GAH. The seeds in the mini greenhaus have been coming along merrily, even the purple calico ornamental pepper (I've determined ir's that one rather than mixing it up with the tricolore garda, as the leaves are purple), EXCEPT I noticed that last couple days that a couple seedlings keeled over.
GOSH DAMP IT! It looks like there's some damping off going on. I've possibly been a little too water bottle spray happy and the cracks in the plastic of my geenhaus obviously have not done a great job venting (I know, not their purpose, but I still had hope). I also had been gone for a while and got carried away by other household things I probably was not opening up, checking and airing out the seedlings enough as I should.
I've pulled out the sad flopped over seedlings, only 2 and it looks like that they're all purple calico peppers and it hasn't spread too much I hope.
As a potentially too late method to prevent further damage I'm taking one from the Gayla Trail/Martha Stewart advice book (not a collaboration, just things they've mentioned in the past) that I constantly forget to use: CINNAMON.
So, there I was with a palm full of cinnamon in front of my little seedlings just blowing all this powdered cinnamon into the greenhaus box and on the seedlings and surface of their dirt in fervent prayer that this will protect them or heal them and whatnot. It reminded me of all those cheesy stereotypical scenes from movies that had an indigenous medicine man/woman blowing some sort of mystical powder on their patient or something.
Everything in there smells delicious at least.
*sigh* If I had been smart I'd have blown the cinnamon on top of the surface of the pots BEFORE I plant the seeds. I've never really had a damping off problem before, so I'll just hope that it doesn't proceed to total seedling meltdown. My own personal tomato/pepper/tomatillo Chernobyl I swear.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Pot cleaning, the lazy way
I've been weening myself off of bleach for a while now (other than my toilet tank cleaner, so hard to let go! Anyone know of a good alternative?), in favor of washing soda, borax, baking soda and oxyclean (which I think is like dry hydrogen peroxide, didn't check the chemical formula).
I'm trying not to use bleach because of its effects on my lungs, the environment and its potentially carcinogenic nature (I know, I know, what isn't carcinogenic nowadays...) But as many good gardeners are supposed to wash their pots out with a dilute bleach solution to rid hem of disease I've been in a bit of a quandary.
My solution thus far, part in due to laziness/timeliness is to place my pots outside, in the sun and ESPECIALLY the rain where the rain can naturally clean all the dirt and grime off of them and let the good ol' UV rays of the sun kill whatever is on them. Like bleaching your clothes in the sun is my theory.
No chemically water to dispose of and really, no work at all! It's great! Anyone have any brilliant ways to wash their pots (children not included)?
UPDATE: OK, I clean vinegar with everything... and after a couple of "what about vinegar?" comments (from my sister included) I feel like an idiot. Where was my brain (as usual?) when I wrote this??? Ooops, too busy noshing on morning glories. JUST KIDDING.
I'm trying not to use bleach because of its effects on my lungs, the environment and its potentially carcinogenic nature (I know, I know, what isn't carcinogenic nowadays...) But as many good gardeners are supposed to wash their pots out with a dilute bleach solution to rid hem of disease I've been in a bit of a quandary.
My solution thus far, part in due to laziness/timeliness is to place my pots outside, in the sun and ESPECIALLY the rain where the rain can naturally clean all the dirt and grime off of them and let the good ol' UV rays of the sun kill whatever is on them. Like bleaching your clothes in the sun is my theory.
No chemically water to dispose of and really, no work at all! It's great! Anyone have any brilliant ways to wash their pots (children not included)?
UPDATE: OK, I clean vinegar with everything... and after a couple of "what about vinegar?" comments (from my sister included) I feel like an idiot. Where was my brain (as usual?) when I wrote this??? Ooops, too busy noshing on morning glories. JUST KIDDING.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Tales from the Garden: Orange Thing
So while poking around my garden searching for a already established good low groundcover to fill the garden paths of my large garden beds, I contemplated the woodland/Indian strawberry (edible, but no flavor, best for the birds) that's taken over the main shrubbery/azalea bed (which I'm fine w/ because that means no mulching, woohoo!)
I started pulling up some that was invading a pebbly portion of a path adjacent to this bed when I noticed this:
Thereupon I flipped out and screaming in my head, "WHAT THE HECK?!" and many frightening things such as strawberry blight or rust or whatnot flitted through my brain.
ALL of the woodland strawberry runners that I pulled had this weird orange-y spotted stuff on it, as did a lot of the stuff at the edge of the bed I was pulling from too.
Off to Google I went and my racing heart was able to slow down after I have concluded that all is well. Well, mostly.
(another closeup of the horror)
What I think my woodland strawberry has here is some orange slime mold. Innocuous from what I have been reading unless the slime mold decides to totally smother the plants, but as I have so many I am not worried. The slime mold probably cropped up due to the wet weather we've had as of late and has been partying right beneath my nose.
I'll keep an eye on it and see if it makes any moves I don't like, but for now, it's some additional color to the garden?
This slime mold scare made me rethink my idea of using the woodland strawberry as a good path groundcover (it's invasiveness is frightening and I shuddered if my husband was to mow over it and it were to get into the big compost pile we chuck our grass clipping into).
So, I've pulled up a bunch of the oregano I allowed to spread as ground cover underneath some other bushes and have placed them in the garden paths. I'm hoping that they'll spread nicely and I'll get a good oregano scent when I stomp around on it in the garden and supposedly oregano oil keeps the mosquitoes away (HOPE). Either way, probably more pleasant than the strawberry in the long run. In addition, I had some straggling roman chamomile and stomped it down into the path as well in hopes that I'll get some green apple-y scented goodness too this spring/summer AND also popped some pennyroyal that was running around in the back of the beds in hope that the sun sheltered area will allow them to flourish.
May there be scented deliciousness this summer by my garden beds!
I started pulling up some that was invading a pebbly portion of a path adjacent to this bed when I noticed this:
Thereupon I flipped out and screaming in my head, "WHAT THE HECK?!" and many frightening things such as strawberry blight or rust or whatnot flitted through my brain.
ALL of the woodland strawberry runners that I pulled had this weird orange-y spotted stuff on it, as did a lot of the stuff at the edge of the bed I was pulling from too.
Off to Google I went and my racing heart was able to slow down after I have concluded that all is well. Well, mostly.
(another closeup of the horror)
(What I think my woodland strawberry has here is some orange slime mold. Innocuous from what I have been reading unless the slime mold decides to totally smother the plants, but as I have so many I am not worried. The slime mold probably cropped up due to the wet weather we've had as of late and has been partying right beneath my nose.
I'll keep an eye on it and see if it makes any moves I don't like, but for now, it's some additional color to the garden?
This slime mold scare made me rethink my idea of using the woodland strawberry as a good path groundcover (it's invasiveness is frightening and I shuddered if my husband was to mow over it and it were to get into the big compost pile we chuck our grass clipping into).
So, I've pulled up a bunch of the oregano I allowed to spread as ground cover underneath some other bushes and have placed them in the garden paths. I'm hoping that they'll spread nicely and I'll get a good oregano scent when I stomp around on it in the garden and supposedly oregano oil keeps the mosquitoes away (HOPE). Either way, probably more pleasant than the strawberry in the long run. In addition, I had some straggling roman chamomile and stomped it down into the path as well in hopes that I'll get some green apple-y scented goodness too this spring/summer AND also popped some pennyroyal that was running around in the back of the beds in hope that the sun sheltered area will allow them to flourish.
May there be scented deliciousness this summer by my garden beds!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
It's official: Melissa officinalis sure gets around
As I mentioned before, the lemon balm, aka Melissa officinalis, LIKE THE MINT, is slowing making its way around the garden. In the path... in the gutter areas... by the compost bin.. in random places in the yard.
In the yard it will just get mowed of course, cool, fine.
In random places in the garden beds, not so good. Plus, I like to utilize this stuff or at least give the herb away so others can enjoy theagony of keeping it in order it's lemony presence.
As its Greek/Latin name says, Melissa means bee and you can surmise this is a great bee attractor with its tiny little flowers develop later. This is a plus as I am trying to attract more pollinators, so the plan is rather than seek and eat/destroy this herb, I'll be moving it around to far corners of the yard to try to increase bee/pollinator production, yet keep it in places where I hopefully will not accidentally drag seed around when I cut the stalks. It's always so hard for me to cut the stalks when there are flowers on it because the nectar starved bees go at them even when they're in seed it seems. Another note: CARRY A PLASTIC BAG TO HOLD SEEDS IN WHEN I CUT THE SEED STALKS OFF. This would probably prevent all the seeds from going everywhere in the first place.
Unorganized gardening (bending down for a weed here that catches my eye, pruning there) walking aimlessly around in the garden is fine, fun and relaxing, but you'd think I'd have learned my lesson with crazy plants like perilla/shiso/beefsteak plant and now lemon balm. Brill.
In the yard it will just get mowed of course, cool, fine.
In random places in the garden beds, not so good. Plus, I like to utilize this stuff or at least give the herb away so others can enjoy the
As its Greek/Latin name says, Melissa means bee and you can surmise this is a great bee attractor with its tiny little flowers develop later. This is a plus as I am trying to attract more pollinators, so the plan is rather than seek and eat/destroy this herb, I'll be moving it around to far corners of the yard to try to increase bee/pollinator production, yet keep it in places where I hopefully will not accidentally drag seed around when I cut the stalks. It's always so hard for me to cut the stalks when there are flowers on it because the nectar starved bees go at them even when they're in seed it seems. Another note: CARRY A PLASTIC BAG TO HOLD SEEDS IN WHEN I CUT THE SEED STALKS OFF. This would probably prevent all the seeds from going everywhere in the first place.
Unorganized gardening (bending down for a weed here that catches my eye, pruning there) walking aimlessly around in the garden is fine, fun and relaxing, but you'd think I'd have learned my lesson with crazy plants like perilla/shiso/beefsteak plant and now lemon balm. Brill.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The Taming of the Mint
Being a gardener with very little brain sometimes I do dumb to extremely dumb things.
Like, plant mint in my herb garden... unpartitioned and not in a container >_<.
My mom in law warned me about its invasiveness... which I was aware of and breezily said, "Oh, I'll just keep it in check by making lots of mint tea all the time..."
Ha. ha. ha. Yeah, it's jumped a mini barrier I had and now I have been digging the undershoots up and laying down some cans to create a barrier. At this point, I don't think there's any chance I can eradicate it at this point, not like I want to either, but it does need to be tamed/kept tame.
(I still need more cans to fill the barrier up, and so I guess a lot of canned tomatoes need to be eaten soonish :) (I think I'm going to try a double barrier too, which I suspect might be futile, but hey I can hope)
They really need a garden tool that looks like a lion tamer's whip to handle this. Oh... oh yeah, I did win a cobra head tool (thanks again Anneliese!) a while back... probably a good start to my hot minty mess.
It's such a a pity too, because while I like mint, my husband doesn't for the most part (he can't even handle mint toothpaste). He does fine with it in certain ethnic food dishes, but yeah, at my house I am the mint consumer of the year.
Mint, like basil is also one of those great herb types that have a MILLION varieties that sound great. I'm rescuing a chocolate variety that got pot bound and sucked up water like mad and was thus sick and dried out for a while, but they're real survivors... too good almost. Like the roaches of a post apocalyptic plant world. But yes, variety! Lemons, limes, Vietnamese versions... so many it's astounding, but unless I have some good pots or a field... no extra mints for me.
(Augh! There goes ones now... getting between the cracks towards freedom!)
Mint! The natural FreshMaker!(Please don't sue me Mentos!)
Like, plant mint in my herb garden... unpartitioned and not in a container >_<.
My mom in law warned me about its invasiveness... which I was aware of and breezily said, "Oh, I'll just keep it in check by making lots of mint tea all the time..."
Ha. ha. ha. Yeah, it's jumped a mini barrier I had and now I have been digging the undershoots up and laying down some cans to create a barrier. At this point, I don't think there's any chance I can eradicate it at this point, not like I want to either, but it does need to be tamed/kept tame.
(I still need more cans to fill the barrier up, and so I guess a lot of canned tomatoes need to be eaten soonish :) (I think I'm going to try a double barrier too, which I suspect might be futile, but hey I can hope)
They really need a garden tool that looks like a lion tamer's whip to handle this. Oh... oh yeah, I did win a cobra head tool (thanks again Anneliese!) a while back... probably a good start to my hot minty mess.
It's such a a pity too, because while I like mint, my husband doesn't for the most part (he can't even handle mint toothpaste). He does fine with it in certain ethnic food dishes, but yeah, at my house I am the mint consumer of the year.
Mint, like basil is also one of those great herb types that have a MILLION varieties that sound great. I'm rescuing a chocolate variety that got pot bound and sucked up water like mad and was thus sick and dried out for a while, but they're real survivors... too good almost. Like the roaches of a post apocalyptic plant world. But yes, variety! Lemons, limes, Vietnamese versions... so many it's astounding, but unless I have some good pots or a field... no extra mints for me.
(Augh! There goes ones now... getting between the cracks towards freedom!)
(Mint! The natural FreshMaker!(Please don't sue me Mentos!)
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Garden Update: Plants bolting like greased lightning!
I didn't think the weather had gotten that nice, especially when I went away for a last minute trip for about a week, but over that time my tatsoi mustard decided to bolt when I wasn't looking:
It looked delicious, beautiful and rosette leafy when I left it, I made a salad from quite a few full heads before transplanting these guys before I left (to bolt, honestly) for eventual seed saving. I still didn't expect the dramatic metamorphosis in the week I was gone.
They look great, and if they're like other mustards, will probably give me a plethora of seeds (ha, anyone seen the Three Amigos?)
I wonder if my moving them might have stimulated bolting, or if one near 70 degree F day when I full-on gardened prior to my departure kicked them into bolting gear? Probably that one day, I don't think I've ever heard of transplanting to cause bolting.
In anticipation of the tatsoi mustards going to bolt, I planted kohlrabi seeds right next to the mustard base so that I'll have something to make up for mustard once it seeds and I have to cut it down. Not sure if this will work well, but I figured I might as well give it a try.
Another plant that's bolted (and has been in that state for quite a while now) is the baby bok choi). It's nice to see some flowers in this weather, and their spoonlike cupped leaves beneath the flowers are pretty dandy too. They've been in flower for good time... I wonder when they'll seed. I realized that I didn't eat the bok choy as often as I should have, but I think I hadn't prepared/research enough recipes. Ah well, seeds for me.
My gargantuan garden to do list is 3/4 done (except I always keep thinking of things to add to it...) The biggest change was some of the planned garden layout. This change is due greatly in part to my rampant strawberries. The daughter plants/offshoots have been wild and I have not had time to move them/thin them properly, so either I should allow the beds to be primarily strawberries, thin the strawberries to plant seeds in the bed with them, or I need to seed start and plant large enough seedlings in with the bed to be able to compete (terrible I know) with the strawberry plants. I'm going with the latter and will just start some seeds on a nice sunny day outside and then plant them in the bed. There would be no way a seed could find some sun and air in that mess.
Here is the new garden setup (click pic to see all the detail):
It looked delicious, beautiful and rosette leafy when I left it, I made a salad from quite a few full heads before transplanting these guys before I left (to bolt, honestly) for eventual seed saving. I still didn't expect the dramatic metamorphosis in the week I was gone.
They look great, and if they're like other mustards, will probably give me a plethora of seeds (ha, anyone seen the Three Amigos?)
I wonder if my moving them might have stimulated bolting, or if one near 70 degree F day when I full-on gardened prior to my departure kicked them into bolting gear? Probably that one day, I don't think I've ever heard of transplanting to cause bolting.
In anticipation of the tatsoi mustards going to bolt, I planted kohlrabi seeds right next to the mustard base so that I'll have something to make up for mustard once it seeds and I have to cut it down. Not sure if this will work well, but I figured I might as well give it a try.
Another plant that's bolted (and has been in that state for quite a while now) is the baby bok choi). It's nice to see some flowers in this weather, and their spoonlike cupped leaves beneath the flowers are pretty dandy too. They've been in flower for good time... I wonder when they'll seed. I realized that I didn't eat the bok choy as often as I should have, but I think I hadn't prepared/research enough recipes. Ah well, seeds for me.
My gargantuan garden to do list is 3/4 done (except I always keep thinking of things to add to it...) The biggest change was some of the planned garden layout. This change is due greatly in part to my rampant strawberries. The daughter plants/offshoots have been wild and I have not had time to move them/thin them properly, so either I should allow the beds to be primarily strawberries, thin the strawberries to plant seeds in the bed with them, or I need to seed start and plant large enough seedlings in with the bed to be able to compete (terrible I know) with the strawberry plants. I'm going with the latter and will just start some seeds on a nice sunny day outside and then plant them in the bed. There would be no way a seed could find some sun and air in that mess.
Here is the new garden setup (click pic to see all the detail):
Monday, March 15, 2010
Self seeders. Gotta love 'em. (and some perennial veg goodness thrown in for good measure)
A boon to having a ridiculous amount of plants/herbs: self seeders.
Many years of letting the plants "just go" has made my garden basil/parsley/cilantro/oregano (a perennial.. I know, but it's flowered and seeded too!)/garlic (off shoot bulbs, yada)/Egyptian walking onion (YES!)/dill (sort of) and now recently feverfew, California poppy and bells of Ireland seem to be going on autopilot. I find my India mustard to be easily self seeding too, but I know I'm supposed to "rotate" my beds and etc to avoid pests and disease. I try to tear up the mustard from the bed each year and replant it in a different place, but those everlasting seeds always crop right back up in the bed or wherever I've dragged the plant off to.
Not that I mind (I eat all the errant little child plants), but it can be a little weird when I find self sown seedlings in the garden path or in the flower bed or by the trash can.
Ah, an entirely self seeded vegetable/herb garden is THE perfect garden for me...
Diane Meucci at Gardens Oy Vey has self seeded Siberian kale ALL over her nursery, not just for looks, but for eatin' too. Definitely a worthy goal to aspire to.
On top of the self seeders, I'm working towards the perennial vegetable garden and have the asparagus bed, mache/corn lettuce/lambsquarters, (hopefully sunchokes), strawberries and garlic down. I'll probably be getting rhubarb sometime soon-ish from my awesome mother in law. Artichokes are a possibility, but seems a bit limiting for the space they use and I understand that sunflower buds are just as nice.
I'm still working on getting the horseradish to take to the pot I've been babying it in, but it was an abysmal mess last year. Incredible for horseradish too.
I had an air potato plant that I was worried would be invasive but never got to eat it. Then I lost the little seed air potatoes in the great frost/amongst the vines.
This book: Perennial Vegetables: From Artichokes to Zuiki Taro, A Gardener's Guide to Over 100 Delicious and Easy to Grow Edibles caught my eye a while back and I am somewhat interested, but I think it's geared towards those who are lucky enough to live in very nice zones, ie 8/9+
If you live in the right climate, lots of vegetables can become perennial. I hear in Florida eggplants and tomatoes are known to live just about forever .
Either way, I can't move my garden to Florida (and I'm not a huge fan of beaches anyway). So it's best to make do, get tricky with Mother Nature and build cold frames. Lots of them.
Many years of letting the plants "just go" has made my garden basil/parsley/cilantro/oregano (a perennial.. I know, but it's flowered and seeded too!)/garlic (off shoot bulbs, yada)/Egyptian walking onion (YES!)/dill (sort of) and now recently feverfew, California poppy and bells of Ireland seem to be going on autopilot. I find my India mustard to be easily self seeding too, but I know I'm supposed to "rotate" my beds and etc to avoid pests and disease. I try to tear up the mustard from the bed each year and replant it in a different place, but those everlasting seeds always crop right back up in the bed or wherever I've dragged the plant off to.
Not that I mind (I eat all the errant little child plants), but it can be a little weird when I find self sown seedlings in the garden path or in the flower bed or by the trash can.
Ah, an entirely self seeded vegetable/herb garden is THE perfect garden for me...
Diane Meucci at Gardens Oy Vey has self seeded Siberian kale ALL over her nursery, not just for looks, but for eatin' too. Definitely a worthy goal to aspire to.
On top of the self seeders, I'm working towards the perennial vegetable garden and have the asparagus bed, mache/corn lettuce/lambsquarters, (hopefully sunchokes), strawberries and garlic down. I'll probably be getting rhubarb sometime soon-ish from my awesome mother in law. Artichokes are a possibility, but seems a bit limiting for the space they use and I understand that sunflower buds are just as nice.
I'm still working on getting the horseradish to take to the pot I've been babying it in, but it was an abysmal mess last year. Incredible for horseradish too.
I had an air potato plant that I was worried would be invasive but never got to eat it. Then I lost the little seed air potatoes in the great frost/amongst the vines.
This book: Perennial Vegetables: From Artichokes to Zuiki Taro, A Gardener's Guide to Over 100 Delicious and Easy to Grow Edibles caught my eye a while back and I am somewhat interested, but I think it's geared towards those who are lucky enough to live in very nice zones, ie 8/9+
If you live in the right climate, lots of vegetables can become perennial. I hear in Florida eggplants and tomatoes are known to live just about forever .
Either way, I can't move my garden to Florida (and I'm not a huge fan of beaches anyway). So it's best to make do, get tricky with Mother Nature and build cold frames. Lots of them.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Tomato fertilization: crazy talk?
A little early to be talking about this, but when there is a vegetable garden involved, tomatoes invariably come to mind (if you don't like tomatoes, BLASPHEMY! ;)
Anyways, the first year I ever grew tomatoes was embarassing. I didn't quite understand the concept of pinching off the suckers/off shoots/axis shoots, and ended up with a BARE tomato stem with a mere 3 leaves per tomato plant. So stupid...
The year after that (and learning to be smarter, I did real research) I planted my tomato seedlings to their first axis and gave them a cute foil ring around the base and just below the surface of the stem to prevent dreaded cut worms (which I have never encounter, yea!) Prior to planting the tomato seedlings though, I placed a whole uncracked raw egg at the bottom of the hole.
I read in theory, there's sulfur in the egg and nutrients such as calcium in it that will make your tomato grow well. I admit, the tomatoes went GANGBUSTERS that year (though anything compared to my first year might be considered awesome).
I would like to add that after I pulled up my tomatoes at the end of the season my dog got VERY interested in the hole the tomato was in and as it turned out, at least one egg was still uncracked and chilling just fine where I first placed it so many months ago.
Of course until my dog decided she wanted to eat it.
Then the egg cracked and the smell proved that no, not fresh anymore ;P Ick.
Anyways, as I continue to read and learn about gardening (because it never stops?!) I keep running into all sorts of random thoughts and ideas as to how best to fertilize or give your tomato plants a good start.
A recent tip was to add hair to the hole you're planting your tomatoes in, because of the "trace amounts of sulfur" in your hair (your hair does smell sulfur-y when it's burnt). Unless you've been saving your hair... (which I do... I always figured that it was compostable anyways and it's so easy to save when it's in your brush or on the shower floor, sorry for that image, I know some of you are squeamish about hair), but I also can only assume my dog's fur/hair would work in the same concept and considering the way she sheds, it's great to find the dog is still finding ways to pay her way in this house!
If only she was a reliable hole digger...
Another tip was to use leftover raw fish parts/bones to bury in with your tomato plant. You think cats like fish? Well so does my dog. Actually, she LOVES fish. She ended up having to be quarantined from the yard for some weeks after that.
Anyone else have any interesting or bizarre "How to fertilize your tomato plants?" ideas/tips that I might be unaware of? (compost tea, and seaweed excepting) It's interesting to see what our tomato-phile loving culture does to make the best and most delicious 'maters!
Anyways, the first year I ever grew tomatoes was embarassing. I didn't quite understand the concept of pinching off the suckers/off shoots/axis shoots, and ended up with a BARE tomato stem with a mere 3 leaves per tomato plant. So stupid...
The year after that (and learning to be smarter, I did real research) I planted my tomato seedlings to their first axis and gave them a cute foil ring around the base and just below the surface of the stem to prevent dreaded cut worms (which I have never encounter, yea!) Prior to planting the tomato seedlings though, I placed a whole uncracked raw egg at the bottom of the hole.
I read in theory, there's sulfur in the egg and nutrients such as calcium in it that will make your tomato grow well. I admit, the tomatoes went GANGBUSTERS that year (though anything compared to my first year might be considered awesome).
I would like to add that after I pulled up my tomatoes at the end of the season my dog got VERY interested in the hole the tomato was in and as it turned out, at least one egg was still uncracked and chilling just fine where I first placed it so many months ago.
Of course until my dog decided she wanted to eat it.
Then the egg cracked and the smell proved that no, not fresh anymore ;P Ick.
Anyways, as I continue to read and learn about gardening (because it never stops?!) I keep running into all sorts of random thoughts and ideas as to how best to fertilize or give your tomato plants a good start.
A recent tip was to add hair to the hole you're planting your tomatoes in, because of the "trace amounts of sulfur" in your hair (your hair does smell sulfur-y when it's burnt). Unless you've been saving your hair... (which I do... I always figured that it was compostable anyways and it's so easy to save when it's in your brush or on the shower floor, sorry for that image, I know some of you are squeamish about hair), but I also can only assume my dog's fur/hair would work in the same concept and considering the way she sheds, it's great to find the dog is still finding ways to pay her way in this house!
If only she was a reliable hole digger...
Another tip was to use leftover raw fish parts/bones to bury in with your tomato plant. You think cats like fish? Well so does my dog. Actually, she LOVES fish. She ended up having to be quarantined from the yard for some weeks after that.
Anyone else have any interesting or bizarre "How to fertilize your tomato plants?" ideas/tips that I might be unaware of? (compost tea, and seaweed excepting) It's interesting to see what our tomato-phile loving culture does to make the best and most delicious 'maters!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Garden ornamental eating epiphany!
I recently got a coupon from Home Depot, as I'm part of their "Garden Club" or "Home Improver club" (or maybe that's the Lowe's version?) or whatever they want to call or lump it in with now.
(Oh, and also not affiliated or whatnot with them, I'm just stating a fact and am not special in any way and it's easy to be a part of this "club")
Back to the point, the coupon is for a buy one, get one free houseplant. I have plenty of house plants I think and in the winter that explodes because some of the edibles become houseplants, so obviously I was trying to think of houseplants of potential (especially ones that hang to save space because horizontal space is precious here).
I had a duh moment and remembered that I've always wanted to try fuchsia, because the flowers can be spectacular, it's commonly hung and finally YOU CAN EAT THE BERRIES. And make JAM!
The only tricky part that I've heard is that some of the berries are significantly better than others and finding the variety that is tasty can be hard as big box stores tend to carry houseplants for show, rather than for actual use.
Double petal/flower fuchsia are what's often seen in the stores I know and I hear that the large showy flowers can cut down on fruit production, so that's a minus. Also I find that many of the big box places don't always list the Latin name of the plants, so I don't know if I'll find any of the suggested fuchsia varieties below if I can't figure out their true identity:
-Fuchsia corymbiflora
-Fuchsia excorticata aka Kotukutuku
-Fuchsia splendens and cultivar 'Karl Hartweg'
-Fuchsia boliviana 'Alba'
-Fuchsia regia
-Fuchsia venusta
-Fuchsia procumbens
-Fuchsia magellanica and cultivars 'Globosa' and 'Tresco'
While researching, I've also found that the F. magellanica is potentially hardy in this area! Some places say zones 7+ and others 6+. Either way, here in zone 7a, if I
The coupon expires mid-March and I am also uncertain if they'll have plants like that even out yet. Crud. Maybe it would be better to just order online for certain?
Another silly epiphany I have was bamboo!
Down here it can grow pretty rampant and I know that some people have difficulty controlling it. Someone I know controls her's by kicking the bamboo shoots multiple times each time they pop up and that controls them well enough. I luckily reminded her that you can totally eat bamboo shoots and we did end up cooking them up with some soy sauce and sesame oil, which was excellent.
So, why the heck did I not think about growing bamboo before?! (well, I was worried it would get out of control...I can eat it, and it would be an accessible resource for gardening! I am such an idiot, why didn't I start this earlier?! Adding to my list... "see if I can trade for bamboo this year..."
If anyone in the area has some of the either above, tasty fuchsia and bamboo (all young shoots are edible, is what I've read), please tell me if I'd be able to trade for it. Grand plans this year, grand plans! :)
(Oh, and also not affiliated or whatnot with them, I'm just stating a fact and am not special in any way and it's easy to be a part of this "club")
Back to the point, the coupon is for a buy one, get one free houseplant. I have plenty of house plants I think and in the winter that explodes because some of the edibles become houseplants, so obviously I was trying to think of houseplants of potential (especially ones that hang to save space because horizontal space is precious here).
I had a duh moment and remembered that I've always wanted to try fuchsia, because the flowers can be spectacular, it's commonly hung and finally YOU CAN EAT THE BERRIES. And make JAM!
The only tricky part that I've heard is that some of the berries are significantly better than others and finding the variety that is tasty can be hard as big box stores tend to carry houseplants for show, rather than for actual use.
Double petal/flower fuchsia are what's often seen in the stores I know and I hear that the large showy flowers can cut down on fruit production, so that's a minus. Also I find that many of the big box places don't always list the Latin name of the plants, so I don't know if I'll find any of the suggested fuchsia varieties below if I can't figure out their true identity:
-Fuchsia corymbiflora
-Fuchsia excorticata aka Kotukutuku
-Fuchsia splendens and cultivar 'Karl Hartweg'
-Fuchsia boliviana 'Alba'
-Fuchsia regia
-Fuchsia venusta
-Fuchsia procumbens
-Fuchsia magellanica and cultivars 'Globosa' and 'Tresco'
While researching, I've also found that the F. magellanica is potentially hardy in this area! Some places say zones 7+ and others 6+. Either way, here in zone 7a, if I
The coupon expires mid-March and I am also uncertain if they'll have plants like that even out yet. Crud. Maybe it would be better to just order online for certain?
Another silly epiphany I have was bamboo!
Down here it can grow pretty rampant and I know that some people have difficulty controlling it. Someone I know controls her's by kicking the bamboo shoots multiple times each time they pop up and that controls them well enough. I luckily reminded her that you can totally eat bamboo shoots and we did end up cooking them up with some soy sauce and sesame oil, which was excellent.
So, why the heck did I not think about growing bamboo before?! (well, I was worried it would get out of control...I can eat it, and it would be an accessible resource for gardening! I am such an idiot, why didn't I start this earlier?! Adding to my list... "see if I can trade for bamboo this year..."
If anyone in the area has some of the either above, tasty fuchsia and bamboo (all young shoots are edible, is what I've read), please tell me if I'd be able to trade for it. Grand plans this year, grand plans! :)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Quick Blotanical update
Just a quick update to all of those from Blotanical who have commented that they are unable to add/favorite and etc. my blog.
Stuart's help desk has informed me that there was an error with my RSS feeder updating to Blotanical, and it is now fixed, so feel free to add/comment/favorite me on Blotanical and thank you once again for visiting!b
Stuart's help desk has informed me that there was an error with my RSS feeder updating to Blotanical, and it is now fixed, so feel free to add/comment/favorite me on Blotanical and thank you once again for visiting!b
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