The Vigor of Plants

  


   The dill and chinese cabbage plants that I moved to the porch for the winter just don't want to give up the ghost yet.  As a matter of fact, they are trying to go to seed to produce the next generation.  The seeding efforts are certainly fun to watch here near the early spring.  I would expect that the dill will be pretty scraggly by the time it could survive outside, and the chinese cabbage looks like it will be done in a couple of weeks.  Out of pure curiosity, I will probably cut off the cabbage seed stalk and leaves, and plant the stump one more time in the garden to see what happens.

Chinese cabbage flowering,  2/26/2012

Dill about to flower,  2/26/2012

Dill on the Porch

      This past fall I had a several beautiful dill volunteers growing in my cold frame boxes.  I knew they could not stay there, since any vegetation growing against the glass will freeze on contact on cold nights.  So I dug up some of the plants, potted them in four inch pots, and took them home to the porch.  It was only later that I read that expert opinion says that dill does not like to be transplanted.  And I have to agree with that theory, as very often the dill plants I put into the garden as transplants fair very poorly.  Yet should any survive and produce seed, you will have healthy little volunteers everywhere.  So how did my transplants fare?

Dill, 2/6/2012

      We had some chopped dill with potato skins last night.  Yummy.  And we have also had it a couple of times with salmon.  The flavor is not as strong and deep as summer dill, but all flavors seem more intense under the summer sun.
      But don't let your dill dry out and go limp.  The stems that collapse will not recover.  The other problem I had was that the dill plants brought inside developed aphids.  The plants on the porch are clean.  And green and happy.  And staying right where they are.