Spinach!

Jan 17, 2008 | 9:40 PM PST

WOO HOO! Time to plant spinach, been pretty well staying around 40 during the day and got a pack of slow bolting spinach. Going to keep an eye on the weather and if it cooperates there will be spinach soon!

Poinsettia.

Jan 17, 2008 | 1:01 PM PST

My landlady brought a huge, beautiful...overgrown and rootbound poinsettia right before Christmas. So it sat, and I looked at it for a few days. In my office building wholesale slaughter was occurring. The plant people brought in tremendous amounts of poinsettias and placed them all up and down all the halls. This is a 15 story building, mind you. After they started suffering, they THREW THEM AWAY and placed NEW ones there. They would not allow anyone to take the 'refuse' as they have to account for each and every one. That killed me. I thought about that as I looked at this beastie whom I have never had, nor tried to keep. I am a sucker for things with leaves (ok...and fur...and claws...that go 'Meow') so I just couldn't do anything BUT decide to actually keep it. I took it outside, I had a big square pot that was going to eventually be a banana pot but the banana has rather a bit of growing to do before it is ready for a pot this size anyways, haha. Then I find out it has a 'cage' of sorts to keep it upright (are these even MEANT to be kept alive???) and to get it out of this there was going to be some loss. Several of the branches did break off, but not too bad. The roots? There was NO way to break them up, it will take awhile but I hope it just 'gets over it'. I cut a bit but that was all I could do. Bring it in, it seemed happy, still does. I have decided this plant will live. We shall see :D Otherwise, I got a nice big pot for something else ;)

Dragon Fruit Trees

Jan 17, 2008 | 12:49 PM PST

Why do they call it a tree if it actually is more of a vine? Good question but they sure do taste good as well as seem to grow good too, haha. They just popped up, and were doing their thing and stopped so I figure, ok, maybe it is just cold...perhaps they just start fast and grow slow? So there they sat, with the cute little 'baby' leaves (what is the term for those???) and doing....well...pretty much nothing but taking up windowsill space! So...I started watering them with cold black coffee. That is ALL. No water. Nope. Just my old, cold coffee.

They went NUTS. In the past two weeks they decided to grow, lol, so that is what they get. Coffee.

On another note, the cuttings in the green glass are Cuban Oregano. The only ones I have as, for some reason, the parent plant just died. Who knows? Que Sera, Sera. My motto? If it grows, great, if not, plant something else there! I figure it this way, they are very healthy and rooting nicely, seem to be content to stay in the water (maybe I should give one some room...set it the top of a flared vase and see what happens?) so I have no great rush nor need to plant them as of yet. Thinking I am going to wait till it gets warm enough outside for them. The one in the shot glass is a piece of my orange tree, I will put a pic below as it is the one I am making bonsai. It shot that piece UP right in the center and that is not an allowable thing, in my book, so I cut it off :D There I was, standing, looking at this nice...green growth. Yard waste? Why not give it a chance. We shall see what happens!

Ah, heck with a pic, here is the orange tree :D ORANGE TREE TRAINING

So, the citrus and banana are in a winter tank. I like to give them a nice, full spectrum bulb and everyone is very happy so far.

I know it shows the banana and mini rose outside of the tank, but I have shuffled them in now.

So, that is that for now.

Fall storms...beauty and destruction.

Nov 8, 2007 | 3:04 PM PST

So we had an amazing wind storm not that long ago. I even cleaned up the yard and battened down the hatches, so to speak. Got all the potted stuff down in a protected spot (will be the winter spot too!) and all the furniture and bikes nice and tidy and close...

Max is a dumb cat, I love him so but he is CRAZY. The wind started blowing HARD but it was not raining yet so I decided to give him some outside time. Nut job goes running around with the WILD KAT look in his eyes. You know the drill...run run run...mad dash...STOP! look around madly with flashing eyes.

He does not have that collar anymore, little jerk keeps losing them. This time was the worst as it had his license and a name tag. Jerk.

Then he did this and I was thinking 'Ain't he cute!'. As you can see all the brown in him, he snuck in as a regular cat and once he was established he is letting the Maine Coon out.

Then he FLEW over to one of the cedars and ran on the roof. Not happy. Wasn't happy a bit. He had no clue how windy it was, and how fast he could fly off! So I ended up standing in the raised bed while he teased me by coming to the edge when I was whistling and calling and finally came down so I promptly tossed him inside! Jerk. Cute, fuzzy, lovable jerk.

So, on to the destruction,

The dahlia. It took one hell of a beating...

My tomatoes, oh dear, my poor Black Prince...

The radishes I let bolt? So close to get my seed? Not a chance in hell. The wind snapped every single one of them and it was going so well. They would have had SO much seed. Damn. I had a fit and went ahead and cleared them out. They are now mulch. See all those seed heads? I don't even want to look.

So, upset as I was, daunted by the greenery that needs to be cut, tossed...all of the above, I started looking around. I have pretty much missed the nice fall foliage that so many are harping on as our nicely colored leaves have been passing us at about 90 MPH. I looked at my Bonsai and had to take another glance (and pictures!) as they are most gorgeous! Here is one where I took two different breeds and literally wrapped the Female around the Male to create a piece I call 'co-dependence'. hehe. Her color is amazing! He has just started to change a bit.

And one of my favorites, these are all about 4-5 yrs old. Such a nice yellow! Guess we have to keep our trees behind a wall in order to be able to see the colors!

The Japanese Elm has lost most of its leaves so gets to show off it's corkscrew nicely!

And the Cotoneaster is showing off it's berries, the wind took off a lot of them but it still has a few ;)

Then I notice the thyme and sages, how happy they are...it has finally cooled down enough for them.

And yes, I will get in there and weed them!

My herb pot looked a little unhappy, then I looked closer and changed my mind when I saw the flowers :D

The Parsley is happy finally, it does NOT like it hot-hot-hot, haha!

I come out of the garden area and see this, a cool little volunteer. One of the great things about a rental is you really don't know what is there so it is always a surprise

Yes, I know the buggers next to it have to go, lol. I *promise* LMAO!

Heading up the hill I see the dahlia in a different light...and that bush behind it? Never stopped flowering, it was leggy, like 8 ft tall and I cut the bejeezus out of it. So it flowered and has not stopped since early spring. Oh, how the honey bees and bumble bees love it!

Then I look over and see that the yellow rose a kid decided to trim this summer, with a toy sword *eek!* gave us something.

I look to the left and see fall colors on the hydrangea with a guest that really set it off!

Much better mood. What can I say, there is good in everything...I think. Excepting our present government, hehe. I decided to FINALLY plant the alpine strawberries that have been floundering and mocking me continuing to flourish despite my treatment of them. They will be great here, this spot is full of bulbs so is interesting for about 5 minutes then Blah.

So, I lost power. It was cold, windy and rainy and the power cut off while my non tv watching butt was in the middle of Grays Anatomy. I will not get radish seed this year from my crop. My tomatoes are a mess...the dahlia is half broken and the yard is a basic mess. A basic beautiful mess!

Pot Stash!

It is getting cold and much cleanup must be done. I need to get some mulch to help the fact that I have a neighbor cat that pooped in the bed! Once I get some mulch I will plant Garlic and Walla Walla sweet onions. I already picked up some Brussels Sprouts and Purple Kohlrabi seed for spring too so that will be fun!

And now, for fun, my pot stash!

I have dragon TREES?

Oct 22, 2007 | 3:42 PM PST

OK, they call them dragon trees. But they are a vine, a succulent vine that likes to climb. I got the idea to save the seeds so asked and Spiceoflife had some growing. Taking their advice and my own weird ideas...I have SEEDLINGS! Rather a few in fact...and more popping up...and the good thing is I have people who will like them too, haha!

The Plant Tank!

Oct 22, 2007 | 3:35 PM PST

Well, here it is, the overwinter home for my tropicals. The Nigerian Coffee tree's were truly pissed so they have lost the leaves but due to the lighting they were already getting happier and have new leaves growing. So, here I have a Banana, Tangerine, Orange, Key Lime, Nigerian Coffee and Lemon. The Banana has been moved in the tank since I took this pic, but the mini rose can stay out there, I just put it in there for the ambient light!