verbena

And the pests rear their ugly little heads. They hit the verbena a few days ago and I just let it go b/c it was only a few leaves. My advice, don't be as lazy as i was. You can see the repercussions of my lack of action in the picture. They will strip a plant to the stem in no time. The verbena took serious leaf damage. I moved the pot to a table so hopefully they will have to go find it again and it'll be safe for a little while.
The tomatoes got hit too. The very first tomato as a matter of fact. I searched all 3 of the tomato plants i had twice today and didn't see the crawly little jerk. Looked for droppings, but didn't see any pronounced ones so maybe it's still a tiny little crawlie... that or I really suck at Where's Waldo. Either way, the birds are totally slacking on their jobs. Yeah, blame it on the birds.

On a more positive note tho, the Convolvulus and Cosmos I planted came up already. what's it been, only a few days? super. I don't know how their going to fair in a container and I always plant them way too close but it'll be a learning experience. The nasturtium do look wonderful in hanging baskets though. I don't think I would ever plant them in the ground after seeing them in a basket.

Oh, and the okra has started to come up like the little champs they are. If you live in the South, okra will never let you down. I'll snap a pic when they get a little bigger.

strawberry leaves in morning

marigold

Speaking of the pretties... I can't help posting pictures of things when they flower.

freesia again

The morning dew looked so pretty on the leaf b/c it all rolled to the edges. It was neat to see in the morning. :)




And while I went to go take pictures today kept running into our natural wildlife... Bob is the one that loves to sleep in my flower beds. But you can't hate him when he looks at you like that

Bob

Bailey on the roof

What do I do when I should be studying for a test in the spring? I run around planting stuff to procrastinate, that's what.

Planted the yellow and blue ones in a few pots together. They're cosmos and convolvulus, neither of which i've grown before. They've been sitting in my seed box for a while now and they're complimentary colors so i'm hoping they go well together and flower around the same time.

The top one i planted around my birdbath, in situ. Its a relative of the hibiscus family and is called abelmochus moschatus, according the lady who gave them to me. They are said to flower from May to November, if planted at the right time and should survive our mild winters.

Also planted some butterfly weed (currassavica) and some 4-o'clocks around a tree from seed in situ as well. Its semi-shady so I donno how well that's gonna work out...roots of butterfly weed are long taproots so i dont really wanna have to try to dig um up if they're unsuccessful, but i have a ton more seed so its no loss really.

Orange Jasmine (murraya paniculata) and Bird of Paradise seed (strelitzia reginae) will be next but the seeds are huge so i'm gonna start them in little pots. Except for all my school exams, I love spring.

Went to my local big box store and they have a pallet full of "busted bags" of garden soils and mulch. Bought a small pallet of stuff for 10 bucks that would normally run me $44.60, oh yeah, i did the math. I only paid 22% of what it was listed at. Nice. Got garden soil, potting mix and 6 bags of mulch too.

Bought some sweet 100 tomatoes and strawberries too. All/most of the Bonnie brand veggies and herbs are half off till April 1st at Home Depot. Finally, advertisements I hear on Pandora were good for something!

Planted some more Okra (Ferry Morse Emerald variety) today too. 6 holes with 3 seeds each. I did 3 seeds per hole not only for fail-safes in case i have some that don't germinate but also b/c I like to braid them together for added support and it looks pretty :) Oh there will be some jars of Okra some summer. Planted the Clemenson Spineless last time and they came out yummy but I happened to be in a store where they had this variety so i'm like what the heck. From what i remember Ferry Morse was non GMO but they are linked to a French company that participates in biotech, so I donno they might be... sigh.
non gmos and some more

Been so MIA, but I have done a bit of things:
Just look at that adorable little carrot. Aw... they still have a ways to go but they look good. I must admit, I ate him as cute as he was and he was pretty tasty :)

incognito

Grew lettuce earlier too. Still waiting on onions, broccoli, carrots and tomatoes to be ready. The onions may have to come up prematurely so i can make way for okra and another tomato bush. I'm still debating...
Found some caterpillar droppings all over my snow peas and i finally found him, i donno how b/c he's soooo hard to see since he's identical to the leaf color. stupid natural camo.

Lots of things have bloomed for me recently: grew the Freesia in a pot with daffodils and hyacinths (blue jacket). Hyacinths were pretty and smelled lovely, but didn't last long enough for me so i probably won't grow them next time unless the bulbs come back on their own.

Freesia (smell so pretty)

nasturtium

aster

 

 Still waiting on some stuff to bloom. Verbena and my little gardenia tree are doing well but the Lavatera and hollyhocks had some upsets that were totally my fault. hopefully they pull through.

verbena

gardenia jasm. bud

Planted catnip around Dec 19th (super easy to grow btw) and its got lots of true leaves on them yet the new rat killer we got has no interest in it at all. He's a bit of a spaz as it is so maybe that's a good thing.


Sidenote: found out why he had no interest.

If you set it, the cats will eat it. If you sow it, the cats don't know it.
-Philip Miller, The Gardener's Dictionary

I tore a few leaves and he could smell it, as could I. He was on it like a nutball after that...

I planted a bunch of other seeds in these shoebox containers i picked up from Home Depot for around a buck a piece that are clear and come with lids and all that goodness. They seem to be working well so far inside under a grow light with foil to reflect the light. My coleus and aster have sprouted very well in them. I have a layer of small pebbles about an inch or so thick on the bottom and then starting mix on top. For some reason the Dianthus i planted was having a real hard time of things, and i've only gotten a sprout or 2 out of the entire box. I'll try again when the weather warms up a bit i suppose since the seeds are so cheap.


Planted many more things but i'll wait till i have some decent pictures to talk about them (provided they're successful that is!). List includes: zinnia, daffodils, hyacinth, freesia, columbine, nasturtium, alyssum, and others. Nothing too out of the ordinary. want to plant some Larkspur tho. I got my hands on 5 huge containers so i'll have room to plant them anywhere i want. Oh threw some lettuce in the garden too, need to plant the carrots as well.

Received some other seeds that i'm waiting on spring for to plant out: bird of paradise, orange jasmine, more angel trumpet seed and several others. Should make for a fun season. :)

Bulbs

On Nov 11th I decided to plant some Hyacinth, Freesia, Daffodil and Ranunculus bulbs.

Ranunculus was potted up and put it outside but only a small set of them have come up... I think the pot didn't have adaquate drainage so the bulbs probably rotted with the sparatic heavy rain we've gotten. Everything is a learning experience.

Side exposed to light

The Hyacinth and Freesia are another story. Planted them in vases with water and they've rooted well. One thing i noted is that when they say that a plant requires dark, they really mean it. My Hyacinth bulb was in dark in a room but i think i left the door ajar and the front side was exposed to light. Consequently, the light exposed side did not root or was retarded.

All Dark conditions

Freesia roots

Freesia are growing like little champs in my windowsill. I couldn't find vases small enough to hold them so i started them in Erlenmeyer flasks, sad i know. But it worked and I went out and bought some gravel today and i'm gonna move them into a nice big bowl.

Freesia ( 1 month in )

Hyacinth left, Daffodil right

The Daffodil has rooted well in water and one is starting to shoot out of the bulb.

Due to the unmercifully hot, dry conditions and tight water regulations here in Texas (we've had several major wildfires) my gardening has grinded to almost a halt. But I have done a few things...

Saw in a book that you can grow / propagate a pineapple extremely easily. All you do is:
    1. Cut the top off with about and inch or so left of the actual fruit attached
    2. put it in some dirt.
Yeah, it's that simple. And mine seems to be doing fine. I started it a month or so ago and its already forming new leaves. I don't know if anything will actually become of it, but its a fun little experiment that really had nothing to lose. :)






I have seen that Bougainvillaea love hot dry conditions and if i remember correctly can tolerate cramped spaces (like pots) and poor soil conditions. Plus, if I recall, they are easy to propagate from cuttings. They are the perfect southern plant. So i ordered 2 of them (orange and yellow) from a place called Bigbadflower.com along with a pink mandevilla. I was a bit worried about placing the order seeing as though i had never ordered plant plants from anyone (only seeds) but i was suprised that they came very well shipped and looked to be in very healthy condition. Very small plant-lings but the price was fairly cheap as well, so I can't complain.



I also have a hibiscus that i propagated from a cutting off one of my bushes that has actually taken in this horrible drought we've been having. Key to propagation i've learned is to put them in a semi-shady spot while they're rooting. Last time I tried i blasted them in full sun and they wilted like nothing. Made a mix of 1:1 perilite and potting mix and put it in a shady spot and presto, new leaves all over the place. I guess I CAN learn from my mistakes (sometimes ;) )


I wanted to try carrots this year in a fall crop but decided that I didn't have a good set up for it and don't have the time while taking Fluid Mechanics, Thermo 2 and Numerical Methods. Studying engineering means you basically have no life. I should have taken up like communications or something if I actually wanted spare time apart from studies... :(