Garden Girlie

Moving

2008-04-15T07:50:00.001-07:00

We've moved to http://aveggiegarden.wordpress.com/ Please visit to see the latest updates.

What’s Growing Under the Light Shelves...

2008-04-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

Today, I thought I would show everyone what’s underneath my fluorescent lights. I have a variety of flower and vegetables seedlings, houseplants, and more.

My coleus: I love the color variegation on these:

My coleus: I love the color variegation on these. (click to enlarge)

Coleus with flower buds. It’s pretty but I pinched it off to keep my coleus living. (click to enlarge)

I have some sweet and Thai basil. I have some in some self-watering pots but I thought I would grow some more in individual pots so I can grow them anywhere in the garden and not just in a pot.

Basil Seedlings (click to enlarge)

I have beans growing and sprouting! Yippee.

Top Crop Beans 12 Days (click to enlarge)

Endive seedlings (click to enlarge)

Under my lights, I have lots of African Violets:

A pretty pink African Violet (click to enlarge)

Propagated African Violets from leaf cutting (click to enlarge)

Older baby African violets (click to enlarge)

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Lettuce Plants and More 04-09-08

2008-04-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

Bibb Lettuce 98 days (click to enlarge)

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce 98 days (click to enlarge)

Mmm…the Bibb lettuce is coming along really well. All it needs are some yummy cucumber slices and little red cherry tomatoes. I’m going to harvest these soon or else it’ll bolt. I have 4 to 5 Bibb lettuce ready to harvest and 3-4 heads of black seeded Simpson lettuce. I also have some little cherry belle radishes getting ready to harvest but I might just wait to let it grow a little longer to mellow out its peppery taste. This growing season, I’m going to try succession planting to ensure salad crops throughout the season. I have some more cucumber seedlings growing just in case the ones I planted in the ground. I also have some more Bibb lettuce seedlings growing inside on my windowsill. I forgot to sow more black seeded Simpson seeds though. I’ll start some tomorrow. Once I harvest the lettuce I planted a couple of months ago, I’ll put more lettuce seedlings in the ground. I’m surprised at how fast lettuce grows in a couple of months.

Lettuce Seedlings 21 days (click to enlarge)

Tomorrow, I’m going to plant some lime basil seeds and goji berries I got from a trade. My trade partner also surprised me with some royal burgundy bean seeds too. I’m super excited about this one since I’ve wanted to try a purple podded bean this season. I really hope they sprout. I also got some bean seeds from a friend from yougrowgirl. She gave me some trionfo violetta beans. I might wait to start bean seeds later in the season when the weather warms up considerably. I think I’ve been starting them too early and they need heat to germinate. My bean experiment isn’t over yet. I’m just postponing it. Any advice on bean seed starting? I’ve had the most terrible luck. Well, I guess that’s all for now. I’ll take more pictures of my garden tomorrow morning. Until then, happy gardening!

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Pepper Transplanting, Bean Germinating and More

2008-04-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

Pepper Seedlings (click to enlarge)

I transplanted jalapeno, bell peppers, and squash into individual pots I got from Thompson and Morgan. I planted more cucumber straight 8 seedlings into the ground and gave them a good watering. I also planted some tomato plants I had sitting on our fence. I planted a lady bug hybrid tomato and also a gardener's delight. I received the lady bug tomato seeds from a friend from you grow girl, which is a garden forum I actively visit on a daily basis. There, you can exchange various seeds you have for other seeds you don't have! It's been great fun.

French Filet Bean Sprout(click to enlarge)

Top Crop Bean Sprout(click to enlarge)

Oh, on the bean front. I have 3 sproutages from a French Filet and a Top crop variety. Eek. I was super excited. I also see some romano bean sprouting. But I really wanted the purple peacock beans to sprout. I want to have purple beans for the summer. I'm crossing my fingers for those! Please sprout...please sprout...

Pink nicotiana seedlings (click to enlarge)

My flower seedlings are doing well too. The stocks are growing slowly but surely. My nicotiana seeds are growing like mad. They've been crowded in a salsa container and I plan on planting them out soon. I have them on my west facing windowsill so they can get some real sun and get acclimated to the harsh sun. I'll eventually take them out and slowly get them used to the outside weather. The weather here has been wonderful. It's going to get into the high 70s and maybe 80s soon. I love spring!

Yesterday, I planted some lunaria(aka money plant or honesty plants) seeds into a 9 pack. These are biennels and they'll grow the first year and flower the next. They look like delicate little silver dollars. They would look great in flower arrangements or dried and put in a nice vase. I have tons of these seeds so if it doesn't germinate this time, I can keep trying.

Hydrangea flower bud(click to enlarge)

My hydrangea plant is now forming tiny little flower buds. I thought I had killed it since during the winter, it was woody but I noticed other people's hydrangeas did that too so I shouldn't be alarmed. I kept it outside, watered occasionally and covered it during frosts and all that hard work paid off since it's still alive and budding! Yippee.

Well, that's all for now folks. Happy Gardening. Please don't forget to sign up to get email updates on my blog! click here to subscribe!

Slug/Snail Nightmare and Transplanting

2008-04-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

Darn Slugs!

The snails or slugs are back! urgh. I hate them so bad! They've gotten to two of my cucumber seedlings I planted a couple of days ago and also some of my bok choi seedlings. I'm going to have to resort to covering the cucumbers at night to deter the slugs. I'm surprised they haven't gone to my homemade and less toxic slug traps. I read somewhere that slugs/snails are attracted to beer so my DH and I took some bottles and buried them in the soil with beer. The idea is that the slugs will crawl into the bottle, fall in and drink themselves to death! Maybe, I need more beer. The funny thing is, I never catch them in action. I probably have to get up early or stay late to catch these buggers but I promise I'll get you my pretty(-ies) I will! hehe

My other veggies and flowers are doing well. The bok choi has been sprouting these pretty yellow flowers. I've been shaking the flower stalk to encourage pollination.

Celery Seedlings (click to enlarge)

I finally planted the celery I started months ago. I put them in a spot where they get morning/mid-morning sun. I hope we'll at least get 5-6 celery plants from them! Here's hoping.

I also noticed that my endive seeds have sprouted and to spare them from the horrible slugs, I've placed them on top of my fence. That's the only spot the slugs don't get to. I hope they don't find out they're up there or else they're doomed! Eek.

I also went to Target this morning and found some cute gardening acoutrements. I got some metal plant labels and some garden shears. They were only $1.00 a piece so it wasn't too bad. Well, I guess that's all for now. Happy gardening everyone!

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Garden times...

2008-04-02T13:19:00.001-07:00

Squash seedlings (click to enlarge)

Yesterday, I repotted my little African violets into bigger pots and I planted more bean seeds but instead of in pots, I direct seeded them into the ground. I started some top crop beans and also some Kentucky wonder beans.I also planted more watermelon radish and sunflower (a Walmart variety) seedlings in the ground

Hyacinth bulbs (click to enlarge)

My garden is filling in nicely. I have pea flowers blooming with tiny little pea pods forming, geranium flowers blooming, bulbs poking their head out, lettuce getting fuller and radishes getting nice and round. I also planted my asparagus peas into a square I had empty. I noticed that I had 6 more squares empty. Any suggestions?

I brought some of my extra tomato, pepper, and zucchini seedlings to work today. However, they took a beating in my bike basket and some dirt shook off but all in all, they had a great ride with me to work. My coworkers are appreciative of the green presents. The peppers were of an unknown variety. I had to label them "a" and "b" because I forgot to label the peat pellets when I planted the seeds. oh well. We'll soon find out what they are if and when they fruit.

Lately, to conserve energy and mostly gas money, I've been using my new bike. I bike to work and mostly anywhere around town that's 2 miles from where I live. It only takes 10 minutes to bike 2 miles including stop signs and traffic lights and plus you get some exercise. I rationalize bike riding as me trying to help save the environmnt. hehe. Yesterday, I biked to my local Rite-Aid and found some good deals on herb seedlings. I got some English thyme and sage for $1.50 a piece. They also had some rosemary and cilantro for sale but I already purchased some rosemary at Target earlier this season. I also got some seeds here. They were only 10 for $1.00 so I got 10. I got some cauliflower, marigolds, zinnias, annual cut flower mix, and beans. I put some beans in between some wet towels to see if they germinate and some of the seeds, I plan on sending to my seed-trade partner this month.

Well I guess that's all for now. Happy gardening everyone!

Garden Update 03-29-08

2008-03-29T21:53:00.001-07:00

Okra Seedlings (click to enlarge)

Today I was busily spending lots of time in the garden. I moved my bell pepper seedlings, dill, fennel, Mexican Honey tomato and stock seedlings into bigger pots. I also planted more radishes (watermelon radishes) into the ground as well as sunflower, asparagus peas, and black zucchini seedlings.

I'm also going to attempt to try getting some green beans to sprout. I have some seeds I got from a trade and my coworker gave me some the other day. I am soaking some purple peacock, romano, top crop, and tendergreen beans tonight so I can plant them tomorrow. I truly hope they sprout! Wish me luck. I also plan on planting some more nasturtiums seeds. I have some that have sprouted but I hope to grow a bunch. They look so pretty last year.

On Friday, I planted more flower seedlings: zinnia-thumbelina, aster, marigold, lams ear, calendula and sunflower maximillon. I noticed that I didn't have enough flower seedlings the other day. I believe my veggie seedlings

I also put some stakes down to distinguish my square foot garden and I noticed that I had six squares empty. I think I'll plant more herbs like basil in some of the squares but I don't know what else. I need some low growing veggies b/c my these squares are in front of my cucumbers and tomatoes and they need as much sun as they can get. Any suggestions?

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Garden Update 03-27-08

2008-03-27T11:44:00.000-07:00

Herb Seedlings 03-28-08 (click to enlarge)

This past weekend, I decided to repot my herb seedlings into terra-cotta pots I got at Michaels. They were only 3 for a $1.00 so I got six of them along with their terra-cotta trays. They make the best looking herb pots. I only wish I had bought more. I also planted additional seeds into each pot to get a fuller look. In no time, they’ll sprout and I’ll have healthy-looking growing herbs.

This past week, I’ve left my veggie plants uncovered risking slug/snail damage but to my surprise, I haven’t seen any damage this week. I’m so happy. My bok choi plants seem to be bolting which makes me sad but hey I might just let it bolt so I can collect seeds from them in the summer. Then I’ll have tons of Bok choi seeds (wohhahaha…this is my evil laugh) lol.

On the flower seedling front, I finally have one single little four o’ clock seedling. It took it 27 days for goodness sakes. I will give it credit though. It does have a hard “grenade” looking shell on it. I’ll have to take a picture of it tonight.

Everything in the garden is looking good. The lettuce is getting fuller; the Bok choi is growing well, the peas are flowering, and tomato and pepper seedlings are growing strong. Soon, I’ll be planting sunflower seedlings and watermelon radishes. Well, that’s it for today. Happy gardening everyone!

Garden Chores and More 03-23-08

2008-03-23T19:59:00.000-07:00

Marglobe Tomato seedling 52 days (click to enlarge)

Yesterday, I planted my tomatoes in the ground. I planted tiny Tim, jelly bean, fireball, sweet gold, supersweet, black cherry, marglobe, red and gold, and roma tomatoes. Most of these are cherry tomatoes. We love cherry tomatoes in our salads and my husband loves eating them plain so why not. I plan on planting another marglobe tomato seedling soon. I hope to have enough tomatoes to save seed and also to make sauce and salsa.

Today, I spent a lot of time cleaning and organizing my garden. I picked up all the empty pots and stacked them in each other, picked up tools (shovels, rakes, shears, etc) and put them in a nice heavy pot, moved dirt around and just the ordinary garden chores. It was hot in the sun I found and I kept coming in to cool down and get a drink of water. I ended up waiting until it was almost sun down to go outside and finish my chores. It was bearable and not too hot.

I also planted more lemon balm, thyme broadleaf, cilantro, dill, chives, fennel, 4 o clocks, arrugula-rocket, and Kentucky blue pole beans. I was hoping to plant more oregano but I couldn’t find my packet of seeds. I know it’s here somewhere. Maybe I need to organize my garden things indoors! Eek. Well, I guess that it’s for today. Check back tomorrow for more updates or better yet, subscribe to my blog by signing up here here to get updates. Talk to you soon and as always, happy gardening!

Watermelon Radish and Seed Starting 03-21-08

2008-03-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

(Click to enlarge)

This is a picture of my watermelon radish seedlings. I’m super excited about these. They look like watermelon in the inside so I can’t wait to have these dress up salads.

(Click to enlarge)

Today I planted some more lemon basil, large leaf basil, petunia, rocket arugula, bok choi, and sunflowers seeds. I had hoped to plant a lot of petunia like last year. I also put my self-watering basil pots outside so it can get some time in the sun. It also freed up my grow shelf so I can grow even more African Violet babies. I hope to give some AVs away for birthday presents.

Tomorrow, I plan on going to Michaels to get some really inexpensive terra cotta pots for my herb seeds. There on sale 3 for a $1.00. Depending on the size, I plan on getting 4 or 5. I might also go to Osh to see what vegetables they have on sale. I overheard on the radio that they were having a buy one get one free sale on vegetables. I also saw that they had chocolate mint so I might be tempted to grab a pot. I’ve always been an advocate of not buying plants but instead buy seeds which is a better deal but I’ve heard that mint seeds are hard to germinate so I tend to buy mint as plants. I then plan to go down the street to Lowes to grab more soil for my pots. I have tons of veggies that need soil and pots to hand out in.

This weekend will involve more weeding and probably transplanting. Who knows I might just transplant my tomatoes in the ground! Tomatoes, here we come…That’s all for today folks! Happy gardening everyone!

Happy First Day of Spring

2008-03-20T19:59:00.001-07:00

Tomatoes in jiffy pellets (click to enlarge)

Today marks the first day of spring. Happy spring!!! The weather has definitely been nice with the start of spring. I have a little issue with my Bok choi though. One day they look fine and healthy and the next day, I find it with holes and gooey stuff around the holes! I couldn’t find any caterpillars or snails or slugs. I moved my pots to a different place and this morning there were no new holes. I guess you win some and you lose some. Gardening has involved watering with fish emulsion every other watering. I transplanted my tomato seedlings to individual Styrofoam cups. I will probably give these away to friends/family and people at work. I put them outside so they can get some good sun.

I plan on buying some purple podded pole beans this year. My coworker, who is an avid gardener, told me about this bean that grows purple but when cooked, it turns green. I was fascinated and am going to go in with her to buy some things from Nichols’ Garden Seeds. They’re only $2.45 for a 2 oz packet which probably comes with 100-150 seeds. These are a heat tolerant, French heirloom. I also plan on getting some bean inoculant as well. Inoculant is useful because it helps beans and peas for that matter develop root nodules which in turn increase production of beans and peas. I think I might order more seeds/supplies since we’re probably going to go in on the shipping which is only $3.45. Not bad…

Today, I bought some Bok choi seeds from Home Depot and got a rosemary plant from Target. I plan on growing Bok choi inside under my grow lights. That way, I will have some control on bugs like slugs and snails. I think they’ll be fine inside if I give them sunlight on occasion. I also planted some more sugar snap and sweet peas in the garden. I hope to grow tons of fragrant sweet peas this year and possibly collect the seeds to trade or plant next year! Well, that’s all for now. Happy gardening!

Herb Seedlings Update 03-16-08

2008-03-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

Thyme 40 days (click to enlarge)

Catnip 40 days (click to enlarge)

Chervil 13 days (click to enlarge)

Lemon Balm 40 days (click to enlarge)

Cilantro 12 days (click to enlarge)

As promise from the previous post, I'm posting pictures of my herbs. They've grown so well!

Today, I spent a long day in the garden. It was extremely windy today and I got a lot of dust and dirt in my eyes but I continued on.

I planted more swiss chard seedlings, morning glory, hollyhocks, and some butterfly orchid seedlings into the ground today. I also set up a string trellis and oh boy was this a bad idea in a wind storm. I spent a good ten minutes untangling the mess.

Great Weather!

2008-03-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

Lemon Basil at 8 Days

Thai Basil at 8 days

The weather has been very spring-like with temps in the high 60s and low 70s. I’m a little hesitant with how great the weather is. I’m afraid that next week, we’ll have lots of rain and thunderstorms. I guess you can’t live your life worrying all the time so I continue my gardening adventures but with a critical eye on the weather.

On Friday, I started some more seeds that include: marigolds-safari mix and French double mixed, edamame, sunflower-tall variety, sugar snap peas, nasturtiums, morning glory-crimson rambler, and eggplant-black long variety. I really hope they sprout especially the nasturtiums. I planted some nasturtiums last week and they haven't sprouted at all. I plan on planting them with my tomatoes to detract pests from getting to my precious tomatoes.

In part of my garden, that only gets partial sun in the early/late morning so this year, I plan on growing some cool weather veggies in that area. It's around 2' by 5' so I want to grow lettuces with successive plantings throughout the season, radishes (watermelon and cherry belle variety), bok choi, cabbage, swiss chard, peas, leeks, mint, cilantro, lemon balm, thyme and beans.

I noticed that I have sprouts on the hyacinths I planted on March 3rd, sunflowers, radish, and great lakes lettuce I planted last week. I also saw that my spaghetti squash seeds and cucumber straight 8s have sprouted (it took them 14 days to sprout! eek). I might have to start more cucumber seeds tonight. I want a lot of cucumbers this year. Last year, I only got 1, yummy and delicious cucumber but this year I want at least more than 1.

None of my zucchinis or squash seeds have sprouted either. Note to self: start more tonight and keep them inside. Speaking of failures, I have no success on the beans I planted outside 18 days ago. I guess I'll have to start them inside. It looks like I have a lot of seed starting tonight (cucumbers, squash, zucchini, and beans). Oh the joys of gardening!

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Happy gardening everyone!

Next up: an update on my herb seedlings! eek. They're doing so well...

New Service for Blog Readers

2008-03-12T11:52:00.001-07:00

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Happy gardening everyone!

Collecting Flower Seeds (Calendulas)

2008-03-10T22:32:00.001-07:00

Five days ago, I planted some chicory, flax, and okra and there’s already sprouting occurring with the chicory. I got the chicory seeds from grocoseeds and I hope it really works. Chicory can be used as a coffee substitute. We’ll see how well this works!

I also have sprouts on my cilantro and calendulas. I grew calendulas last year and they were pretty yellow and orange flowers. I also collected seeds from these last year. The seeds were easy to collect since they look like half moons. If you’ve never collected flower seeds before, I suggest trying calendulas for your first time.

They flowers look like these:

What the seeds look like after they flower:

Mature seed pod. Takes around 3-4 weeks

Mature seeds. You know you have mature seeds when they fall off easily.

Tomorrow, I plan on planting more sweet peas and transplanting more lettuce seedlings. I’m also going by the post office to drop off my package to my March gardening partner. Happy gardening everyone!

Herbs and Peas Sprouted 03-08-08

2008-03-09T21:17:00.000-07:00

Lettuce (59 days) is doing well. Click on image for larger picture.

Today, I noticed some sprouts on my herb seeds: basil (lemon, thai, sweet, and big leaf). It has only been 4 days. That just means it's already spring! There was also some action on my marjoram and chervil herb seedlings. I was surprised to see that my herbs are sprouting so fastly. I also noticed one asparagus pea seedling peaking it's tiny little head out. I am interested in seeing how these will do. I'm not sure what asparagus peas are but they say you can steam cook them. They look like this.

I also noticed that my peas are finally starting. It took them longer than I expected...around 9 days but hey that's better than nothing. I can just see the yummy peas in our dinners. This year, I plan to have succession plantings of peas to ensure I have tons of peas this season. My garden faces westward and there's a part of my garden that only gets morning sun so I plan on planting cool season veggies all season or as long as it stays cool on that side of the garden.

Nothing much else going on in our garden except for the occassional weeding and cleaning up. The daisies from our wedding are on its second set of blooms. They're small but I think they'll look pretty in a vase. Happy gardening everyone!

Starting More Seedlings 03-04-08

2008-03-04T16:49:00.000-08:00

Plants from our wedding. These are cyclamens (click on image for larger picture)

On the first of March, I was busily planting seeds. I planted a variety of basils that include lemon basil, Thai basil, sweet basil, and a large leaf variety. I started my cucumbers (straight 8) and squash (black zucchini, spaghetti, early prolific) together in small cups. I set this tray outside so they can germinate under the nice sun. I also started some oriental poppies and Shirley red poppies. Some poppies I planted earlier this week have already sprouted and doing very well. To end the first day of March, I started some nasturtiums (9 pellets) and 4 o clocks (6 pellets)

I started bulbs yesterday night (03-03). I started some tulips, grape hyacinths, narcissus ice-follies, and muscari bulbs.

Cabbage Early Golden Acres Seedling at 40 days (click on image for larger picture)

My seedlings are doing well except for a bout of aphids. I found some aphids on my African violet and they somehow migrated to my little seedlings. I cleaned them with alcohol and soap/water mixture. The soap and alcohol does something to the aphids. Maybe suffocates them. Anyways, it worked so I was happy. I plan on transplanting my tomato seedlings into bigger pots tomorrow or Thursday and set them out under the sun for a little bit or until it rains (which is estimated to be on Sunday into Monday). We hope not but we’ll see.
Today, I planted some watermelon radish, nasturtiums, great lakes lettuce, sunflowers, Pinocchio pepper, 4 o’ clocks, daisy bush and marigold seeds. I am interested in seeing the watermelon radish grow. I hope it does well!

Happy gardening everyone!

Garden Update 02-28-08

2008-02-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

Pretty African Violet

I got this pretty AV awhile ago at Lowes. It was a pathetic little thing at Lowes. It was discounted to $1.00. All it needed was a little TLC. I placed it under my grow lights and it's done really well as yal can see.

Today, I planted more peas to my garden. They were sugar snap peas. I hope to have lots this season. I love cooking with snap peas because there’s no shelling involved and you can eat the whole thing including the pod. It’s great in stir fry, orzo, and just raw. I hope they do well with no inoculant. I’ve never tried innoculants before but I wonder if it would give me a bigger crop. Anywho, I’ve always been satisfied with the crop I get. Maybe next year I’ll get some innoculant.

The coleus outside are doing well. No losses yet although, I did have to get rid of a cat that wondered into my garden. They are so annoying. I have gates up but they still manage to get in. I just wish they would leave my garden alone! Urgh. Darn cats. As I was doing some garden clean up, I noticed a tray of lettuce seedlings I had neglected. They had blown over a couple of weeks ago and were damaged by the storm. I had propped them up and forgot them. Some were doing surprisingly well. I transplanted about 4-5 lettuce seedlings in a part of my garden that gets part sun/part shade. I put one seedling in a pot to see how well it does in a container compared to the dirt. We’ll see.

There’s no sproutage on any of my Chinese Houses or Chinese Lanterns. I grew Chinese Lanterns last year and they didn’t take this long to sprout. It’s the weirdest thing. I wonder what’s going on! It might be that it needs warmer temperatures to sprout and since I have my fan on the seedlings, its probably making it cooler and harder for them to sprout. I’ll give the fan a rest in the next couple of days to give them a chance. We’ll see.

I noticed that my garlic was getting thicker at the soil line. I dug done a little and saw a new clove. I hope they’ll do well considering they were in containers. I planted them in November and they saw it takes 9 months for them to form bulbs so I have 5 months to go. Here’s hoping.

I have my first flower of 2008. It was an African daisy from my wedding. There were 4-5 blooms. I’m going to wait until they get bigger before I cut them and put them in a vase on my dining room table. I also saw that there’s some new growth on my hydrangea plant too. I thought I had killed this this winter. I’m so glad I didn’t. There were also some flower buds on my geranium. I can’t wait for it to bloom and try collecting seeds from this one. It flowers a magnificent pink.

Garden Update 02-27-08

2008-02-27T17:48:00.000-08:00

Roma, Jelly Bean, Black Cherry and Brown Berry Tomato Seedlings at 23 days

(click on image for larger pic)

Gardeners Delight Tomato Seedling 23 days (click on image for larger pic)

Red/Gold Currant and Lady Bug Hybrid at 23 days (click on image for larger pic)

The weather here has been very nice with temperatures in the mid 60s and tomorrow, we’ll experience our first 70 degree temperature. I wish it could stay this way forever. I just checked my seedlings I started early this month and found some peat pellets bare with no seedlings. I quickly remedied that by adding the same seeds of the bare pellet’s brothers and sisters. I only had 1 eggplant seedling and I had originally planted 8 seeds so I added additional seeds to the bare pellets. I also started some Numex Big Jim peppers and some more patio tomato peppers today. I hope they’ll sprout and be ready by next month. Here’s hoping.

On Sunday, I started some more herb and flower seeds. I started some pink nicotianas I got from a round robin exchange. I love being apart of this group. It’s like your birthday every month. You get new gardening presents from a different person every month. This month, I got a nice package that had so many different varieties of seeds ranging from coleus to nicotiana and included in the package was some plant labels. I, too, send stuff to other people as well. It works out well. I send my left over seeds to someone who might use them. It works out really well. Anyway, forgive the side track. I also planted the following:

Stocks
Calendula (saved seeds)
Cosmos
Dill
Shoofly
Chinese Lanterns
Chinese Houses
Shirley Poppies

Coleus Seedlings

Today, I also set out my precious coleus seedlings to get them used to outside temps which is lovely! I hope they’ll be fine out there. I might cover them tonight but the meteorologist predicts temperatures tonight will be in the mid 40s so I think they’ll be fine tonight. On my lunch break, I planted my Bok choi, Swiss chard, and cabbage seedlings. I always water newly set seedlings with a combination of fish fertilizer and water so they get an added extra boost. I covered them with pots since it was the middle of the day and I didn’t want them to shrivel up and die. I’ll uncover them tomorrow morning so they can get a full day of sunshine. I can’t believe it’s almost Spring. Slowly, my garden will get filled with lovely veggies and flowers. I can’t wait! In a couple of days I'll be starting my squash, cucumber, sunflowers, and basil seeds. Yesterday, I started some peas and beans too. Is it spring yet? Eek...Happy gardening everyone!

Garden Update 02-22-08

2008-02-22T16:01:00.000-08:00

It's raining here in central California. Forecasts predict that it will rain all weekend long. They also predict strong winds. The last time it was windy, a lot of my pots fell over and dumped a lot of soil so this time, I'm going to be proactive and put all my pots along side my wall so they have some wind protection.

Boxwood Cuttings Rooted

My seedlings appear to be doing well. I have way too many seedlings for my shelves but they manage happily. I did check on my boxwood cuttings and they have done wonderfully. They've all rooted and some have tiny little growths on them. I'm so proud of them. I neglected them for a long time keeping the plastic bag over them for a couple of months. They are doing well. I hope by the beginning of spring, I'll be able to take them outside and pot them up. I'll probably give some away since I have so many. My coworkers won't mind if I leave plants on their desk. I just gave one of my coworkers a coleus plant I had. I have tons of coleus now that I have a ton of seeds. She loves it and I hope she won't kill them. As I was walking to work with my coleus in hand, I was calculating the cost for that little plant and I guestimate it to be around $.30-$.40 cents for it and how it would be a wonderful gift to give one. Oh the joys of gardening...I love it!

Garden Update 02-19-08 (Herb Seeds)

2008-02-18T13:23:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't posted in awhile but we've been away house sitting, dog sitting, and teenager sitting at my new aunt's (aunt by marriage) house. I apologize for my absence. I have dropped into my apartment to check on my garden periodically this past week and I just wanted to say that my herb seeds are doing well. I have germination on most of my herb seeds. Here's a few to show: We have thyme, oregano, and catmint seedlings.

Thyme seedling 8 days old (click on picture for larger image).

Oregano seedling (look real close) at 8 days

Catmint seedling at 8 days (click on picture for larger image)

Garden Update

2008-02-10T21:30:00.000-08:00

Broccoli-De Cicco Seedling I transplanted (click on image for larger picture)

Today, I was busily transplanting some of my early spring veggie seedlings outside. The past couple of days, I've been slowly transitioning the seedlings outside slowly by giving them some time outside in the morning and bringing them inside at night. The time eventually becomes longer and longer each day until I feel comfortable that they're ready to stay outside day and night. This prevents shock (i.e. too much heat and too much cold) to the tiny fragile seedlings. I typically acclimate them a week before I'm ready to plant. A tip to transplanting seedlings is to have a bucket of compost in tow when you're ready. I dig a hole, throw some compost in the hole and plant my seedlings deeper in the soil line. The compost gives the seedlings some extra nutrients and the deeper hole allows water to settle in where I want it to go (i.e. directly to the roots) instead of evenly watering all the soil. Seedlings I planted include cabbage-early golden acres, broccoli-de cicco, radish-cherry belle, lettuce-bibb, iceberg, black-seeded simpson, brussel sprouts, and swiss chard.

Flower Seeds I planted the other day (click on image for larger picture)

I also planted some more flower seeds today. Here's just a few that I planted:

Butterfly OrchidChinese Houses
Chinese Lanterns
Coleus
Echinacea
Hollyhock-burgandy
Hollyhock-majorette mix
Shoofly
Zinnia-giant
Zinnia-thumbellina
Morning glory-crimson rambler

Free Shelving Unit (click on image for larger picture)

Over the weekend, I also found a shelving unit that was being thrown away and I decided to take it and recycle it in my garden as a seedling/supply unit. It reminds me of something you find at Ikea. A very modern shelving unit. I would have used it in our apartment but the color of the shelves (a light brown) would not match our apartment style which is dark mahogany wood. I'm not sure why the owner decided to throw it away but once I saw it by the dumpster, I had to pull over and pick it up. My husband laughed that I pulled over to pick up something because I normally wouldn't do it. Ahh...he doesn't know my great frugal gardening sense.

Also, there I have some germinating on some of the herb seeds, more specifically the thyme, oregano, and catmint I planted on February 2nd. It only took them 7-8 days to germinate. I was super excited to see the thyme and oregano work since those were the two herbs I really wanted to try. I'm also planning on start some basil seeds as well. I have the typical sweet basil and thai basil but I'm also going to try some new basil seeds I got this year. I bought some lemon basil seeds from grocoseeds and also a variety of seeds from a trade. She gave me so many varieties of basil. Some varieties include: Magical Michael, Holy Basil, East Indian Basil, and Osmin Basil.

Garden Update 02-09-08

2008-02-09T10:34:00.000-08:00

Supersweet 100s (click on image for larger picture

Red/Gold Currant and Ladybug Tomato Seedlings (7 days)

Marglobe Tomato Seedling (7 days) (click on image for larger picture)

These are some of my tomato seeds, more specifically my supersweet, Red and Gold Currant and Lady Bug, marglobe, and tomatoes I planted a week ago have sprouted. A week is pretty accurate. Last year, it took my seeds 9 days to sprout. So, they are officially 2 days early! They're our little preemies. I can't wait to get my own home so I can garden in a bigger space. We currently have a backyard that is probably 10 feet by 10 feet to garden with. This is much bigger than my other apartment backyard which was half the size I have now.

Today, I plan on planting some butterfly orchids, zinnias-Giant Doubled Flower, hollyhock-majorette mix, chinese houses, shoofly, coleus, hollyhock-burgandy, maltese cross, echinacea, and Chinese lanterns in a 72-cell pack.

Pretty Coleus Seedling (click on image for larger picture)

On an ending note, I just wanted to show you guys my pretty coleus seedling. I potted it in one of my favor pots I gave away at my wedding. At the end of the wedding, there were a ton left so I took them home to garden with! Recylcing in action I guess...

Garden Update

2008-02-03T21:57:00.000-08:00

White Impatien Flower (Click on picture for larger image)

Red Impatien Flower (Click on picture for larger image)

Salmon Colored Impatien Flower (Click on picture for larger image)

I started some impatien seeds this winter for houseplants and they've started to bloom. Amazingly, they're three different colors: pink, red, and white. I just wanted to show everyone my first bloom of my impatiens. They're gorgeous. I'll eventually repot them into larger pots to allow them to grow a little bigger. I'll probably use terra cotta pots since I like the look of terra cotta.

Yesterday, I started some more seeds. I started some herb seeds (thyme broadleaf, rosemary, catnip, chives, oregano, and lemon balm) in these small ice cream pots you get at the grocery store. I also started some more swiss chard-bright lights in peat pellets. I was so excited when I got these as an exchange from my garden buddy, Mary Ellen. I've always wanted to try these and was going to get some at the store next time I was out. Luckily, I got my seed package in the mail before that! I also started my first flower seeds as well. I started some stocks 10 weeks, wonder eggs, hosta, and snapdragon (first ladies mix). I'm excited to see how the wonder eggs and hosta will do. I have a bit of shade in my garden and am hoping the hosta will do well there. Here's hoping...

Garden Update 02-03-08

2008-02-03T21:22:00.000-08:00

Package from Mary Ellen. Thanks Mary Ellen!!! (Click on picture for larger image)

The other day, I received a swap package from a fellow gardener named Mary Ellen. I'm part of a group called "Petal Pushers" which hosts its forum on Gardenweb. They host a monthly swap which consists of partners and you simply send them seeds and garden supplies. It's a nice surprise every month since everyone gives different seeds to their partners. It's like an anticipated present every month and you get the benefit of giving away your surplus/left over seeds to others who might be interested in them. I planted my eggplants yesterday. Last year, I didn't get any eggplants although I did get a lot of pretty velvety leaves and some flowers. It was partly my fault because I had to housesit during the hottest times of the summer and didn't have anyone to water my garden. After my house sitting days, I had to move apartments so everything had to go except for a select few plants. I hope I get tons of eggplants this year. I planted 8 plants so what are the chances I'll get one productive plant? I hope I hope...

Seedlings Transplanted (cabbage) (Click on picture for larger image)

I transplanted some of my seedlings into their own individual pots on the 29th. I think they were getting crowded in my seed trays. I transplanted some cabbage, broccoli, swiss chard, bok choy, and a lot of lettuces. They'll be ready to go out in 2 weeks. I plan on putting them in full sun since it's still cool outside and temps are moderate (around 60 degrees). I don't think they'll get sun burnt or anything. I'll just make sure to set them out in stages (i.e. slowly acclimate them to outside conditions).

Garden Update 02-01-08

2008-02-01T10:56:00.000-08:00

2007 Supersweet Tomatoes (Click on picture for larger image)

For the first day of February, I decided to start my tomato seeds and pepper seeds. I still have to get my ladybug and red/gold currant tomatoes started tonight though. I didn’t have enough time this morning before work to start them.

The list of tomatoes and peppers I started are as follows:

Brandywine (x4)
Brown Berry (x2)
Fireball (x2)
Gardeners Delight (x4)
Marglobe (x4)
Patio (x4)
Roma (x4)
Supersweet (x6)
Black Cherry (x2)
Jelly Bean (x4)

For Peppers, I started:

Hungarian Yellow Wax (x5)
Kung Pao Peppers (x6)
Long Thin Cayenne (x4)

I started some bell peppers and jalapenos last week to give them a jump start.

I started them a week early because of the date mainly due to my compulsive gardening tracking. It’s easy to calculate days to harvest when you start the first day of a month. Starting them a week early doesn’t hurt them a bit. I typically start them in February and slowly set them outside by the middle of March (the last frost date in my region) and a week won’t hurt any. I hope! I can’t believe it’s that time of year to start tomatoes! I was giddy this morning when I woke up and started preparing to plant seeds. I can see the abundance of cherry tomatoes and grilled peppers already! As Rachel Ray would say, “Yumm-o!”

This year, I want to start saving seeds from my heirloom tomatoes and peppers. I have a book called, “Seed Saving and Sowing” by Carole Turner which describes exactly when to harvest different vegetables. For example, she says to collect seeds from eggplants after they ripe on the plant and the same is true with peppers. I can’t wait to start applying her principles to my own gardening.

I still have my eggplants to start tonight when I get home from work. I plan on growing two varieties of eggplant. The first is my favorite heirloom called Black Beauty. The other is a white eggplant called Cloud 9. I grew these white jewels 2 years ago and saved some of the seeds. I hope they germinate well.

Cloud 9 Eggplants (2006) (Click on picture for larger image)

I might start some of my herb seeds today too. I have quite a few herbs I want to try from seed which include thyme (broadleaf), oregano, rosemary, and chives. I hope I can get a lot of chives this year. I want to grow them in a pot and keep the pot growing all year long. Here’s hoping. My favorite herb, basil, will have to wait until the middle of February because it grows so fast that by the time it’s ready to move outside, there’ll still be frost temperatures.

Office Plants Update 01-19-08

2008-01-19T16:15:00.000-08:00

Click on picture for larger image

I thought it would be fun to provide an overview of all the plants I have at work. At my work, we have L-shaped cubicles with a light source on one end of the cubicle. The size of the light is probably around 3 feet in length and it illuminates that whole side. I use that side for housing my plants and since I have two desks that are adjacent to one another so I have two lights to play with. I take most of my houseplants from my apartment to my office during the winter and take them back in spring when all my seedlings are outside and growing. I just don't have enough space on my grow shelves to accomodate all my plants that need light so fortunately, I have lights at work. It's an extension of my grow shelves.

Click on picture for larger image

Currently, I have 4 coleuses, 5 spider plants, 3 hydrangea cuttings, a Christmas cactus, 3 african violets, 1 Hawaiian Scheflerra, and finally 1 pothos. The coleus, african violets, hydrangeas, and Christmas cactus will come home with me in a couple of months but the rest permanently stay at work. The Hawaiian Schefflera and pothos are doing super well at work. The pothos was having some issues in the beginning like turning yellow and dropping leaves but it has adjusted well. I am currently rooting some pothos in soil so I can have a plant at home. I am also growing some pothos in a jar of water. It's doing well and has already produced 6-8 leaves!

Click on picture for larger image

I'm excited to see what color blooms will produce from my discounted Christmas cactus. I probably won't know for a couple of months but it'll be fun to know. I got another Christmas cactus at Walmart the other day. It was discounted 50% off to $3.44. It has pretty pink blooms. I currently have a red, white, and pink Christmas cactus. I hope this new one will be a pretty white one. Here's hoping.

Garden Update 01-17-08

2008-01-17T18:15:00.000-08:00

My celery seeds have finally sprouted. Most people said it was really hard for celery to germinate but I didn’t have any problems with it germinating. It took awhile, say around 12 days. Out of all the seeds I planted, I would say I had an 80% success rate with the seeds. I plan on pre-germinating eggplant-black beauty, various pepper seeds (Korean Hot, Hungarian yellow Wax, Jalapeno, California Wonder, Kung Pao and Long thin cayenne peppers), and more Swiss chard seeds since these are last years seeds I’d bet my best bet with pre-germinating since there’s a chance they might not germinate.

The way I pre-germinate my seeds is called the wet paper towel method. It’s as simple as that. All you need is a paper towel and a baggie.

Step 1: Get a paper towel and dampen it
Step 2: Lay seeds in one even layer on half the towel
Step 3: Cover the seeds with the other half of the towel to make a “seed package”
Step 4: Put the package into the baggie and close shut
Step 5: Place the baggie on something warm like the top of your fridge and check every couple of days until you see some growth. The seeds with growth are the good seeds and the seeds with no growth are the bad ones and should be thrown away. Plant the good seeds and presto-magic; you have germinated seeds, no more having empty cells in your trays to seeds that didn’t germinate!

Coleus from seed (approximately 79 days) (click on image for larger picture)

I just wanted to provide an update on the coleus I grew from seed. The seedlings are thriving into lush little plantlets. I love that they have different colors and that I don’t have to spend outrageous amounts of money for plants when I can just grow them from seed. I bought a packet of seeds from grocoseeds.com for 1,400 seeds for only $1.99 and I already have 20+ plants. I would typically spend around $3.00 for a six pack of coleus and I spent a fraction of that price if not less. If you did the math, I spent less than a penny for each seedling minus the cost of potting soil. I hope by the time spring comes around, I’ll be able to put them out in pots and as companion plants.

African Violet (click on image for larger picture)

I also wanted to show my African violets. They’ve been neglected since I’ve been busy with seeds and seedlings. They are doing well. I have one I bought last year in May that blooms a pretty white and purple flower. It just started blooming recently and it’s so pretty. It looks like a little pixie fairy came by and sprinkled it with glitter.

Garden Update 01-12-08

2008-01-12T14:34:00.000-08:00

Seedlings (click on image for larger picture)

The seeds I planted earlier this week which include three types of lettuces (bibb, iceberg, black seeded simpson), bok choi, swiss chard, brussel sprouts (de cicco variety), radish with have all sprouted with the exception of the celery (tall variety).

Impatien Seedlings (click on image for larger picture)

My impatien seedlings are doing well and growing tall. In a couple of weeks, I'll put them in a big pot so they can bloom for me. Impatiens are said to be great houseplants.

The other day when I was out running errands, I went to Lowes to get another storage bin and could not resist the temptation to go out to the garden center. I was surprised to what I saw there. It was wonderful, they had all their seed starting equipment (i.e. seed trays, soil, peat pellets, pots, and seeds) aligned neatly in the middle of the aisle. I then went outside to the actual garden area and there were so many blooming things which include primulas, geraniums, violas, cyclamens, and more. I happened across an aisle that had these shelves with all these distressed plants lined up and I could not resist taking a look. There was a sign on the shelf that said everything on the shelf was 75% off. I immediately got excited and found a Christmas cactus for a $1.00waiting to be picked up and given some tlc(the Lowes employees neglect these poor things). My new Christmas Cactus, which I call Fred, is sitting prettily on my desk at work under a fluorescent light that is on most of the day. I don't know what color the blooms are but maybe I can get him to bloom by spring and see! I bought his sister Christmas Cactus a couple of months ago at Walmart for a couple of bucks and she's a beauty. She blooms these glittery white flowers.

I then went to Walgreens to pick up some toiletry items and found in their ad that they were having a sale on their seeds 10 for $1.00 with coupon. These were the American Seed company variety which are cheap anyway but this was a deal I could not resist. The coupon limited a person to only 10 seeds. However, I have a contact at Walgreens who happens to be the manager and he allowed me to buy $5.00 worth of seeds. I have a variety of basil (sweet), sweet corn, California wonder bell peppers, daisies, sunflowers, zucchini, cucumber, morning glories, eggplant, squash, and more! If you're too late for this sale, they typically sell their seeds for only $.20. I would personally wait until they come out with another coupon for 10 for $1.00 seed.

I then went to Walmart and they too had a selection of racks of seeds from the Walmart brand and Burpee. There are some on the burpee rack I'm interested in (specifically the supersweet 100s that I tried last year and it produced tons of tomatoes). There were some herbs I was eyeing too like (thyme, lime basil, and fennel). I'm just so excited to see all the garden things out so soon. I couldn't wait til all the Christmas decor was moved out of the garden center and replaced with what is supposed to be there: gardening accoutrements. Walmart also had some 50% off sales on some of their houseplants. My husband pulled me away before I got a chance to pick one up but as I was being tugged away I saw that most of their pothos were on sale for $2.22, which originally went for $4.44. I might just have to take a little trip to Wally world in the near future! hehe. Well, that's all for now. Check back next week for more gardening updates!

Garden Update 12-31-07

2008-01-06T20:39:00.000-08:00

Broccoli De Cicco Seedling (6 days)

I started some broccoli de Cicco, Cabbage Early Golden Acre, and Italian Parsley seeds today. The broccoli seed is from my own crop. The funny story about this one is that I started it last fall and it survived to the spring. In the spring, it began becoming leggy and it flowered. I kept it for awhile I neglected it. My husband saw this and decided to become its savior and put it in the ground. The broccoli survived and bloomed beautifully. I let it stay where it was, although, I needed the spot for a pepper plant. It grew and grew then I saw some seed pods so I let them dry. I collected it and this is the story of my first collected vegetable seed! If it weren’t for my husband, I wouldn’t have had the great experience of getting my first collected veggie seed. I pre-germinated some of the seeds and it worked.

The cabbage is called early golden acres I bought from American Seeds and the Italian parsley was from a trade (my first box trade). Parsley takes a while to germinate so I hope it works and maybe I’ll be able to collect seeds in the spring for my own future crops. I wasn’t planning on growing cabbage but I was inspired by this video I found on you tube where a gardener grew these big heads of cabbage. The video is from a you tube user called, beutifullady . This is one of her many videos which she calls: how does your garden grow. My plan is to grow 4 cabbages, 4 broccolis, and two containers full of Italian parsley. I recycled these ice cream cups from the grocery store. They’re the ice cream that has orange sherbert and vanilla ice cream mixed together. I used a hot nail to punch holes in the bottom. I recommend doing this in a well-ventilated area to prevent the horrible fumes.

Yesterday, I made a list of seeds I want to try next year. It’s pretty hefty but I can’t help try new seeds! I think I have 8-10 tomato varieties I want to try. Eek. I’ll have plenty of leftovers to give to my friends and family. I’m excited about the New Year and its many gardening adventures.

Garden Update January 05-06, 2008

2008-01-05T13:44:00.000-08:00

Seed Starting (Early Spring Vegetables)(click image for larger view)

Seating Chart for the Seeds (click image for larger view)

Yesterday, I planted three varieties of lettuce: bib, black seeded simpson, and another variety I can't recall indoors. I think they'll be ready to set out in a couple of weeks. I want to try lettuce for the early spring months. I'm going to try container planting in my self-watering containers. I bought three self-watering containers last year for my tomatoes and zucchini and since I won't be able to plant those until the spring, I thought I could use them for lettuce and radishes. Another advantage of using containers is the ability to move the containers into and out of the sun.

On Saturday, I decided to start some cool weather vegetable seeds for early spring. I planted them in my new Planter's Pride 72-cell starting trays. I plan on growing the following:

8-Lettuce (Bibb)
8-Lettuce (Iceberg)
8-Lettuce (Black Seeded Simpson)
12-Bok Choi
8-Swiss Chard
4-Brussel Sprouts (Catskill)
16-Radish (Cherry Belle)
6-Celery (Utah Tall)

I'll be able to collect enough from this batch for daily salads in the spring and early spring. All I need is to buy store bought cucumbers and ranch dressing to finish off my salads!

The broccoli I started from seed on Monday sprouted on Wednesday. I was surprised at how fast they sprouted. My cabbage seeds sprouted yesterday and now they are with the broccoli seedlings nestled underneath my growlights. I'm still waiting on my parsley to sprout. I have them sitting on top of our fridge for warmth. From my past experience with parsley, it takes them awhile to germinate. Here's hoping.

Yesterday, I cleaned up my grow shelves for the upcoming adventures of starting my veggie and flower seeds for the spring. I have 2 new seed starting trays I got from my local OSH for $5.00 which include a tray, 72 compartment tray, and a humidity dome. One is for veggies and the other is for flowers. In addition to that, I also have a ton of peat pellets I'm going to use for my summer veggies (tomatoes, eggplant, pepper, cucumbers, and squash).

Garden Score

2008-01-01T16:53:00.000-08:00

My Loot

Today, I went to Lowes for the sole purpose to get some storage boxes for our Christmas decorations but my plant addiction got us some discounted forced bulb kits as well as the storage boxes. They were discounted 75% from $6.97 to $1.74! So, I got 4 hyacinth bulb kits and 2 crocus bulb kits. The crocus bulb vases are so tiny and adorable. I always have tons of crocus bulbs leftover from spring so I can reuse these vases. They're also great for forcing small bulbs too. I have grown crocuses crocuses this last spring and they're the most delicate, cute little flowers that bloom in early spring.

The hyacinth vases are just as cute. Since I bought 4 hyacinth kits, I'm going to force two of them and plant the other two outside in a pot. That way I'll have blooms in my garden in the spring. I've been wanting some bulb vases for awhile and I'm so glad I found some. I've been looking everywhere for these including thrift stores, antique stores, etc. and now I have some! Yippee.

It's pretty simple to do. All you need to do is fill the vases with water enough for the bottom of the bulbs to touch the water. Maintain this level of water and keep in a place that gets indirect sun. In 4-6 weeks, you'll have blooms. I'll keep everyone updated on the progress. A warning about forcing bulbs is that once the bulbs are forced, they are less likely to bloom again but bulbs come cheap today. They're only around $.50 a bulb.

Easy Way to Get Rid of Black Gnats On Your Houseplants

2007-12-28T21:52:00.000-08:00

Lately, since I've overwintered some of my plants which include coleus, hydrangeas, and geraniums, and also some of my African Violet leaves I'm trying to propagate, tangerine plants, Christmas Cactus, spider plants, etc. I've noticed a lot of black gnats around my plants. I've tried a lot of remedies to get rid of these things including cutting little yellow rectangles with petroleum jelly to trap these little suckers.

The only remedy that works with these pests is a dish of soapy water. All you need is a saucer (I got some at the dollar store in a pack of 4 for a $1.00), water and a couple drops of dish soap (I use lemon dish soap: it attracts these bugs). I add dish soap to the saucer and fill the saucer with a cup of water. I allow the soil in my houseplants to dry out to kill the baby fungus gnat eggs. I then put the saucer near the inflicted plants and the gnats eventually seek water and go to my "trap" saucers. The soap prevents them from flying away and they eventually drown. In a couple of days, you'll notice that there are dozens of gnats in the water! Success proven! I hope this helps anyone who are burdened with these pests.

Groco Seeds Order

2007-12-15T14:25:00.000-08:00

This is what I ordered from Grocoseeds The prices are very reasonable and you get so much for your buck.

flax, blue (perennial)

Chicory, blue beauty (pretty flowers and you can use the roots as a coffee substitute)

Chinese houses

Oregano

Shoo fly, nicandra

Poppy, oriental scarlet

Sunflower, maximilian

Sunflower, regular

Nicotiana

Chives

Maltese cross, lychnis chalcedonica

This week, I transplanted my coleus seedlings into individual containers. I got these little plastic containers from Wal-mart. I believe they are used for making "jello-shots" or rinsing with listerine. They came in a package of 50 for $1.50. That's a pretty good deal to me! I put holes in them with a heated nail. It only took a couple of minutes to make drainage holes. I can't wait to get my seeds in the mail. I hope they come this weekend. It would be a wonderful Christmas present. We'll see...

Next week, I'll start some broccoli and parsley seeds. I can't believe I'm already starting seeds. I would probably go stir-crazy if I didn't do something in the garden! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!!!

Garden Update 12-12-07

2007-12-13T08:54:00.000-08:00

I know it's been awhile but I have been super busy with Christmas shopping and decorating our place for our first Christmas. I still have been tending to my plants inside. My coleus seedlings are still doing well. I'll put them into individual peat pellets or little pots soon. By spring, I'll have tons of coleus to enjoy and share.

The ornamental pepper I got on clearance is starting to die. I purposely let it commit suicide since I just wanted it for its seeds. I took some seeds from it earlier this month and I germinated them and success!

In the next couple of weeks, I'll be planting my early spring crops: broccoli, parsley, and cabbage. I'm using the square foot gardening as a guide. It's a wonderful way to garden in a small space. I would recommend it to anyone. Well, that's it for this week. Next week, my order from grocoseeds and maybe valueseeds! We'll see...Happy gardening everyone!

Garden Update 11-17-07

2007-11-12T14:27:00.000-08:00

Last week, I forgot to mention that I planted some garlic and sweet peas for the spring. This is my first year planting garlic from real garlic stock from the gardening store. I went to my local Orchard Supply Hardware store and got 3 bulbs for $1.96. There was no tax since garlic is food. It takes about 9 months for a clove of garlic to mature and become a bulb. A garlic expert on the Martha Stewart Show compared growing garlic to a baby. It takes nine months for garlic to mature and 9 months for a baby to come out. It was an interesting analogy nonetheless. I potted them in a container since we might be moving by the time the bulbs are ready to pick. I expect some yummy garlic next summer.

Last year, I tried to grow garlic from the grocery store but they didn’t work. They would produce lots of shoots but once they died out, I could never find any bulbs. I believe there is a growth inhibitor in grocery store garlic that prevents them from growing. Urgh....well I hope I got it right this time around.

I also planted some sweet peas I got from Home Depot from a company called Stover seeds. They sell bulk packets of seeds. I got around 300 sweet peas and thousands of California Poppies for around $3.97 a piece. They also have vegetable seeds in bulk too. They're around $2.97 a piece. I plan to get some bok choi and other veggie seeds in the spring. I’ve only had one sweet pea bloom last year. It was mainly because I started them in the spring. My coworker who grows a plethora of sweet peas every year suggested that I plant my sweet peas right now for blooms in the spring. I listened to her and I hope next year we’ll have pretty sweet peas.

Currently, I am pre-germinating some seeds I collected this year. I like to test seeds before I put them up for trade just to make sure they work. This week, I’m germinating some coriander, broccoli-De Cicco, and two types of eggplants (purple and white). I hope they work. It just gives me more validation that what I’m doing-gardening wise-is right. When I was in the grocery store the other day, I saw a huge bag of coriander seeds on sale for $2.69. This was a very large bag. I’m going to get them and try germinating them this year.

I also picked up two taro roots when I was at the grocery store too. Taro root plants look similar to “Elephant Ears” or Alocasias. They were relatively cheap; $.50 a piece compared to $5.99 per root at the garden center. I placed them in a deep pot and placed them in the sun. I hope they root and produce cool little plants for me. I’m a little weary because it is winter and it’s probably not the best time to pot these up since they’re tropical plants. Well, I’ll try them anyway and protect them from frost or bring them in. If they don’t work, I’ll only have wasted $1.00 instead of $10-$12. That’s all for now!

Garden Update November 10, 2007

2007-11-10T10:09:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to provide an update on the various garden projects I'm currently in this winter.

The cuttings I took from the ivy have rooted. The boxwood cuttings will take a little longer to root. I haven't seen any growth on those.

Yesterday, I started some coriander (aka cilantro) seeds I got from the grocery store. I got a big canister for $1.50. We'll see if they work. If not, at least I have them for cooking. The coleus seeds I started have started to get some of it's true leaves. Once they do, I'll transplant them into individual cells. Hopefully, by the beginning of spring, I'll have a ton of coleus to give as gifts or plant in my garden.

I also started some more African Violet leaves from the AV I got from my husband last Valentine's Day also the AV from Walmart that blooms these variegated white and purple flowers, and the AV I got from the .99 cent store and also this white AV I got on clearance at Lowes. I started 3 leaves per plant. In a couple of months I'll get babies that are this size:

This week, I also transplanted my radish seedlings to the garden. I placed them in front of the peas and beans I started several weeks ago. They're just poking their little heads out this week. We haven't seen a frost yet. The meterologists expect a frost at the end of November. Lucky us.

Seed Collecting:

I collected some of my peppers for its seeds this week. I'll start some this spring and give out some as trades. They have tons of seeds in each pepper. I got this plant on clearance at Wal-mart two weeks ago. It was only $1.40 and had these gorgeous yellow peppers.

I also collected some daisy seeds from this huge daisy bush at my apartment complex. It had a ton of seedpods on it and the maintenance men probably didn't mind since I was picking the dead seed pods for them. No trimming for them! Hehe.

Well, that's all for me this week. Check back next week for more of my gardening ventures.

Coleus Seedlings and Cuttings

2007-11-02T16:32:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, I was at Lowes looking at all the pretty plants and I happened across a seed rack of fall vegetables. I stopped and perused the different types of lettuces, peas, beans, spinach, radishes, and lettuce seeds. As I was leaving, something caught my eye: a packet of coleus seeds. Two weeks ago, I had ordered some coleus seeds from groco.com and they hadn’t come in yet so, on an impulse, I bought it (since then, I’ve received them). On Friday, I potted these tiny little seeds in a leftover salsa container with holes punched in the bottom for drainage. I covered the container with plastic to keep the humidity high and placed them underneath my grow lights. Today, I noticed I had some growth! They are very minute and tiny but nonetheless some action!

Some advice I would suggest in planting coleus seeds is

Mix the seeds with sand and sprinkle the mixture lightly over dry potting soil (I
use regular potting soil rather than the seed starting mix b/c it’s a lot
cheaper).

Cover the seed/sand mixture with a light dusting of more potting soil

Sprinkle enough water to moisten the mix

Cover the container with plastic wrap (I use a rubber band to secure the plastic
wrap to the container) to maintain humidity

Once the seeds have germinated, slowly take off the plastic and

Coleus Seedlings (very tiny) For a bigger picture, click on the picture.

It took 7 days for the seeds to germinate so all in all, I believe it was quite successful. Now I patiently wait for it to grow bushy so I can take cuttings and propagate them and give them away as gifts!

Speaking of cuttings, I recently went around my work and got some cuttings and seeds. I work at a university and I know the facilities employees very well and they know me as the plant girl. I am always asking them for cuttings from wisteria vines and left over seed trays. The university is well known for its landscape and abundance of ponds (we have 6-8 ponds sprinkled across the campus). The plants vary from rose bushes (the president’s donor rose bushes that go for $200.00 a plant, needless to say I didn’t “sponsor” one) to geraniums, wisteria, ginkgo biloba trees, Japanese maples, pines, daylilies, agapanthus, etc. etc. etc.

Daylily Plant I collected seeds from...

So, about two weeks ago, I went on a break and noticed that the daylilies were producing a lot of seed. I asked the gardening department if I could collect these and they of course said go for it (they’re super nice). So I went around and collected a ton of daylily seeds. I probably have ½ a pound of daylily seeds from all around the campus. Anybody want some? Check out my trade list for trades. I also collected agapanthus seeds as well.

I also took some geranium cuttings (red and bright pink colors), semi- wood cuttings from different bushes and plants and some pine cones. I put the cuttings in a pot with a freezer-size zip lock bag over them. I put them under my grow lights and will let them stay there for a couple of months. They have good company with my ivy and boxwood cuttings. Well that’s all for now. Happy gardening everyone.

Plants on Sale!

2007-10-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

I was out running errands today and I found some stellar garden steals. I got a Mexican Heather for a $1.00 at Lowes. I also found some coleus’ on sale at Walmart for only 2.00. The plants were huge, probably around 2 feet tall. I got a pretty chartreuse green one, a bright purple/green one, and a dark purple one. I’m going to set them out on my patio and collect cuttings from it to propagate and grow them in the spring. I suspect that Walmart is trying to clear all their summer annuals for more of the fall perennials and annuals. Lucky me!

I also found a large Christmas cactus with white flowers. There were three plants in the pot and I’m contemplating separating them into individual pots after they bloom. I’ll, of course, propagate these during the winter months for fun, but I’ll wait until after it blooms to do that. I also got an ornamental pepper plant on sale too. It was I think $1.40 and it had the cutest little yellow peppers on them. I might just let one of them mature to collect the seeds and see if I can start them under my lights.

I also got some coleus seeds at Lowes to see if I can start some this winter. I’ll use them as houseplants to brighten up our little place.

I got my seeds that I ordered from Groco Seeds. They are the best place to get seeds that are at a reasonable price. This time I ordered some celery seeds, lamb’s ear, lemon balm, coleus, and lemon basil. I’ve ordered from them before and the quantity you get for the price is great! They come in plastic bags so you can see how many seeds you have. Groco actually tells you how many seeds you’ll get and they definitely give you that number plus more! I can’t say enough nice things about them!

This morning, I was busy cleaning up my new garden. We moved into a one bedroom apartment with a decent size backyard when we got married but the only problem is: it is full of weeds! It has a ton of grass weeds all over the place. It was too much to hand pick the weeds so I tilled the ground and started throwing clumps of grass into the corner of the backyard. I’ll use that side as my compost pile. I want to plant some peas, beans and radishes before it gets too cold here. Those are frost-tolerant veggies so they’ll be fine with some cover. The last frost is expected to be in the middle of November but it’s been so warm I wouldn’t be surprised to see it come at the end of November or beginning of December.

Plant Shopping Spree...Yippee!

2007-10-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

These are the grape hyacinth bulbs I'm forcing. I've never tried forcing before so I thought I'd give it a try. Most of the websites I've looked at say it is pretty simple. I got the glass jars at a dollar store (2 for a dollar) and also the pebbles. I placed the pebbles in the bottom and poured tap water until it reached the top of the pebbles. I put the bulbs on top of the rocks and waited. This picture is at 6 days and it looks great. After it gets a little bigger, I'll put them under my grow lights until they bloom. Wish me luck!

Anywho, to make-up for lost time, I went on a shopping spree and got some more houseplants! It all began with my wish to do two things: 1. Get more coleus to grow as a houseplant and 2. Get a plant for my living room. First, I went to Osh to find another houseplant that would complement and balance my spider plant that I have next to my tv. To no avail, there was none that fit the bill. I then went to Lowes and found that they were putting most of their houseplants on clearance to clear up room in the store for all the Christmas decorations. So, I picked up an African Violet with white flowers for only $1.00, some potting soil, compost, and two hanging baskets.

I then went to Target and I found some 6-packs of coleus so I bought two of those. I got the wizard mix pack. I potted several of them in a hanging basket and they look gorgeous! (click on the image for a larger pic)

I then went to Wal-mart and found a plant that was perfect for my living room: a dark green pepperoma, but as I was leaving the garden center, a big pot of vincas (aka periwinkle) caught my eye and it was on clearance for $4.00 so I, of course, bought it along with the pepperoma! All in all, I had a great day of plant shopping. The first is the pepperoma and the second is the vincas.

Pepperoma Plant

Vincas

Ivy and Boxwood Cutting Experiment

2007-10-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

Since I have more time on my hands, I've been hopelessly devoted to cleaning up my garden and adding new plants to our apartment. This includes propagating some plants I've been wanting to try like ivy and boxwood. My apartment complex has the best landscaping. We have geraniums flourishing at every parking entrance, tulips and bearded irises sprinkled across the apartments, hydrangeas popping up everywhere, rose bushes, ivy, boxwoods, and even an Olive tree which is oddly placed over the garbage place. The gardeners don't mind if we take cuttings from the plants since it kind of helps them out with trimming! I've actually gotten a lot of nursery pots and seedling trays from them too. After they plant the plants in the ground, they have no use for them so I asked them if I could have them and they are more than happy to give it to me! Plus they know who I am since I'm the only one with 9 feet tomatoes peaking over the fence and a very busy garden in the back.

The other day, I decided to try to root some boxwood and ivy cuttings. i think the boxwoods will take a bit longer since they were all semi-hardwood cuttings that I took. All the websites suggested that it would take 5-6 months for them to root. I'll just wait and see. For the boxwoods, I basically dipped them in water and them in rooting hormone (I use "rootone") and stuck them in some potting soil. I covered them with a plastic bag to retain constant moisture content for the cuttings and now I wait patiently!

For the ivy, I basically went out and cut some very long vines from the bushes we have in front of my apartment. The stems were fairly thick and some of them actually had started producing little roots so that's always a good sign when you want to propagate something. I cut 4 inch pieces below the leaf nodes and stuck them in the soil. This time around, I decided to try two different methods: rooting in water and rooting in soil. The majority of the cuttings went into the potting soil and covered with plastic but I took a handful of them and put them in a jar of water. Some websites I've read say to change the water every 2 days. I'll stick to that and see how long it takes. Here's hoping we get a lot of ivy plants to give away!

On another note, I received a couple of garden catalogs the other day and I have been drooling over the different types of veggies and plants out there. I recently got two kalanchoes and an african violet from the 99 cent store the other day so hopefully the kalanchoes will bloom and last for awhile. I'll try to propagate them but we'll see. They were only 99 cents so it might be worth it to just go get some more.

The african violet I got needs some tlc but the flowers are these little bright pink flowers that I love. I'll try and propagate a leaf from it to ensure I have more of those to come. I am absolutely in love with african violets. They are so easy to care for and they bloom for most of the year. I've propagated several leaves from my african violets and they are doing really well. To propagate some of your own, click on this link for directions.

I'll keep my ivy and boxwood cutting experimented updated in the next couple of months. I'll of course post pictures of the progress...Wish me luck.

Been So Busy...

2007-10-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

I'm back from a 2-3 month hiatus.

I recently got married in September and we've been super busy setting up our little place so I haven't had time to post.

To catch up, I moved from my little studio apartment with a wonderful garden to a one-bedroom apartment with a big space for a garden but no time for gardening right now since it's only 1 month away from frost. I think I'm still going to give it a good try though and try some onions and radishes.

The wedding and honeymoon was wonderful! I'll post pics when I get them off my camera.

Gardening right now consists of caring for my overabundance of houseplants which include coleus, african violets, spider plant babies, aloe, hydrangeas, palms and tangerines. I can't wait to start getting garden catalogs and plan for the next year! I'm itching to start seeds and grow yummy vegetables. I might try starting some peppers inside just for the heck of it. The weather isn't so bad, it's around the mid 70's. Wish me luck!

My Houseplants

2007-07-03T19:36:00.001-07:00

Instead of writing a post about my outside garden, I thought I would post my pics of my small but growing number of houseplants. Like many beginning gardeners, I started my interest in gardening with houseplants. I remember seeing something online about growing houseplants and I kept reading and researching what type of houseplants were best for beginners. I settled for the elusive yet hardy jade plant. However, the jade plant did not survive a season. I knew jade plants were desert plants so when summer came around, I exposed the plant to full 100 degree sun and it subsequently went into shock and died. In memory of my beloved jade plant, I dedicate this post to you...my first ever houseplant!

Here are my indoor plants: click on the pictures for a close up.

African-violet

African-violet babies. These are so simple to root. For directions, click here

Tangerine seedlings

Spider Plant. It's currently rooting 5-6 baby spider plants. I'll root them and grow them to be the size of the pic below and give them away to friends and family. Want one?

Spider plant baby

End of the Month Stuff

2007-06-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's the end of June! All my annuals are still doing well. The annual flowers I planted from seed (stocks, hollyhocks, geraniums, calendula, poppies, etc.) are still up and thriving. I thought I was going to lose these by now but lo and behold, they're still going strong and flowering. I hope my flowers last until September. I'm using some (i.e. geraniums and petunia plants) as decor in my wedding. If not, I can always go buy some plants at the local garden center. In September, there are chrysanthemums and pr

My zucchini or maybe squash plant that I put in the ground is finally growing bigger. For awhile, it was doing nothing! Literally, doing nothing, nada, zero, zilch! Now, it's flowering male flowers and soon I hope female flowers. Everything is doing well. No issues with the garden.

However, I am having some issues with my neighbor upstairs. I have a new neighbor and he's a smoker! Urgh. It's not the smoking that bothers me, it's the ashes. He'll smoke on his balcony and his ashes will fall down on my patio and scorch the plants it hits. I don't know how to approach him to tell him to quit doing that or maybe strategically place an ash tray on his front door as a gesture.

Smoking is not just a bad habit but it is also endangers my plants. They get burned terribly from the ashes. How would he feel if I just started sprinkling ashes on his head! I don't know what to do with this one! My other neighbor was the best. She was a college student so she had to go to school during the day and work at night so I hardly ever had a problem with her. Plus, she was a light walker and so it didn't bother me much but this one is a doozie. He sounds like he's a heavy kangaroo bouncing around! Urgh...I'm so glad I'll be moving out at the end of this month. Hopefully, I'll have nicer, quieter neighbors. Only four more weeks to go...

Garden Pics

2007-06-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of my garden adventures. This year has definitely been more prosperous than last year (my first year gardening). I'm still learning so hopefully with a couple more years under my belt, I'll know what I'm talking about when I speak to other gardeners! Enjoy.

My concrete garden with pots of various flowers and vegetables.

Coleus

Jalapeno Pepper

Kung Pao Pepper

Allium flower

Flower bowl

Garden Update 06-14-07

2007-06-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

My little cucumber!

I have a growing little cucumber on my hands. Lately, with the hot weather I’ve been getting more female flowers on my cucumbers than male flowers. Oddly, there are no male flowers for my female flowers to mate with. I’ve been hunting down my other cucumber plants for male flowers and I’ve successfully pollinated one cucumber. The other female flowers (the ones that look like a miniature cucumber with a flower), I have not been so successful. They just shrivel up and die it seems. The cucumber is so tiny and cute and growing gradually everyday. I can’t wait for cucumbers to come. I have so many plans for them. I love them in salads, raw, with ranch dressing and most of all, I love it with a special Vietnamese dish called “Bun Thit Nuong” which is an Asian barbecued meat. I put the meat on top of rice which is covered with peanuts and cucumbers on the side. I also want to try a cucumber salad and a cucumber sandwich on pumpernickel bread and mayonnaise. My mouth is watering thinking about all the possibilities for cucumbers!

I officially have a flowering Shirley red poppy. I bought the seeds from Groco Seeds and Nursery and I started them in peat pellets in February and I’ve heard they’re hard to transplant but I thought if I kept them in peat pellets of their own, they should be fine. They sprouted pretty quickly and grew like weeds! I was so proud of them. I planted them in a shady spot that gets morning sun and they did well there. It took them a couple of months (approximately 3 months) for them to form buds and a week after I noticed buds, they were blooming. Poppy flowers are delicate flowers and are about 3 inches in diameter. They look so fragile and the petals are paper thin. I hope they get pollinated so I can keep the seeds for next year. Although, I do have a ton of seeds still so I should be fine with poppy seeds. Like I said, I have a ton of seeds, so if anyone wants to trade, please look at my trade list and leave a comment if you’re interested.

In the garden, I’ve been able to pick 6-8 supersweet 100 tomatoes daily. My fiancee loves these. He can eat a bowl of them for a snack. I like the fact that I grew them and I know what went into developing these yummy little red poppers. Plus, it’s a healthy snack!

This morning, I fertilized the vegetable and flower garden with seaweed emulsion. I also pollinated the female squashes. Hopefully, I was successful with pollinating two female squashes. We’ll be up to our ears with squash by the end of the summer! Luckily, I have some of my vegetables and most of my flowers in pots because I’m moving to a new apartment in August. The plants I have in the ground will be taken down in August . I’m sacrificing my strawberry plants and leaving them there because I know they hate being moved. Hopefully the new person moving into my apartment will take care of them and be rewarded with strawberries in the beginning of next spring. I’ll miss my garden. We put a lot of hard work into it including amending the soil, adding soil additives, digging and pulling up weeds, etc. I hope the next occupant is a gardener because the backyard is in prime condition for growing!

Tonight, I’m going to cook the squash I picked a couple of days ago. I’m thinking about sauteing it in olive oil with onions and garlic (both from my garden). It’ll be a healthy side dish to chicken and a salad with my cherry tomatoes or what’s left after my fiancee gets to them. It’ll be dinner from the garden tonight! Everything except for the chicken and olive oil are from my little garden.

Hot...Hot...Hot!!!

2007-06-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

This week, we're expecting temperatures in the high 90's and low 100's. Eek! It wasn't too long ago that I was complaining about the weather being abnormal. In fact, it was just last week that I was complaining about the weather. I'm kind of wishing temps were still abnormal. My hot-weather veggies are happily basking in the change of temperatures though and if they're happy, I'm happy. I hope my peppers eventually start growing. Right now, they're only 5" tall and I expected them to be a little taller. Last year at this time, my bell peppers were already a foot tall. Anywho, the odd weather is probably the answer to the slow growth.

On Sunday, I crushed some eggshells and sprinkled them around my tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers. Eggshells provide the plants with extra calcium and prevents blossom-end rot on tomatoes. The eggshells are also a barrier for slugs and snails since the crushed eggshells are so sharp, they cut the slug's and snail's underbelly and they eventually die (too graphic uhh).

Other than watering my garden on a daily basis, I've been letting things grow on their own pace. I've been fertilizing every two weeks with seaweed emulsion but that's about it. Today, I picked some supersweet tomatoes for a salad I'll be having later tonight. Yumm-o. I can't wait until my romas are ripe so I can make fresh salsa!!!

Garden Update

2007-06-08T14:37:00.000-07:00

The weather has been oddly unfamiliar for June. Typically, June entails mid 90 degree weather with dry hot days. However, lately it feels like spring weather with temps in the upper 70s and low 80s. I actually needed a sweater last week! It was really weird. The meteorologist says temps will gradually rise to normalcy this weekend and get into the 90s, like we're all used to.

Although the weather has been kind of weird, my plants don't seem affected. In fact, today I have red cherry tomatoes! I only have two but nonetheless I still have two! I was going to let them ripen a little further before i try them though. This year, I'm trying to grow without any chemicals or artificial fertilizers like miracle gro and it seems like everything is growing well. I am using an organic fertilizer I picked up from a gardening store though. It's seaweed fertilizer and my plants seem to love it. Last year, I used tomato fertilizer from miracle gro and my tomatoes weren't that great so this year I'm going to try things differently.

Nasturtiums

2007-06-06T15:38:00.001-07:00

Nasturtium Flower

I was walking in my garden this morning perusing all the lovely tomato blossoms, cucumber seedlings, and little tiny buds on my pepper plants when something caught my eye: a brilliant orange nasturtium flower! I've never grown nasturtiums before and I hear they're edible but I have yet to try them out. They are relatively easy to grow since you just plop them in the ground and water occasionally. The leaves make this plant distinct.

For pictures of my nasturtiums from conception to now click here.

Flower arrangement

2007-05-30T17:38:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to show yal a pretty flower arrangement I made with the flowers I grew! It's an assortment of zinnia thumbelinas, purple stocks, black-eyed susans, and geraniums.

Garden Update

2007-05-30T17:18:00.001-07:00

A garden update: 05-23-07

Everything in this picture is so green. If I had taken a picture of the backside of the garden, you’d see purple and pink petunias, pinkish white and red geraniums, purple hydrangeas, yellow calendulas and pink impatiens. This part of my garden is mainly for vegetables and herbs. On the right hand corner, I have an abundance of tomatoes ranging from roma, marglobe, supersweets, and large chery red tomatoes. I also have Straight 8 and Marketmore cucumbers, peppers (kung pao peppers, jalapeno, California Wonders, Peruvian peppers), peas, Sequoia strawberries, Black Beauty Eggplant, garlic, pearl onions, green onions, catmint, basil, chamomile, and so much more I can't remember.

I also have a squash (early prolific variety) in a self-watering pot that is so huge. The leaves are the size of both my hands. I already have two fruits on them. Due to a lack of pollinators (bees, insects, etc), I’ve had to hand pollinate the flowers. This is a relatively simple process and only requires two things: your hands. The squash flower does not contain both female and male parts but instead the plant produces two types of flowers: female flower, which looks like a flower attached to a mini squash and a male flower that looks like an ordinary flower. You simply remove the male flower from the plant, peel away the petals which will reveal a yellow-like q-tip and then you proceed to dab the female flowers with the male flower q-tip. That’s all there is to it! Simple! Here’s a picture of my result of hand pollinating.

And with any gardening endeavor, any gardener can tell you that there are bugs to deal with. Right now, I'm battling the dreaded white flies. I've been battling them with some insecticidal soap but I think my petunias are doing a fine job of killing them. The white flies seem to enjoy my petunia plants a lot. The thing with petunias is that they have tiny, sticky hairs on their stems which acts like a sticky traps and the white flies don't have a chance when they land on my petunias because they're essentially stuck and die as a result! I knew my love of petunias would pay off eventually!

My flowers are doing well in this heat too. We've been having 90 degree temps and the shade loving plants don't even mind. My impatiens are still blooming and the other flowers are forming buds. The avocado plant I planted a couple of months ago has doubled in size. Well, that's all folks for now...

Pleasant Surprise

2007-05-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

Flower Basket

On Saturday, I treated my student assistants to lunch that consisted of In-N-Out burgers and fries and Baskin Robbins ice cream because it was the last Saturday of the semester. My SAs are the best and we have so much fun on Saturdays. And, when I came into work this morning, my students, who know about my gardening hobby, brought in a flower basket (consists of daisies, carnations, stocks, and pretty fern leaves) for me. They also gave me a card with kind words. Whoever says being nice does not pay off. This is an example of it paying off. Aren't they so sweet?

Update on African Violet Suckers

2007-05-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

African Violet Sucker at 107 days.

In February, I had written a post about African Violet suckers and I thought it was time to update yal on the progress.

The before picture shows the tiny suckers not looking like much. I must admit, I was not hopeful to see these little things survive but this experiment is just a testament to show that anything is worth trying. They were very easy to root. I mean simply easy.

Follow these steps to root African Violet suckers:

What you'll need:
-Small pot
-Moist potting soil or seed starting mix
-African Violet suckers
-A large zipper bag
-1 Straw

1. Gently pry the suckers off the mother plant. You can use anything from a pencil eraser, popsicle stick, or an exacto knife (that's what I used). If you don't know what a sucker looks like, click here for a picture.

2. Put the moistened soil in a small pot. Insert the sucker into the dirt. Make sure there's ample contact between the base of the sucker and the dirt.

3. Put the pot inside the bag and if you need to, insert the straw in the dirt to prevent the bag from resting on top of the suckers. This is important since if the bag touches the suckers, the condensation from the bag will cause the suckers to rot. Put the pot under some bright lights and...

4. The hardest part of this process is: patience. It'll take a couple of weeks for it to take root and a couple more to show signs of leaf growth.

Results:

At two months and a couple of days, here's what the suckers should look like. At this time, you can take the bag off and keep them underneath some strong, indirect light.

After several more months, they should like like a new plant. The picture is of 75 days.

Lavendar African Violet

2007-05-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

Newest Addition: Lavender African Violet

When I was out running errands and buying stuff for our upcoming camping trip, I couldn't resist picking up this beauty. I love the variegation of the flowers. This one compliments my other African Violet well.

My garden has exploded and soon, it'll take over every inch of dirt I have in my small garden . The squash and zucchini I planted are already blooming. The one I have in a self-watering container has won hands down. It's the largest of all the ones I planted this spring. I think it's due to it's full-sun exposure during the day. Compared to the one I put in the dirt, it looks gigantic.

The one I put in the dirt hasn't grown much. It's just sitting there and not doing much of anything. Oh well, you win some and you lose some.

Petunias Flowering

2007-05-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

It seems like everything is blooming and fruiting already. Last year, nothing happened until July. I planted petunias at the same time this year and they're already blooming. I hope they last and continue to bloom until September. I wanted to use them for my wedding in September.

The tomatoes are flowering and fruiting already. I hope to have some ripe tomatoes by July! The flowers I planted in the ground are also flowering too! Spring is definitely here. The temperatures here have been in the mid 80s and it's just perfect for my plants.

Yesterday, I bought another African Violet at Walmart. The flowers are light purple with white stripes. I'm putting it under my grow light. The African Violet I got in February looked so scraggly when I got it. I put it under my grow lights, it started growing like crazy and blooming constantly. I hope my new AV will play good with my other AVs.

April Showers Bring...May Showers?!? What...

2007-05-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

Tangerine seedlings from some store-bought tangerines (at 30, 52, 70 days respectively)

The beginning of May has seen days of hot sun, wind, clouds AND rain. The rain is like an unwanted visitor. It shows up whenever it wants! But, the weirdest thing is the heat. We had two days where it felt like summer, the temps were in the mid 90s which is odd for the beginning of May. My garden, on the other hand, appears not to notice the weird weather fluctuations we’ve been experiencing. The tomatoes are growing like crazy. I have a Super sweet tomato in a white five gallon bucket and it’s about 4 feet tall and blooming. Once it reaches 6 feet, I think I’ll trim the top to keep it from growing more. Strangely, I have another super sweet tomato in a 3 gallon bucket and it’s only 3 feet tall. My advice: the bigger the container the better.

My stocks are blooming and the snap dragons have bloom clusters but no blooms yet. The petunias are blooming steadily. Every other day, I have to dead head the flowers to encourage more flowers or else, they’ll go to seed and die, which is what I don’t want.

I finally cleaned off my garden bench that was inundated with seedlings. I planted four additional tomato plants in the ground (jelly bean, tiny tim, cherry, and an unknown variety). So as of today, I have 11 tomato plants in the ground! I’ll have tons of tomatoes by summer. I have super sweets, romas, cherry, patio, tiny tim, and jelly bean. I also planted some more jalapeno and bell pepper seedlings into the ground too. Instead of committing plant genocide, I decided to give away a lot of seedlings to the other people in my complex. I took a box of seedlings and put them in the laundry room with a “Free” sign and by the end of the day, not a speck of dirt was found.

Nice Present

2007-04-27T15:36:00.001-07:00

Hydrangea Present from my fiancee

I am a lucky gal. Last night, my fiancee surprised me with a pot of purple hydrangeas. Isn't he the best! He was at the store and thought I would like them. Awww. These aren't the florist hydrangeas. They're the ones you find at the nursery so they're a hardy variety.

Of lately, I've been marveled with the growth in my garden. It seems like my tomatoes have doubled in size and have been flowering. The supersweet 100s are flowering like crazy. My patio hybrid has started to get a thick stem and have flowered large flowers. I'll let that produce to see how big they fruit. They're suppose to be great container tomato plants and supposed to look like this. I've been pinching back some of the flowers on my other tomato plants (Roma, Marglobe, & Supersweets)to encourage top and side growth and to ensure a bigger crop in the summer.

My cucumbers, on the other hand, aren't doing too well. Some of the one's I planted on the side of my fence have shriveled up and died. Luckily, I have extra transplants but nonetheless it makes me sad :( The cucumbers on the other side of the fence are doing much better producing new leaves. Ergh...nature is so unpredictable.

A couple of days ago, I was able to harvest a handful of strawberries for dessert. A light dusting of sugar is all is needed for a good snack. The ones in the ground are doing much better than the ones in the hanging basket.

I soaked some sweet pea seeds last night. I'll pot them up tomorrow morning in a 1-gallon container and see if I can grow pretty sweet pea blooms. Last year, I only got one silly sweet pea flower (boo). My coworker told me that sweet peas reseed themselves at the end of the season. She said the peas, after they mature, will twist and twist until they pop and reappear next year. We'll see if this theory pans out.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try and clean up and pot up the seedlings I have on my gardening table. I was an overachiever this season with my endeavors at seed starting. I have way too many pepper and tomato seeds.

Let's move on to my flowers:

My calendulas, in the past couple of months were blooming like crazy but recently have been puttering out. I'll let them go to seed and start new ones for the summer. They have given me a lot of flowers for the various flower arrangements I have in my home. They are very easy to grow and I highly recommend them.

The hollyhocks, asters, more calendulas, zinnias, poppies are steadily growing next to my fence. They don't like a lot of sun so I've placed pots next to them to shield them from the hot sun.

The geraniums are producing flowers like crazy. I love geraniums. They were the first plant I have successfully propagated from a stem cutting. They're easy to produce from a thick branch. I hope they can last til my wedding. I would love to showcase them in September

The petunias are gradually getting their footing and blooming.

The stocks and snapdragons are slowly blooming. Anyday now, I'll have a blooming garden!

2007-04-27T15:36:00.000-07:00

Nice Potting Soil

2007-04-24T12:50:00.000-07:00

Stocks Dwarf 10 Weeks

I finally found a really good potting soil for a decent price. At Orchard Supply Hardware, they are selling their own potting soil for $3.99 for 25 quarts. When buying soil, especially potting soil, you should take a peak of what it is before buying it. Luckily, some other fellow gardeners took that hint and had poked a hole in one of the potting soil bags. The soil was magnificent. It was light and airy and it looks like there were some perlite in it too. If you can't make your own potting soil (equal parts of peat moss or alternative to peat moss, perlite and vermiculite), I would definitely recommend this variety. The soil bags that are opened are normally discounted at the end of the season, so watch out for those too! You'll get a great deal on those.

This morning, I put some petunias and stocks into a green container I had bought at the $.99 store. They look so pretty together and they had enough room! When the stocks die in the summer, I'll replace it with some other flowers. I'm thinking "Chinese Lanterns". I absolutely fell in love with Chinese Lanterns when I was following the grow along post on chinese lanterns on ygg

I also noticed that I had some squares that weren't being used. I think I'll put edamame or soy beans in one of the squares but for the other one, I'm not sure...maybe some garden beans or green beans. I also want to add some more flowers to my vegetable beds. Right now, I have some marigolds, nasturtiums, and cosmos.

I'm also going to start some more geranium cuttings. I want to see if I can get them big enough and to get them to bloom before my wedding in September. I want tons of plants and flowers in the reception area. It's going to be a garden themed wedding so the more plants, the better!

April is Gardening Month

2007-04-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

My avocado sprout

The above picture is of my avocado sprout. It took it awhile but here it is!!!

I've been preparing for the rain these past couple of days. I transplanted my eggplant seedlings into a pot I had and I also put one in the ground. I made sure that I didn't put it in the same spot as I did last year b/c diseases can be transferred year to year. It's always a good idea to move crops around every 3 years to ensure no transfers of diseases or fungi.

I put my nasturtium into the same square I have my Marglobe tomato to deter aphids and other bugs. This is my first year growing nasturtium, and probably most of the other seedlings I have, and they are so pretty. They're pretty fast growers and bloom early in the season. Nasturtiums are also edible, although I haven't eaten one myself. The flowers are gourgeous!

This year, I'm attempting to companion plant to deter bugs and pests and also to enhance flavor. I have onions next to my tomatoes. As mentioned above, nasturtiums next to my tomatoes, marigolds next to the tomatoes also, basil (Thai and Italian) with tomatoes, and so much more I can't think of at the moment.

I also moved my zucchini outside into the ground and in a large pot. I'm experimenting with containers this year b/c I might be moving to a second floor apartment where there is no dirt to get "diiirty" but instead a big balcony. This year, I'm growing tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, squash, strawberries, and eggplant in containers. I hope they do well this season. I just went outside and it was very warm so my seedlings will be super happy!

Well, I'm off to Orchard Supply Hardware to get some potting soil and some plant tags and maybe other items that I see... They're having a special this weekend where they pay for the sales tax. They're celebrating the end of "tax season". Good for me!!!

Petunia Growing Tips

2007-04-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

I potted my petunia seedlings into individual pots of their own. Two of them were already blooming! Some people hate petunias because they are annuals and you have to buy seeds every year but I absolutely love them and if you can make the petunias produce seeds, you won't have to fork out money to get new seeds every year. Petunias have a soft spot in my heart. They were the first flowers I've ever grown from seed. Mind you, these grow very slowly from seed. It takes probably a month before they are ready to transplant, but when they get full sun and warmth they really take off. I'll pinch the flowers when they fade. Petunias typically bloom twice in a season and if you pinch them, you'll get more flowers.

Last year, I actually collected petunia seeds from my flowers. Here's how to collect the seeds:

1. After the second bloom appears, take a paint brush and hand pollinate the flowers.

2. In a couple of weeks, you'll have a large seed pod. The seed pods will burst if you're not watching so I put a tulle bag underneath the pods to capture all the tiny seeds. The seeds are tiny like specks of pepper so store them carefully.

The picture above shows my petunias early in the season last year. With some pinching, they are blooming like crazy. The other pictures are of a petunia seed pod and the subsequent seeds that followed.

Beginning of Spring!

2007-04-10T15:56:00.000-07:00

I’ve been busily transplanting seedlings in the ground since the weather has been so nice. I transplanted the cucumbers (Marketmore variety) in the ground. I transplanted my peppers in the ground too. Peppers, eggplant, and especially tomatoes need warmth from the beginning of their life cycle. It took my pepper seeds 10 days to sprout but once I put them in the sun, they thrived and grew exponentially. We've been getting steady temps of 70's and above so I thought it would be okay to put the peppers in the ground. Just make sure you cover them with some cloth or a cloche (I use an old washed out 1-gallon milk jugs with the bottoms cut off) if you're expecting a cold spell.

I have been pulling the cold-weather veggies out of the ground and enjoying them in dishes or salads. I made my first ever Swiss chard dish that included garlic, oil, butter, lemon juice, and onion. It was good but I think I put too much lemon juice and it was a little sour. I was amazed at how much it shrunk. No wonder it's a close relative to spinach. I've been having a salad daily since my lettuce plants are growing so well. The only thing I've added are some store-bought cucumbers and salad dressing. Hopefully, during the summer, I'll have some home-grown cucumbers to add to my salad.

I've also been unloading the extra tomato and jalapeno seedlings to coworkers and family. My backyard garden looks so green with all the healthy seedlings but I definitely don't have enough space for them all so they've slowly found homes elsewhere. A perk with this is that I get the extra fruits from the people who are growing my seeds. In other words, I'm enjoying the "fruits of their labor"!

Cucumbers and Squash are Sprouting

2007-04-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

Goldenbush Zucchini Seedling (10 days)

The cucumbers I planted last Sunday are finally sprouting. It took them around a week to pop their cute little heads out of the soil. This spring, I am going to try my hand at Square Foot Gardening and am going to vertically train the cucumbers up along my fence. I love cucumbers so I'm growing a lot to ensure ample production (12 seeds). I'm also growing early prolific squash in a self-watering container as well as in the ground. We'll see how well each does this season!

Yesterday, I brought in some tomato and jalapeno seedlings in for my coworkers. The funny thing was when I was walking to work with my box full of seedlings, everyone stopped me and asked me if I was selling them. Um...another entrepreneurial opportunity? Nah, maybe next year! It was such a compliment though b/c it said something about my seedlings: they looked good enough to buy!

Garden Chores

2007-04-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

Impatiens seedlings

Today, I spent most of the afternoon in my garden soaking up the rays and transplanting seedlings to individual containers. I transplanted tiny tim tomatoes and roma tomatoes out of their jiffy pellets to pots. I also potted some carrots and lettuce (tipburn variety). I transplanted the hollyhocks, asters, and calendulas on a 1' x 5' piece of dirt by my fence door. On the right of it, I transplanted some morning glories. Hopefully, in a couple of months, I'll have pretty blooms from all corners of my porch!

Last night, I started some more cilantro, cucumber (straight 8s and marketmore), squash (early prolific) in jiffy pellets. I also started some sweet williams and nasturtiums.

The weather for the rest of the week is predicted to be in the 70's so my plants will have a great little vacation outside on the porch.

Last Frost Day

2007-03-31T10:09:00.000-07:00

I harvested some radishes and lettuce the other day and I made a yummy salad for dinner. I've noticed that radishes grow really well in the sun rather than the shade. They grow much faster and bigger!

Today is the last frost date for my area. Yeah!!! After I get off from work today, I want to plant the various variety of tomato plants (Supersweet 100, Large Cherry, Marglobe and Roma) in the ground or in their own individual pots. I'm going to put plastic around the tomatoes in the ground for added insurance. The seedlings have been doing well in their pots but I think it's time they get some time in the dirt. The sooner they get in the ground, the sooner we get tomatoes!

I'm going to leave my cool weather (swiss chard, radish, lettuce and onions) plants in the ground so that means the tomatoes will have to share the ground with the other plants until the c-w plants mature.

Flower Arrangements

2007-03-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

I decided to bring some flowers inside to bring "spring" indoors. I've decided that I like flowers of one color in an arrangement or the same flowers bundled together in a vase. The yellow calendulas are in a vase that my fiancee made me. The purple flowers are bearded irises and they're just so pretty by themselves! I love how spring just creeps up on you and then springs in when you're least expecting it.

Tomato Transplanting and Cucumber Seed Starting

2007-03-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

I also transplanted one of my patio tomatoes into one of my self-watering containers and one of my supersweet 100s tomato in a 5-gallon bucket. I also rearranged my white garden shelves to the other side of the patio. Before, the shelves were in direct sunlight during the day and hogging up the sun from my containers so I simply moved them and now I extended my garden by 4 feet! In its place, I put the self-watering pots and tomatoes in its place. Now, the tomatoes will have 6-8 hours of sunlight instead of 3-4 hours when it was next to the fence. I decided to move it today because there’s a chance of rain tomorrow and Tuesday.

It's amazing how over a span of one year, your garden can be transformed from a barren canvas to a live and yieldy garden. Last year was my first true attempt at gardening and I haphazardly placed plants in empty spots due to my lack of gardening knowledge. For example, I wanted honeydew melons so I thought I could grow it in my little 6' x 7' garden. However, I didn't know that melons required a lot of space and by the end of summer, it had not only taken over half of my garden but also half of my concrete patio! This year, I'm more organized and have a new approach to gardening called "Square Foot Gardening" and it's the best. I can grow so much more in such a little amount of space! It's just wonderful! Right now, I'm growing an assortment of onions, lettuce, swiss chard, radishes, and turnips, all in one half of my garden. Compared that to the honeydew melon plants that took up half of my garden and only yielded me with 2 melons! Yes, you got it right, 2 melons!

Here's a picture of last year's garden:

This spring and summer, I'll be growing tomatoes (4-5 different kinds that include patio, supersweet 100s, marglobe, roma, and jelly bean), peppers (bell, peruvian, kung pao, and jalapeno), squash, cucumbers, onions, garlic, peas, cilantro, and so much more!

This year's garden using Square Foot Gardening Techniques

I have peas along the fence (Oregon Giant, Dwarf Grew and another one), strawberries (Sequioa), geraniums are in pots on the shelves (I propagated this from stem cuttings last winter and they've grown like weeds!), there are also some seeds I started here in the salmon-colored flats (mostly flower seeds), and you can see my tomatoes on the table.

I also planted some cucumbers and squash this morning. I planted Straight 8 cucumbers, Marketmore cucumbers, and a bush type cucumber. For squash, I planted early prolific straightneck. Hopefully, we will get a lot of squash and cucumbers this year.

Peas and Seeds...

2007-03-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I decided I hadn't had enough seedlings so at around 9:00 pm (you know you're addicted to gardening when you start seeds at around bedtime), I started some more:

Impatiens
Poppy Shirley Red
Bok Choi (seeds I got from a ygg)
Thai Basil
Purple Opal Basil

I found that peas need to be wound around stakes or string on a daily basis. I find myself early in the morning, with my knees on my rectangular foam pad twisting the pea plants around the string I hung from the fence. The peas seem to grow a couple of inches everyday so this pea routine is an everyday thing. The early mornings are relaxing for me. I find I can do a lot of things early in the morning (putting away dishes, making the bed, picking up around the place, laundry, etc). It's a time I cherish. I get to go around and look at all my plants in my garden and on my grow light shelves.

Nice Day Outside!

2007-03-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

I planted cosmos single sensation, cilantro, rosemary and rose campion seeds yesterday. It was a nice day outside so I spent the better part of the morning outside. However, the afternoons are getting a bit hot (in th 80's). I shouldn't complain though since it is nice and sunny outside.

My tomato seedlings are doing very well. They're getting thick stems and more leaves! They'll be ready to transplant soon! I've been acclimating my tomato, pepper (both peruvian and jalapeno), marigolds, etc outside. I think I'll be able to transplant my seedlings next week in the ground! The only problem is: I have my cool weather seedlings in the places where my warm weather seedlings will need to go. The seedlings are still pretty small so I think they'll be able to share spaces well.

My strawberries are producing flowers like crazy. I've already counted about 10 flowers and they're still more blooming. I have 12 strawberry plants and I hope they'll be able to provide enough for me and my fiancee. We'll see how well they grow! This is our first year growing strawberries and I hope they're not too difficult to care for. Speaking of strawberries, my alpine strawberries I started from seed are doing well:

I am also apart of the staff committee here at work and we're going to have a St. Patrick's Day party. Instead of the usual prizes that every office gives (a coffee mug with candy) we decided to give plants as prizes and we also bought the usual office prizes too but we improved it by giving frozen mugs with gum and candy (all green). The plants are super cute and the pots are green and white. I'll have to take some pictures to post. Here are the prizes.

Crocus or Croci?

2007-03-09T07:18:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post some pictures of some crocus bulbs I planted last year. I forgot where I put them so it's a pleasant surprise to find them here and there in the garden. The flowers are so delicate and small. It's like what they say...big things come in small packages.

The first picture to the left is a picture of new crocus bulbs coming up. The second picture is a crocus plant ready to bloom and the third picture is a picture of a crocus in bloom. The blooms, unfortunately, do not last for more than a couple of days though.

I also have some Mexican Torch Sunflowers blooming. The blooms are big and either orangey or yellowey (as if these are real words...but they do describe the color of the flowers).

Yesterday, I transplanted my zinnia thumbellina seedlings and tiny tim tomatoes into six packs. I'm going to leave those outside since the weather has been so nice. It's been in the low 70's during the day. I wish I could work outside but alas, I must go to work! :( I'm excited that daylight savings time is this weekend. We get an extra hour of sunlight! Yippee!

I bought some Sequoia Strawberries from Home Depot and I transplanted them on Tuesday in the ground and in some hanging baskets. I hope we get tons of strawberries!

Seedling and Project Updates

2007-03-05T17:18:00.000-08:00

Here is an update on my garden endeavors. The Onion Experiment is doing well. Here's the comparison picture:

The first picture is of 1 day and the second picture is of 7 days. They're growing exponentially daily! My seedlings are doing well. The tomato seedlings I planted only a week ago are already sprouting.

The outside seeds (hollyhock, daisies, morning glories, marigolds, asters, etc) that I planted on February 17th are showing signs of life finally.

The petunias I love so dearly are up and running. Petunias were the first flower seeds I've ever sown and they were the first blooming flower that was the result of my tender, loving, care so it will always have a place in my heart! (LOL...but it's true!).

Yesterday, I transplanted the tomato and marigold seedlings that were getting way too big for the peat pellets. The containers I used to transplant them were recycled from milk, punch, and oj cartons we had left over. Those containers are wonderful. They're perfect for the recycling gardener since they were designed to hold liquid in the first place so there's no worries about it leaking, it's also really big so you don't have to transplant several times before the frost (i.e. tomatoes), plus they're free!

I also bought my first Aloe plant and 12 sequoia everbearing strawberry plants. I hope they'll produce all summer long. I plan to plant them in my hanging baskets.

Transplanting of Cool Season Crops

2007-03-03T16:15:00.001-08:00

Today, I transplanted all my cool weather transplants. I transplanted my pearl onions, chives, Swiss chard, lettuce, radish, and spinach seedlings outside in my garden. When I transplanted them, I watered them with a diluted solution of fish emulsion. I'm attempting a technique called, "square foot gardening" and it's wonderful b/c everything has a space and I can grow even more. It's so neat and orderly! I'll have to get my camera out and take some pictures. I hope they’ll mature by the time my hot weather plants need to go in (cucumber, eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes). I now have more room on my grow light shelves for other seedlings such as pepper, tomato, more onions, flowers, eggplants, basil, etc.

I planted more seeds outside today in cell packs and the window cell pack I had the onions, lettuce, radish, and swiss chard in. I'm leaving them outside for awhile since the weather has been so nice and mild (high 60's and low 40's). Here's the list!

Purple Opal Basil
Sweet Basil
Zinnia, Giants
Zinnia, Giants of California
Zinnias, Classic White
Zinnias, Dwarf Thumbellina
SnapDragons, First Ladies Mix
SnapDragons

Cool Weather Gardening

2007-03-01T13:32:00.000-08:00

The rain is gone for the rest of the week. Sunshine is predicted for today through Monday then the rain comes back for a second round for Monday night and Tuesday. I plan on putting some cool weather vegetables in tomorrow and this weekend. I need to transplant my Swiss chard, onion, lettuce, and radish seedlings into the ground. The nights have been dipping into the mid 30’s so I think I should be fine with putting those crops in the ground. Besides, if it gets really cold, I could just cover it with my makeshift cover I have (it’s basically a very large Tupperware box that has a crack in it) or with some old sheets. Either way, I can’t wait to get dirty. I also need to start some basil seeds for the spring. I have basil in almost everyplace I have tomato plants so that means I’ll need a lot of basil seedlings.

I’m still planning my little plot of dirt (6’ x 7’) according to the square foot gardening guidelines. I absolutely love this method and this will be my first year attempting it so wish me luck. The book was a very easy read too. I think I read most of it in a couple of days. I have tomatoes, peppers (different varieties of course including bell pepper, Peruvian pepper, jalapeno pepper, Kung pao pepper, and long cayenne peppers), cucumbers, squash, eggplant (black beauty), strawberries, and peas. I’m also attempting to grow more flowers this year. I want several that I can cut and put in vases for my apartment.

My strawberry bareroot plants have signs of life after a week of rain and sunshine. I see one green leaf emerging. I hope they all perform well. They were really inexpensive so if they don't produce, it's ok.
I went to home depot this morning and saw so many plants I want to get. Instead of impulsively buying everything I saw (which included aloe, a snake plant, ming aralia, hanging prayer plant, bok choi, and ever bearing strawberries) I resisted and wrote everything I wanted down. I'll research how to grow them and see if it's my spring plans. If so, I'll be going back there to pick them up!

Onion Experiment

2007-02-28T08:08:00.000-08:00

In Organic Gardening Magazine, I read an article about planting the ends of green onions in dirt. They had a really neat picture of the white parts of the onions in potting soil and another picture of the same onions all grown and ready to use. I decided to give it a try. We made a layered bean dip the other night and I asked my fiancee to save the bottoms of the green onions. The article suggest using loamy soil but I just stuck it in the same soil I have an avocado pit in (the avocado pit will take a while to root so why not). I assumed it would take a while but to my surprise, the next morning, it already had some growth to it! Take a gander:

More seed starting...

2007-02-28T08:04:00.000-08:00

Seeds I started yesterday are:

Kung pao peppers
Onions while lisbon bunching
Impatiens
Egg plant black beauty
Marigold-French and Safari mix
Chamomile
Catnip
Echinacea pullido
Nicotiana
Larkspur
Sweet William

I hope I have enough garden space for all this! I don't mind a crowded garden! This year, I don't want to see any dirt! LOL :)

It's Official, I'm Addicted to Seed Starting

2007-02-26T23:26:00.000-08:00

This is my first official year of seed starting! Last year, I started seeds a little late in the year but I promised myself that I would start earlier this year. Yesterday, I planted some long thin cayenne peppers. Those will be super spicy. I'm planting them for my dad for father's day. He loves spicy foods and I hope this plant will produce a lot of peppers for him to eat!!!

Tomorrow, I have the day off so I'll start some more seeds! I'm going to start Kung Pao Peppers today and I'll give my dad those plants too. He'll have a variety of peppers to choose from! I also plan on starting the following:

Kung Pao Peppers
Onions White Lisbon Bunching
Impatens
Eggplant Black Beauty
Marigold Safari mix and dwarf mixed
Chamomile
Catnip
Echinacea
Nicotiana (white)
Larkspur
Sweet William

I'm so glad I got enough peat pellets from Wally world. I got several boxes of Jiffy-7, 72 peat pellets in each box. It ended up costing me around $.05 per peat pellet! What a deal!

I'm also going to finish packing the seeds for my trade with quartney from yougrowgirl.

Package from Thompson and Morgan

2007-02-24T11:34:00.000-08:00

I got my Thompson and Morgan package today! I bought 12 transplant pots and 4 water wizards (for watering). I got all of this for only $4.00 (the cost of shipping). Here's a picture of the contents:

I already screwed the wizards onto the 2-liter bottles to make sure it fits and it does! I also got some free seeds for ordering too. I received some ornamental corn and echium seeds (don't have the slightest idea what this is) for free too!

I also started some more tomato and pepper seeds last night. I was planning on giving out a few to my coworkers as a kind gesture. Here's what I planted last night:

Pepperocini Peppers
Spicy Peppers
Sweet 100 Tomato
Patio Hybrid Tomato
Tiny Tim Tomato
Roma Tomato

The weather has been up and down lately: one day it's sunny and the other day it's raining. I guess that's a sign of spring. Only 1 month before the last frost date! I can't wait for the frost date to come.

Regardless, I'm still gardening outside. I have some cool season vegetables outside: peas, chard, radishes, lettuces, onions and garlic, etc and some of my bulbs I planted in the fall are sprouting and blooming already (who knew!).

Garden Organization

2007-02-22T17:59:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was a gardening clean-up/organization day. I filled all my containers with dirt just to ensure that I had enough soil for all my containers. Lo and behold, I didn't have enough. I'll be trekking to Lowes in the next couple of days to get more soil. Sigh...This year I'm using a potting soil called, "Gardener's Potting Soil". It looks and feels great! I hope it'll perform this year. I also got their compost too. Great stuff!

I'm attempting to have a container garden this year since I might be moving to an upstairs apartment in which I won't have any land to garden with but instead a balcony. I hope everything I attempt to grow in containers will be successful. I bought these watering caps that screw onto 2 liter pop bottles from Thompson and Morgan so I hope they'll maintain the water consistency in my soil. Fingers crossed!

The weatherman predicted rain for this week so I wanted to have everything clean and tidy and sheltered for the rain.

Seed Trade List

2007-02-22T17:28:00.001-08:00

Wants:
Beans-scarlett runner
Beans-purple podded variety or any variety
Pea/Bean inoculant
Sweet or hot peppers
Tomatoes, any variety
Coleus seeds, any variety
Geranium
Nasturtiums
Nicotiana
Hollyhock
Luffa
Poppies
Sweet peas
Bok Choi
Swiss Chard (Bright Lights)
Eggplant (small size variety)
Container veggies
Thyme
Herbs

Trades:
Flowers
Alaska
Daisy
Aster, Crego Mixed Color
Baby’s Breath
Bird’s Eyes
Black Eyed Susan
Butterfly Bush
Yellow Catchfly
Chelone Turtlehead Pink
Chinese Forget Me Not
Chrysanthemum, Summer Festival
Cosmos, Sensation Mixed
DaylilyFalse Sunflower
Forget Me Not, Blue Alpine
Helianthus, Lemon Queen
Helichrysum tall double mixed
Hollyhock, Majorette Mix
Hollyhock, Burgandy
Maltese Cross lychnis chalcedonica
Marigold Petite Yellow
Marigold French Dwarf
Marigold Madness
Marigold, Safari Mix
Monarda Lambada Bee Balm
Morning Glory, Mixed Colors
Nasturtium
Petunia
Poached Eggplant
Poppy, Oriental
Poppy, Shirley
Purple Majesty Millet
Purslane
Rose Campion
Snap Dragon, 1st Ladies Mixed Colors
Snap Dragon, Tall Deluxe Mixed ColorsStock
Sweet William tall double mixed
Sunflower maximillion
Sunflower (tall growing variety)
Trumpet Vine
Zinnia, Giant Double Flower

Herbs:
Lemon Basil
Oregano

Vegetables:
Beans, Top Crop
Beans, Kentucky Wonder
Beans, French Filet
Beans, Yellow Wax
Broccoli, De Cicco
Brussels Sprouts, Catskill
Cabbage, Early Golden Acre
Cantaloupe (sweet)
Carrot, Chantenay
Carrots, Danvers Half Long
Cucumber, Poinset 76
Eggplant
Eggplant, Cloud 9
Honeydew
Lettuce, Grand Rapids Tipburn Resistant
Lettuce, Oriental Leaf Mix
Lettuce, Black Seeded Simpson
Okra, Clemson Spineless
Peas, Sugar Snap
Pepper, Jalapeno
Pepper, Ornamental
Pumpkin, Jack-O-Lantern
Pumpkin, Triple Treat
Purslane
Radish, French Dressing
Swiss Chard, rainbow mix
Tomato, heirloom
Tomato, Marglobe
Turnip, Green-Seven TopTurnip, Tokyo Cross Hybrid
Watermelon, Crimson Sweet
Watermelon, Sugar Baby

Flower Seeds

2007-02-20T15:44:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, I planted a lot of flower seeds. I decided to plant them outside because I don't have much room on my grow shelves until I transplant my lettuce seeds. The weatherman says it will rain in the next couple of days so I'm going to wait to transplant the lettuce seedlings on Friday.

Here's a list of the flowers I planted on Saturday:

Cupea Matchless (Cigar Plant)
Physalis Alkekengi (Chinese Lanterns)
Hollyhocks (Majorette Mix and Burgandy)
Shasta Daisy (Alaska)
Calendula (Pacific Beauty)
Tithonia Torch (Mexican Sunflower)
Aster (Crego Mixed Colors)
Morning Glory (Mixed Colors)
Marigold (Petite Mixed Colors)

Spider Plant Spiderettes are Planted

2007-02-17T15:28:00.000-08:00

I layered the spiderettes last night. Most websites say it will take around 7-10 days for them to root. I can then sever them from the mother plant afterwards. I really hope they root and grow. I would like to keep one at work and give the rest to friends and family.

I hope to start some new seeds today. I think I'll start them outside since the weather has been so nice and it seems like everything I plant outside always turns out better than the ones I have under grow lights. I guess nature is supreme above all! I found these discarded seed trays the other day so I'll be starting new seeds in those. I'm just so happy that the weather has been so lovely. I can finally be outside in my garden and actually garden! My car thermometer said it was 70 degrees outside. Yippee!

My New Spider Plant

2007-02-17T07:30:00.000-08:00

The weather here is just so lovely. It's been in the high 60's and low 70's and nice and sunny. My only hope is it will last. Unfortunately, the weatherman said that it will rain this Sunday :( It was good while it lasted though.

For Valentines, my fiancee bought me an African Violet. I don't like the idea of buying cut flowers since they'll be dead in a couple of days. An African violet will last me much longer than cut flowers. He also got me some gardening gloves, bearded iris bulbs, and a gardening pot (for the bulbs). It was a lovely and thoughtful gift!

In this weekend's ads, OSH (Orchard Supply Hardware) had a 10% off sale on all seed starting supplies so I stopped in before work this morning. I didn't see anything I really wanted but instead i saw this beautiful spider plant. It was in a huge hanging pot and was so heavy to lift. I bought it for my grow shelves. It already had some baby spider plantlets, which I hope to pot up and make more spider plants as gifts. I'm going to try the propagating technique known as layering. I'm excited to see if it works!
I also transplanted some seedlings in bigger containers. I was using jiffy peat pellets and the roots were hanging out of the netting so I moved them to red plastic cups.

Thompson and Morgan Fun!!!

2007-02-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

Today, I ordered garden supplies for the spring. Thompson and Morgan has a special $10.00 off coupon with no minimum requirement. I bought some water spikes and some transplant pots. The total was $14 and with the coupon, I only spent $4 for 4 water spikes and 12 transplant pots! I can't wait for them to come in! Since it's been raining, I can dream and look at catalogs!

Rain Rain Go Away...

2007-02-10T22:36:00.001-08:00

It's been raining this weekend so there's not a lot of gardening going on. I can't wait for the rain to go and the sun to come out!

Flower Seed Starting

2007-02-08T07:07:00.000-08:00

Last night, I started some more seeds! I looked at the various seed packets I was going to grow this spring and saw that I should be starting some flowers since it takes a while for it to germinate (8-10 weeks). Eek...I'm in the seed starting mood! I should be starting more seeds next week and the last week of February.

This is what I started:

Marigold Safari Mix
Tomato (Jelly Bean Hybrid)
Zinnia Thumbellina mixed colors
Snap Dragon Tall Deluxe Mixed Colors
Creeping Daisy
Snap Dragon 1st Ladies Mixed Colors
Petunia Pearls Azure Blue Hybrid
Petunia Prism Sunshine Hybrid

The top of my fridge is bombarded with all these trays and containers full of jiffy pellets or seed soil! I'm glad I have a stock pile of jiffy pellets!

Tomato Seeds I Started

2007-02-07T07:05:00.000-08:00

I started some tomato and petunia seeds the other night. I find seed starting relaxing and fun. I spent over 2 hours in the kitchen preparing, planting, and labeling. Here's the list of things I planted:

Tiny Tim Tomatoes
Patio Hybrid Tomatoes (they're designed to be placed in pots)
Supersweet 100 Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Roma Tomatoes
Marglobe Tomatoes
Petunia Seeds I collected last year. I hope they sprout!!! Fingers Crossed.
Petunia Seeds from a packet

Over the weekend, my bf bought me a grow light set up and since he's an electrician, he wired it up so there are switches for me to turn on and off. He's so sweet! I'll have to post some pictures! I love it!!!!

African Violet Clean-Up

2007-02-07T06:37:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago, I repotted the suckers from my African Violet I got from the Dollar Store almost 8 months ago. They stopped blooming and I kind of forgot about it until I noticed that it was overly crowded! After the suckers grow a little bit, they're much easier to handle. I popped them off with an xacto knife. The following picture is what I believe are suckers.

Here is a picture of the suckers that were removed and potted up in seed starting soil. I hope they root and make me more African Violets.

Here is my African Violet free from all the suckers.

First Gardening Experience

2007-02-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

I thought I would create a blog for all my gardening experiences and as a journal for future reference. This is my first post. Here we go...

My first gardening experience was in 2005. I went out and bought a Jade plant and a Hawaiian schelferra for my apartment. I then wanted to grow some chives so I went out and bought some seeds for $.79 and a jiffy pellet set with 12 spots for peat pellets. Since then, I have been hooked with gardening. At first, I was more interested in vegetable gardening but now I'm into anything that grows! I soaked the little pellets and planted the chive seeds being careful to get at least 1-2 seeds in each pellet. I stuck it on top of my fridge and a couple of days later, they sprouted. I left them on top of my fridge because I wanted them to get bigger. That was my first gardening mistake. The seedlings became leggy and to correct that error, I used an old college lamp I had to give it some light.

Here is a look of my chive seeds when they sprouted.

This is my first plant I grew from seed! Chives. They were super easy and it looks like they're growing quite well.