RKayne's Blog
RKayne's October 2007 Entries
Last Post 128 days, 1 hour Ago
Oct 22, 2007 | 3:42 PM PST
Tags: Dragon Fruit , Dragon Tree , seedlings
OK, they call them dragon trees. But they are a vine, a succulent vine that likes to climb. I got the idea to save the seeds so asked and Spiceoflife had some growing. Taking their advice and my own weird ideas...I have SEEDLINGS! Rather a few in fact...and more popping up...and the good thing is I have people who will like them too, haha!
Oct 22, 2007 | 3:35 PM PST
Tags: Orange Tree , Nigerian Coffee , Tangerine Tree , Lemon Tree , Key Lime , Bananas , Fish Tank Terrarium , Mini Rose
Well, here it is, the overwinter home for my tropicals. The Nigerian Coffee tree's were truly #@!$ed so they have lost the leaves but due to the lighting they were already getting happier and have new leaves growing (my honey was worried...so much so she wouldn't say anything until I pointed out the new leaves, lol). So, here we have a Banana, Tangerine, Orange, Key Lime, Nigerian Coffee and Lemon. The Banana has been moved in the tank since I took this pic, but the mini rose can stay out there, I just put it in there for the ambient light!
Oct 22, 2007 | 3:30 PM PST
Tag: Cacti
My honey wanted some cacti to put in the dragons tank, so she went and found these buggers....the original tank they were in had cacti everywhere and they loved them so we figured this would make them happy. I figured these are the perfect pots for them, for quite some time :D
Oct 19, 2007 | 10:19 AM PST
Tags: Amazon Sword , Red Ludwigia , Bamboo , Water Garden , Aquarium Garden , Parrot Tail
I have a couple tanks (ok, a bunch, but only three for water!) and in the kitchen I decided to set up the ten gallon and put in some plants. It got a bit crowded, Red Ludwigia...Parrot Tail...Bamboo...Amazon Sword...the fish can barely move, haha.
So, I decided I need to move them. I have a 40 gallon tank in our bedroom that is now empty. I set up our 55 gallon tank, but had to make a lid (cats). So I did. No trim on it yet, but I did this with a Jig Saw! Yes, I am damn proud of it. Give me a circular saw or a table saw and I will be downright dangerously handy! HAHA!!
The plants in the ten gallon, well, most of them are going to the 40 gallon soon (would have been last night but with the wind we lost power so DAMMIT I MISSED HALF OF GRAY'S ANATOMY!! I DON'T WATCH TV but I do watch that...and House...I couldn't move the plants because I will not do that by candle light! I am going to separate the Sword, looks like I should be able to make it become 4 or 5 Swords, I am good at that :D the little ones I will keep in the ten gallon for now. I will move the Bamboo, but I am going to play, and chop one of them into canes the length of each section and see what happens, haha. The 40 gallon is mostly going to become 'just for plants' with maybe a few fancy guppies, a catfish and a sucker fish. This is going to be fun :D
And Yes, those are Goldfish, I get feeders (those were..and see how they have grown) and put them in the small tank until it is ready for pricey fish (usually about 2-3 months) and do the same all the way to the biggest (or last) tank that needs to be set up. After that I find someone with a pond to take them!
Oct 9, 2007 | 12:00 PM PST
Tags: seed tape , oriental poppies
I need to get a picture, at first I thought something thought they were WAY tasty but a couple got through and are growing. I took regular cheapo masking tape and made seed tape. This would work with any small seed and since the masking tape degrades it would be PERFECT for planting, as I found out with the oriental poppies. For all those out there that got these strips they work great! I should get a pic soon, I just looked at the pot yesterday and was surprised to see a couple avoided being eaten and they are big enough I can tell what they are now! I cold stratified them (I won't do that to the dragon tree seeds I promise!) for 2 wks and planted with a touch of soil over them, watered them well and forgot about them, haha. Here is the strips before I mailed out the freebies, I kept about 4 of these.
Oct 9, 2007 | 11:49 AM PST
Tags: Nigerian Coffee , bonsai
I put one of my Nigerian Coffee trees in the perfect pot. When I got them, they were suppose to be one, but they one ended up being seven...see all those trunks?
So I had to separate them!
So...I have to bonsai at least ONE of them...right?
Oct 5, 2007 | 8:11 AM PST
Tags: Orange Tree , Banana , Lemon Tree , Key Lime , Tangerine Tree , Nigerian Coffee , Fish Tank Terrarium , Full Spectrum Bulbs , Mini Rose , Tropical Trees
So, now that I have built a lid (super HEAVY duty, hemlock trim) for our baby dragon tank, a 50 gallon one, we have an empty tank. So there I am looking at it...thinking....now it can't be used for fish. I got a pic but didn't bring it with me. I decided it needed to be for my trees, my baby trees. My orange, lemon, key lime, nigerian coffee...tangerine. I was able to get them all in it, with the banana and a mini rose sitting just outside of it. There is a full spectrum bulb in it as the person who gave it to me was growing a wide variety of water plants in it so this is good. Very good. They have light, heat, they should all do SO well this winter. I used to take a drop down shop light and put full spectrum bulbs in it on a basic frame for winter time and my tropicals but this is way better. Don't know why I never thought of it before, maybe it is because I never had large, empty tanks laying around that couldn't be used as a fish tank anymore?
Oct 3, 2007 | 11:11 AM PST
Tags: Tomato , Brussels Sprouts , Radish , schefflera , spinach , lettuce , Purple Kolhrabi , Walla Walla , garlic , Sugar Snap Peas , Jade , Black Prince Tomato , Brandywine tomatoes , jalapeño , Cold Stratify , Rain
So, we have a new cam, so pics will be forthcoming. We have been getting rather a bit of rain (about time) but it is finally the end of the 'real' gardening season. If I can figure out a way to do it with minimal dirt (I know I should use at least a 5 gallon container but am willing to take a risk) I may cold stratify some of the tomato seeds I saved and start them up here in the office. That would be kind of cool, having some fresh tomatoes here. I kept some Black Prince and Brandywine seeds, although who knows what they will end up being as there were a few different varieties of tomatoes out there and I did not bag them so they are no doubt cross pollinated. I really don't mind, as long as they are fresh! I am planning on starting up some of the Jalapeno seeds I saved, I know it will do fine in a relatively smaller pot. I have all this sunshine here at my desk so I might as well take advantage of it, right?
On another note, my wife just started her new job (she actually is going to get paid to learn, and sign language at that, I am stoked as I have always wanted to learn to sign so she is going to have to teach me...and several other people in my office LOL) and she does have her own office so I have another project. Nice pots and some plants for it. She wants to take the Jade and I am all for it, but we will have to get a full spectrum bulb and lamp as she doesn't have any windows and that bugger needs some light! I have some cuttings I have taken from my office building and her old one of this corn looking plant that I still don't know what it is, but do know that bugger will grow in the dark, haha and some Schefflera cuttings I took from her old building that have all rooted up nicely.
My favorite story about Schefflera's...A pal of mine owned a hotel on the NC coast and the hurricane wall they had put in was coming down after a particularly nasty storm so the hotel had to come down. The people who were hired to take all the furniture and whatnot out and put it in storage really were not all that smart as they put all the plants in the storage unit as well. Three months later we opened up the unit, having already assumed the plants were living in the movers homes (nothing to quibble about, this all had to be done fast so the owner just figured a home is a home) and there they were. No water, no sun, three months...they were fine. They were Schefflera.
Time to get going on some winter gardening. I got seed for Walla Walla sweet onins, Garlic cloves, Purple Kohlrabi, Brussels Sprouts and Spinach so far. I have cleared the sugar snap pea bed so now all I need to do is take down the trellis (I used screws so it is basically collapsible) and recondition the little plot o'dirt and wait for the maters to finish up, collect the radish seeds from the early radish's that I let bolt and do that soil as well and I figure that I will let our youngest help (he will love to) since I already told him the one side is all his! He gets to plant the garlic, onions, (he wants them now but I had to explain that they will be in spring!) Brussels Sprouts and Kohlrabi. I thought that he would get a kick out of being able to not only garden while it is cold, but they are very neat looking plants. He and I are the only ones in the house who will eat Brussels Sprouts so we will be having plenty of them, haha.
I will plant the spinach and plan on several lettuce varieties for this fall and come early spring in my tomato and radish bed, yum!
Pictures will be soon, I promise!
ps~ this blog post has been Cut and Pasted!
