Dutch White Clover: Day 29

Ops, 1 day late doing an update. I am trying to update this progress every Sunday.

So far the indoor clover plant is growing awesome with huge clovers, but still no flowers. I wonder at what point flowers start since it has been about a month now. Oddly enough, the plant outside has very small clovers and low growth. I guess it doesn't like too much shade and needs light. More light, bigger the clovers I assume.

Dutch White Clover: Day 21

New Plantings

Today I planted a bunch of plants that I hope will benefit me and my budgies. I bought lots of organic potting soils and a few more pots. I found some seeds, but will likely still buy some online.

So far, I have planted Ruby Swiss Chard, Broccoli, Cherry Belle Radish, Spinach, Mustard, Jack Be Little Pumpkin, Short n' Sweet Carrot, Nasturtium, Calendula, White/Red Millet (from seed mix), and Canary Seed (from seed mix). Some were sown directly into pots outside while others are in a mini indoor greenhouse. I will later plant spray millet, Sunspot Sunflower, Wheat (and other grass grains).

We will see how well they all fare. It is worth a shot to see if I can grow some of the vegetables on my patio. The only problem is lack of prolonged direct sunlight so I probably will have to move some pots out of the patio into the sunlight when I am home. I just want to be careful other dogs walking by don't get to it nor the pesticide people spray my plants outside.

I will post some pictures when there is something interesting to show. I doubt people like seeing just a pot of soil.

Dutch White Clover: Day 21

My plant has been growing well. Oddly enough, the indoor pot looks further along than the one outside on my patio. I wonder if that has to do with the face the outdoor pot is in the shade most of the time and the indoor one gets 12+ hours of light each day from a full spectrum lamp. So far, no flowers. We do have clover leaves now though.

Dutch White Clover: Day 14

The new budgie

I went to a Bird Mart and bought another budgie. It was an hour drive to get there and then another hour to get home. This budgie is a 4 month old hand fed boy (I hope). He was sure tuckered out so I let him sleep. It must have felt like a long day to him. He is currently in quarantine in a separate cage in a separate room from Benu for now.

Dutch White Clover: Day 14

Looks like we got some clover looking leaves now. I wonder how good it will look in another week.

Dutch White Clover: Day 7

Dutch White Clover: Day 7

There was a tiny shoot at Day 2 and it has progressed this far to Day 7. I wonder when it starts to get flowers. This pot is kept indoors on my desk top with a full spectrum bulb. I also have another pot outside on my mostly shady patio to see if there is a difference in growth.

Dutch White Clover: Day 1

Benu's Mash Mix

Here is an example of the mash mix Benu gets. I first started with sprouting the legumes, then the grains. Below are the list of ingredients:
1 Tablespoon each of Mung, Adzuki, and Lentils
2 Tablespoon each of Rye Berries and Quinoa
1 Tablespoon each of Couscous and Amaranth

That makes 3 Tablespoons of sprouted legumes, 4 Tablespoons of sprouted grains, and 2 Tablespoons of cooked grains. For the mash, the legumes where sent through a food processor so Benu doesn't pick around them.

Then came the vegetables in 2 parts. The dark leafy greens and other vegetables. For dark leafy greens I added: Collard Greens, Kale, Mustard Greens, Chard, and Dandelion Greens. For the other vegetables I added: Carrot, Peas, Corn, Sweet Potato, Acorn Squash, Butternut Squash, Tomato, Red Pepper, and Broccoli.

The vegetables were also sent through the food processor and froze them (dark leafy greens were frozen flat in a zip lock bag and the other vegetables where first frozen in the ice cube tray before being put in zip lock bags).

When I thawed my birds food, I took out 2 cubes of legume/grain mash, 1 cube of vegetables, and some leafy greens. To serve, I line the bottom of his bowl with those before putting a generous portion of the mash and any fruit toppers. (I don't really give fruits often.)

Sprouting Jar

My first post here was of a small sprouter I made using a yogurt lid and plastic crafting grid cut to fit. This sprouter works great when I only want to sprout a small amount, but when I want more, then here is what I use.

I use 16 oz Ball Platinum Wide Jars, which come 4 to a pack from Walmart. I then buy the lids from the heath store. They were meant for a larger capacity jar, but fit perfect on these Ball Wide jars.

When I am done soaking, I use a small container I had to hold the jar at an angle. This system has been working out great for me so far. I plan to buy another pack of the Ball Wide jars plus some more sprout lids. It is good to have extra handy for those times I have to sprout lots of different types of grains, legumes, and seeds for the batch making times.