three little things

1.
the image above is of a tomato seedling. i bought heirloom seeds from seeds of change. i forget the variety, but i loved the surprising purple stems on these little guys.

2.
when i excitedly wrote about finding out how to harvest the little seeds from the flowers of my basil plants, i didn't know that those seeds would never germinate. i imagine it's because the dried, dead plants sat out on the fire escape all winter before i got around to harvesting the seeds. next year, i'll have to do it in the fall. fortunately i still have the seeds that i bought last year, and they have sprouted nicely and are working on leaves 3 and 4 now.

3.
so here's the latest update...who knows how successful it will be, but yesterday, we took a walk, and it had rained the night before, so in damp spots and puddles we could see earthworms. we ended up picking up quite a few, and then discovering that you could find the mother lode by turning over clumps of leaves that were sitting at the edge of the (paved) road. we ended up filling a small styrofoam coffee cup found sitting by the road. quite the mass of worms! it was so fun.

so we brought them back, and i dumped them out on the box of dirt that is supposed to be sprouting lettuce and spinach. i thought that 10 minutes later they might all have buried themselves, but they hadn't...although some had found their way in. i helped them to untangle themselves from each other and put some into the other pots where hopefuly radishes and kale will soon be sprouting. then i decided they needed a little help and i dumped extra dirt on top of them. i was afraid they'd get chilled and die before they summoned the energy to burrow. after all, we were responsible for pulling them out of their damp, leafy hiding places.

i love my pet worms! may they thrive in my lettuce patch.