From 2004. Bean Sprouts grown on a tray lined with a wet towel, a couple sauce dishes to keep the bag from touching the sprouts.  I just slid this bag over the tray and left one side open to allow a little air in.  Kept it in a dark spot and in about 3 days they pop.  I consume them like that for a nuttier texture or let them continue to grow their root out longer for a more crispy juicy sprout.  The first sign that a leaf is starting to grow, I put them in an airtight container and refrigerate.

Another way I tried was with a plastic tube.  Apparently they like to be crowded together.  Grown similar way, soaking the beans overnight then draining.  Put them in the tube, cut a big hole in the end caps and lined with nylon netting.  That way they have a good amount of air circulation and it is easy to pour water through it.  I also added a sleeve to block out light, nothing more than some wrapping paper that slid over the tube. 
Surely there are a million ways to do this.  I have used empty jars with holes drilled in the cap. Circulation was not as good though and they had to be rinsed very often to keep from rotting, which exposed them to light which I try to avoid.  I have also tried lining a sieve and colander with damp paper towel and covering with opaque cloth or plastic. I think I like best putting a black garbage bag layer over the beans in a tray so that there?s circulation all around, but that requires a lot of space.  The jar method is nice and compact.  I am going to keep experimenting with it.

01.03.10 We have a frost warning here in Florida so I brought the plants inside. The longan are not much bigger or thicker, but they have produced a couple more sets of leaves. Actually, I'm surprised they're still alive, I haven't paid much attention to them expecting them to die. We really don't get any sun; I feel so sorry for these guys!  If it weren't for our location and reasonable rent, I'd move to a sunnier location just for them!

09.21.09  The longan are doing pretty well.  I gave one to Tom's grandmother for her birthday.  I wish I got a picture when they were younger.  The leaves start out a deep plum purple then turn green.  Maybe when new leaves appear I'll try to capture it.

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09.04.09  The longan are growing.  Every seed sprouted.  I had not touched them since I put them in two weeks ago.  The tap roots are getting long and I don't want them to tangle, so I needed to plant them.  I don't have any pots so I'm using plastic cups until I find a better home for them.  If you would like to plant a tree let me know.


To prepare the cups as planters, I heat a steel mandrel over a candle flame and poke holes into the bottom of the cup for drainage.  It's ghetto but very effective, and when it comes time to transplant, simply tap out the root ball or cut the cup if you don't want to disturb anything.   I only had enough potting soil for 6 seedlings.  I considered doubling up but I want each plant to have the best possible chance.  The rest will have to wait or might get mailed to my mom since she's the only person I can think of that would give the care and attention they need.
 

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08.19.09  Tom picked up some longan from the oriental market.  He had never tried them.  I had them in Hong Kong.  These from the market were smaller and not as flavourful, probably because they had to be picked early and shipped to the US before spoiling.  He did not like them that much, mostly because he was spoiled on really good lychee we had this summer, and I think he was expecting the longan to be similar.  The longan have a much milder flavor, almost that meat-taste that cantaloupe has. 
  So I cannot just throw away the seeds, I have to mess with them first.  The seeds are very similar to lychee, and they sprouted the same way, only a little faster. Surprising considering how small the fruit were. It took just a couple days in a sandwich bag with a wet paper towel, left outside in indirect sunlight.

It is a bit late in the season to be sprouting, but the weather here is quite warm, so with luck and care hopefully I can get them to go

These photos of the cotton were taken on 09.21.09.  The first cotton bol is now drying out and has popped open, exposing the expanding cotton fibers within. It took a long time to get to this point and I think it will be a while before it's ready for harvest.

Several new squares have appeared, throughout the plants, even on the ones I planted this season.  Most of the buds are toward the top. Before they arrived I actually considered pruning a foot off the top.  This would have delayed the bud growth or maybe they would have never had a chance to grow at all?

The next most mature bud already bloomed.  It's really high up on the plant so once that cotton ball starts growing it's going to make the plant really top heavy.  I'm already having a problem keeping the plant standing upright.  It's planted in a trough but is almost 5' tall.  Right now a chair is keeping it from laying down!

Ever since I planted these cotton plants last summer, I'd been saying that I would be happy if it could make even just one flower.  The north-facing patio where they live gets no direct sunlight, except for a sliver of rays for a few minutes before dusk.  Well, it produced the one flower, and yup, I'm happy as hell.  Now I wait and see if it produces that precious cotton ball, and I will be beyond happy.

Here are pictures I took the morning after the pictures above.  It turns pink! :)

The flower fell off the same day as the pictures above.  It leaves a pea-sized ball that grows quite rapidly.  These pictures below were taken 7 days later.

 

Here is the cotton pod another 7 days later.

4 or 5 years ago I purchased cotton seeds off the internet.  Sprouted them in the spring, planted them, and by the end of the summer had a dozen of flowers that produced cotton balls from which I harvested the seeds and cotton fiber.  I continued sprouting the seeds and growing plants until they were about juveniles, but they would get attacked by mites.  And then a few years ago we moved to our current place and I just couldn't transport them for the move.  I was hesitant to plant them again, but since I had such an abundance linter-covered seed, I half-heartedly planted the cotton, vigorously sprayed them with water anytime I saw mites, and kept them feed and moist.  It paid off this year with the one flower I was asking for.

I started two more cotton plants this season next to these year-old plants, and they're already more than half the height of the older ones.  I don't expect that these younger ones will produce a flower this year or even next year, since it's so crowded in that trough.  But I'll just wait and see.

I am not sure what my fascination is with little black beady things.  The sound it makes when it deeply rattles in its container, the way they look piled up.  Oh well.  Something to photograph.

Unwashed dry black beans.  I am eventually going to make black beans and rice with tomatoes and chipotle, or black bean turkey burgers, and maybe plant a couple and see if I can get even more black beans!  The blackened cherry pits will be made into beads, if I am successful.  Fingers crossed.  I would string the beans too if I was not afraid of them sprouting on my neck in this Florida humidity!

With no direct sunlight to the patio, container gardening is challenging and usually futile.  So I don't spend too much money, if any, on it.  The lychee and mango plants below I sprouted straight from the seeds after enjoying the fruits.  Many of the containers are either tofu containers or the bottoms of pop and juice bottles.  For drainage holes, I heat a steel mandrel over a candle and poke it through the bottom of the container a few times.  I supplement potting soil with my own compost made from coffee grinds, charcoal and wood ash, and clippings.

The lychee on the bottom left is the oldest.  The mini terracotta pots are about 2in. in diameter.
I'll have to repot soon.
 
Lychee sprouting in tofu container and the bottom of a 64-oz juice bottle.

Mango sprouted in a tiny bonsai tray.  I decided to move it indoors, just to see what will happen.
   
Seems to be doing pretty well considering there's about only two tablespoons worth of soil, if that, in the bon.

Mango and lychee usually take the common 7 years to bear fruit, and that's in perfect light and growing conditions.
Mine may never fruit, may never even grow bigger than they are right now, but they're still enjoyable to have.
    
These cotton plants are 2 years old.  It finally produced a bud, known as a "square" that, with luck, will eventually bloom and turn into a cotton bol.

We've been eating a lot of phờ lately so we got an oriental basil plant and put it in the window sill of the master, where we often have dinner.  Despite being gloomy and rainy, the plant looked so beautiful there and I managed to snap a few shots of the flowers that just bloomed.  The light was really low and the lens was filthy, but I think they came out ok, with a little detail here and there against the ethereal blur.  I know I should be cutting off the flowers and pinching down the plant to promote growth but I just can't cut it...not yet...