The beginning of the story: The Goji Berry

So after seeing a number of inspiring gardening blogs, forums, and videos I decided it was time that I engaged the community and myself by creating this blog.  Since mid January 2011, I began my attempts at starting hard to come by plants from seeds.  Seeds are cheap, easy to ship, easy to come by, and harbour less pathogens.  There's also a certain joy in the anticipation of the seeds life cycle and watching it progress through all the stages. I'm hoping to share this joy with you all.

These are goji berries, sometimes called wolfberries.  They were started 7 weeks ago from the time of this picture, March 3, 2011.  The seeds were scraped out of a few goji berries that I bought from the health foods store, I ate the rest of the package and spent as much as seeds sell for online with shipping costs.  I soaked them for 24hr in 105°F water when the seeds were added, and allowed to cool to room temperature.  I pressed and covered the seeds in organic potting soil that was premixed with some leaf litter and peat moss, sprayed lightly and then watered deeply and slowly while pressing lightly with my fingertips.  They had a high germination rate and I got several in each pot.  They first grew a deep tap root and they didn't set there first set of true leaves for about 10 days after sprouting.

Notice the different varieties.  Most are stubby on top with a woody stem that lacks any hairs.  Now look at the goji in the bottom right  or the back right and you'll notice this one grows with its leaves pointed upward and its stem is herbaceous and covered in hairs. There's also the possibility it's a volunteer and not a goji at all, because I will often throw other seeds in pots just to make sure I get something that will grow in each one of them.  Please feel free to add a comment or question.