Cotton

I planted two garden bins with cotton seeds back at the end of April.  This past Friday I picked my first cotton!  It's always a joy to see something you planted grow to the point of picking it.  For me, it doesn't seem to matter if it's something to eat, like tomatoes or yellow squash, or something that looks pretty like sunflowers or marigolds, or something to process, dry and sell like the cotton and also the marigolds.  It is all so satisfying.

As it turned out, my first garden bin full of flax and cotton was a complete failure.  About the only thing growing in that bin was grass.  I uprooted all the grass and planted marigolds.

The second garden bin of cotton was much more successful.  The red leafed white cotton has been putting out lots of blossoms so I have lots of cotton.  Unfortunately, the plants look pretty much gone.  I've added llama poo which may help to revive them.  Cotton plants are very heavy feeders and I didn't think to fertilize early on. 

The two types of brown cotton have been less productive of bolls of cotton but the plants look like they could keep producing for months longer.  I hope so.

I will keep track of how much cotton my garden bin produces this year.  It's something I often forget to do.  I have missed growing cotton these last few years.  I enjoy checking on the plants every few days and picking the cotton that's ripe.