R.I.P. Mick

Mick went in the bin today. His bottom was black, I think he must have been rotting off...the first casualty of the avocado trials. I've yet to really get one of them to sprout. Ah, Mick, it wasn't meant to be.

A continuation of not a lot

Due to a mixture of forgetfulness, trying out a new strategy and pure bone idleness, the 48 hour warm water soak to start off an avocado stone lasted a bit longer. I took Charlie and Ronnie out of the water today and suspended them with hair pins over the tops of jam jars full of water. Charlie has taken over Keith's old jam jar, and Ronnie is over a new little jam jar. There's no change in either Mick or Keith. I know plants take a long time to grow, but oh this is infuriating.

The clementine is growing... well, the leaves are probably a bit bigger but that's about all. Which is about all that can be said for the lemon babies as well.

I "pruned" my goji berry plants this morning. Goji berries didn't seem to be around when Keith Mossman was writing his book, so I have no advice on how to care for them. I am just muddling along.

More?!

Well, there's not a lot of action at the moment - nothing that was growing last week has died; but likewise nothing much of any description seems to have happened. I have grown tired of constantly topping up the water in Keith and Mick's jars with nothing happening (Mick has still not sprouted!), so I've left Mick where he is, and with Keith I've gone over to the soil and planting method of getting your avocado to grow - half the stone in, half the stone out. We'll see if this has much effect at all.

We ate avocados for dinner last night, so I thought I'd have a go with two new stones, so now there is Charlie and Ronnie. They are both in Keith's old jar soaking at the moment. Charlie is quite round and looks like Mick and Keith did when I first got them. Ronnie is much more egg shaped, and possibly the runt of the litter I fear. He may come to nothing. Time will tell.

It's cold outside...

It's covered with snow outside today and it's generally cold. Feels like nothing is growing or wanting to do very much, so there has not been a lot of action with my pip growing.

As far as the clementine piplets go, only one has germinated, so I guess it's just Clementine the clementine now. One of her seedling leaves had been knocked off by the plastic bag greenhouse so I've decided to bring her out into the open air and put her on a window sill.

Again this silly website insists on putting my photo on its side and I have no idea how to rotate it around.









 On the avocado front, Mick is starting to crack... ever so slowly. He really is a late developer. Keith is a nut of two halves, and is growing... but nothing has grown beyond the safety of the nut area, so it's not really like he's speeding away either.

Nothing much to report

Not a lot has been happening. The lemon and clementine pips have done nothing. Keith is growing a root and it has almost emerged from the stone. Mick hasn't really cracked up anymore since the last photo I took. He seems to be a late developer.

Mick might be cracking up

He seems to be a late developer, but Mick may be starting to crack up...

The skin on the tops of both Mick and Keith has completely dried out and cracked. It's funny, but they seem to be different shades, Mick is a pinky colour, whereas Keith seems to be a bit more beige....

Water Suspension

Mick's now been suspended for 5 days, Keith for 4. Apparently water suspension is the best way to get the avocado to start rooting (anywhere from 10 days to 3 months before this happens!). So I've attached hair pins to them so they don't sink, and have they over the radiator in jam jars. The paper wrapping is to that little light gets to the roots... which seems a bit pointless as of yet as there are no roots.

The hair pins look a little vicious, but they were the only thing I could get it - the matchstick just didn't want to spear the stones.

I hope there won't be any jealously, but Keith does have a larger jam pot.

Mick gets some company

Ate the second avocado for dinner, so Keith has been freed. He's now chilling in his own warm bath on the radiator.

Keith and Mick...

The beginning - Mick is taking a bath

To start off my new adventures in horticulture, I am returning to the avocado, which I have never successfully managed to cultivate.

Meet Mick...

Mick is an avocado stone. According to the book, I first need to soak Mick for 48 hours, hence the bath. He's about 12 hours into the bath at this stage. It's warm water, kept warm on the radiator. Apparently this helps with germination as he is a stone from the tropics.

I am hoping he will soon be joined by Keith, who will also be taking his bath, just as soon as I've eaten the avocado he's trapped in.