What I Learned

When you brush their leaves, sesame plants smell like toasty, uber-fresh sesame seeds. They really do!

I would not have known that were I not attempting to grow my own sesame seed crop this year. My experiment may never result in a real crop, but it is already gleaning all sorts of fascinating new discoveries. I think that counts as a success. Everything from here on out is a bonus.

What did you learn in the garden today?

Gayla Trail
Gayla is a writer, photographer, and former graphic designer with a background in the Fine Arts, cultural criticism, and ecology. She is the author, photographer, and designer of best-selling books on gardening, cooking, and preserving.

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13 thoughts on “What I Learned

  1. Nothing yet. It’s just morning in Australia and it’s a rainy day. However I am hoping that in between sprinkles it will be a perfect time to transplant a bunch of self sprouting sunflower seedlings (forgot to bring in my drying heads out of the rain a few weeks ago!) Do you find that it’s unwise to transplant this close to a new or full moon? I have so many of them, perhaps I will go ahead and do a few and see if they do ok…

  2. Yesterday I started seeds under a grow lamp for my FIRST GARDEN! Today I learned that seeds can actually sprout in 24 hours! Holy Cow! I just tiptoed down to the basement, peeled back my plastic wrap and ….. Whammm-ooo tiny little sprouts from some of my babies!

  3. I learned that sedum and mums DO grow back after a harsh winter even when you pay no attention to them. Also, that as soon as you plant the seed potatoes, a huge rainstorm will come along. Yay freakishly warm days! Lots of discoveries!

  4. I learned that there are some SUPER cool garden geeks that hang out on the internet.

    Love your blog: the photos, the posts, the layout. Very, very nice.

    Please stop by TheGardenBoys.com when you get a chance.

  5. On the big sunny desk, I put cacti around the pots with freshly sown tomato seeds to keep my cat from digging.

  6. Emily: So far just by sowing seeds near the surface and using a heating mat to keep them warm. They’re a long season plant so I started early.

    Mike: There sure are. The Internet is a great place to meet other geeks. Thanks for stopping by.

    Kristen: Every garden season is full of surprises!

  7. I learned, that working in the garden for hours on a very cloudy day, also can cause sunburn in the face. I learned that squirrels Iike to play hide and seek and that it’s more effective to fix one place in the garden completely (removing leftover autumn leaves, weeding, planting bulbs, seeding) than to do the same work all over the whole garden, what I used to do many years before. I now fix bed by bed, starting with my flower beds.

  8. I was feeling like my containers of vegetable starts were a little bland, so I added in bright yellow and blue violas. Purplish blue violas planted with sugar snap peas are a beautiful pop of color.

  9. I learned that tomatillo seeds are green! I’ve never grown them before but decided to try them this year. Was so trilled to see the colorful seeds!

  10. How cool! I have wondered where the heck sesame seeds come from for sooooo long. Wikipedia couldn’t even tell me. Looking forward to learning more.

  11. Learned (“GGG”; pg 57) that styrofoam cups I was going to use to start my seeds are on the list “to avoid” – good to know for a first time “gardener” like myself :)

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