I converted a regular 4″ pot into an Orchid pot by cutting 8 vertical lines on its side.
I repotted my “Birthday 2010” Orchid (from Dave) from a 3″ pot to this converted 4″ Orchid pot.
Tag Archives: pots
Weekend Gardening…
I did quite a lot of gardening this weekend.
The weather is getting cooler and it was overcast pretty much the whole weekend. Leaves are changing colors and the summer vegetables are slowing down. There was a lot of leaves from the Pears and Apples to sweep up and I cut off more of the dying leaves on the Tomatoes and Cucumbers.
The Lettuce, Swiss Chard and Bok Choy that I planted about 2 weeks ago are getting crowded in the six packs, so I divided them up and planted 3-4 seedlings into 3 inch pots. (I have to remember that one Swiss Chard seed actually comprise of many seeds) I’ll let these grow a bit until I have space to plant them in the vegetable beds.
( before photo – after photo )
My brother went to a yard sale and bought a whole box of terra cotta pots (with 3 bags of cactus mix included) for only $3.00… what a deal! ( photo )
I potted the three $1.00 Cactus and Succulents into pots. ( photo )
As I was planting the Cactus, a spider paid a visit and I think it took residence on the Cactus. ( photo )
It seemed to be a spider weekend. I must have seen 4 different spiders, but I guess that’s not too unusual when you are cleaning up around the garden. Here are two of my favorite photos:
Lastly, I harvested the first big batch of Tomatoes… along with Pears and Lemon Cucumber.
Yeay! Good night :)
4 Tid Bits…
For Christmas, one of my best friends, Michael, gave me Tulips in this cool little pot. The Tulips are emerging and now about 1 inch tall.
I found this near the area where I found the seedling from a few day ago. I think they are Pine Nuts. Can anyone confirm? I planted them and we’ll see if they grow.
My co-worker’s Zygocactus is dropping its leaves. She was going to throw the broken pieces away, so I yelled “NO!!!”… and she gave it to me. Yet another propagation project.
After work, I passed by Target and saw these Terra Cotta Pots that I thought were cool. They are different than your standard Terra Cotta Pot. They measure 4 inch wide by 3.5 inch tall and cost 79 cents each. (3 cents more than all 600 bulbs my brother got yesterday)
Cheap planting pots that are readily available…
My Coleus and Plectranthus cuttings at work have rooted, so I really have to get some pots and plant them in soil. I don’t want to bring a bunch of mismatched 4 inch pots to work, because they are sitting my co-workers office, and I don’t want them too look too unsightly. I searched the internet for bulk pots that were taller than regular 4 inch pots, but not wider. I couldn’t fine any; they were either too expensive or too large a quantity to buy.
I went to my friend’s Christmas party this evening and they had clear plastic Solo drinking cups. Measuring 4 inches at the top lip, 2.5 inches at the base and 5 inches tall, they were close to the size I wanted… so, at the end of the party, I helped clean up, collected the drinking cups and brought them home. The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that they were clear.
I stopped by the grocery and found opaque ones called SoloGrips in different colors. I can use these as the pots. I’ll cut the clear one to about an inch tall and use those as the saucers. Very Cool!!!… Cheap planting pots that are readily available!
I’ll make one up and take photos to illustrate what I said above.
Hello Praying Mantis…
After work (Wednesday), I drove over to Yard Bird to see if they had some cheap big pots. I found some 12 incher for $1.97 and got 5. I walked around looking at what trees they had. I’ve been trying to get ideas on what trees to get once I get my own house.
While walking around, I found a Coleus called “Dark Star“, that has very dark foliage that are almost black. I had to get it.
When I got home and separated the pots, I found a baby Praying Mantis hiding between the pots. I was only about an inch long and really cute. I placed it on my cucumber plants and took photos. Hopefully it’ll be okay and survive. Maybe I’ll see it again once it grows up. Praying Mantis are rare in our neighborhood. I’ve only seen 1 in all the years I’ve been gardening.
I potted the Coleus that I didn’t plant yesterday along with two Kongs that I rooted in the new pots. Some were too big so I took some Jade, New Orleans Red and Dark Star cuttings.
It was starting to get dark, but I wanted to finish one more chore. I got some soil conditioner and steer manure and amended a little flat in the front yard so I can plant a six pack of Snapdragons that my brother bought. I also transplanted 5 pots of Calendula that I grew from seeds
5 Day Weekend…
Friday, July 1
Today was the start of my 5 day holiday weekend. I had a lot of errands to do so I was only able to do a little bit of maintenance gardening and everything is looking good.
My mom and I went to Mid City Nursery in American Canyon. Even though this nursery is less than 10 minutes away from my house, I’ve never been to it because it closes before I get home from work.
I was very impressed. They had a lot of plants that I normally don’t see in larger garden centers, including some Fuchsias, Coleus and Euphorbias that I liked. I ended up buying 4 plants (I’ll post photos later)
Euphorbia Mozambique
Fuchsia hybrid “Golden Marinka”
Fushsia triphylla “Firecracker”
Coleus “Velvet Lime”
Saturday-Monday, July 2-4
My friend Darwin and I are going to Reno to take a mini vacation and visit my friend Michael. Michael introduced me to Coleus last year and actually gave me my first cutting (unfortunately it didn’t survive). Michael is starting his “Garden Design and Installation” business and I was looking forward to seeing him and his work… So I packed some Coleus I rooted and brought it along with the business cards that I designed for him.
We visited several nurseries and I did buy some plants (I’ll post photos later):
Coleus “Pat Martin”
Coleus “Jade”
Coleus “New Orleans Red”
Coleus “Stained Glassworks Burgundy Wedding Train”
Coleus “Gay’s Delight”
Perilla “Magilla”
Michael also gave me a cute little hypertufa pot that he made planted with a succulent.
Tuesday, July 3
Since this was my last day of the long weekend I wanted to visit the Berkeley Horticultural Nursery again… just to see if they had any new Coleus…. and they did… so I ended up buying five more… I just couldn’t resist.
Coleus “Wild Lime”
Coleus “Wild Lime” (I think this one is mislabeled because it’s different than the previous “Wild Lime”)
Coleus “Exhinition Magma”
Coleus “Rustic Orange”
Coleus “Trailing Rose Frost”
I also noticed another nursery on the way home. So I checked it out and OMG they had a Coleus sale. Buy 3 get one free… So I got four more along with a Euphorbia species. The Coleus were old and already flowering, but I’ll just take cuttings of them and make new plants.
Coleus “Dragon Black”
Coleus “Tabasco”
Coleus “Sunshine Burgundy Sun”
Coleus “Kong Green”
With all these new plants, I stopped by a local store and got a couple of cheap 18 inch pots. I also got Mondo Grass Ophiopogon and “found” some detached baby succulents.
Once home, I did major potting. All in all, I potted 5 succulents, a hanging Fuchsia pot and 3 large pots with Coleus.
I’m sleepy, so that’s it for now… I’ll post some pictures soon…
[edited June 8, 2005: Added missing plant names]
Quick but busy Monday…
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.
Makin’ Newspaper Pots…
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? :)