Additions to This Year's Geek Tree

So, I own the geekiest tree I've ever seen. I've been receiving sci-fi/fantasy/comic book/cartoon related ornaments as gifts from my aunt every year since I was 10, so I have a decent collection at this point. Here are this year's additions to the tree, and below are pictures of some of the other ornaments I own.

Boba Fett's Slave I

Avengers Comic, feat. Captain America (with comic pages inside!)

Lego Vader

My favorite new ornament: The TARDIS

After a long time of considering what I could use a tree topper, I finally found one over at Think Geek, a light-up Spock topper. It arrived today, and, well it didn't really survive the trek....
I already talked to Think Geek and a new topper is being shipped in a more secure fashion. I'll post a picture of the finished product once the undamaged topper arrives. I also hope to get this year's Dalek ornament from the BBC once it is released on the 5th!

Here are more pictures of ornaments that have been with me a while -

Star Trek Transporter

Tie-Fighter

The Hulk vs. Wolverine

Superman

Star Trek Emblem

Star Destroyer chasing Corellian Corvette

Spiderman

Firefly - Shuttle Craft

Serenity - Reaver Cammo

Romulan Warbird

Ralphie and Borg Cube

Plain Awesome

Leonardo

Klingon Bird of Prey

U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D, alternate future version with three warp nacelles

Millennium Falcon fleeing Mos Eisley

Deep Space Nine

Chewie

Boba Fett

AT-AT with A-Wing

A-Wing

More Garden Pictures.

The last of the transplants are in. Here's a short photographic update of the fall/winter garden:
01. Leek sprout.
02. Carrot sprouts.
03. Cabbage.
04. Broccoli.
05. Spinach.
06. Lettuce (Buttercrisp, Cimmaron, Iceburg, Paris).
07. Paris Lettuce sprout.
08. Red Sail Lettuce.
09. The garden.

As you can see, we will be eating well.

I Wouldn't Have Believed It...

...had I not seen it with my own eyes.

I planted seeds this past Friday - five days ago - and today we have sprouts. Not just one or two sprouts, not just one of the plants, but multiple sprouts from each type of seed planted. We had a good rain the other day, and now, we have small pre-foods poking up through the soil. Here's the proof -1. The storm.
2. Spinach sprouts.
3. Another angle of spinach sprouts.
4. Lettuce sprout.
5. Swiss Chard sprouts.
6. Georgia Collards sprout.
7. Kale sprout.
8. The lettuce plugs I bought from the garden center.
9. The spinach plugs I bought from the garden center.
10. The cabbage plugs I bought from the garden center.

We are on our way to a great fall/winter garden already! On Friday, I'll work in the final section and plant broccoli, leeks and carrots. I'm pretty pumped.

Side With the Seeds

I've done it. I've started almost entirely from seed. This is my first time and I'd be lying if I said I was optimistic about my chances. I've had very little experience with planting from seed and I've had even less success at it, but I blame this mostly on the fact that my only real attempts were growing plants indoors in small containers under UV and heat lamps. The seeds sprouted, some grew a little, most wilted.
But now I'm trying to grow from seeds planted directly in the garden and I am keeping my fingers crossed. As I posted yesterday, I did buy some sprouts from the local garden center, but this is to aid in staggering the harvest. I've planted red and green cabbages, spinach, three types of lettuce, collards, kale, and chard in the four connected boxes. I have another section whose soil needs a little pick-me-up before I plant in it, but it will contain leeks, two types of carrots, broccoli and maybe one or two other things if there is room.
For now, I just water the dirt and I will post the results. Here's the garden as of today -
1. Hand-written labels were made for all of the seeds planted.
2. I have one row of store-bought spinach sprouts.
3. Above view of the garden.
4. Side view.

If you're considering gardening to save money on food, or to have as a hobby, or to teach your kids about nature, the Florida fall/winter is an excellent time to begin. Unlike the brutal summers the humidity is low and the pests and bugs are nearly all gone, and our temperatures never get that low so it's easy to keep the plants alive.
If you would like to start with cabbage, I have four plants from the garden center that I do not need - two red, two green. If you would like them, they're yours. First come, first serve.