Recently in Gardening Category

Okay, so they aren’t quite that majestic yet, but they are working on it, give them another hundred years or so…

Then again, Bonsai is quicker with them, maybe they will settle for cute and not majestic?

I have had my AeroGarden tomatoes going for several months now. Over a month ago I ran out of nutrient tablets, but a strange thing has happened. Since running out of nutrient tablets the tomatoes are growing better and producing more than they did when the plants were being actively fed. This is making me curious as to how exactly the nutrients work, and if the “refill” nutrients are ever really required.

In the shortest Back Order of my life, my Sequoia seeds have arrived :-)

On Tuesday I began searching for a new variety of strawberry to plant, something distinct from the ones that I have presently. I ran across Whatcom Seed Company, a company with relatively few varieties of plant, but the ones they do have are rare and exotic. They do not sell plants, just seeds. Today my order arrived (I ordered the strawberries, Coastal Redwood [Sequoia], Blue Shrimp Plant, Cedar Cup, Turk’s Cap Lilly, and Japanese Flowering Cherry). My Redwood was backordered, so it will arrive later. The order arrived with the seeds really well packed in plastic bags (not waxed paper shit some companies use), as well as with complete instructions for how to get them to germinate. The company won’t guarantee germination (because some varieties are difficult), but they provide a lot of information to insure that the seeds will grow.

The website  for this new supplier has given me an idea for a new hobby that I would like to try, Bonsai, a specialty of the company. I ordered the Seqoia and the Japanese Cherry to be full size trees, but with more than 50 seeds of each one, I don’t think I want that many full size trees, so Bonsai could be fun with them. I am presently considering starting each of my new seeds in my AeroGarden to ensure their germination.

I planted this bush/tree in my yard about three years ago. I thought it was just a flowering tree, but now it is producing berries/fruit and I have no idea what it is. Does anyone recognize what type of plant this is? In the spring it did blossom, but they were short-lived, and over the spring these fruits have been forming in their place. At present the bush is about 5 or 6 feet tall. It is very bushy, and all of the limbs are very pliable. These fruits are sporadically placed throughout the branches from about 1ft from the top to the very bottom branch. I am very curious as to what this plant is.

Last time I grew herbs in an AeroGarden I didn't have the ability to take macro pics, but now I do. Here are a few of them:

 
Purple Basil                                            Chives
 
Mint                                                       Thyme

Dill

I have been looking to find some perineals to replace some of my "re-seeding annuals" in my front flowerbed. I was scouring the Burpee catalog and looking online for some good plants. I found many of the plants to be overly expensive for what equates roughly to a freeze-dried live plants. The other day in the Lowe's garden center (I had a valid reason for going, I really did) I found these nice hibiscus plants, all on sale :-), so I bought one. I bought one that had none of its blooms open yet, so that the plant would stay dormant a little longer. I was hoping to plant it shortly after I purchased it, but the weather went cold again, so the hibiscus (and the Moses in the Cradle that I bought the same day) have become house plants for now. I am hoping to get them both in the ground this weekend, although, the hibiscus gave us a nice show while inside (see above).

Today I woke up fairly late in the day and have been having the weirdest mood shifts and changes in objectives. I have a chapter to finish for my novel, I have put in several random attempts at effort on it, for the same course I also have to "explicate a poem", which I can do, but I just have to pick a poem for it. In addition to those assignments, I also have to finish my perspective drawing to turn it in on Monday, and also draw an orange with full shading and texture in my sketch book. I have been letting all of this go through my head and I am bouncing between thoughts in my head way too quickly. I have considered working on the mid-term for one of my online classes as well, but haven't started on it (100 questions, all to be done and turned in by April 7th, most likely by UPS).

Other than academic stuff, I have been looking at LiveCurt.net again, working on some stuff for it and trying to get a grasp of what it is supposed to be. I am feeling like I am trying to do a 4 dimensional website in a 2 dimensional space. I have played with Google Analytics some, primarily adding the Art blog to it. I have also been playing with the idea of a centralized location for all of my blogs, which I then realized are all about me, so therefore belong on LiveCurt.net (my domain-registering addiction is foiled again). Oh, and I have been trying to write blog posts on random shit, and pretty much getting no where. I played a game a little while ago, thinking maybe it would calm me down and let me focus, nope, didn't happen, I'm still bouncing off the walls with stuff to do, but not nearly enough ambition to accomplish any of them.

Finally, I did finish my loop of looking for a digital camera for my course this summer. I still haven't decided on or purchased one, but I have at least placed a fall-back candidate in my head. If I can't decide on anything else, then I am going with the Fugifilm FinePix S5200. It isn't a true SLR camera, but it gives me the functionality I need for the course. SLR cameras are a little scary with how they work. I don't like the idea of using a camera that has to rotate a mirror to take a picture, but I guess if I find a real SLR camera that I like, I will go for it, although, the S5200 is definitely a piece to drool over.

Today I have done a lot of "half-done" things, but fully completed nothing. Maybe tomorrow will be part 2 and I will get everything done.

This evening I convinced myself that I should never accept a good deal from a plant supplier. Back in December my mother was becoming excited at the concept of growing her own strawberries, in January, Burpee sent me an email offer for strawberry plants. I purchased 25 strawberry plants for $15. Not a bad deal, oh, but they made the deal sweeter, for an additional $10, get 50 strawberry plants... ok, no big deal, 50 strawberry plants ordered, to arrive at a later date. The strawberries left my mind until about a week ago, I received a UPS Quantum View notification from Burpee, a package was coming to me. Last Thursday they arrived, 50 strawberry plants, neatly wrapped and ready for planting. I was far from ready for the plants, so I had to make quick plans to get them in the ground.

Yesterday I obtained 100 lbs of cow manure compost (its better than it sounds) and 3.8 cu.ft. of peat moss. I prepared the ground today, placing alternating layers of peat and cow until I was satisfied that I had a good growing surface for the plants. The row was then covered in a garden fabric to keep down weeds, keep the moisture in and also keep the plants warm. The worst part of doing this today was having to soak the strawberry plants in water before planting. The water was cold and once the water became cloudy, it was hard to locate the plants, requiring me to submerge part of my arm. Twenty one holes in the fabric later (all the holes there was room for), 21 of the first 25 plants had been trimmed (roots to 3 inches) and placed in the ground. After that, I sealed the row off with a layer of straw.

Now, I just have to hope the plants don't freeze in the next few weeks.

Related Links:
Burpee - Ozark Beauty Strawberries