Mid January 2011 Blooms…

Folia, a garden organization website, started giving badges for different accomplishments. One is a Bloom Day Badge which they give out monthly (on the 15th) when you post a blooming milestone with a photo in your Folia gardening journal… so I thought I would participate and also make Mid-month Blooms blog entry a regular feature on my blog.

I know it’s a month late, but here are all the plants that were in bloom last month.

Borage
Borage Folia

Cymbidium Orchid
Cymbidium Folia

You can also view the photos in the Flickr photoset “Mid Jan 2011 Blooms“.

Planting, Harvesting and Cooking…

12:48pm I’m cutting down the Kohlrabi that has bolted and I saw the first Aphids this year… Dangit!

12:58pm The Bumble Bees are going crazy of our Borage flowers!

7:35pm Planted 8 squares in veggie bed #3: White Russian Kale, Redbor (G2) Kale, Swiss Chard and Green Arrow Snap Peas

8 Squares Planted

7:39pm Harvested some Red Russian Kale, Dwarf Blue Curled Kale and Snap Peas

Harvested Kale

Harvested Snap Pea

I made Kale Soup with the Kale that I harvested today.

I used this recipe as a base: http://champaign-taste.blogspot.com/2007/11/portuguese-kale-soup.html

Kale Soup

11:22pm The Hybrid Thai Lemon Basil is sprouting…

A Whole Bunch of Gardening Going On…

12:45pm I’ll be planting alot soon and almost out of blank plant labels, so I’m erasing (they were written with pencil) used ones to be reused… #

4:06pm Tulips and my Mom’s Azaleas are blooming the the back yard… #

4:19pm Borage, Osteospermum and Snapdragon are blooming… #

4:28pm Comice Pear graft, Asian Pear near sink and Persimmons are starting to open its buds… European Plum near veggie bed is starting to bloom… #

4:31pm Envy, Fruit Smoothie and (Seeds from 2005) Zinnias are sprouting… #<

5:39pm Sowing 3 types of Tomatoes: Black from Tula, Beefsteak and Rutger-Select… #

5:43pm Sowing various Peppers: Emerald Giant, Golden Marconi, Red Bell, Carmagnila Rossa (G3), Sweet Mini Red, Sweet Mini Orange and Thai Dragon… #

5:49pm Sowed other Nighshades: Easter Eggplant, African Orange Eggplant, Congo Trinidad Pepper, Datura Golden Queen and Datura Purple Queen#

5:54pm Almost forgot to sow the Scarlet Chinese Eggplant (G2) seeds… #

6:36pm My Mom is top dressing her hanging tuberous Begonia with compost… They are starting to sprout… #

6:46pm Sowed some flowers in cell-packs outside: Tithonia Torch, Moonflower, Cleome Rose Queen and Cleome Four Queen#

6:46pm Sowed even more flowers in cell-packs outside: Orange Butterfly Flower, Blue Flax, Statice Rainbow Mix and Coreopsis Plains Bicolor#

6:47pm Sowed Strawflower Dwarf Mixed Colors in milk carton container… #

6:50pm Sowed 4 veggies into cell-packs outside: Misome, Miike Purple Giant Mustard, Marvel of Four Seasons Lettuce and Broccoli Raab#

6:51pm Kiwis, Figs and Pomegranates are starting to leaf out… #

6:54pm It’s been a busy day in the garden and it’s now dark… I would stay out longer to sow more seeds, but the mosquitos are annoying me!… #

10:35pm I noticed that the Sugar Cane now has a second sprout. The first one is about 3 inches now… #

Back to Sowing…

I’ve been feeling ill since Saturday. It was like I had severe allergies and a flu all in one. I was so stuffed up and had such a hard time breathing. It sucked!… I had a 4 day weekend and wasn’t able to garden any of those days.

Although, I don’t quite feel 100% better… I planted a whole bunch of seeds in these cool cell packs I got last week from Big Lots. The 12-pack Mini Greenhouses were 99¢ each and the 9-cell packs were 97¢ for six. As an added bonus, eight 9-cell packs will fit perfectly into my Jiffy (72 pellet) Greenhouse.

Six 9-packs   12-pack Mini Greenhouses

Here’s what I planted:

– Mighty Red Oak Lettuce (3)
– Simpson Elite Lettuce (6)
– Maiko Garland Chrysanthemum (3)
– Smooth Beauty Luffa (6)
– Zinnia (saved from Fall 2005) – I think it’s ‘White Profusion’ (9)
– Thai Lemon Basil (3)
– All Red Edible Amaranth (3)
– Red Stripe Leaf Amaranth (3)
– Borage (3)
– Large Leaf Korean Perilla (3)
– Tia To Vietnamese Perilla (3)
– Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard (12)
– Lemon Cucumber (8)
– Sikkim Cucumber (4)
– Gold Dust Alyssum (4)
– Orange Cosmos (4) (thank you treebreeze :)
– Poached Egg Plant Meadow Foam (Limnanthes douglasii) (4)
– Plains (Bicolor) Coreopsis (4)
– Envy Zinnia (4)
– Candy Cane Mix Zinnia (4)