Tag Archives: purchase

Worm Poop Tea + Lithops

Posted on by

A few weeks ago, my coworker Purr was telling me that she wanted to get some vermicompost (composted worm poop).

Last night, I decided to really read the label of an eco-friendly plant food called Terracycle, that I bought about a month ago. To my surprise, it is made of vermicomposted organic matter. In other word it’s like Worm Poop Tea that you spray on the plant’s foliage or water it into the soil. One thing that attracted me to this product is that they reuse old soda bottles. That’s why some look like Coke bottles and others Pepsi or Aquafina.

PErracycle Plant Food   Lithops

I decided to surprise Purr and get her a bottle to try. As I was looking for it, I saw some Lithops, which were some succulents that I’ve always wanted, so I bought two 2-inch pots. Hmm, maybe this is a start of another collection.

Umm… A New iMac…

Posted on by

So I just purchased a new 20″ Apple iMac (Intel Core Duo) on Amazon, and I feel like I made an impulse purchase.

I’ve been thinking of buying a new Mac and have been eyeing a Apple Power Mac Dual-Core G5, but realized that I may not need all that power and expandability. The reason I stuck with Mac towers was because I use two monitors and the towers allowed for a extra video card. My boss who just got the new iMac and told me that it had a video port in addition to it’s built in monitor, so I read about it and the iMacs now support an external display to extend the desktop. So, I can still use two monitors.

So, I should get a new iMac shipped next week. I’m justifying this purchase with my federal income tax return, a $150 rebate, free shipping and no sales tax on Amazon. Plus, I should get a new computer before buying my house, ‘cuz once that happens, I don’t think I’ll be able to make any big purchases for a while.

Outgrown…

Posted on by

Today after work, I stopped by Home Depot and bought myself a two bulb fluorescent shop light to use as grow lights, since I’ve out grown my aquarium. I got a warm bulb and used one of the cool white we had in storage; I hope this is the right combination. I just bought a 2 footer, because I have no room in my room for the 4 foot one.

I also got a bigger Jiffy Greenhouse (72 Pellets), so I can really start sowing seeds.

…And to top it off, I found a 3 pack of Dahlia ‘Peaches N Cream’. Imma grow one or two for our house and give one to my Aunt who has a collection of Dahlias.

Earlier This Week…

Posted on by

Sunday Jan. 29, 2006

I was able to take some photos of the garden. I just haven’t downloaded them to my computer.

I potted the Yellow Crocus that my brother didn’t plant into two small rectangle pots that I found laying in the corner of the garden. I also potted the Giraffe Dahlia and the Yellow Peruvian Daffodils that I purchased the previous weekend into one gallon pots.

Tuesday Jan. 31, 2006

Five potted Coleus cutting (3 Kong Scarlet, 1 Pat Martin and 1 Velvet Lime) graduated from the Coleus Aquarium and are now in their new home at work to over-winter.

I purchased a Jiffy-7 Mini-Greenhouse with 12 Jiffy-7 Pellets, for $1.88 just to try it out since I never used it. I planted 2 pellets each of these seeds:

– Tomato ‘Brandywine OTV’
– Tomato ‘Great White’
– Eggplant ‘Scarlet Chinese’
– Coleus ‘Dappled Apple?’ (Collected from last year)
– Columbine ‘William Guinness’
– Carex sp.? (An ornamental grass that I collected)

I also bought a pack of small ZipLock-type bags to organize all the seeds I’ve collected, especially the Coleus seeds and Ornamental Grasses that where here and there.

The Jiffy pellet were convenient, but seemed small, but I may move the seedlings to bigger pots if they grow too big and not ready to go outside.

Wednesday Feb. 1, 2006

I bought three more Mini-Greenhouse as gifts; one for my coworker Purr and two for Michael’s birthday.

I also bought a few seeds packets:

– Columbine ‘Barlow Mix’ (Aquilegia vulgaris)
– Zinnia ‘Candy Cane Mix’ (Zinnia elegans)
– Zinnia ‘Envy’ (Zinnia elegans)
– Nicotiana ‘Peace Pipe’ (Nicotiana sylvestris)
– Blue Fescue (Festuca ovina glauca)

My Brother’s Find

Posted on by

I tell ya, my brother is a pack rat, but he is good at finding deals. These were damaged goods on a pallet, that he bought at Home Depot. All of this for under $11.

– 1 bag Cocoa Magic Mulch
– 2 big bags of Ground Bark
– 8 big bags of Potting Soil
– 1 bag of Top Soil

My Brother's Find   My Brother's Find

Scions + Grafting + 2 New Bulbs/Tubers…

Posted on by

Today I had a great gardening-related day.

I drove over to San Francisco for the California Rare Fruit Grower’s 2006 Golden Gate Chapter Scion Exchange.

When I first went in, I was so overwhelmed by the number of bags of scions (cuttings). This was my first time at any gardening function like this and I didn’t know quite what to do… so I told the woman at the door that I’ve never been to anything like this and I asked what do people here.

She explained that you basically go through the tables of bags filled with scions and if you see something you like, take 1 or 2. Then take some tape and label your scion with the name that was on the bag. They had so many varieties of different fruit trees, like apples, pears, asian pears, peaches, asian and european plums, nectarines, pluots, figs, pomegranate, kiwi, grapes, mulberries, persimmons and more.

Their were many group members who were happy to answer your questions. One of they said that even if I didn’t know how to graft trees, there were some scions that can be rooted like the figs, kiwis and pomegranate. At 1pm the had a grafting demonstration, which was very informative. There’s nothing like actually seeing someone do it up close.

I made a flickr set ( link ) with some photos from the event. Clicking many of the photos below will link you there.

In total I got about 25 varieties of fruit scions:

A list of the varieties of scions I got

Yeay!!! New Compost Bin…

Posted on by

I finally found another Smith & Hawkins BioStack Compost Bin for sale on a Craigs List ad. I sent an email out and it was available… so I drove about 45 minutes away in the rain and picked it up in Pleasanton. It came with some extras, was never used and a good deal at $45.

Smith & Hawkins BioStack Composter (Top Closed)  Smith & Hawkins BioStack Composter (Top Opened)

Seed Purchases

Posted on by

I had some time to kill at work and did some seed shopping online:

I ordered these Asian herbs and veggie at Evergreen Seeds:

– Large Leaf Korean Perilla – Coleus-like Perilla with a unique flavor between mint and basil
– Tia To Vietnamese Perilla – Green color leaves with purplish red on the back
– Red Stripe Leaf Amaranth – Edible large green leaves with red stripes
– All Red Edible Amaranth – Edible all red leaves
– Mino Early Daikon Radish – A long-time Japanese Daikon Radish favorite
– Smooth Beauty Luffa – Light green skinned edible Luffa
– Maiko Garland Chrysanthemum – Edible Asian Greens
– Thai Lemon Basil – Thai Hoary Basil

I also ordered these hard-to-find and usual plants at Amishland Heirloom Seeds:

– Strawberry Spinach – (Chenopodium capitatum) Spinach and Strawberries in one
– Sikkim Cucumber – (Cucumis sativus var. sikkimensis) Cantaloupe-like Cucumber
– Brandywine OTV Tomato – A sub variety of the famous Brandywine Tomato
– Scarlet Chinese Eggplant – (Solanum integrifolium) Miniature Pumpkins-like fruits
– Great White Tomato – Big white Beefsteaks