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I've been so busy lately . . . indoors. It's really starting to get hot here in Florida . . . mid-80's expected today, and mid-70's this evening. It's starting to heat up early in the morning, so I have to get up with the sun to be able to get any work done.
Plucked a few - a big pile - of weeds this morning after preparing the soil and making the mounds for the3 sisters squash and beans. I'll probably plant them tomorrow.
I found a website that tells you when to plant seeds by the moon. Most gardening by the moon sites really don't tell you when to plant seeds and transplant very clearly . . . but all the seeds I've planted so far by the method at Organic Garden Info (dot com) seems to be working.
Most also go into the zodiac sign the moon is in, but this one determines what seeds to plant by their germination rate. They also utilize the week just after the new moon and the week after the full moon for planting and transplanting, which seems to differ from the normal gardening by the moon method. Here's the link to the site. They also have a calendar here.
I have one sunflower blooming. I planted them all at the same time, and they are suppose to grow 12' . . . but this one decided to bloom on May 1st . . . all the other ones I planted at the same time have surpassed its growth. Maybe a different variety got into the seed pack accidentally. I wish the white ones had come up. Was hoping to have a row of shorter white sunflowers in front of the larger ones, but they either didn't germinate or some kinda critter got to them.
Harvested some flax, made a garland . . . need to make another one. I like to hang them in the garden to dry. I think that may be the best way to re-seed it. It does look a bit weedy after it sets seed . . . but has lovely delicate blue flowers that fills in the garden beautifully otherwise.
I'm going to have lots . . . and lots . . of basil this year. I'll be able to have pesto all winter! The cilantro . . . the 2 plants that are growing seem to be doing well. Never had much luck with it, but at least I have 3plants! I may try planting some more seeds next week.
The neon orange hibiscus seems to have lost some of its bright spark, it could just be the sunlight . . . maybe later this afternoon the blossom color will pop.
Corn Sprouts May 5, 2012
Noticed the sunflower bloom late May 1st . . . was surprised. Didn't expect it and I don't recall seeing it early in the day!
Same sunflower May 5th.
My garden flax garland.
Harves
ted flax
Lots of basil, some parsley, cilantro and sage growing.
My neon Hibiscus. Usually so neon the flowers actually glow.
Moonflowe
r vine is taking over the old windmill trellis. Large sunflower in background.
Ano
ther photo of sunflower, with tansy growing in foreground.
Hi Everyone
Very excited, my bean seeds have just poked their heads out of the soil. They were not there yesterday, I looked and wondered where they were!. I am sprouting them, so I can take some photos for my ebook on growing peas and beans. With this crappy weather, I was getting worried that the seeds may rot. You aren't suppose to water them once you have planted them.
Hoping a friend has a good close up camera and I will post pictures if I can get them.
Don't know where I am going to plant them, I think I might try the front fence although that is pretty chokers may be I will donate them to the community garden up the road.
Finally tomorrow will be warm!. Yeh, it has been grey, overcast and depressing. Although I think a good season for roses. Some years, we all think, the rose season is going to be fantastic and then we get hit by wind, thrip, heat, whatever and they are ruined. Not so this year.
Cheers Sandi
P:S: This photo was taken by my camera.
Hi Everyone
Well, the weather is crazy. It is summer and I am sitting here with a shirt and the heater on!. We are definitely in a La Nina cycle. It also snowed on some of our mountains..... It is summer. It was my first day back at work yesterday and what a day I choose. I rolled up to the garden I look after and it was pelting down. And of course I forgot my beret. If I can keep my hair dry, I can cope working in the rain.
I actually did quite a bit because it stopped raining and for a moment I had taken my shirt off and was quite hot. This weather is mucking up my sowing of pea and bean seeds. I am writing another ebook on growing peas and beans and I sowed some seeds so I could take photos of the seedlings. Well you aren't meant to water the seeds until they germinate, so the seeds don't rot. Well that arn't happening. They have been watered by god quite a bit.
I am off to work today and I am planting some canna lilies and a couple of echinaceas. I hope my client like them, I got a bit carried away and bought more than I planned tooo. Impulse purchasing I think that is called.
Happy gardening
Cheers Sandi
See the rest of my blog at - http://victoriaspatiogarden.b
logspot.com/
First Seedlings
????
Botanicle Interests Org. Cucumbers
?
I was very excited this morning to see some green popping up from my egg-carton tray. Since my last post, I have planted some lettuce, the Renee's Garden Superbush tomatos, and cucumbers. I had germinated the cucumbers in a paper towel for two days while the lettuce seeds were too tiny to germinate. I am pretty disappointed with the items I bought from Renee's Garden thus far. The tomato seeds barely grew in the paper towel and less than 10% grew roots. The roots were 1/10th of an inch at best on the ones that did grow. Hopefully these guys will do better in the soil.
Sprout Update - 7 February 2011
Round 1: Day 24
Round 2: Day 19
The Green Zebra sprout is doing pretty good. No new sprouts for any of the tomatoes, though. I think I am going to make some foil lined cardboard boxes to keep like 4 of the Jiffy Pots in to help retain some heat and moisture for those and see if that helps. If there's nothing new in the next couple of weeks, I'll scrap those and try again. . .
No new lemon cucumbers, but I have noticed that the one closest to the heat lamp (but second to sprout) grew and opened two true leaves to the first one's one true leaf. The third has seed leaves that look slightly misshapen, so we'll see what happens with that one.
No real change with the broccoli. The second one STILL hasn't popped up above the soil line yet. Kinda weird, I think. But it's the first time growing broccoli so we'll see what happens.
I think I'm slowly weeding out the weaklings in the pea section. So far, three have turned a little brown and started to wither. They didn't grow very fast (as compared to the others), either. So I think I'm okay with it. If the healthy looking ones start to turn, then I'll start to worry.
The mallow is looking a little thirsty, so I think I might have killed them. They get water at least every 4 hours when the lights are on so I'm not sure what the problem is with that. I'll make it a point to soak them a little more than the rest adn see if that helps.
The rosemary is still pretty much the same. No significant change there.
One of the kale bottle is showing some signs of life. I think a seedling is about to pop up. It's in the bottle that is most exposed to the heat light, so that's probably why. . .
And last but not least, the garlic chives are slowly worming their way up. . .much like the Tokyo Green Onions did. . .
So this year, I've decided that since I have so much free time being unemployed, I'd invest that into my garden. . .and maybe end up saving a little money while I'm at it. I figured I would document this experiment and share with everyone because I've invested a lot of time into this so far, so this blog may save someone else the time and energy I'ev already invested.
I took inventory of the seeds leftover from last year (all the way back to 2006, actually), and I came up with a huge list of seeds we're missing (I am a little ambitious with the amount of space that we've got dug so far).
Seeds we had:
1. Poppies from my auntie's yard
2. Dwarf Grey Sugar Peas (Ed Hume seeds, packed for 2006)
3. Sugar Sprint Edible Pod Brush Pea (Ed Hume seeds, packed fo 2006)
4. Green Leaf Lettuce (Ed Hume seeds, packed for 2006)
5. Rosemary (Ferry-Morse seeds, packed for 2010)
6. Lincoln Homesteader Peas (Ed Hume seeds, packed for 2006)
7. Early Prolific Straightneck Squash (Sow 'n' Grow seeds, packed for 2006)
8. Russian Red Kale (Ed Hume seeds, packed for 2006)
9. Red Core Chantenay Carrots **Organic** (Ed Hume seeds, packed for 2006)
10. Little Finger Carrots (Ed Hume seeds, packed for 2006)
11. Italian Basil (Burpee seeds, packed for 2006)
12. Garlic Chives (Burpee seeds, packed for 2006)
13. Detroit Supreme Beets (Burpee seeds, packed for 2009)
14. Golden Beets (Burpee seeds, packed for 2009)
15. Scarlet Nantes Carrots (Ed Hume seeds, packed for 2006)
16. Gourmet Salad Greens (Ed Hume seeds, packed for 2006)
17. Black Beauty Zucchini Squash (Sow 'n' Grow seeds, packed for 2009)
18. Sparkler Radish (Sow 'n' Grow seeds, packed for 2009)
19. Common Sage, Salvia Officinalis (Burpee seeds, packed for 2006)
Seeds we've bought so far:
1. Purple Poppies to mix in with the red ones from Auntie's garden
2. Purple Coneflower, Echinacea Purpurea (Botanical Interests, packed for 2011)
3. Dill (Ed Hume seeds, packed for 2011)
4. Celery, Utah 52-70 Improved (Ed Hume seeds, packed for 2011)
5. Green Zebra Tomatoes (Botanical Interests seeds, packed for 2011
6. Mallow, Malva Moschata Rosea, (Livingston Seed Co, packed for 2011)
7. Cayenne Pepper, Capsicum Annuum (Botanical Interests seeds, packed for 2011
8. Cilantro (Ed Hume seeds, packed for 2011)
9. Tokyo Long White Green Onions (Botanical Interests, packed for 2011)
10. Yomogi, Japanese Mugwort, kui hao (Kitazawa Seed Co, packed for 2010)
11. Husk Tomato, Ground Cherry (Ed Hume seeds, packed for 2011)
12. Arugula, Rocket Astro (Ed Hume seeds, packed for 2011)
13. Akarenso, Japanese Spinach Hybrid, horenso (Kitazawa Seed Co, packed for 2010)
14. Leeks, Large American Flag (Ed Hume seeds, packed for 2011)
15. Lemon Cucumber Cucumis Sativus (Botanical Interests, packed for 2011)
16. Sun Gold Tomatoes (Botanical Interests, packed for 2011)
Seeds/plants still left to buy:
1. Potatoes (I'm actually thinking about buying the potatoes from the store. . .since I try and buy local produce, those potatoes should do well in my region and are probably a whole lot cheaper than buying them from seed companies, AND I get to evaluate the taste of each one before committing to grow it for a whole season and figure out at the end that I don't like them)
2. Thai Basil
3. Thyme (Common, Lemon and Wild)
4. Lemon Balm
5. Lemon Verbena
6. Marjoram
7. Stevia
8. Tarragon (I'm pretty sure I cannot grow this one from seed, if I recall correctly)
9. Summer Savory (maybe winter, too)
10. Catnip (for the kitty)
11. Wormwood
12. Mugwort
13. Horehound
14. Bergamot
15. Ruta (maybe)
16. Nigella (if I can get my hands on the seeds)
17. Garlic
18. Tomatillos (torn between the purple and the pineapple)
19. Cabbage
20. Hops
21. Eucalyptus
22. Horseradish
23. Spinach
I told you it was an amibtious list! I started some of the seeds (more on that in the next post), but I am still waiting on my gosh darned seed catalogs to show up (thank you, Territorial Seeds, for dragging this torture out!). Until then, I just have my seeds and dogs to keep me company while I pine for those catalogs and hopefully complete my list. And then I get to think about flowers (well, more flowers)!
Greetings All,
Hope you're staying warm, cozy and safe. It's just foggy here, but it hasn't stopped me from being in the dirt (^_^)...hope to water my plants that are in frost free areas.
But..I just came across this website for seeds...if you find seeds and can't remember what they are or have a mystery seed; this is the site to check out...
For now, I have to pick up my kitchen...Rick's niece stayed a couple of nights and now she's headed back to Sacramento. Once my kitchen is back in order I'll get the watering can out and take care of my "pets". After that, it's back to Teri's afghan...and maybe some smaller projects.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend...hope it warms up for you soon. (-_^)
>
Hello
I try to garden now and then. When my brother and I lost our house I bought some property for purpose of starting a micro-farm and selling enough to the produce to buy my brother's house back. So far, that has not happened, but I continue to be interested in gardening.
After the car broke down it became a little harder to get to my property to garden, but I try. After losing my last job (apparently) I decided to concentrate a little more on my writing in order to give myself an income by concentrating on my writing. I found this site by doing some research for my articles.
My writing gives me a little more time to do my gardening .and be at my property and I do enjoy it, but I'm still learning, and hopefully I can now spend enough time "at home" to be able to take care of my plants. My interest in gardening also got me interested in solar energy. My neighbors have traditional electricity-I don't-it was too costly for me. A solar shed light for $30 was more economical than paying $1800 to $2500 just to hook up the electricity.
Gardening can be economical too. I started gardening, before my brother and I lost our house, in order to grow food. The success I had there gave me encouragement to continue. Tomato seeds are around $1-$3 a pack, usually and they grow more than 1 lb. per plant. You can plant beans from the grocery store.
I did not start out to "be green". I used organic gardening methods because that's what the guy on the radio show recommended. In spite of plenty of reading saying that it wasn't economical, it was a low income that led me look for solar options. My laptop was a Christmas present a few years ago from my brother-in-law and I used it to research various things like gardening websites, wind energy, and "practical solar gadgets".
God Bless one and all.
There is a great trend with Heirloom vegetables that we totally embrace here at Vintage Hill. Kind of like chickens, the old home grown kind are the best in flavor. Not unlike chickens that have been bred to become a boneless breast in a frozen package, many modern vegetables have been bred for a trait or group of traits- usually disease resistance or keeping qualities. Depending on who had the idea, and what they were trying to accomplish, taste may or may not have been the priority in breeding. The surge in popularity of heirloom tomatoes for instance is mostly about taste and of course variety.
It’s important to remember the
reason the hybrids became popular was disease resistance. In my own
trial garden of heirloom and hybrid tomatoes last year it was pretty
obvious that those with the
best flavor were not necessarily the best producers and since it was a
wet summer here in MO, those tomatoes with disease resistance bred in
were the best producers,
not necessarily the heirlooms. My favorite tomato of last season though
was without a doubt, Pineapple. It's an heirloom, yellow with a tinge
of red in the center and sweet w
ith a firm
flesh. It produced well all summer and the taste was the best! Black
Krim was a close second. Funny story about that. One of my customers
shared with me how they took a plate of Black Krim to a carry-in supper.
No one would touch it. Black Krim is a dark red; almost purple in
color, but on a plate by itself looks like they may have been left over
for a week or so! Lesson
of the story, mix them with a yellow tomato on a plate!
To Seed or Not To Seed – Plants are the Answer
I’ve spent the better part of a week pouring over seed catalogs and websites! What fun. I now understand the obsession many gardeners have with these annual publications. I want to grow everything in them, with the exception of Brussels Sprouts, Rhubarb and Kale. I have no need for those anywhere near me at any time.
I live in the west where the mountain/desert area has a relatively short growing season. I’ve grown myself a seed now and again, but never on a grand scale and frankly I’m not certain, with a cat and two Jack Russell’s, that an abundance of dirt inside the house is a good idea. Besides the fact I don’t have lots of room for grow lights. I may try one or two seeding kits in a windowsill and see what happens, but my
research and good sense tells me that with a growing season that is relatively short I’d better buy some already established plants.
I did discover that it’s best to select as many plants from a local nursery rather than order varieties that may not be suitable to your particular growing zone. Local nurseries stock those plants that are tried and true for your area. If you do decide to order from a nursery be certain you speak to an expert before you order plants that won’t thrive and will disappoint.
There was very little information via the web that pertained to articles about plants vs. seeds. I was surprised, although I Googled in the best way I knew how, that most of the information was about growing marijuana seeds. I found that rather amusing. We will need to have our garden Jeff Oberhaus weigh in with his opinion plants vs. seed in a region with limited time to grow.
Speaking of Jeff, who is buried under snow with truckloads of plants being delivered to his nursery, Vintage Hill Farm, here is what he had to say this week:
“So here are three books that I think all plant people would appreciate. None of these is really about growing veggies but could be easily adapted to include edibles. They are about stuff that feeds the soul through the eyes.”
Hot Plants for Cool Climates
by Dennis Shrader
Time Tested Plants by Pamela Harper
The Complete Container Garden by David Joyce Readers Digest publisher
ok a fourth
Manual of Woody Landscape Plants by Michael Dirr
Next week we discuss heirloom vs. hybrid plants!
We bought the first seeds for the garden today: some catnip seeds, mammoth sunflowers, and two different packets of mixed color sunflowers. I also wanted to get some peppermint seeds but walmart wasn't carrying them. Maybe when it gets closer to planting time they will have them. If not we will go to the dollar store or something. I plan on planting my seeds February first so they will have a nice head start before I plant them on easter if the temperatures are right.
I have a question about bulbs: I was thinking of planting a flower bed that would have daffodils, lilys, and falll blooming crocuses. Can I have all these bulbs planted together? I would give them adequate room for each bulb to grow healthily, but I didn't know if doing a border planting like that with so many different bulbs would be a good idea. has anyone done this successfully?
We leave to go to Texas tomorrow to visit family for a few days. Saturday we are leaving Texas to go to Missouri to visit my mother and her fiance/husband: not sure if they have gotten married yet. I am very excited becuase I think my mom might want me to do some landscaping on her property. I would be thrilled!!! But we will see: I think they are still covered in snow where she lives, but I could still make a blue print of the grounds to take home with me and come up with some ideas. I probably wont glog at all while in Texas, but I look forward to getting home!
Pictures, pictures, pictures and a major busy week +
My
last post was titled "Feels like it's been forever", well it has now
been quite a while since I last posted a blog entry here. I miss my GG
friends! Wish I could catch up on all your blog entries, but who knows
when things will settle down enough (probably sometime after the 20th)
Things have been so crazy around here! My husband came home over a week ago which is WONDERFUL, then my daughter had quite a few appointments regarding her eye surgery coming up.
The weather has been just wonderful. We need the rain, but we are enjoying the sun and warmth! Hannah, Kyle and I spend a ton of time outdoors. Since Kyle's been home, we've gone bear hunting (basically a nice drive out in the woods enjoying nature and wildlife - we saw lots of deer and 3 moose), quad riding in the orchard down the road to see the deer eating the cherry tree leaves, and of course playing in the garden!
Things are really coming along in my garden and veggie patch! I am so happy! I have quite a few pictures to post, so maybe I will just post the links to them on my Facebook page so you can see them all there instead of having to upload one at a time on here. I will have to figure that out in a few minutes.
My Zucchini seeds have come in great, my zucchini starts from the nursery are doing well and the cucumber seed I had planted is coming in nice too! I have a great start of radishes, carrots, peas, beans and broccoli as well as lettuce seed that should be coming up soon. I can't wait! Things seem to be going well in my veggie patch! Thank goodness since I worked so hard on amending the soil there! I do need to put some more liquid fertilizer or more manure on the zucchini areas soon.
I have one concern though. Some of my flowers that were started outside from seeds seem to be turning yellowish. Could that be lack of nutrients or more likely over watering? I am trying to only water once a day or every other day there and things don't seem to be changing.
Speaking of watering. I have two questions I've been meaning to ask on that matter:
HOW DO YOU WATER YOUR FLOWER GARDEN?
HOW DO YOU WATER YOUR VEGETABLE GARDEN?
My
main preponderance here is to figure out what is the most efficient way
of watering plants. Also w/out wasting water and minimizing the weeds
around the plants/garden area. There is no need to water around the
garden really is there? I water my garden by hand with a hose nozzle
sprayer that can be adjusted to lower/higher levels of water. I feel
it's pretty efficient, but I am so curious what other methods gardeners use.
Okay,
so I decided I will add links to a Facebook photo album so you can see
all the pictures there instead of one at a time on here. I have so
many, it will be easiest to just upload them there and then post the
link here. Sorry if this bothers anyone, but I don't have a ton of time
to upload them the slow way.
Gardening June 2009 and beyond....
I hope everyone is doing well! More as time permits!
I want to thank everyone who has been commenting on my posts lately. I have been slacking in my regular chit-chat responses I normally do and don't quite know why. I think I have just been so busy trying to keep up with the housework and get my share of "playing" out in the garden. My husband will be home in a few weeks and I want to be done with my "spring" cleaning and organizing by the time he gets home. There is still a ton to do, then we'll have my daughter's eye surgery on the 17th to add. So, I will be busy, but I will be sure to keep writing!
I felt better later on in the day after having that terrible headache. Thank you all for the "feel betters"!!
Now, on to gardening....
So
many of my seeds are coming up! I am so excited! I planted so many
seeds I can't remember where I planted them all. I marked most of the
seed with sprinkles of peat moss over the areas and that has helped.
Some of them I didn't think to do that with so I have to be careful
when digging.
Most of the seed that is coming up is the
smaller seed like Alyssum, Brachycome (Swan River Daisy), Matthiola
(Night Scented Stocks), and Baby's Breath.
I planted a ton of Morning Glory seeds that I soaked for the recommended 24 hours, but they haven't come through the soil yet and I am wondering if somehow they dried up. It's strange that they haven't, but I will have to be patient.
My "stump planters" have quite a bit of seed coming.
My sweet peas are coming in nice as well as what I believe to be
sunflower seeds (the ones I sprinkled in from last years seed head this
spring). I can't wait to see how nice turn out.
I made a new
flower bed (well, sort of) to spread my cut flower mixes, Shasta Daisy,
Delphinium, Baby's Breath, Bachelor Buttons, the rest of my Black-Eyed
Susan's, extra Phlox, and mixed Poppy seeds. I raked out an area,
pulled out the loose rocks, used all those rocks I pulled out to line
the perimeter. After pulling out the bits of grass and natural bushes I
spread the seed mixed with sand around the area. Covered it all with a
thin layer of dirt and watered it all in. I hope the seed grows in
since it will look really cute with the "Gnome Home" and the two little
Gnomes admiring the flower area (see below). I will post some pictures
later if/when the seeds start to come in. (Click on any of the images to enlarge and see closer up!)
I planted the two Zucchini plants from the nursery today but decided to place a clear plastic tub over them for the night to keep the cold off of them. They were kept under a greenhouse style roof/area that protected them, so I figured it wouldn't hurt (I just have to make sure they don't overheat in the morning). I spotted the Zucchini seeds sprouting that I planted and I am so excited. I do hope they grow! I love fried Zucchini and seasoning salt as well as Zucchini bread! Any suggestions on how to eat Zucchini?
I also planted some Broccoli seeds, but don't know if it will make it before it get's too cold. We'll just have to see.
My peas and radishes have come through the soil which is good too.
I
also decided to plant some Cosmos and Zinnias for the first time and
they are coming in nicely too. I chose to plant them in my wild rose
area since the wild roses I transplanted are not doing to well yet (if
at all). My daughter helped me plant them and it was so cute. She would
squat down and tip her hand attempting to spread the seed around, but
really just dropping them on top of each other so I had to spread them
out afterwards.
I love letting her help me, it makes me so happy to see her learning and enjoying nature. I show her any bug I come across, frogs and toads and especially birds. We listen to cricketts and frogs at night. She knows what Woodpeckers do and can explain it (she's only 2.5 years old). She says "they peck, peck, peck....", "The trees", "Looking for bugs and going slurp, slurp, slurp!" and "using their beeks". It's so cute! She's so bright and retains so much. I want her to be able to look at the little things around her, to be able to step back and see things in a simple way, enjoy it and value it. Kids these days are so wrapped up in materialistic things, video games, t.v and computers. None of those things nurtures the soul, none of those things can do what mother nature does for a person. I believe those things can enjoyed in a healthy amount but that other things need to be taught and learned. Simple things. How many kids go through school having the only experiance with nature be the "plant unit" taught to them by their teacher? Sad.
Anyway......
Above: The tags from my new Clematis. I really like them, but now am not sure where I want to put them. When I bought them I figured I could find a place, but now I am getting pickier and re-thinking where they should go. When I really like a certain flower I take forever finding a place for it to go since I am scared of killing it...lol.
Above: My Mother-In-Laws Gazinia (? I am guessing the name because I can't think of it off the top of my head right now...) Really pretty.
Above: A really pretty purple/blue flower in my Mother-In-Law's garden with her Columbine. Really pretty, I will have to ask her what it is. Do you know what it is?
Above:
A GIANT moth my little Brother-In-Law caught today to show my daughter
and I. It was huge! He said that it looked like Nike swooshes on it's
wings and feathers for antennas.
Above:
"No Name" Cow Manure....cracked me up! I never would have thought there
was "No Name" brand cow manure....had to share....lol!
Above: A few of the Pansies....
Above: My blue/purple Bell Flower blooming! I just LOVE IT!
Above:
One of my favorite flowers in my garden. It's a succulent (I believe),
supposidly flowers but has wonderful green/red colors and grows in so
nicely in my garden. I don't know what it is though. It's easy to
transplant and spread, you just have to clip pieces off and stick them
into the soil. It's great!Well, I did absolutely nothing outside today. The extend of our outdoor
activity was our walk to the Mother-In-Laws, out to feed the horses for
her and then back inside. It rained and was cloudy on and off all day making for a
not-so warm day. We stayed inside and I put our newer DVDs and VHS
that we've bought in the last year into my database of movies. We have
412 DVDs and VHS!! That is nuts!
Anyway, back to gardening stuff. My Zucchini,
Cucumbers, Thunbergia Vine, Malva Zebrina, Morning Glories, and
Broccoli have all been outside overnight and no problem. I will
hopefully get them into the ground by next week after I put them out in
the garden overnight for a few nights (they're on my covered porch so
they are protected somewhat).
I took a peak into my stump
planters while we went for our little walk to see if any of my seeds
are coming in and I am thrilled to say - YES! I am pretty happy since I
had doubted that they were going to come up this soon. The weather
hasn't been the greatest, but it has kept the soil damp therefore
keeping the seeds moist (probably better than I would have done by just
watering them since my schedule is so crazy depending on my daughter).
As things grow in some more I will take some pictures. I just hope that
the Alyssum does all right in this cooler weather since I think that is
what is coming in the most. None of the "big" seeds are coming in yet,
but I think they take longer to germinate. I can't wait for them to
come in though! The excitement of seeds, waiting for them to come up
and seeing what seeds actually germinate well. Oh-the excitement!!
Tomorrow
I am going grocery shopping so I will see if I pick up any little
gardening extras. I need to find trellis materials, metal trellises,
natural/jute twine, more Nasturtium, Zucchini, Thunbergia Vine, and
Sweet Pea Seeds, an extra hose sprayer (just in case the new one I
bought breaks, I really like this one and I want a replacement for later) and any other garden goodies I can incorporate into my garden.
Anyway, I should get to bed, it's so late and I need to get up early. I hope everyone is having the weather they desire!
Have a wonderful day!
~M~
P.S. Hannah finally got to the top of the waiting list for the eye surgery she needs to correct her "lazy" eye (man, I hate that term). She has been waiting since August 2008 and now I am stressing out. My protective mother instincts are kicking into overdrive. I was almost in tears this morning from the overwhelming feeling that the surgery is now booked and is officially going to happen. I am so scared. I really wish my Hubby was home on days like these. He'll be home in time for the surgery, but probably not for the pre-surgery appointments etc. So, I will be on my own until he comes home. Talking on the phone just doesn't seem the same as if he were here home with me talking about my fears and concerns. I will keep you all updated, her eye related appointments start at the beginning of June, so if I am MIA that is why.
Well, today was a truly beautiful day! It was so warm out, and just a really enjoyable day.
My daughter and I played out in the garden in the late afternoon after
the storm clouds rolled in. It didn't storm - only a bit of wind, and
was still pretty warm, but the clouds were definitely the kind that
some with storms.
I decided to try and get some of my seeds into the back flower garden
since I was thinking it was going to rain tonight (not happening
yet...). I have a few interesting things popping up in the back
garden. I think I have spotted 2 morning glories (from last years
seed) and some sort of other flower from seed. It is a big leafed
sprout (like the size of a bean, cucumber, zucchini, etc.) and is
possibly a sunflower but I am not sure and have no idea how it got
there, unless I planted some out there and I don't remember (which is
possible).
I planted:
Sweet Pea - Royal Family Mixed
Four O'Clocks - Marvel of Peru
Nasturtium - Jewel Mixed
Stocks - Giant Imperial Mixed
Cosmos - Sensation
Zinnia - Giant Dahlia
Sunflower - Lemon Queen
Sunflower - Velvet Queen
Sunflower - Helianthus Mixed Varieties
I still have a TON to get into the ground and am starting to feel way
behind the eight ball now. Before I felt I was way ahead of the game
so much so that I had planted some seeds inside way too early, but now
it's getting down to the wire and I HAVE to get them in for their
fullest potential! Especially the vegetables!
Vegetables I have to plan out and get in include:
Carrots
Bush beans (Green Pod Stringless)
Broccoli
Zucchini (oh how I want these to grow this year, I LOVE fried zucchini!)
Peas (Lincoln Homesteader)
Lettuce
Radish
Pumpkin (NO idea where I will be putting these, probably closer to my daughters "play area")
Tomato (4 different kinds, I don't know if any of them will
successfully grow since I am planting them directly outdoors and not
planting indoor starts because I am so behind, but it's a learning
experience isn't it? If they don't work out I will buy some extra
tomato plants to fill the void...lol)
Dill (will probably plant it in with my mint, lavender, and lemon balm
area, but not positive since it tends to look "messy" compared to
flowers.)
The good news is that the vegetable patch is pretty much finished with
soil amendments. I think I want to mix in another load of horse manure
(yeah, that is what I am trying this year, I will have to see how bad
the weeds are and learn accordingly).
When I "draw" out my basic layout in the vegetable patch (tomorrow
hopefully), I will post a picture up of it. I hope to start planting
seed tomorrow though, so I should have a layout planned by then.
Fingers crossed for me, I have to get this done!!
Anyway, more tomorrow I am sure. It is supposed to be warmer than today even! Oh-what fun! I love spring/summer! Sorry, no pictures today....
Have a wonderful week!!
~M~
P.S. Thank you to everyone how commented on my last post about Wildflowers! I just love sharing my pictures and love hearing back from you all! Thank you! I will look up the "Solomon's Seal" to see if it looks like it. Also I will post another picture once it flowers (I think it flowers...).
WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING
Yesterday I was reading through a blog entry by a member of GardenGuides.com. It was about a toxic plant his/her friend had planted in her yard that caused her to go blind now for two weeks. Below is the blog entry titled "Donkey Tail Spurge" by member "jmcandrew":
"DO NOT PLANT. I had a friend that planted this and touched her eyes, she is blind for two weeks. STAY AWAY. " --- Click her to view the members comments to this entry.
After reading the warning, out of curiosity I decided to look it up to make sure we didn't have it in our yard.
Well, as a matter of fact we do have it here in our yard! It is a plant that I had wrote about as a mystery plant in one of my GardenGuides.com blog entries a while back. I had no idea what it was and I had hoped to get it growing in my garden.
I searched online and found a website with lots of worrying information. I can't link it here, but if you do want to check out the link, you can always go to my other blog where I have it linked.
It warns of many adverse reactions including "contact dermatitis", facial swelling and burning, MAJOR eye pain and damages, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea if ingested. Please check out the website to read the user comments on it below the information. It has 6 positives reviews, 3 neutral reviews, and 10 negative reviews. Two of neutral reviews are also on the side of major caution as well as the 10 negative reviews. There are also other comments on this site regarding it's noxious weed status in Colorado as well as potentially other states. It can be invasive. Please take note.
Thank goodness Hannah never came in contact with it!! I don't know what I would have done if I planted something in my garden that caused harm to her!! Even if I came in contact with the "sap" or milky part (like dandelion milk, when you break it it leaks out) I could have transferred the burning sap to her.
I am very thankful for the person (member "jmcandrew") who put effort into warning others about this toxic plant. Thank goodness too that I decided to look it up after reading their warning!
Like I said, I can only imagine..... very scary.
Below you can see some pictures of the one we have growing in our yard:
Above
is the dried up Donkey Tail Spurge that I had attempted to get to grow
in my garden (it was a piece that had been broken off when I found it
and I thought it was in the Sedum family and that it would grow if I
covered it with dirt). 
Above
is the Donkey Tail Spurge growing near the horse round pen where we
live. It really is a nice flower when it is healthy and in it's optimum
form, but I don't think it's worth having with it's terrible toxic
properties.
Above is the dried up Donkey Tail Spurge that I had attempted to get to grow in my garden (it was a piece that had been broken off when I found it and I thought it was in the Sedum family and that it would grow if I covered it with dirt).
Above is the Donkey Tail Spurge growing near the horse round pen where we live. It really is a nice flower when it is healthy and in it's optimum form, but I don't think it's worth having with it's terrible toxic properties.
I looked it up in my garden book too and found that it is in the same family as Christmas Poinsettia. It is a huge family and not all plants in the family are poisonous but quite a few of them are. My Mom who had worked in a nursery for quite a number of years knew of the family, loves the plant and knew nothing of the severity of reactions from this plant. I am most afraid of my parents accidentally tearing this plant when they are raking leaves, then possibly touching their faces, or eyes not knowing they had come in contact with the "sap" or milky part of the plant. I hope my Mom is careful (and my Dad too!).
I also wonder if/why nurseries don't warn of it's problems? I mean some may, but my Mother-In-Law wouldn't have bought the plant knowing it's problems since she has young kids of her own. The only thing I can figure out is maybe it was marketed as a "deer resistent" perennial since we are always looking for those types of plants. Who knows, but it's pretty icky!
If you choose to keep this plant in your yard, please do handle with care and educate anyone who may possibly come in contact with this plant (ESPECIALLY CHILDREN!!!)! I will not have this in my yard and will not let Hannah near that area. If you have children, please, please, please be careful and consider removing this plant from your garden!!
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I planted the Lamium that I got for Mother's Day today after digging out two awkward rocks in a 6"X10" v-shaped area in the shadier part of my garden. I hope it does well, I really like it.
I remembered to bring the tag inside of the perennial I planted, but couldn't remember the name (I mentioned it in yesterday and a few days ago blog entries). The name of the plant is "Silene Uniflora" or "Compacta" (not sure what the Compacta part means). It is a perennial for mostly sunny area to light shade and is a lower growing spreading plant that looks nice in borders and rock gardens. It has little "white flowers with pink tint and bloom above a mat of green leaves". I really like the color of foliage (white green) and the way it looks spread out.
I will take some pictures soon and label what plants are where so that you can see all of these perennials that I have been talking about planting these last few blog entries.
My Morning Glory seeds are sprouting away in their damp paper towel home, so tomorrow they will have to be planted in some soil (probably into milk jug bottoms because I can get tons of seeds and they fit fairly well in my windowsill.
I will write some more tomorrow. Please, do think about not having Donkey Tail Spurge around unless you are fully educated on it's issues and have educated others that may come contact with it as well!
Happy Gardening....Wonderful days wished your way!
~M~
I wrote a blog entry late last night (May 8th - Midnight-1 a.m), but didn't want to post it too early so it wouldn't get bumped off too soon. If anyone is interested in that blog entry from yesterday I have it posted on my "other" blog at:
The entry will be under today's post titled "Re-Post From Garden Guides.com Blog Entry....".
It is titled: "Busy, Busy, Day Outside...."
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May 9th, 2009
Today I bought more seeds.....hence the name of this blog entry - "SEED CRAZY"!!! The seeds were only 47 cents, so I couldn't pass that bargain up!
FLOWERS:
Stocks - Giant Imperial Mixed - Annual - They are only supposed to grow to 12-18" but that doesn't exactly scream "Giant" like the name suggests.
Marigold - Sparky Mixed Colors - Annual - I really am not a fan, but my Mother-In-Law bought some Marigold flowers and I actually like the look from far away, so I thought I would try them. Plus they're supposed to keep rodents away from veggies (supposedly, I have not first hand knowledge of this though).
Morning Glory - Heavenly Blue - Annual - I LOVE Morning Glories! I have never tried the blue ones, and I figured they would go wonderfully with my pink variety! I CAN'T wait!
Four O'Clock - Marvel of Peru - Already had some of these, but I wanted to buy some more since they state "Tolerant of poor soil and heat". This will be my first year with these.
Wild Flower Mix - All Purpose Mixture - Annuals, Biennials, and Perennials - Doesn't say how tall, or what kind of flowers are in it. I would be interested to see if I can identify any of them from the seed.
VEGGIES:
Dill - Herb - Annual - Never grew Dill, but my Mom has and I remember when you'd brush up against it sometimes you could smell it. This is more of a try it and see how I like it thing.
Pumpkin - Jack O'Lantern - Pumpkins get to be 10" diameter (so not too big). I will have to find the perfect place for these guys to go. Fingers crossed they work, Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday!
Pepper - Early California Wonder - Never tried Peppers before, but it does say to start "10-12 weeks before plants are required for garden" and I would be putting them out here in about 3-5 weeks, so I am a bit behind. But who knows it may work. If not I will save some of these seeds for next year and try then.
Tomato - Cherry - I wish I had started these already, but we'll just have to see how these go as well. It "says", 65-90 day for maturity if planted outdoors, but I think I will try some indoors tomorrow. The days to maturity if planted in doors is 45-55 days.
Tomato - Rutgers - Same as above, I wish they were already started like 3 weeks ago.
Tomato - Starfire Improved - Packet "says" it's a good early variety and does well in short season areas. This packet "says" to have started these seeds 8-10 weeks before wanting them outside. I think I am behind and would likely put them out in 3-5 weeks too.
Tomato - Bush Beefsteak - Same situation as above, should have them in already, but we'll just have to see.
Carrot - Scarlet Nantes - Can always use lots of carrot seeds, I will try to plant some in two - four week batches.
Radish - Cherry Belle - My Husband and Father-In-Law like radishes, so these will be for them. They are a Veggie that I can plant fairly close together (rows 6" apart) so I should be able to get quite a bit out of a small area.
.....and that is all!
Long list, but I am looking forward to my bounty as well as my trial and errors.
I worked out in the garden for about 45 minutes, but Hannah wasn't in the mood to stay out there long. I was able to get my rock wall re-built in it's new lay-out. Then Hannah wanted to go and find Grandma. I was able to sidetrack her by asking her to find Grandma the perfect rock. Unfortunately it didn't last long, every rock she picked up was perfect according to Hannah (rocks are everywhere now, since I am stacking them in piles as I pull them out of the soil).
I hope tomorrow she will stay out there longer because I have SO MUCH work to do out there.
Garden Goals:
1.) Finish amending/digging the veggie patch.
2.) Finish planting the 5-6 perennials I still have to plant.
3.) Figure out where to plant all my seeds.
4.) Finish leveling out the area that I left with huge mounds of dirt on it.
5.) Build Natural Trellises - Using branches found on the property and maybe some natural twine (? not positive on that one yet). I need to build lots for all the Morning Glories!
6.) Fertilize my flowers (especially the bulbs).
7.) Put some mulch down on the areas I have messed up, and re-up the old mulch.
8.) More and more and more....but I love every minute of it!
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THOSE MOTHER'S OUT THERE (AND A HAPPY GRANDMOTHER'S DAY TOO!!)
More tomorrow!
~M~
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