Seedy Saturday

Well it was an eventful day in for the plants in my home today. :) It started with taking two of my flowering houseplants (one's a beautiful cyclamen and the other I don't remember but it was an annual that Carole gave me to make my herb pot pretty - pink flowers, anyway it's been living in my house for two years and has divided and re-divided over and over - it's tough!) and giving them the shower of death to rid them of the bugs that had attached themselves to the bottoms of the leaves. I should have known better when I thought I saw some small black specks on the new leaves at the base of the cyclamen a few days ago. I left it at the time and it quickly got out of control. Anyway, I went online and tried a remedy that I'm concerned was harsh, but we'll see what happens. It involved mixing alcohol (in this case, antiseptic mouthwash) with water and spraying it on the leaves and flowers, then taking a cotton swab and wiping the little buggers off my leaves. This was followed by giving them a shower, literally, in the tub. Then I pampered them with some fresh dirt and put them in a nice spot by a window in the sun.

Hopefully they're forgive me, but already the cyclamen (whose base you are not supposed to drench in water, or mouthwash for that matter) is looking a little 'dejected'.

Next, I gave all my house-plants new potting soil and moved some around, giving the larger plants bigger containers. I discovered that my gardennia's roots were a tightly packed mess, so I gently pulled those apart and put her in a bigger pot. She's now very happy on her window sill in fresh dark earth. I can tell you, it was wonderful sinking my hands into that glorious dirt, however Luc was in for a shock when he came wandering into the kitchen at 10:00, looking for something to eat. All I heard was 'Dear GAWD, SHELLEY!!!' - there was mud EVERYWHERE. He's such a patient guy. :)

:) Welcome to spring. ;)

Anyway, then I planted my Forget-Me-Nots and Thlapsi (Candytuft) flowers and finished off with watering everything.

Then it was off to my first 'Seedy Saturday' seed sale. We drove through a snowstorm to get there (kind of ironic) and I didn't remember to take money out so I literally had $3 on me. So out of the millions of seed packets, I got a Mimosa (Sensitive Plant - it actually closes up its leaves when you touch it). The sad part is that Carole probably could have given me one as she already has them in her house. Oh well - the seeds are soaking on the stove for the night and then I'll plant my indoor ones for now, and then put the rest outside in the spring - fun!

One thing I have to say about the seed-sale - there were way too many people swarming and pushing around the displays, I didn't feel comfortable taking my time to look for plants that we can grow in our shady back yard. And it's also sad because poor Luc kept picking things like 'sugar pumpkins' that need space and light (both which are in short supply at our place) to grow. I can't wait until we have ROOM!

Anyway, so that's it for me for now, I am, as usual, exhausted and need to get some shut-eye.

xo

Strawberry fields forever

So, these are the start to something sweet (maybe)... I read an article online the other day about growing strawberries and decided that, since I get lots of sun on the deck and I have at least three hooks to hang pots on the deck, why not grow strawberries? It'd be something 'neat' to harvest if it worked! So, the strawberries I was snacking on over the last few days were finished off this morning and a few of them were sacrificed (well just some chunks with some seeds still attached) to the 'growing gods' (or at least I hope!). The styrofoam pot they come in worked perfectly to put my new seed-starting dirt in, and the plastic film that comes over them even already has an air-hole, and is secured by an elastic - it was the perfect set up for them, let's just hope it works now!

I also bought some little mini peat pots that I will be planting things in this weekend hopefully, after we get back from the seed sale!!! Eeeee! I'm such a geek!

Wow, I have more than I think!!

Wow, so I found a piece of lined paper that I had scrawled all my plants (or the ones we could identify) on last year when my former tenants' mother stayed here for a while. At first I wasn't too fond of the idea, considering, for one thing, that her son and daughter-in-law and their new baby were enough people in the already-crowded two-bedroom upstairs. It also became very apparent that she and her daughter-in-law didn't 'care' for each other overly much, so she spent most of her days sitting in the van in our driveway, with beer cans lined up in the snow banks and a smoke in her hand. However, to my surprise (and happiness), she was an avid gardener - actually she was one of those 'salt of the Earth' types who took pride in living in the middle of nowhere (like the woods), in a cabin with her dog. The only reason why she was relocating to Ottawa was so she could be closer to her son and her grand-daughter. Anyway, I digress.. So she marched me around my yard one day and showed me all the plants I had, and man did I ever learn a lot. I learned that the giant old maple in the back yard is what she referred to as a 'danger tree' (meaning that the wires tangled in its branches and the fact that at least two of its limbs are totally dead is not a good thing), and she pointed out different plants that I had no idea I had, and suggested how I could trim them back, etc.

So here's a list of what I'm starting with - makes me glad I didn't go ahead and order my $110 worth of seeds (catalogs are evil things) because quite honestly I think I may have more than I can handle already!

Here goes:
- orange lillies (who doesn't though)
- wild rose bushes
- ferns (possibly a 'Moose Antler Fern'?
- daisies
- black cherry tree
- English ivy
- juniper bush
- tulips and yellow crocuses
- peonie (but I'm not sure it survived when the previous owner butchered it!)
- 2 hostas (new to my garden in the Fall )
- hydrangea
- periwinkle
- peppermint
- spearmint
- dill
- lovage
- oregano
- tarragon
- basil
- thyme
- lavendar
- yellow tickseed
- some big huge red-flowered plants from Mom
- some unidentifiable purple 'pom-pom' looking flower I planted in the fall
- really annoying three-leafed plants that grow out of control and that I have to try to get rid of so they don't choke everything else out again
- two white-flowering trees (bushes) that I can't for the life of me remember the name of

So to that list, I'd like to add some hellebores for under the maple, astilbes for along the side in the shade, lemon thyme, fennel (loved it last year mmm), epimedium rubrium (better tell myself now - pretty ground-cover with pink flowers!) to go in the front under the cherry tree and around the juniper, and geraniums because they can grow well in shade.

Eeeek! I so have my work cut out for me here.
The exciting part too is that I am also hoping to move my herbs to big barrels that I'll keep on the deck in full-sun, and hopefully I'll grow some strawberries as well (apparently borage grown with strawberries enhances their flavour) and of course some tomatoes (but this year it'll be in a deep container as they apparently hate shallow ones, like the one I gave them last year).

Now I have to go make a list of things to do... And then go to sleep.

Zzzzz...

xo

I'm so EXCITED and I just can't HIDE IT!!

Eeeee!!! I'm so excited!! This year is the first year where I'm thinking AHEAD for spring. Normally, (like last year), I wait until May long-weekend, then go to Canadian Tire and maybe the local greenhouse to buy a bunch of annuals that I plant, which later die because my yard is almost full-shade and I have a penchant for sun-loving plants... This year, I've been studying the seed catalogs and making lists of shade-loving plants (I'm hoping to also find some that bloom at night, for my 'moon garden', since we're rarely around during the day to enjoy it). There's a good deal on through Veseys (based in PEI) where they're deducting $25 off your total bill if you spend $50 or more by March 12.
I did, however, buy three seed packets today while strolling through Zellers on my way home from the grocery store. You see, I accidentally stumbled into their garden section, and to my total surprise and delight, they were selling metal pots, buckets and watering cans of all shapes, sizes and colours!!! I have been wanting to find something like this for my garden, and was planning to go to garage sales and paint old ones. However, I resisted the temptation (it was hard - and I couldn't leave without comprimising with myself - so I bought a bucket of fertilizer because it was only $5 and three seed packets). I found some Forget-Me-Nots that are apparently shade-loving plants. Then I spoiled myself with Baby's Breath and a bright pink mix called 'CandyTuft - Fairy Mixed Colours'. I have never heard of it, but hopefully if I can get it to grow, it'll go in a nice bright yellow container on my back deck...

Here are some pictures of what I hope they'll turn out looking like (will be interesting to compare results):

Candytuft:

Forget Me Not:

Babys Breath:

Oh, and I found a neat little site that sells really cool gardening tools - they're for kids, so they're probably not overly durable, but the watering cans are adorable (see above)! http://storeforknowledge.com/category.aspx?SID=1&Category_ID=278&Page=3

Anyway, according to the directions on my seed packets, I have to start some of the seeds in February (as in, NOW) and that scares me to death because I don't have grow-lights, need to buy a shelf, don't have containers or potting mix, etc and am relying on the sun coming through the window (it gets full sun all afternoon). Hopefully my little babies will LIVE!!!

Yearning for Spring!

Reclaiming my youth (and growing something green!!)... Growing carrot-tops on wet paper-towel... Why not? :) It's been only about three days and already I have green sprouting!!!

Welcome to Octavius

Well, no better way to kick off this blog than to say welcome to 'Octavius' our new testing mascot!
I brought in a small potted plant that has been struggling a bit lately at home (normally it's a very tough little plant but this cutting seems to be quite 'fragile' and really needs more light, so in it came, through -29 weather (I wrapped it)). So I picked up the pot this afternoon and decided to scrape the bit of mud that had leaked through the holes of the pot and into the dish below and put it back into the pot. This involved scraping the mud, then tapping the dish on the edge of the pot so the mud would fall in. Well didn't I get the shock of my life when a 5-inch long earth worm practically JUMPED out of the soil and started to climb the side! It took all my strength not to scream (normally I like worms - in the garden anyway, but only if I have gloves on!).
Anyway, with an apology for disturbing him and a bit of coaxing he went back into his soil and will hopefully stay there. I told my boss he's our new mascot and he seemed to like the idea. :)

Anyway, I have major plans for this blog, which I have written down and hope to start tonight. My goal is to have this up and running by spring with pictures and a new 'look'. Let's see if I can actually do this!

xo