Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Secret stash


I found a secret stash of basil flower stalks.  I had put them in a paper bag at the end of the summer, and then set the bag aside to dry.  The bag was moved somewhere else and I lost track of it until yesterday. 


To harvest the seed, I crumble the dry seed pods in my fingers and let it all fall into a bowl.  I'm still working on this part--I've got a lot of basil.  Next I will try to winnow the seeds from the chaff, perhaps by using a fan.  The seeds are pretty light, so I'm not sure if that will work.  If it doesn't, I will save the seeds and chaff together and just pick out the seeds as I need them.

I've also started my mid-winter germination testing.  Just playing with all these seeds has got my hands itching for dirt.

7 comments:

The Apple Pie Gal said...

Cool! I will look forward to the out come!

Mama Pea said...

Could you coerce a couple of your boys into picking out the seeds? Maybe some kind of a reward for every 50 seeds? Or 100? Whatcha got to offer? I'd sit and do it!

Anonymous said...

That is awesome! Just so happens, I forgot to order herbs for CGB. I'm sure dill will come back on its own, but basil is a need.

BTW--this image on FB really does look like a "stash!"

Erin said...

that is indeed quite a stash, LOL! Lots of seeds to carry you through for quite awhile!

City Sister said...

That basil will be so much fun after this winter!

Leigh said...

How funny, I just found the basil I set aside too. I haven't gotten the seed yet, but it's on my to do list.

Jo said...

The basil germ tested at 100%! Hooray!