Desert Dreams

I had some cacti that needed a new home, and I had these two glass containers I wasn't using.  Since they are glass, and don't have any drainage holes, and cacti don't like to sit in water I added some broken terra cotta planters and a little bit of sand to soak up any extra moister that collects on the bottom.  They will also slowly release their moisture as the soil dries out.  

I used Cactus soil that I bought at Lowe's.

This is how my cacti and new succulents look in their new home.  I had to buy soil, and I couldn't resist buying a few of the cheapest succulents.    

I'm really pleased with how they look on my plant shelf.  I hope they do well in their new homes!  

Happy DIYing, chris!

2013 Plant Update

There hasn't been much progress with my outdoor seedlings Aaron and I started a couple weeks ago.  Today I made a little plant marker with a plastic dino for some Romaine lettuce.  We plant romaine every year, so I thought a fun marker would be appropriate.  I used an orange permanent marker to label the dino.  

We planted the lettuce in a wooden wine box.  Since we planted the lettuce there has been a few dustings of snow, and the temperatures have been hanging out in the mid-30s (Fº).  So there hasn't been any signs of growth, but hopefully they'll survive, and pop up once we get a few days in the 50s.  

Here are our Milk Jug Seedlings.  They are sitting against our house, on the southern facing side, which gets the most light.  No signs of growth yet, but I hear spring is on it's way.  

Here are our indoor herb plants.  They are doing really well I need to transfer them to larger containers already!  

This is my whole indoor garden.  I am also growing an orchid, some cacti, a gerber daisy, and an evergreen.  I just bought a basil plant.  The basil seeds I started hasn't been growing, because the soil I used was too dense, and took too long to dry out.  The little seedlings didn't get enough air to grow, and are extremely stunted.  That's what's in the two plastic cups in the center of the table.  

Here is a pic so you can see my lighting.  I use a single CFL in the highest wattage I can buy, with a Foto pendant from Ikea.  It seems to do a great job for my plants.  If the light can get a bird of paradise to bloom in the middle of winter, then it's doing good by me.  

Hope you enjoyed, and happy planting, chris!

Garden Pickin's

I'm exhausted!  Aaron and I woke up early, and got some stuff at Lowe's before he had to go to jury duty.  Then I headed over to our house, and started working on scraping the floors.  My hands are so sore, and there is only a three foot by four foot section done.  I got another section scrapped, but we still need to go over it, and get the super icky sticky bits that don't come up with the large scrapper.  While I was scrapping I would occasionally take a break and scrub the kitchen.  Every inch of the house is covered in nasty grime.  I made up a solution of washing soda, bleach and warm water to cut through the ick.  It worked really well, but some spots, like around the stove needed something more powerful.  I sprayed those areas down with goof off, and let it soak for a bit before rubbing the dirt away.  It's looking better, but I still need to do a TON of scrubbing.  I don't have any photos to show of the house today though.  

Instead I have some photos of my first tomato harvest.  The first heirloom tomatoes that were ripe were our riesentraube tomatoes.  It's historically a German  heirloom that was commonly found in Philadelphia during the mid-1800's.  It has massive yields of flavorful cherry tomatoes.  

This is a black cherry tomato with a blue jay feather I found on our deck.  

This is the last bit of healthy lettuce I was able to pick.  I love all the varieties we tried out this year.  I want to figure out how to grow some lettuce through out the winter months.  

I love the colors in this variety.  So pretty.  

Hope you enjoyed, and happy DIYing, chris.