Tag Archives: purchase

Weekend Gardening… Stinky-Stinky!…

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Saturday, June 10, 2006

I didn’t do any gardening, but took a few photos in the garden.

The Avocado that we found sprouting in the compost bin last year has survived the winter outside very well. I didn’t realize how much it has grown in 11 months. I’ll have to repot this into a 5 gallon pot soon.

One Year Avocado

My Mom harvested the Shallots she planted a while back, but the bulbs didn’t get too big. They were growing in a mostly shaded area and the soil needed to be amended badly. We are going to replant the smaller bulbs in the newly amended veggie bed under much more sun. Hopefully that’ll make a big difference.

Shallots

She was telling me that she loves these either chopped up with tomatoes and added to fried fish, or pickled with Garlic, Carrots, Green Papaya and Labanos (Diakons/Radish).

Later in the afternoon, we went shopping at Target, the Filipino Grocery Store, Food for Less and the 99¢ store. At the 99¢ store I got a grafted Cactus that was starting to flower and my Mom got a bunch of six Lucky Bamboo both for 99¢.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

I did a bunch of this and that on Sunday.

I sprayed the Roses, Snapdragons and Dahlias with half and half solution of skim milk and water. Hopefully, this will deter black spots and mildew or rust (I forgot which one).

I also sprayed almost everything’s leaves with fish fertilizer. Stinky-stinky!!!! Note: remember to close your windows if you spray your plants with fish fertilizer!

We had more Taro and Ginger sprouting in the kitchen, so I planted those in six-packs.

I emptied the one-galloon pots that had Caladiums from last year, which all died… but I found tons of earthworms which I relocated to veggie bed #1.

Earthworms

The Cucumbers were getting too big for the 12-pack Mini Greenhouse, so I transfered them to 4 inch pots, because I haven’t finished the other veggie beds.

I continued to work on veggie bed #2, but I still have to finish one of the side, which has Breaded Iris and Chocolate Mint growing against it. I think we also have some Hyacinth bulbs there which I have to dig out carefully.

I planted another Coleus pot with ‘Saturn’s Rings’, ‘(Mislabled) Show & Tell’, ‘Burnt Sienna’ and Heuchera ‘Amber Waves’.

It was a Busy Gardening Day…

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I took a half day off and left work a bit early. I just needed to take care of a lot of things, because I know I won’t have much time this weekend because of another Filipino Fiesta in San Francisco.

Before going home I stopped by Mid-City Nursery and got three plants.
– Coleus ‘Show & Tell?’ (I don’t think the sticker on the container was correct)
– Coleus ‘Burnt Sienna?’ (I’m not sure if the tag on this plant was correct)
– Heuchera ‘Amber Waves’

Coleus 'Show and Tell?'   Coleus 'Burnt Sienna?'

Heuchera ‘Amber Waves’ photo

12-pack Mini Greenhouses + Jerusalem Sage + Peppermint-scented Geranium

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I woke up late again and drove to work… so after work, I went back to Big Lots and got me some more 12-pack Mini Greenhouses.

By the time I was driving home, the sun was setting and the sky was beautiful, so drove back to Sandpiper Point to see if I can take a photo of the sunset, but I was about 5 minutes too late. (I haven’t gone back there since the pit-bull incident.)

I went to see if I could spot the Jerusalem Sage I wanted… I found it and took a couple of sprigs of it to try to root. I hope they take.

In other news… I’ve been asking people on Dave’s Garden for help identifying some of my unknown plant photos. One that I was please to learn was a Peppermint-scented Geranium from Filbert Steps. Now I totally want to see if they do smell like Peppermint. I also want to ask the owner if I could have some cuttings.

Back to Sowing…

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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)

Two Camera Techniques

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I’ve been researching some photography techniques online and learned two techniques that I want to try.

One is called focus stack. For this, you take a series of macro shots of the same subject, each at a different focus depth. You then use a program like Photoshop to combine the various focused element into a single photo. This results in a photo with an exaggerated DOF (depth of field).

Here are some focus stack examples on Flickr.
Here is a focus stack tutorial written by Flickr user Lord V.

The second is reverse lens. For this, you take a lens and attach it to your camera backwards. This essentially act sort of like a super magnifying glass.

Here are some reverse lens examples on Flickr.
Here is a reverse lens tutorial written by Flickr user Domk.

I purchased a Conversion Lens Adapter for my Canon PowerShot A610. This way I can attach lenses and filters to my camera. I also purchased two lenses; a wide angle lens and a telephoto lens so I can experiment more with my camera and expand my photography skills.

On the Way to Work + On the Way Home

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As I was walking to work this morning, I took an alternating route and saw this Coleus planted outside a large-well-known company’s window.

I was so tempted to take a little piece off to root, but they still look young… plus there were a lot of people around and I was sure they had a security camera…

Hmmm? Maybe when these grow bigger, I may revisit it… and accidentally bump into it.

Coleus Seen on My Way to Work

The weather is nice and has really warmed up, so I’m slowly taking the overwintering cuttings at work home… I’ll be bring them in batches… basically, whatever I can fit in a grocery bag.

Welcome Back Home (Batch 1)

top (left to right): Coleus ‘Amora?’, Coleus ‘Oompah’
bottom (left to right): Unknown Coleus (from Target), Plectranthus ‘Zulu Wonder’

Once I got to Vallejo, I stopped by Home Depot, and tried to resist buying more Coleus… Didn’t work…

Both unlabeled. Damnit!!!

New Coleus 1   New Coleus 2

I had the one on the right last year, but it didn’t survive. The label said ‘Cache’, but other Coleus were also labeled ‘Cache’, so I don’t think that this is it’s actual name.

Variegata / Variegatus

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After work, there was a lot of traffic on the freeway, so I exited and decided to see what they had at Yard Birds.

I found a Zebra Iris (Iris pallida ‘Variegata’) which I’ve wanted since I saw on a TV show. I’ve never seen one in person so I had to snag this one.

Zebra Iris

I also saw a Ornamental Grass (Acorus germineus ‘Variegatus’) which looked like a miniature Zebra Iris. It had a broken seed head so I had to save it.

Found Ornamental Grass Seeds

I Couldn’t Resist!

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I couldn’t resist buying these Splitrock today. I’m not sure if it is Pleiospilos species possibly Pleiospilos Nelii. Can anyone confirm?

Splitrock

Below are baby Kalanchoe tubiflora grown from leaflets found on the garden floor of a large home improvement store back in February. I had to save them! They were so tiny when I found them… Now they are about half an inch tall.

Baby Kalanchoe