Garden times...

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!

Herb Seedlings Update 03-16-08

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)

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!

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...

Starting More Seedlings 03-04-08

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

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

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 02-09-08

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

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 Score

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.

Flower arrangement

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

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...

Nice Present

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!

Crocus or Croci?

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!

Flower Seeds

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)