My Houseplants

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

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

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

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.