Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

Weeds At Home - a.k.a. dog-pee-free wild greens

Pulled up some purslane on the way home from work a while ago. Couldn't get the roots out of the crack in the cement so I wasn't sure it would root. I put the stems in a cup of water like I would for spider plants but weeks later only one of them had the barest nubin of a root. I decided maybe they didn't like the water since they were starting to wilt, and as a last ditch effort I planted the stems (still rootless) in a pot of very damp dirt.

I've kept them damp with a daily dribble of water right where they're planted and they've sprung back so much in the past few days I'm certain they're growing roots now. Looking forward to potting some more "weeds" and having a winter window garden full of wild greens.

TL;DR = Purselane prefers in soil rooting. 

Winter Returned

So the snow came back after some very cold days and blanketed everything. I'm hoping this coating will stay because we could use some build up. The neighbours have their backyard ice rinks and the river's starting to freeze along the banks. Winter seems to have finally come to stay.

I moved the aloe back into the window because it was getting pale in the center.

Looks like it's doing fine now and the  other plants in the front window seem to be doing okay.

Aloe's looking darker.

Lavender's thriving.

Chamomile good, Oregano still small.

Calendula pale, Sage small.

Chives weak but still holding on.

Over all they seem to be doing okay. Do you keep indoor plants? How do you keep them strong and healthy through the cold dark winter months?

Winter Indoor Plant Update

Since winter is officially here as the calender and first snow of the season insist I figured an update on the indoor plants was appropriate. The aloe has recovered well away from the direct light and is enjoying it's time on the stereo. Last weekend I gave it's baby/shoot to a friend. She's named it Medusa and says it's doing well.

The window plants have various levels of success. The lavender seems to be doing fine in it's peanut butter jar. I wrapped a tea towel around the jar holding the paperwhites because the water was going green and I was worried the extra light and heat was slowing root growth. Seems my instincts there were solid because shortly after wrapping it the roots went all over in the jar and the tops started growing. Just two days ago the flowers started blooming. They smell very strongly and similarly to wisteria.

Winter arrived on schedule.

Pretty little white flowers.

The chives in the tower seemed to be getting too much light beside the mirror and some shriveled up. Ironically, to get them away from the strong light I turned them to the window. The rest of the plants seem to be hovering in sprout stage and neither growing nor wilting. I'm not really sure what to do with that.

How are your plants doing?

Updates on Indoor Plants.

The sprouts seem to be paused as they grow roots.

Lavender's doing well. The bulb is working on roots.

I wrapped the jar because it was starting to go green.

The aloe had to be moved out of the window.

It seems to be getting sunburned on a few tips.

Let There Be (more) Light!

Put a mirror behind the planter to help the lil sprouts grow strong.

Oregano

Chamomile

Callendula (Pot Marigold)

Chives

Sage

As you can see, most of the sprouts are starting on their first set of true leaves. The chives don't grow like most and the sage is a slow starter. I'm hoping to have everything well established before I have to start the seeds for the garden.

Front Window Update

Not much to say. So here's a bunch of pics to say it for me.

Little white Calendula sprout by the stick.

Three itty bitty green Chamomile sprouts.

Red-neck flower pots.

New addition is a Paperwhite bulb.

Should look like this when grown.

A Pillar and Boxes of Pee

I decided we needed some greenery indoors other than the aloe this winter, so I took the two containers the hot pepper plants were in and stacked them so the smaller top one drains into the bigger one. I figured that some fresh herbs would be welcome in the kitchen and the flowers will make awesome tea and salves.

Top: Basil surrounded by Chamomile;  Lower ring: Calendula, Sage, and Chives

I also got to the garden center today to pick up the nitrogen for the garden. Because we had plenty of everything else I wanted to find a high-nitrogen, low to zero phosphorus, low to zero potassium solution that was naturally sourced and slow release. I was considering poultry manure but the size and weight of the required amount(not to mention cost) was a bit uncomfortable... especially since I don't drive and I'd have to take it all home on the bus. What I found instead was this:

Urea is the chief solid component of mammalian urine; synthesized from ammonia and carbon dioxide. It is filtered out of the body through the kidneys, and is one of the components of urine.

Five boxes should do the whole garden plus some left for if the front yard needs a boost. Amazingly potent. :) We'll get it mixed in ASAP and it will age over the winter into very nutritious soil.

Plants and Plans

No I don't have 2013 all planned out all ready. I'm good but I'm not that good. 

This little off-shoot from the lavender we pulled up yesterday begged me to come inside the house instead of the compost. An empty peanut butter jar made a decent flowerpot.

Seems to be doing well.

 Because we don't have a working mower and no one wants to cut the "lawn" anyway, we're going to turn the front yard into an herb and flower garden. 8'X17' is a ton of space so there will be lots to use in bath products, herbal teas, and such.

First Planting of the Season

First seeds of the season planted and in the windowsill.

For info on what's being planted when, check out the handy-dandy planner I've set up here.

The trays and vermiculite are from Ontario Growers Supply. The potting soil I mixed with the vermiculite was from an old planter that's been sitting in our carport all fall/winter. (Don't worry, no car exhaust to be absorbed.) I mixed the vermiculite with the old soil about 50/50 to get a nice light seed starting medium... and noticed something:

Seed mix compared to back yard dirt.

Our back yard is going to need a lot more help than I thought. That is one of the buckets I had used to sprout the dollarstore seeds. No wonder the poor things never got established. We won't be fixing it yet because the back yard still looks like this:

Free firewood anyone?

My main thoughts are to box off the beds and dig in topsoil, manure, and vermiculite to give the garden a fighting chance. That may be too expensive and we'll wind up going the topsoil & manure only route with no bed edging. I wouldn't have thought covering the ground with plastic for a few years would result in such anemic dirt... but here's the proof. We won't have our own compost to add til Autumn 2013 so this is going to be interesting.

Updates from December / January

• Started a paper route with the intention of earning extra money during this slow period at work.
• The compost pile actually got warm enough one day to melt the snow off it(kinda impressive for something that size). We're working on building it properly so when spring comes there will be a good pile ready for the worms and microbes to do their stuff.
• I got to visit with my mom & lil sis for a week and get mom's opinion on what to plant in the canning bed(since she's getting half). Turns out peas don't can well so there was some rearranging done.
• The sprouts in the containers are gone They didn't wilt or wither away... they just disappeared. I'm blaming the cats.
• The big tree branch that was blocking a lot of sun and tugging on the phone lines has been professionally removed. We now have a whole lot of wood for summer fires that needs to be cleared off the garden before any amendments or planting can be done.
• I quit the paper route because it was way too much work for the money offered.
• The seeds were bought with one minor change. We hadn't actually tried Swiss chard yet so we swapped it out for jalapeno peppers with the agreement that we'd get some chard soon and if it was liked, order the seeds later.
• We're changing our eating habits to focus more on real food like meat, veg, and homemade baking instead of prepackaged convenience "food"s

Is it just me, or is this taking forever?

Tub A - Lettuce & Green Onion

Tub B - Lettuce, Radishes & Carrots

Tub C - Lettuce and Carrots

Mint. If you look REALLY close you can see tiny sprouts.

Leek. Growing new roots and more leaf.

Maybe it's just me but I kinda figured the sprouts would have stopped looking like sprouts and started looking like plants by now.

About the new addition, I was chopping some leeks to put in an omelet and I left a nice big chunk with the root end to see if I could sprout some new roots. Since the mint didn't seem to be sprouting I figured I'd just plant it in that tub... well now the mint's showing activity and I don't want to disturb it so... I need to find another tub I guess. :)

See All the Green?

Yay! Except... no, not really.

All those tall grass looking things are rye. Apparently when I scooped dirt from the garden I brought in some rye seeds too. The teeny-tiny sprouts are what I planted, and the one lettuce has yet to sprout at all. The tall "sprout-looking" sprouts(aka "hairy roots") I assume are the radishes because they're the fastest growing thing I planted.

The poor mint hasn't shown any spouts either (I planted a few seeds dead center). Looks like maybe they were too old. I've snipped at the soil every sprout that I'm over 95% sure is rye. In a  few days we'll see how the rest are doing.

Sprout pics

Hairy roots. Dunno what it is yet.

Tiny still but things are sprouting!

Small Packages

Soon to be a spearmint plant.

Buckets have been seeded. Now we wait.

The coffee tub may get a makeover with labels to cover the branding but it will be the permanent indoor home of the Spearmint plant. Mints are awesome, but unfortunately opportunistic. One mint plant can take over your garden without strict containment.

Buckets A, B, and C (labeled on the handle) contain the following:
A- a central bunch of loose leaf lettuce, surrounded by green onions
B- a central head of boston type lettuce, surrounded by radishes and narrow type carrots(will probably add more radishes when the carrots are pulled)
C- a central bunch of loose leaf lettuce, surrounded by thick type carrots

The buckets will probably get a some mulch and a makeover like the coffee tub. I'm certain the neighbours might still be wondering why we have litter tubs in the window but at least they won't be ugly litter tubs. :)