MOONVINE SEED HARVEST

The Moon flower vine that I planted from a seed has produced seedpods from everywhere it flowered earlier.

I have left them on the vine to mature and dry out so I could harvest some seeds for my next planting or to trade.

The pods are dry now and it is time to collect the seeds and store them before the plant drops them.

I cut the pods from the vine with some scissors leaving just those pods on the top of the vine that need to mature for a short while longer.

The seedpods can be opened with just your fingers as they are dry. Inside each seedpod is two or three of the Moonflower seeds to be collected.

I was able to harvest 21 seeds this time and the vine holds more that should be ready in a week or two.

I store the seeds in an old medicine bottle and write the date on with a sharpie marker pen.

These seeds are now ready to store or to plant to replace the original vine.

The cost is free how can you beat that. If you save your garden seeds except from hybrid plants you can continue to replant with your favorite plants for nothing.

This means no more running to your favorite plant store each spring to buy their overpriced potted plants to start your garden.

You can start your own collected seeds which makes gardening much more fun.

Or you can go on the computer to the seed exchange and trade with a fellow gardener who saved their seeds for new types of plants to try.

I have traded seeds in the past and the only cost is a postage stamp to send a self addressed envelope for the traded seeds. Really cool.

The last picture is a typical South Florida summer afternoon with the storm clouds moving in from the Everglades. South Florida is a beautiful place to live Believe it or not.

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