Petunias everywhere!!!
So I thought my petunias did great last year, but they are nothing compared to this year. I did a couple of things differently and I think it was for the best.
First, I didn't use cow or coconut husk pots. I know it's not environmentally friendly but I used plastic insert trays this year, however I fully intend to use them again.
Secondly I have been fertilizing them steadily with liquid seaweed fertilizer and Gaia Green all purpose 4-4-4. They seem to really love it and so do my tomatoes.
Third, I've been transplanting them regularly.
I find that using the plastic inserts and pots, the plants do not dry out nearly as quickly and they do fit in my light garden much better which means more plants! Yeah me! All my plants seem to be doing better this year with regular fertilizing (not just adding it to the soil) they really do like to feed a lot. I never realized just how much.
I also started my petunias two months later than last year, I found that by the time I planted them in pots and brought them outside they were a little stunted. This year I'm hoping to eliminate that problem. I bought seeds rather then keep last years crop, a gardener at a local nursery told me that because most petunias are hybrids and bred to look the way they do that the more times you sow the seeds you keep the less pretty the petunias become. And he was right, my white petunias started getting pink and stringy, so for petunias I will buy my seeds. Marigolds however I will still collect :) and pansies too.
I'm really happy with how things turned out in my light garden this year and I'm thinking that this is the way to go for years to come. Now just to figure out my raised garden beds, lol. I'm getting there and improving every year, here is a picture of last year (left corner) and this years petunias. Threw a tomatoe pic in there just cause ;)
Happy gardening!
It's been two months since my last post!!!
Well I do have a good reason, I was in school for 6 weeks for work. I'm doing an apprenticeship for gas fitting, I know I know, what am I doing being a gas fitter and trying to be a gardener? Well a girls gotta eat and I can only grow food for about 4 months out of the year here :) and as much as I wished that organic gardening would pay the bills, it doesn't.
Back to gardening though, I've been really busy. I started even more of my own flowers this year starting with petunias (of course), marigolds, snapdragons, dichondra, wishbone, alyssum, lobelia, coleus, violas and pansies just to name a few. I transplanted today, I have really been missing playing in the dirt.
I also transplanted tomatoes today, I really don't know what I am doing wrong with them though. I know that they don't like to have their roots played with but when I was done with them they looked so unhappy I'm sure I'm going to loose a few of them. I tried to take as much dirt as possible so I didn't disturb the roots to much but still all the leaves crinkled and the plants are really droopy. I don't remeber having this much trouble with them last year.
I got my greenhouse this year! I'm so excited, we put it up yesterday on my deck. I posted pictures on my facebook page, and today we had 70km/hr winds and it stood up nicely. I can't wait to start putting things in it! I got it from Veseys, they were the cheapest and I got it within two weeks from across the country. I have to say I've really enjoyed dealing with them, they have always been very helpful and both my light garden and greenhouse arrived in great shape, and you gotta love the 5 month interest free payment plan!
My tulips and crocuses are up, the crocuses have already bloomed and my tulips by the house will hopefully bloom in the next couple of weeks. All my trees and shrubs look good and my raspberries are doing well too. I'm so ready for spring!
Ok, that's enough for now :) will try to keep up with my blogging now that things are settling down a bit (I hope) lol. Happy Sunday, and happy gardening.
It's blooming!!
Its only taken two years but my Phal has finally re-bloomed, I had actually forgotten what color it was. Now I remember why I bought it, she's pretty!
I don't use grow lights for my orchids, or I haven't yet anyway. I tend to just move them around my living room throughout the seasons to make sure they don't get to much direct sunlight during the day. Not really a problem right now because we only get about 6-7 hours of daylight, however I have noticed that the days are starting to get longer again.. Yeah!!
I did have to say goodbye to one of my favorite orchids today. My dendrobium was full of tiny green bugs, I noticed them a few months ago and I have been babying it ever since. I couldn't get them under control however and finally gave up the battle today. I'm going away to school for 6 weeks and didn't want to leave the problem with my husband.
I tried everything from washing it, rubbing off the bugs on a daily basis and I even dunked it under soapy water and washing each leaf by hand. They always returned and now the poor thing looked so sad and defeated that I finally also gave up. Which really sucks because I hate giving up on plants. Especially my favorite dendrobium. If anyone has any suggestions for the future please let me know, the bugs haven't touched any of my other orchids so I'm very thankful for that.
Back to my blooming beauty, It was the last of my orchids to re-bloom. I'm also happy to report that my baby is ready to re-bloom as well. This time I think it will have a least three flowers, the first time it bloomed it only had one big beautiful flower. Still can't believe I grew a baby orchid.
Well I'm off to enjoy a walk at our indoor park because it's cold outside, although the sunshine is very inviting.
Happy indoor gardening!
It's been a little while since I wrote an update on my Bonsai, it's actually doing really well. I did however loose the little cedar tree I had growing with it.
I'm not quite sure what happened to it but it started to slowly dye and then it just lost all its needles. I thought maybe I had let it dry out to much but the lemon tree was thriving.
I did find some spider mites in my lemon tree so I'm not sure if that had something to do with it. Because of the spider mites I did have to give the lemon tree a huge haircut and I really cut the bulk of it out.
You know what they say is true about confidence when you are pruning a tree, you really do just need to go for it. So I did.
I'm liking the shape much better now and hoping for new growth, I think the topmost branch is almost long enough so I can trim it off. I'm not quite sure about the lowest branch but for now I'm going to keep it where it is.
I like how quickly the lemon tree grows so if you make a mistake it's not really that bad and will just grow back. I think it's a great beginner plant for anyone who would like to get into the art of Bonsai.
I'm a total newb and I enjoy working with the lemon tree, also it doesn't hurt that the tree didn't cost me anything because I started it from a grocery store seed.
It will never produce fruit (I don't think anyway) but it's still pretty and a good way to learn. All the branches are now wired except for one on the back of the tree, it was just to small for the wire at the time. I will wire it soon however or cut it off, I haven't decided yet.
On a side not, all my spring catalogs have been coming in and I'm drooling and really ready for spring. Especially with this unusually warm weather we have been having, but I know the worst is yet to come because it always does :)
Happy indoor gardening!
My herbs are doing great, I have three batches on the go all about a month apart.
One batch is in my kitchen window, one batch is in my Aqua Farm and my last batch is in my light garden downstairs.
I think I may have to seed them a little thicker next time, I'm not sure why but I tend to spread out the seeds to much. I'm kinda following the sowing instructions on the package but because they are not going into the garden and I will be harvesting them fairly young I think I can sow them a lot closer together.
The only one that's not doing fantastic is my parsley, it's in the light garden and it seems a little sad. I started fertilizing it a bit and it was suggested to me that it might be to warm in there for it so I may move it into a window.
I can't wait to start eating my own herbs again. I'm already just itching for spring, unfortunately I have another 4 months to wait but I'm hanging in there. I think it's time to take my weekly trip with my friend to the local nursery again soon!
Happy indoor gardening!
As I've said before I really love the Aqua Farm, so I thought I would give you an update on how things were going.
So far so good, Perseus is happy and the water is very clean. I haven't cleaned the tank yet and the plants are doing well except that I didn't have enough light for the herbs.
They became very leggy as you can see in the picture. So I added a little light over top of the tank to hopefully help with that problem.
My wheat grass is also looking a little sparse but that's because my cat Zeus (yes I have a thing for Greek gods, lol ) helped himself to it and ate most of it.
I have noticed that since I put the light up the plants have straightened out.
I have planted some strawberry seeds, we will see if they make an appearance :)
I also have been oogling over all the new seed catalogues! I CAN'T WAIT FOR SPRING!!!
Happy indoor gardening!
Happy 2015 everyone!
I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday Season! Mine was very relaxing and I actually found time to play in my light garden a bit.
I transplanted my baby tomato plants that I started from seed at the end of November yesterday. For my soil mix I used organic potting soil, perlite, sand and worm castings. I'm trying this mixture because I have found that in the past my soil for my plants in the light garden has been a little dense so I'm hoping this will lighten it up a bit and provide good drainage. Because we all know that tomatoes hate wet feet :)
I also bought some organic seaweed liquid fetilizer because I found that after a month or so my plants in the light garden seem to get a little stunted, so I'm hoping this will help. It's a very light fertilizer that can be used every time you water, 5-1-1 I believe. I still haven't perfected my lightgarden growing technique so if anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them.
I really just would love to grow food all year around and not just in our short summer growing season.
Happy gardening!
