Hah! Well that didn't work like I meant it to...

I finally got my beets and carrots planted! Not the radishes because I couldn't take the grow bag from Hula. But....I did order myself another one, so hopefully I'll get those planted soon. 

I bring my resin barrel over to its "spot" and notice the water that is already in it, isn't draining well.  (We had a pretty big snow here a few days ago.) I see you, water!

It probably isn't/wasn't a huge deal since it was the bottom-most part of the barrel and the center that was raised up a bit had all the holes.  But still, I didn't really want water sitting in there.  So I brought outside my awl and tried to poke a hole.  I do mean "tried".  I couldn't do it.  The plastic was too thick.  So what did I do, then?

Why brought out the tamper to give me more muscle, of course.  Don't all crazy things seem like a good idea at the time? I tap one time....and.....

Boom. Cracked my barrel.  Oh well. Drainage is looking super duper now!

We planted some Purple Dragon Carrots and Big Top Carrots in the carrot grow bag.

And we planted (in sort of a "bullseye" pattern to keep it a decent distance apart) the Detroit Supreme Beets.

And just when I was starting to worry that my cherry trees weren't going to come back up this year! (No idea why, just random paranoia).

Flowering....waiting for spring

So nothing really new to report except I have some gorgeous flowers popping up. And the limes are getting big! So just some pictures today!

Whoops

I'm saying whoops to a few things.  So comes to find out that probably all of my tomato losses were due to overfeeding.  The good news is- easy fix from here on out....stagger feedings.  I lost a black truffle yesterday.  Oh well, I'll take an excuse to buy some starts!  And whoops for leaving my plants in the greenhouse too long.  Nothing happened except they are huge.

This is a block of roots.  Even Hula is intrigued. This is the Jelly Melon.

This is the Starlight Rose Zinnia- look at those roots!!

All potted up!

The grow bags haven't been able to go outside yet...while I wasn't planning on it being summertime yet, I thought the snow would at least stop.  Wrong. This is what my afternoon looked like yesterday.  March 24th.

Luckily, there's a little spring inside the house.  A couple of the snapdragons have bloomed! They are just gorgeous. I can't wait for them to go outside.

Nothing here to see....or is there? Sneak attack!

Like I said, frustrating.

So a couple days ago,  I tossed my last hazelfield seedlings.  They had all taken on that wicked leaf curl and all the leaves had become crunchy while still remaining green. I was going to say something had to have been up with the seeds (4 dropped like flies.) and then I went to post the link to the seeds on Baker's Creek's site...and they're magically gone.  Hmm...I may be right. I'm just going to buy some starters for my red beefsteak.  I mean, I technically have time to start new ones if I desired....but, there's no harm in buying a start.


Look, how can I plant in these? She'll be so sad!

In other news, my order from Michigan Bulbs is here! Back at the beginning of January, they were having a wicked sale, so I ordered the Ketchup and Mustard Rose (top picture) and the Blue Fringe Daisy (bottom picture).  Thankfully the company is awesome and doesn't ship until it's an appropriate time for your area, so I didn't have to worry about getting daisies or roses in January.  The warmth is almost here!!

Oh...and bloom snapdragons, bloom!

New Bed!

So in searching for a place for my new grow bags yesterday, I decided to extend two of the beds into each other. (And no, I haven't planted the beets in that plastic barrel yet- but, in my defense, it's supposed to snow tonight so it seemed like a bad time).

I'm a dunce and forgot to take a before picture....but you can see where there was grass in this picture to the right.....

A little edging with a straight-edge shovel, a lot of tilling, and bam- connected bed!  I'm planning on throwing down river pebble rocks leading back to the heating/ac unit. The grow beds will just sit on top of the rocks when they have stuff in them.  Unless Hula manages to convince me that I should let her keep the radish bag.  I mean, today is her birthday.

In other gardening news- the snapdragons are about to bloom!  These were taken yesterday morning, so I might have full sized snapdragon flowers waiting for me today.

How-to Drainage

Container gardening is super mega awesome, but there's one thing I've learned in the years I've been doing it....you need appropriate drainage.  Between the holes in the bottom and the soil mix you use inside.  Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely the same person that couldn't figure out what was yellowing my basil last year- only to realize I had left all the holes in the bottom of the container unpunched, but some big losses in the past few years have taught me to keep a better eye on what I'm doing.

Always always always poke plenty of holes.  Biggish holes. Most pots have them ready to be punched out....but it's always easier said than done. 

For planters sitting on the dirt ground where water would likely have trouble draining quickly, it's a good idea to put drainage rocks in the bottom- or you can sit the pot up on the deck or patio and the rocks won't be necessary. Since both of these pots are going on the dirt, rocks for them both! 

Then, for the dirt- you'll want to use a potting mix that allows better drainage.  Garden soil can pack down in a pot and make it tough to drain adequately.  Potting mix has mulch mixed in to thin it out and prevent too much "packing". this pot is all done!

The barrel for the beets did not get done and now it's rained for three days.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate....we're coming up on the "last frost date"!

Last indoor sowing of 2013

Today was a great yet sad day in my gardening world.  The long awaiting indoor growing of 2013 had its first last today.  The last few things to be sown, were sown. While I'm getting excited it's close to "outdoor time", I'm sad "indoor time" is quickly coming to a close.

I don't have room for a 36 cell greenhouse on my table anymore, and I'm not using the mesh covered pellets...so I had to improvise.  I cut up one of my 36 cell-ers so that I had two rows of five cells...which fit perfectly in the mini greenhouse!

Getting ready to sow!  Jelly Melon, Sweet Gherkin, Pepperchini (I know, I know, but I didn't have space for the big container with the greenhouse there....and some digging revealed nothing had happened), Petunia and Zinnias.

Like I said- never gets old rehydrating the pellets!

All sown and ready to go under the light.  Here's to a great year of greenhousing...and hopefully next year I can go bigger and better!

 

Leaves, for me?

So while hovering over the rosemary plant....I found....gnat fly larvae  ::shudder::  The crazy part?  The soil was nearly completely dry!  So....it went outside.  It's getting warmer out there and it's an evergreen, it will be fine.  I swear it's never-ending, though. So to cheer myself up, I went and ooh-ed and ahh-ed at all the wonderfully different leaves in my little indoor garden.

The black truffle tomato has a potato leaf!

Regular leaf on the white queen tomato.

Pepper leaves!

Dill leaf!  Looks like carrot leaves.

Brain flower leaves!

I especially like the Komachi balloon flower leaves...they have ridges all around the edge!

Primrose have been a neat shade of green/pink

I love how the pansy leaves have a little curl to them!

I just love the snapdragons I got- such a variety! You can tell they're going to be awesome by how different the leaves all are.

Some overhead shots of things just for poops and giggles.

And the obligatory "forest of snapdragons" picture!

Lemon tree!

So, in passing (okay hovering) of my lemon tree, I notice a gnat flying around.  Upon further investigation, some tiny bugs in the soil. Ahhhhhhh. After I calmed my initial reaction to throw it off the side of the deck, I began my research.  Pretty much everything I found suggested the dishsoap/cooking oil insecticide.  So there you have it.  I pulled out a spray bottle, but a few drops of dishsoap and a few drops of cooking oil and filled it with water- and started spraying the soil. I didn't take any pictures, because, well....I couldn't focus enough on the bugs.

I know the bugs are no big deal because a) there is no leaf or stem damage and b) anything it could be dwells in soil...so in there they will stay and c) there really weren't that many.  Nevertheless, it needed to be controlled.  Can I just say I'm counting down the days until the trees go outside for the warm weather.  And the lime tree needs to be fertilized but I need to let the soil dry out. Grr.

The lesson to be taken from this?  When the plants are ready to come back inside after the summer, they are getting some drainage rocks at the bottom, fresh soil and sand on the top of the soil.  This is once again proof how gardening is a whole slew of trial and error and no matter how good you feel about something, you're always thrown a curveball. Hopefully, I'll be rewarded with some lovely ripe lemons and limes relatively soon.

My friend Lindsay had sent me a picture of some really cool fake wood barrel looking pots.  Such a cool idea.  So while Kile stopped at Lowe's today, I insisted he grab me one.  It.is.fabulous.  Seriously cute as a button.  I think I'm going to put the beets in it.  Hopefully I'll be making some borscht this summer!