Tag Archives: purchase

Another Quick Late Night Planting

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I seem to be on a Salad Greens planting kick and I really want to get some Mizuna, so after work I stopped by Orchard Supply Hardware to see if they had any. They didn’t, but I found a jumbo six-pack of Salad Greens that contained Leaf Lettuce, Arugula and Radicchio. After dinner and washing the dishes, I planted it right away into a large Daiso pot, that I generally use for Salad Greens.

Another quick late night planting. I'm on a salad greens kick and stopped by Orchard Supply Hardware after work to see if they had any Mizuna for sale. They didn't have any, but I got a jumbo six-pack of these salad greens which includes Lettuce, Arugula

I also bought a seed packet of Renee’s Garden Mild Mustard Mix, which at least contains Mizuna seeds, along with other Mustards.

Also, we had a bit of rain… well, not hard rain, but a strong sprinkle or drizzle. I’m not sure it’s enough to penetrate inches into the dry soil, but it’ll increase some moisture.

Garden Transformation

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This morning, I woke up early (for a Saturday). I was looking forward to going to the nursery to see if they had any Cabbage and Lettuce plants.

I first went to Walmart and checked the garden center and found a couple of succulents that I liked. One was a Rock Purslane (Calandrinia spectabilis) that I’ve been looking for for a while now. Who knew that out of all places, Walmart would have it. The second was Pachysedum ‘Ganzhou’ which had a cool color. I’ve been checked the vegetable section and found a 9-pack of Bonnie’s Best Cabbage and Buttercrunch Lettuce.

My name is Joel... and I'm a plant addict.

I then drove to Mid City Nursery to see what they had. I ended up with a few plants including:
– Onions ‘Walla Walla Sweet’
– Cilantro ‘Slo Bolt’
– Flowering Cabbage ‘Red’
– Shasta Daisy ‘Goldfinch’

The owner came up to me and ask if I needed any help. So I asked him why my Kumquat plant has dying branches. He asked if I had it in the ground or in a pot I replied in a pot and he said maybe its not getting enough water. So I’m hoping that his explanation was correct and that my Kumquat doesn’t have a disease.

When I got home, I decided to pull out the Zucchini plants because they were not doing well and it didn’t look like they would produce any more fruits. In its place, I planted Portuguese Kale. I also pulled what pot of Swiss Chard that were also not doing well. I added new compost and planted 6 Buttercrunch Lettuce plants.

I also pulled all my Tomatoes in the Self Watering Rain Gutter Grow System #2.

I think the Tomatoes are done for the year... so I'll be pulling them out and planting Cabbage in its place. The green in the photo is Parsley which are starting to bolt.

I planted the new Cabbage into each pot.

I'm going try to grow Cabbage this year. Wish me luck because I have never had good luck with Cabbage.

In the Square Foot Garden, I planted 2 squares of the Walla Walla Sweet Onions.

Growing Citrus with Less Water Talk

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I attended a talk hosted by Annie’s Annuals about growing Citrus trees with less water. The speaker talked about a lot of topics related to Citrus. He mentioned that California has historically been a dry area and the recent years (I can’t remember how much exactly, maybe hundreds) has been wetter than normal, which we have been getting used to. So now with the drought in California, it’s pretty much just getting back to normal. He showed some drip systems and highly suggested using mulch. Mulch, mulch, mulch, mulch, mulch! He also uses straw like I do, so I felt like I’m doing it right. He also mentioned that Citrus grow very well in containers and suggested using Coir Mulch as 1/3 or the soil you use. This will really help retain water.

I attended a very informative 'Growing Citrus with Less Water' talk at Annie's Annuals & Perennials... then went plant shopping!!!

After the talk, I went around the nursery and went plant shopping. I got a couple of plants.

My new plants from Annie's Annuals & Perennials. (top to bottom, left to right) Kale 'Richmond' Pride' (Purple Tree Collard), Sunburst Aeonium, Dandelion 'Red Rib', Red Russian Kale, Blue Vein Sweet Pea, Oscularia caulescens, Cat's Tail Aloe and Goji Berr

The good thing is that I didn’t have to spend any cash, because I was about to use a gift certificate that they gave me when they used one of my photos.

Unusual Vegetables…

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I saw yougrowgirl’s photo on Instagram of the book “Unusual vegetables: Something new for this year’s garden“. The font on the cover reminded me of old gardening books I had when I was young. I was curious and looked it up on Amazon. The cheapest new copy was $103.52… but they had a used (very good condition) for 1¢… so I went ahead and bought it.

Half Price Plant Sale + New Rain Barrel…

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I got a tip from one of John Kohler’s video from growingyourgreens.com that Home Depot was having a half price plant sale… so after work, I took my Mom there… She also wanted to buy a trash can to make into a rain barrel. We got a 44 gallon heavy duty trash can and some PVC fittings for the Square Foot Garden. I also got a few plants for half price:

– 4-pack Black Beauty Zucchini (with 6 plants)
– two 4-pack Sugar Ann Snap Peas
– 2 inch Yellow Straightneck Squash (2 plants)

I’ll divide the Zucchini and Yellow Squash and plant them into larger pots, then give them away to friends and family, keeping about 2 for myself.

Pacific Orchid Exposition 2012 + Orchid Purchases…

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My Mom and I went to the San Francisco Pacific Orchid Exposition at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Like in the previous years, the Orchids were beautiful and there was so much to see. I’ll post photos from the show in a later entry.

Since we tend to kill Orchids, we have only purchased Orchids that will survive outdoors, mainly cool/intermediate weather Orchids like Cymbidiums, Epidendrum and Masdevallias, with a few Zygopetalum and Maxillaria.

I found two inexpensive Masdevallias:
– Masdevallia Angel Glow ‘Zi’
– Masdevallia Angel Frost ‘Sunset Velour’

My Mom wasn’t going to leave the show until she got a few Orchids. She wanted a particular Dendrobium, but that Orchid needed bright light and warm weather, so we didn’t get that. She ended up choosing two:
– Epicattleya Rene Marques ‘Tyler’
– Epidendrum Crystal Valley ‘Orange Ball’

For fun, I searched the internet for the parentage of these Orchids and here’s what I came up with:
Continue reading →

Berkeley Plant Purchases…

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I stopped by two nurseries in Berkeley and found some really cool plants, that I had to purchase.

From Westbrae Nursery:
– Meadow Foam (Limnathes douglasii)
– Rose Campion (Lychnis coronaria)
– Sugar Snap Peas

From Berkeley Horticulutral Nursery:
– Broccoli Raab ‘Zamboni’
– Gai Lan ‘Green Lance’
– Leaf Broccoli ‘Getti di Naoli’
– Portuguese Kale ‘Galega da Folhas Lisas’
– Kale ‘Redbor’
– Tree Collard (Purple Stem)
– Snow Pea ‘Golden Podded Pea’

Valentine’s Shopping…

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

I woke up this morning and got an email from a local Ace Hardware with a 90% off Valentine’s Day coupon (up to $25), so I went for a visit to see what I can get. I was looking for a power flusher thing, but they didn’t have one, so I kept looking. I found some Slug and Snail Pellets from Whitney Farms that was ok for organic gardening, so I got that with the coupon… It was $24.99 and it rang up $2.50!!! What a great deal!!! Thanks Benicia Ace Hardware!!!

I then headed to Navlet’s Garden Center in Martinez and Concord to search for veggies and I found some:
– Kale ‘Rainbow Lacinato’ (I’ve heard of Lacinato (or Dino) Kale, but now Rainbow)
– Kale ‘Siberian’
– Lettuce ‘Red Romaine’
– Lettuce ‘Wildfire Mix’
– Parsley ‘Triple Curled’