A Whole Nother Batch

Yes, "nother" is a word.

Eh, what can I say? I got very lazy last time, tired of watering the plants every day, and I just let it go. Last night though, I saw the documentary Fresh with the Gardener and Gardeness (see my Followers links) and that gave me sufficient energy to give it another attempt. I have an idea this time, I'm still going to use the same four small pots and the organic soil that I used during the first round, but I am also going to add a fifth, very large pot, which I originally intended to use for transplanting, but I think would be better put to use now. The idea would be that, since I am so predictably lazy, I'll just keep the larger pot for my own devices, without needing to move the plants later, and just give the plants from the smaller pots away or something.

I just finished getting the pots set up, which exhausted my supply of seeds. Here's hoping I don't screw this up again.

My philosophy (among many) is that no post is complete without a photograph or video, so here's a pic, even though you've basically seen the same thing before:

You'll notice that in the upper right corner of that picture there is a partial garden. It appears to be the best garden in our apartment complex, so I took another picture of it just so you can see what can be done behind a first-level apartment:

Perhaps I spoke too soon

In my last post I wrote about how three out of four of my pots had not produced any plants. When I thought that they were a lost cause, I stopped watering them altogether, and instead concentrated all of my efforts on my singularly productive pot. At that time, the pot had about 9 sprouts, yet as those 9 sprouts grew I found that new sprouts were continuing to come forth. I hypothesized that if these sprouts could germinate without having been covered, then the seeds in the other three pots still might stand a chance, and so I set out to water them for a test period to see if I had been mistaken. As it turns out, each of the 3 barren pots has produced me a single sprout. That's better than nothing, certainly, and it's even convenient because I won't have any trouble transplanting them due to intertwined root-systems or other complications.

As for the original pot, it appears to be thriving!


I also made a wooden box for growing from the railing on my balcony so that not everything is on the floor. It's not finished yet, but you get the idea.

1 out of 4 ain't bad?

It's been more time than I wanted to allow since my last post, but unfortunately these seeds have been reluctant to do much. Incidentally, only one pot out of my four original pots has produced sprouts, but in that single pot, there are several successful plants. The key will be to let them grow together for now and then salvage as many of them as possible by transplanting. The sprouts actually showed up a few days ago but they were minuscule, and I had my doubts as to whether they would even show up on camera at all. So I waited patiently, and I can now give you, dear readers, a snapshot of my infantile tobacco plants:


I can't tell you what that particular quality was about the other 3 potsworth of seed that led them not to sprout, but if nothing else, I've gotten a fair bit of satisfaction in having watched natural selection unfold right before me. Indeed, only those plants which have escaped death by my own incompetence will survive to reproduce. Next time I'll be keeping a notebook in order to better determine where I erred.

I mBolg

I received my tobacco seeds yesterday, February 20th. I'd never seen tobacco seeds before and they are tiny: about the size of a dot made by the tip of a pen. So today I ventured on over to the Home Depot and picked up some organic potting soil and a 10" pot for the transplant later on. I already had some small starter pots from one time I failed at growing basil and other spices before. Here's hoping for a greener thumb this time around.

The seller I received the seeds from provided some growing instructions, which were useful in starting my tobacco plants, so I've paraphrased them below:

1 - Fill the starter pots with soil
2 - Soak the soil
3 - Sprinkle several seeds on top of the soil (not covering them with soil)
4 - Cover the starter pots with saran wrap
5 - Leave the pots in light (tobacco seeds need light to germinate)

So as of now, I have 4 starter pots and a heck of a lot of leftover seeds. Anyway here's a pic:



The title of this post:

I mBolg is Irish-Gaelic for "in stomach" or "in belly". Of course, this is where the name of the pagan holiday Imbolc is derived, referring to young sheep still in their mothers' wombs. The holiday is one of rebirth, and preparation for spring, and I think that I mBolg is an appropriate analogy for the new germinating seeds.

The Purchase Is Made

Today I bought 500 Virginia Gold (left) tobacco seeds from E-Bay. The seller is shipping them from Canada, so who knows how long that's going to take. I paid $1.50 for the seeds and then $3.99 for shipping, so it's really cheap to get started. I went with Virginia Gold because I like plant names that are state-oriented. My searches for Pennsylvanian varieties amounted to little.

(Seller's name was Dannysgarage, in case anyone is looking for seeds, but there are numerous sellers)

Why am I growing my own tobacco? I don't even smoke. At least not regularly by any means. I have a pipe and some loose store-bought tobacco from over a year ago. But I really want to grow something that is not going to go rotten right away like some foods do. Tobacco has its niche here because it can be dried and stored for a reasonable amount of time. I do enjoy smoking every now and again, and I have every reason to believe that smoking homegrown tobacco is healthier than anything you can buy commercially, and almost eliminates one's risks of developing cancer, if done in moderation. I'm also a libertarian, so I like doing things myself.

About this blog
I'll be updating this blog whenever I do something significant. My next update will be made when I receive the seeds and plant them. Feel free to write me if you have any questions.