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First one of the season: I am going to get a saucer and paint it to match to top rim of the pot. This one is a 10" terra cotta pot painted with acrylics. I am hoping to have every pot on my porch hand painted. Its going to be a lot of work, but I think it will be worth it. I am going to go start on another one now :-P
Today, at Lowes, we aquired Apophis the golden pothos of doom! I repotted him into a 10" pot and fed him some fish emulsion/fertilizer and have him under a lamp right now to baby him a bit. About a week ago we got a poor little verigated ivy plant from walmart: it was set in a pot that had no drainage so it was just sitting in water. I repotted it and now it has some new growth, sitting on the window sill next to my sewing desk. My other ivy plant is downstairs in the dinning room, with five long tendrils of foliage draping down from the top shelf of a corner rack.
I have been unable to locate any peppermint seeds at any of the stores in town or at Lowes. I did find a lovely cement bird bath with celtic knots on it. Randy didn't want to get it, though, because he said it would increase the mosquito problem. I think I would like to get it though, if I can convince Randy otherwise. I want some peppermint seeds, though! I have some leftover spearmint seeds from either last year or the year before that. Worst case scenario I can just grow that, but I really need some freshly-dried peppermint for Randy's heartburn teas.
I think we have decided to go ahead and get a solid wrought iron bistro table with four chairs from one of the local antique stores, if they still have it.
I set up our Etsy store in the past few days and we have already made a sale: it was a $1 pendant, but still, it was a sale. Shows are starting to pick up again and I am hoping to get some housework/gardening done before we get really busy in March. We are thinking that we are going to stay in our current apartment for the next ten years, saving up and working on building the business. Because we will be here for so long we are going to paint the walls and buy a dish washer *we will be able to take the dish washer with us when we leave* It would be prefferable if we coluld jsut get the one that is already here fixed, but that hasn't happened in almost a year so I am not expecting it to happen any time soon.
I am still counting the days until spring is here, bring with it warmer weather and more outdoor activities. Being self-employed will give us much more time to hike and go to the river this year than what we have had in the past.
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!
It has been cold all this week and we have gotten about maybe half an inch of snow, but tonight while walking home from a friend's house the snow was wafting down again, large fluffy flakes of ice crystals dancing on a slight breeze. The light from a near by lamp post really set them off against the night sky and for a moment the frozen stillness of a winter night, like a scene from a poem, was lingering around me, like time had slowed for just that moment for me to appreciate.
Earlier today there was a huge flock of birds in our patch of a front yard and from the second story window of our apartment it looked like a swarming mass of winged beasts coming to take over the garden. I guess they found the old birdseed I had scattered yesterday, or maybe the day before.
Tonight was a nice reminder of how essential a time of rest is for all the world in many different aspects of life. I hope everyone is enjoying their rest this winter.
its like blogging, only specifically about gardening. lol.
I am debating on whether or not it would be a good idea to plant a discreet shade garden on a piece of land that isn't technically mine but it isn't technically my neighbor's, either... its along the fence line where only brambles and weeds were growing when I moved in. Last year I cleared out most of the big stuff and had a compost pile there. I was going to plant a raised flower bed, but didn't have the means to make it happen. Now I am reconsidering it, only without the raised flower bed part, just a ground level flower bed. The only problem with that is the soil is so root bound by all the invasive tree-bushes that have been growing there that I can't get a shovel through it. Today I planted my mama mia hosta bulb in the ground there because it didn't do very well at all last year and rather than just toss it, I am going to let it try again in the ground this time instead of in a pot. I figure if it doesn't grow, then no loss, and if it does, then my shade garden will begin.
I have been spending most of today doing research on the different plants I want to try growing this year, like when to plant, what soil type, fertilizer ratios, propogation methods, folk lore, etc etc. I am having a pretty great time, and am enjoying using the new laptop *which still isn't hooked up to the net, partially because we don't have a wireless router, and partially because we don't have anti-virus software protecting it*
I tried digging up my oxalis, or burgundy shamrock, plants this morning out of their pot but the dirt was frozen solid and hard as a rock, so I set it in the sun to thaw out so that I might try later, but before I knew it the sun had set and it was uncomfortably cold again. Last year they grew well, but kept to one side of the long planter, and I think that is a result of the neighborhood cats digging around in there and getting everything mixed up, so as soon as I can I am going to try repositioning the bulbs for more even growth this year.
I also cleared away all the dead sticks and frozen tidbits of food that had once been the compost pile, relocating all of it to thhe new compost pile are, which isn't right in the line of sight of the front door.
Still waiting on spring....
Why isn't is spring yet? *you don't have to answer that, its a rhetorical question, lol* I have finished clipping, cutting and gluing my michigan bulb catalog and this morning I drew out two plans for a new flower bed. Three variets of sunflowers, some hollyhocks, foxglove, blue bird roses of sharon, bee balm, black eyed susans, and marigolds. I am also thinking I want to get a passion flower vine to climb up a support beam, but my moon flowers will be climbing up the same trellis and i dont want anyone to feel crowded. It sure would be nice to just hybernate until spring gets here.
WOO HOO!!!! I got the michigan bulb spring catalog in the mail today and the planning has begun. At this particular moment I have my eye on some black eyed susans and a butterfly/hummingbird garden package that comes with a rainbow butterfly bush, trumpet vine, 10 hardy perennial lilies, 3 everblooming purple coneflowers, 10 blazing star liatris, 3 blue columbines, and 3 dwarf daylilies, all for just $34.99, which is awesome because ever since last year I have been wanting many of these plants. A friend gave me a pod of trumpet vine seeds so now I will have twice as many to plant. I am also looking at butterfly flower mix, which comes with three plants, one each in yellow, pink, and orange, a mix of bee balms (purple, red, and pink) a stevia plant, and some "maximillian sunflowers" I plan on getting some mammoth sunflower seeds and some annuals from the local nursery when they open, and I will be planting a third generation of moonflowers. For the past few years I have been harvesting the seed pods from my moon flower vine and saving them for the next year. I have two pods waiting on a shelf for spring to get here. I am spending the evening cutting pictures out of the magazine and gluing them in my garden journal.
In business news, we had a show today and did ok; there was practically no cost to go because it was free to set up a booth, and we weren't expecting too great a turn out because it is just right after the holidays, but we are going to go back next week to sell again.
We will be in Texas and Missouri from Jan. 13-20 visiting family. Don't know how I feel about that just yet, lol, but we will be coming home with a new old van (new to us, old to the world, hehe) so that will be great.
I think gardening is a metaphor for life. maybe. ;-)
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