I am pleased with my tomatoes’ progress.
Category Archives: house
Gardening Season Begins
Spent some time today planning out when to start my veggies, herbs, and flowers. Started two varieties of eggplant, five of tomatoes, plus some foxgloves.
Unseasonably Warm
It’s summery in the sunroom this afternoon, so I’m taking a break from laundry and housework to enjoy the sunshine for a bit.
Yesterday, I got outside to do some of the spring cleanup: raking out a few flowerbeds, cutting back and pulling up dead and dormant plants, that sort of thing. I like getting out there up close and personal with my plants before they fill out — gives me a better idea of what survived the winter, what didn’t, what got eaten by critters, what I should move to where, et cetera.
Several of the earliest bulbs are peeking up some greenery. I don’t see any crocuses yet, but some of the early daffodils are a few inches tall, hyacinth foliage is barely emerging, and there are tiny buds of peonies and alliums poking out of the soil.
I noticed that my beloved tree peony may be ailing; it’s losing its bark near the base of the trunk. Once it goes, I think I’ll be replacing it with another. I love seeing those huge mid-May blooms every time I come home from work.
I still don’t consider myself a gardener (not like some of the garden bloggers I follow), but I’m coming to realize that I really, REALLY enjoy puttering with plants.
Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day: February 2017
While my Zone 6 garden hasn’t quite awakened from its mild winter slumber quite yet, I have plenty of blooms indoors to keep me company.
I got this African violet as a birthday present from a co-worker some ten years ago — actually, probably more like twelve, now that I think about it. It’s still going strong, which pleases me.
I potted up this Ragtime amaryllis in hopes of a Christmas bloom, which it just barely missed. (Luckily, the second bloom stalk of the Christmas Star amaryllis filled in quite nicely.) This is the second bloom of Ragtime, much later than I would have expected. But I’ll take it!
This is my first year forcing hyacinths. I decided to do them in rounds, partially because I bought half a dozen bulbs and only have three forcing vases, but also so I could do some trial-and-error to see how they bloom best in my house. I managed to rot the first two bulbs, but this third one is the charm.
Finally — and this one might be the one I’m most excited about — this is the first bloom of this particular kalanchoe that I got as a cutting nearly three years ago. My friend and co-worker gave me four cuttings of three colors (I think), and so far I’ve seen shades of orange and pink. This is the first yellow bloom.
Looking forward to seeing a few outdoor blooms by this time next month — crocuses, if nothing else.
As always, thanks to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting this meme every month!
Did I Really Order This Many Seeds?
Short answer: Yes, I did.
My order from Jung’s Seeds came in today, and that was my first reaction. They did send me two free trial packets — bachelor buttons and muskmelon — but I really did order all eleven other packets. For many gardeners, that’s just a fraction of what they grow… but for me, well, I’m planning to expand my little suggestion of a vegetable garden patch into something a little more substantial. (Note to self: don’t forget to call 8-1-1 beforehand just to be sure you don’t dig too close to any utilities.)
Last year, I had a few varieties of tomatoes, some basil, and eggplant. This year, here’s the rundown of edibles:
Vegetables (New)
Squash, Easypick Green
Muskmelon, Pride of Wisconsin
Tomato, Early Girl
Tomato, SunSugar (yellow cherry)
Carrot, Nelson
Carrot, Bolero
Cucumber, Diamont
Eggplant, Millionaire
Vegetables (2016 or earlier)
Eggplant, Black Beauty
Tomato, Yellow Pear
Herbs (New)
Sage, Broadleaf
Thyme, Winter
Herbs (2016 or earlier)
Basil, Asian, Cinnamon
Basil, Asian, Sweet Thai
Basil, Asian, Siam Queen
Basil, Lemon, Mrs. Burns
Cilantro, Calypso
Dill, Goldkrone
Lemon Balm
Parsley, Titan
Peppers, Paprika, Dulce Rojo
I also ordered a few new ornamentals: zinnias and sunflowers — plus the bonus bachelor buttons — and I have several others I plan to start from previous years’ seeds, like cosmos, miniature hollyhock, cinquefoil, woodland tobacco, foxgloves, sweet peas, and milkweed.
…
That might be too many. Or, like last year, some might work out and others will fall flat, and I’ll be glad that I started so many different seeds.