Okay, little known talent.

Being all locked in with time on my hands, I decided to do the impossible.

When I was a kid, I asked my dad why we got seeds to plant every other vegetable, but we got plants to grow tomatoes ?!?!

Well that got me thinking. My dad always said that tomatoes are hard to grow from seeds. Several decades plus eight days later and I have my first tomato plant from seed.

^{--------hey are no bigger than this line of text when they break ground-----------}

While I was at it, you know, rocking the world of green-thumbery, I wanted to grow pickles. No, not cucumbers. I can never find good size cucumbers to make pickles out of. The ones I get have these huge seeds that you could choke on.

I am growing these guys in order to pick them when they are the right size! If they get too big, they also have really tough skin and that doesn't make for a very good pickle either.

The trick is...

You need to pull out some of the seeds from the fruit or vegetable you want. Drop them all in a glass of water and mix. After a few minutes, the best seeds drop to the bottom. Pour off the floaters, and keep the ones at the bottom.

You should keep them on a paper towel, moistened, in a warm place, about 4-8 days. Peak after four and if you have sprouts, bury the whole paper towel. (I put mine is a strip of aluminum foil, closed up to avoid evaporation).