a freaking inch in a day.

Day 11 the biggest change was in the leaves. The stalks look like a regular cluster but it's in the leaves where you can see the separation of stalks. And I gave the celery more water.

And now like true teenagers, some stalks have really hit a growth spurt by day 13. And as an FYI it was this day that I used some plain Greek yogurt in a batch of lemon muffins. I didn't particularly care for them. They were lemon muffins. Then I gave the celery more water.

By day 21 the celery stalk growth had slowed quite a bit and the only thing new on that end was the cat hair (arrows). It dawned on me that I should check for roots and holy guacamole, there's a root, all tiny and shiny and white like a toddler's first tooth. Then I added more water.

Later that day I found out why the celery had hair on it and went through so much water.

Buzzy Herb Grow Kit, Weeks 3 and 4

April 1st, Week 3

The five parsley plants are getting pretty tall. It's sort of funny how the spindly stalks can even support those leaves.

Check out the new leaf! I first noticed it when it was really tiny a couple of days before this photo was taken. I considered passing out cigars and accepting many congratulations on parsley confirmation but thought that might be a little much.

The two chive plants, while still growing, are sort of lounging around right behind the spindliest parsley. I am sort of surprised by how the chives are growing. At two weeks they looked like weird "7"'s and now they look like awkward "z"'s.

The basil are growing the slowest, but the four of them are plugging away and are the most stout of the bunch. If you click on the photo, you can see the leaves are just slightly fuzzy. Sort of like the backs of babies. But not as much as some babies.

April 8, Week 4

This week we're seeing some action!

The parsley continues growing like crazy; all four plants have a distinct parsley leaf. The tallest plant has another leaf beginning to grow from between the two original leaves. Can you see it right there above the planter ring?

The two chives are still lazing about in their little "z" ways. And you can see the spindliest parsley's little identifying parsley leaf.

The basil, while last to do so, are beginning to grow their second pairs of leaves. Aren't they just the cutest? And yes, that's a dead bug on the big leaf. It's like National Geographic up in here!

Oh yeah, and measuring them just now, the tallest parsley is 4", the chive is 3", and the basil is 2". You'd think they coordinated this action.

Worm Bin Expansion Idea

If I decide to increase operations, maybe out in the garage one day, I'll set up a system like this. I might just go vertical right there next to my fridge.

Buzzy Herb Grow Kit, Weeks 1 and 2

Sunday, March 11th

I started the Buzzy Herb Grow Kit.

Sunday, March 18th

Four of the five basil seeds had germinated yielding tiny two-leafed seedlings were poking out of the soil. Two of the five chive seeds had germinated in the center of the container to give very fine blades of what really looked like short grass.


Saturday, March 24th.

While the four basil plants simply grew a little taller, the two chives went gangbusters on growth. You'll have to click on the photo to see clearly, but the chives grew sort of weird. There's a blade shooting out perpendicularly from the base blade so they look like weird "7"'s.


The parsley finally poked out of the soil just two days before this image below was collected. In those two days the parsley grew taller than the basil or chives. Each of the five parsleys have long tapered pairs of leaves.

I'm anxious to see when the plant leaves will start looking like I'd expect them to instead of generic little plant leaves.

Having reviewed the kit instructions, I realize I need to consider transplanting somewhat soonish. Right now (I just checked), the tallest parsley is 2.5", the chives are 2" and the basil are 1" tall. I need to make a trip to Home Depot to pick up a pot. I think I'll try a window box liner so it's just a slightly wider but much longer version of the galvanized trough provided in the kit. And maybe I'll put it on the floor in front of the slider instead of keeping it on the table. We'll see.

Buzzy Herb Grow Kit

Late last summer I did the Buzzy Salsa Garden Kit. This time, I'm gonna rock the Herb Grow Kit. It sounds like I'm going to grow some ganja, doesn't it? I bought it from Big Lots for $5. They didn't even do a price increase from last year. How does Big Lots even make money?

I started by following these directions. You can click the photo if you want to check it out.

The kit includes a galvanized trough, a bag of soil, and three packets of seeds. The soil bag has some verbage about fertilizing. I included the photo for my own reference so's I don't forget later.

Most of the soil was transferred to the trough. I guesstimated on the amount to reserve by pinching some in the corner of the bag and dumping the rest.

I measured 1.5 cups of water, and poured it over the length of the trough.

When I started stirring the water into the soil, I was considering adding more water but the quantity turned out to be perfect.

Five seeds each of Sweet Basil, Chives, and Parsley were sprinkled into their respective third of the container. Unlike when I did the Salsa Garden, I know which end has what in it. The end with the basil is the one with the little circular handle flipped up and thus the other end is parsley. If I never turn the other one up, I'm golden. Check out the seeds though. They're adorable things!

Do you see the parsley seeds? Me either! Just kidding, you should be able to see one in there. The basil and chive seeds though, impossible to visualize. Mostly because they are black but their shapes allow for rolling into nooks and even crannies.

The remaining soil was poured over the length of the trough, leveled out, and misted well to moisten before the trough was put in the sunlight, approximately 1 foot from where I performed all of this labor.

Seven to ten days from yesterday we should see some life if I remember to mist regularly. Fingers crossed. I saved the remaining seeds just in case.

Pumpkin Remains, 010112

After feeding pumpkins to the worms December 3rd, I didn't feed them again until New Years Day. That's 7 days of the worms eating what must have seemed an endless pumpkin supply and jovial waddling followed by 22 days of eating paper rations and limiting movement to save strength. You'd think they'd be rioting by the time I was ready to feed them, but nope. All they did was shield their eyes from the light like Steve McQueen's Papillon at release from solitary confinement.

This is the only evidence that I'd fed the worms any pumpkin at all:

Yep, a pumpkin stem. I didn't see anything orange in any of the five bins.

Ancient Carved Pumpkins = Worm Food

Halloween day pumpkins were carved at work. I brought home two works of pumpkin art and lit them so they glowed all Angry Birds that night. By November 1st, the candles were spent and I began ignoring the pumpkins.

I continued ignoring them even while they gradually deflated and leaked pumpkin juices. I gotta tell ya, those of you out there thinking keeping worms would be "hard," preparing food for worms cannot get any easier.

After Thanksgiving, I thought the pumpkins were rotted "enough" to make the worms lick at their tiny lips. And then I let them stew in the California sun through the first few days of December. Yes, yes, I spoil the worms.

You might wonder why that one pumpkin on the left look like it's covered in dirt. Easy answer: it is! Let's all give thanks to the "gardener" who blows around loose top-soil from my "garden patio" every Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. with a leaf-blower. Yeah, that helps plant growth in my "patio", like, totally.

Saturday, December 3rd, I went outside with a bin lid and spatula to scoop the piles of deflated carved pumpkin up in order to feed them to the worms. I'll tell you right now, I was a little grossed out by the texture of the pumpkins. The fact that I could fold them in half with a plastic spatula caused slight spasms.


I managed to shovel the folded pumpkins onto a bin lid, brought the pumpkin mush into the apartment, and fed each of the five worm bins an equal portion of pumpkin without throwing up once.