Monthly Archives: June 2005

Wednesday’s Gardening…

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I wasn’t planning on doing much gardening, but after work, I can’t help but check up on my plants.

Some of the Coleus cuttings that I took on the 18th (11 days ago) are starting to root. I like to plant the cuttings in potting soil right when the root start forming, before they get a quarter of an inch. They just seem to be stronger this way as opposed to when the roots get too long.

I potted 4 Tilt-a-Whirl. Tomorrow, the Kong Scarlet and Alabama Sunset should be ready to pot.

My second batch of Sparkler Radish, like the first, are just not forming bulbous roots, so I pulled all of them out and placed them in the compost bin. I was able to harvest about 6 roots, which I pickled and had for dinner. In it’s place, I sowed some Hybrid Summer Boy Chin-Chiang Cabbage.

I aerated my trash can compost bin (see my icon) by dumping the contents out, mixing it and placing it back in.

I wheeled the Potting Soil, Steer Manure and Soil Conditioner that we bought on Tuesday to the back.

The first Hollyhock just bloomed, it’s a double white. Gladiolas are in full bloom and so are the Cactus Dahlias.

The first Cucumber and Sweet 100 Tomatoes should be ready to harvest soon.

I also took loads of photos, but I’m too tired to edit them and post. Maybe tomorrow :)

Quick but busy Monday…

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With the success of directly planting the Tendergreen Bush Beans, I decided to try planting Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans on a trellis which had Snap Peas. I think it may be a little late, but I’ll see how these turn out.

Along with some New Zealand Spinach that my mom harvested, I harvested my first peppers (1 Hungarian Hot Wax Pepper and 2 Pepperoncini) and some White Icicle Radishes for a Filipino dish called Sinagang that my mom will make for dinner.

I also planted the 4 Coleuses that I purchased on Saturday in a large terra cotta pot. I took cuttings of the taller ones and place them in water to root.

The Sunflower seeds I planted on Tuesday have sprouted and are about an inch tall.

Mutant Tendergreen Bush Bean Seedling?…

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Today I noticed a mutant Tendergreen Bush Bean Seedling growing.

Below is a normal seedling with 2 primary leaves.

Below is the mutant with 5 primary leaves; 2 being conjoined.

Just thought this was interesting?

More Gardening Books…

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Right after work, I stopped by the library and check out more books:

– A World of Flowers by Clay Perry
– Decorate You Garden by Mary Keen
– Gardening Basics by Ken Beckett, Steve Bradley, Noel Kingsbury and Tim Newbury
– The New Victory Garden by Bob Thomson
– The Essential Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

Thursday, Friday and Saturday’s Gardening…

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Thursdays

After making those newspaper pots, I planted some Grand Rapids Leaf Lettuce, Correnta Hybrid Spinach, Lemon Basil and Miike Purple Giant Japanese Mustard.

I planted some William Guinness Columbine over a month ago and didn’t think the seeds germinated, so gave up on them… When I was looking for a place to put the newly planted seeds, I discovered 2 Columbine seedlings that sprouted plus another mystery plant. So I made 3 more newspaper pots and planted these 3 seedlings into them.

The Tendergreen Bush Beans are starting to sprout and they are just breaking ground. The newspaper mulch is really helping in keeping the ground from drying.

Friday

I didn’t do any gardening on Friday because I took 3 of my friends out to sushi (yumm!!!) for their birthdays… They all have birthdays within a one week period and they live together.

Saturday

I spent the night at my friends and later went to the Berkeley Horticultural Nursery (see previous entry)

I was surprised to see that the Tendergreen Bush Beans that were just breaking ground on Thursday have 2 sets of leaves. Damn! they grew fast!

I also noticed that the bed without the newspaper bed were dry to about 1/2 inch, but the mulched ones were not, so I shredded more newspaper and mulched almost all my vegetables. I think this will help a lot.

Ready to harvest: Peas, White Icicle Radishes, 1 Eggplant, 4 Pepperocini Peppers, 2 Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers

Berkeley Horticultural Nursery…

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Yesterday (Saturday), I made a trip to Berkeley Horticultural Nursery for the first time. It is the biggest nursery I’ve ever seen. They have wonderful plants, many that I never seen before. The staff is very helpful and friendly, and they had a lot of free literature for Bay Area planting.

Of course, I had to get some plants… and guess what most of them are… Yup, more Coleus. Below is a photo of my purchases.


(top left) Coleus “Palisandra Black”
(middle) Coleus “Pineapple”
(top right) Coleus “Copper Splash”
(bottom left) Fuchsia Hybrid “Autumnale”
(bottom right) Coleus “Peter Wonder”

Makin’ Newspaper Pots…

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Here’s the sequel to Newspaper Mulch… “Newspaper Pots”

1. Cut a page of newspaper in half.
2. Fold the top and bottom in to form a strip. For my pots, I used the sink tiles as a guide and made the strips 4 inches tall.
3. Roll the strip around a soda can.

4. Secure the strip with a little piece of masking tape at the top.
5. Move the can up to make room at the bottom to push the sides in. Fold the seam into the bottom of the can.
6. Repeat folding around the sides in until you have created a bottom for the pot. If you want, you can also place a little piece of tape here.

7. Here’s the finished Newspaper Pot.
8. Fill to the top with potting mix.
9. Sow some seeds in it and place in a tray.

I saw instructions to make pots out of newspaper on the web and modified it to the size I want. In my case, a soda can was the perfect size, but you can use a bigger can or a bottle.

This is the first time I’ve done this, so I’m not sure if the walls of the pot are thick enough. I may use 2 plies of newspaper in step 1 next time… I’ll just see how this first batch goes.

Once the plants are ready to transplant, place the whole thing including the newspaper in the ground. The newspaper should decompose and you won’t have to disturb the roots.

How’d I do? :)

Also posted in Gardening

Just a little bit of gardening today…

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This evening my mom and I dug up some Ranunculus that has been in a little section of the front yard. She doesn’t know how long it’s been there, but it was covered with weeds and the soil was tough like clay. The tubers weren’t very big, but looked plump, so she’s going to clean them up and pot them up until they are ready to grow again.

I’ll amend the soil in the location and plant something there. I just don’t know what yet… hmmm?

I also made 9 newspaper pots and planted Hollyhock seeds that I saved. I’m not sure where I got the seeds, but it was most likely some store that had overflowered Hollyhocks.