Life Cycle

I was playing with the Macro Focus on the camera this morning. I wanted to show you the next stage of my cabbage's life cycle.


I did not expect any of the changes in this cabbage. I realize this may not be very interesting to anyone else, but I'm fascinated with how unexpected every stage has been. At first, I put it in the ground thinking another cabbage head would grow... that did not happen. Instead the "seed stem" shot up very quickly, and little yellow buds appeared. After a little research, I expected these yellow buds to turn brown and then burst releasing seeds for a new cabbage plant. Instead, the yellow buds unfolded into little yellow flowers.


Now, the little petals are falling off, and the pistil of the flower is elongating, so that all that is left is the enlarged pistil, with a little bright yellow tip. You can see the progression in this picture, starting with the flower at the top and then going following clockwise. There are some lone pistils below the flowers.


Perhaps it is these little yellow things that are supposed to turn brown and burst with seeds. We shall see.

Back in Business

I'm so glad to have a working camera again! Now I can show you what I've been growing. First off: Remember my cabbage? This is what it looked like in mid April, growing in my fridge:

Well, now it looks like this. See the yellow flowers, and the sort of purple-y green leaves? That's the cabbage plant!

Yes, I know they are a little close together. I didn't expect everything to get that large. But they seem to be doing just fine. To the right and just behind the cabbage are my tomato plants. I have a Lemon Boy and a boring old red one. To the bottom left of the cabbage is some of my basil; more of that to come. The radicchio (back left of the cabbage) was particularly surprising - (it should look like this, but instead,) it looks like this:

Yes, the big one, next to the cabbage. In early April, it was just a little thing (in the back right in the pic in this post). I know I put radicchio seeds in the ground, and I thought I saw reddish purple in there a few months ago, but I didn't pull it up, I just let it grow. Now it's huge.

Told you there was more basil. I love the stuff. And it smells so lovely when I water. As do the marjoram (left) and oregano (right) below. I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, but the marjoram is growing what looks like seed pods. From what I understand these two create quite a nice ground cover; I'm hoping they grow sideways and cover the bed of the planter along the back wall.

And my baby grapevines have grown quite a bit in just a short time too. I don't remember which is the Cabernet Franc, and which is the Pinot Gris, but I'll know when the grapes color - although I won't let any grapes grow for at least a couple years.

I'll let this one grow some grapes next year though. This is the Merlot I bought at the Home Depot last year. It already had roots and all last year, so this year it is just taking off:

Next time I'll have to take some pics of my rosemary, sage, and thyme...

My Cabbage

I really, really wish I had a functioning camera right now. Remember my cabbage? The one growing in my refrigerator that I planted in my garden? It looks like a completely different plant!


After changing from purple & white to a deep, dark purple after one day in the sun and earth, it has turned a greenish-purple color, and has a tall stem coming out the center and a set of greenish-purple leaves forming a bowl around the stem every few inches or so. The whole plant is maybe 2 feet tall.


Wikipedia states that "on acidic soils, the leaves grow more reddish while an alkaline soil will produce rather greenish-yellow coloured cabbages." So I guess I have an alkaline soil.


The structure is much different than I expected. I expected something bulbous and low to the ground - not a tall plant! There are however, what look to be seed pods near the top. Perhaps this is how a cabbage plant finishes it's life cycle; maybe it is going to seed, and what grows from the seeds would be the short bulbous growth I'm expecting...

Live & Let Live

I don't know about you, but I love red cabbage. I put it in almost every salad I make, although admittedly, I don't make salad's often enough. I almost always have a head of red cabbage in my refridgerator; It seems to last forever - I just cut off the browned bits and shave myself off some.

Last month I pulled out my head of cabbage and found that it had a growth - literally! A new cabbage head was growing out of the center. Inside my refridgerator I was not just storing but actually growing food! This is what it looked like on April 12th:

I've had food grow in my kitchen before - ginger root, potatoes, onions sometimes, but that seemed to happen more often when the food was in the cupboard or drawer. But a cabbage? I considered planting it, but decided I'd just keep it awhile, shaving my bits around the new head. Heck, I would have fresh cabbage all the time!

Yesterday I was cleaning out the refridgerator, and found that my cabbage had tripled in size. I finally decided to let it live, and planted it in my kitchen garden. I buried the base and left the new growth above ground. I started wondering if cabbage was a winter vegetable and needed colder weather to thrive. Had I killed it by taking it out of the cold and planting it in the ground just as the weather was warming up?

This morning I had an answer of sorts. When I planted the cabbage, a majority of the leaves were white with purple tips. After only 1 day in the sun and earth, the whole new head is a rich, deep purple. It seems to be happy in it's new home. I wish my camera were working so I could show you the change...