Happy New Year!

2013. The year seems to have flown by.  I would've posted earlier but I spent most of the holidays with a chest cold.  I'm finally better and I'm glad that I didn't get the flu.  Anyway, I am so not going to make a list of things to do this year since I seem to suck at completing the list. I do hope that this year will be better than last year, though.

Well, I know the growing season has already surprised me....

Jelly Jar Terrariums

So my clever Venus fly trap gnat controller was a bit of a failure.  I think the gnats were too small and light that it wouldn't trigger the plant.  And I had no idea that the plants needed humidity and lots of moisture.  I walked in to check on the Venus fly traps and they were a little sad looking.  I decided to retire them and create a nice, humid environment by putting them in terrariums.  I saved plenty of jelly jars and they were the perfect size for these tiny plants....

A Natural Solution to a Gnat Infestation

Last year I had a little gnat infestation that started with a bad bag of Miracle Grow potting soil. By the way, I am never buying MG soils again, organic or their regular type.  Well, I brought my mint plant in to over winter and lo and behold, I started noticing gnats flying everywhere!  I realized a little too late that I had planted the mint in MG soil. :-(  Well, now my basil plants are being over run with gnats as well.  Arrrgh!  I went to Lowe's today, and by the way it's 70 degrees here in January, to look for sticky traps or any other gnat or flying bug traps but discovered they had Venus fly traps!  Tiny ones to boot!!!  What a better way to take care of those little suckers than a man made approach!

Mini Vase for Mini Flowers

My Thai basil that I'm growing indoors keeps flowering.  I know you're supposed to pinch off the flowering heads so that the leaves keep the licorice flavor, but the flowers are so pretty that I hate doing it.  The other day while unpacking more boxes, I found my mini apothecary jars given to me by my friend, Ashley.  One of the lids broke during one of my many moves so it was a perfect tiny vase for the flowers!

Spring in December!!

Look what came in the mail today!

I ordered seeds from Seed Savers Exchange and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  I was so excited to receive the packages today.  I think I was way too excited because I squealed with joy when the boyfriend pulled out the packages in the mailbox.  I was even happier because Baker Creek sent me a gift:

Thanks Baker Creek!! I can't wait for spring!!

New Toy + Bulbs + Pansies= Happy Saturday!

Today was finally a sunny, chilly, but sunny day.  It was time for some work in the yard!  I know, it's weird.  Most people don't want to mow lawns and rake dead leaves or pull weeds during their weekend, but it's all kind of new to me.  I haven't had a yard or real outdoor space for the past 10 years.  So, yes, I'm freak'n excited! I'm also excited about my new toy!!!

O.K., I'm not one of those girls who want jewelry or perfume, but I am one of those girls who likes a good power tool!! I really, really want a Makita cordless drill. Santa??  Anyway, this edge trimmer is fantastic!! It's super light weight and it's adjustable for us vertically challenged people. It was easy to put together and the head rotates so you can trim along sidewalks!

%$@! SQUIRRELZ!

Besides the weather starting to feel cooler and the leaves starting to change, I know it's autumn because the squirrels are burying their nuts in my potted plants!!!

I wouldn't mind so much if they wouldn't come right back and dig them up again and in the process destroy my plants!! 

My poor stonecrop was totally dug up!  Thankfully, they will just send out more roots and re-plant themselves but the little buggers dug up my petunias, too. :-(

AARRGGH! I'm glad we'll be moving soon!! 

Gardening Update: Harvest+Composting+Thai Basil

I decided to harvest my carrots this morning....

I don't know why I'm so excited about the carrots considering I can't even eat them raw.  I actually made the boyfriend try the first carrot I picked a couple of weeks ago to tell me how they tasted!! Apparently, they're pretty sweet!  Anyway, my bunch of carrots are pretty puny- they're like baby carrots.  I think with my next planting in August, I'll try to use a looser medium and maybe not plant as many in the container.

Container Garden Summer Update

Here's how my not-so-little container garden is doing....

April 2011

June 2011

Tea with a side of Composting

For the last 3 or 4 months, I've been trying my hand at composting in a bucket.  I started with some left over worm castings with dead leaves in a little red bucket.  I added some dead vegetation when I started pruning my container garden, dirt and paper products.

Well, things were going well, at first, but then it rained a lot for days on end, the bucket started getting a little stinky and attracting flies/gnats.  So I added more dirt, mixed it a bit and added holes for drainage.  I ended up having to let things dry out a bit but continued to add clippings from my garden as plants either died or I killed- like my perillas :-(  So this is how it's looking now....

Drats, Gnats!

It's been really rainy lately.  This past weekend, it finally let up and I was on my balcony making sure the plants were o.k.  Well, unfortunately, the moist soil and the warm temperatures have brought on a gnat infestation!! I spent all afternoon yesterday re-potting some of my infected plants, which were ones that were planted in Miracle Grow Organic potting soil. My radishes, lettuces and carrots- all O.K. and they were planted in a cheap Big Lots brand, called Black Magic.  This morning, I go out there and the gnats are all in my pepper plant and my parsley/marigold/thyme/nasturtium mixed planter!! I hate gnats!!

The afflicted

Vinegar and dish soap trap 

I don't mind re-potting the peppers, but my mixed planter?!..... damnit! I even used a diluted chlorine solution to drench the soil.  Apparently, the chlorine should kill the eggs. This sucks!

A Beautiful Surprise!

Got back from a week working in DC to this.....

They are gorgeous! And best of all, they were a gift given to the boyfriend who in turn gave them to me! I'm excited to learn how to care for them and hope they'll thrive. XOXO

Container Garden Update

Well, my humble beginnings to try to grow something was truly humble. My goal was really not to kill anything. I started with hand-me-down containers and 3 packets of seeds.  Some hand-me-down chives and a teeny tiny stonecrop plant.

Before

Now, my little balcony container garden has become my little gardening oasis.

Today!

Toilet Paper Roll Seedlings + Container Garden

This week has been a busy one.  I spent half of the week staying with a friend in Northern VA while working on a contract project up there.  I'm so grateful for the work and love seeing my friends there, but I missed my plants and worms. :-(  I was worried that the seedlings that had just started to sprout would die.  I put the boyfriend on plant watering duty and came back to see that they were healthy and growing!

 

Did I mention before that I planted my perilla seeds?  I actually didn't think they would germinate since my mother had no idea when she had actually collected the seeds, but they had started to grow the beginning of this week and now a couple of new ones have popped up!

Korean Perilla

My Balcony Garden

The weather has been pretty wack-a-doo.  We've been having schizo weather here in the south; one day it's 80 degrees, the next day it'll drop to 50!  Well, yesterday, it was in the low 50's for most of the day until about the evening, when it finally reached the 60s. I thought it was supposed to be spring?  I couldn't take not being outside gardening and decided to plant my fledgling lettuces in larger containers anyway. I had been hardening them for about a week now and thought it would be o.k.  Well, they didn't look too good after I planted them, but this morning, I feel a little more positive!

Some of the lettuces perked up after a little rain this morning!!  I also added more lettuce seeds and put in my radish seeds in the same container yesterday.  Cross your fingers! I think next year, I'll directly sow my lettuces instead of starting them as seedlings. Not all of the seedlings grew so well.  Anyway, what I am happy about is my little succulent-like plant that I found out was a variety of stonecrop.

Toilet Paper Roll Seed Starting

So, I was WRONG about my parsley seeds that I had started in my egg carton seed starting container.  It turned out that they weren't dead! About a week or so ago, I started seeing them pop up in the egg carton.  I had planted some more seeds in a separate pot, but since neither of the seeds seemed to germinate, I threw some lettuce seed mix on top of the supposed dead parsley seeds.  Well, now I have parsley mixed in with my lettuces!

I decided this morning that it may be good to start some more parsley seeds and wanted to try the toilet paper roll method of seed starting. 

Container Gardening

I had dinner with the parents yesterday and just happened to ask my mother if she had any old planters.  My mother has the greenest freak'n thumb ever and used to garden quite a bit when I was young.  Back then, it was hard to find Korean veggies, so when she could, she would grow them in the yard.  For some reason, this gardening skill was not passed down to me.  I really hope that I can change that!  But, I am glad I asked about the planters because she had tons of them and was planning to throw them out since she can't garden as much anymore.  Now I can start planning my container garden!

Spring Is Here!!

It's so warm today!  The bees are buzzing and our tree out front is BLOOMING! It all seems to have happened over night.

The tree last week.

The tree today!

Egg Carton Seed Starting + Sprouts!

I'm very adamant about reusing/recycling. Sometimes it can be hard to figure out creative ways to reuse things but it dawned on me a couple of months ago that those plastic egg cartons (see below) could be great containers for seed starting! So last week I decided to start some seeds.  Totally experimental and not knowing if this would actually work.  I am totally new to gardening.

Oh Where Art Thou Spring?

My first seed packets ever!!  I'm sick of this winter and want to start planting!  After reading tons of urban gardening magazines at ye local B&N, I chose these seeds as my newbie starter set.  I'm planning to start the lettuce seed blend indoors first. Maybe my black thumb will finally turn a grayish-green!