Keeping the dogs out.

My dogs are the love of my life. They are playful, fun, energetic, and totally adorable. The first three characteristics, though, are currently the bane of my existence. Playful, fun and energetic equal havoc on a garden.

My future husband constructed a fence to help my efforts. At first the dogs seemed disinterested, until they realized they could squeeze through the slats! Now they're romping in there regularly!

Chicken wire is our next attempts. That should keep those suckers at bay!

Pictures to follow.

My Status

I've been gone for a long, long time.

Here's what I've been up to...

1. Working: Im a public school teacher, and work sometimes gets the best of me.
I'm also in the process of applying for a second job, I can't really share many details at this time, but wish me luck!
And... I'm finishing my master's thesis, so as you can see, Im quite busy!

2. Gardening: I've been a container vegetable gardener for my entire gardening career. This will be my first year with a real, in the ground vegetable garden. My fiance is currently building a fence to keep the doggies out, and I'll be updating this blog frequently come summer!

3. Planning a wedding! I've recently started a wedding blog, which you can find here! Visit me when you can if you fancy that kind of thing!

Leaving on a jet plane

I will be taking off this time next week for about a month. Ill be spending time in China, Japan, and Thailand and won't be returning until the beginning of August.

I promise to take lots of lovely photographs and share them when I return!

*Pinch* them

Got scraggly, leggy plants?? Try pinching them!

A few weeks ago, my mint was looking quite sad... in fact, thinking back, it looked quite sad all of last growing season too!




Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. I pinched. Pinched off the top leaves, and hoped for new growth.

Well, not even a week later, Im *so* happy with the full mint plant sitting on my porch steps. I love it. Love it!






When you remove the "terminal growth" or, the leaves at the top of the plant, it prompts the stems to branch. You can find many great articles online about pinching, this one is great from the New York Times. Google: A Timely Pinch Brings on the Bloom. The article features mostly flowering plants, but I've found pinching to be quite successful with my herbs, namely mint, lemon balm, and basil.

The best part about pinching edible herbs is that you're essentially harvesting in the process. With plants that are easily propagated from cuttings you can pinch a big enough piece and start a whole new plant.

*As a side note, along the same lines of pinching is deadheading. This brings to mind petunias, in particular. When you pinch off spent flowers, it sends the message to the plant that it has not done its job, reproduce. Therefore, the plant will continue to flower. If you let the flower go to seed, without deadheading, then its mission accomplished, and you're without. So go ahead, remove old flowers and enjoy beautiful blooms for much longer.

Pinch away and see fuller, more beautiful, productive plants. (Just don't go overboard. You've got to leave enough green for photosynthesis!)

In the making

There are lemons in the making.

I've been lusting after a Meyer Lemon tree for quite some time, but never took the plunge. That was, of course, until Spring Hill Nursery had a free plant sale. Anything under $20 was free, all you had to pay was shipping. I was on it. I ordered up a Dwarf Meyer Lemon tree. Meyer lemons are slightly sweeter than a true lemon, has a slightly orange tint, and a fragrant skin. The blossoms have an intoxicating, strong, lovely scent. Citrus do best outdoors in warm climates, but in colder areas should be overwintered inside. I plan to keep the tree contained, and transport it dependent upon the season.

I've got high hopes.

I received my little lemon tree in the mail with a few buds in tact. I repotted it and hoped for the best.

Now I've got lemons in the making. Not only have I got baby lemons, but there are plenty of buds forming. Yum.

Herbs-a-plenty

Last year I had horrible luck with herbs. I had tried, to no avail, to start a variety of herbs from seed. I potted them straight into the containers in which I expected to grow them and waited. For next to nothing to happen. My chives failed, my cilantro wilted, my parsley never germinated, and my basil was the only meager harvest (at best).

I bought a spearmint plant, and even that didn't take off!

The only thing that was successful was the lemon balm. Quite successful indeed.

Well,
This year I went a different route (with all of my edibles). I started indoors from seed. I used crushed vermiculite in nursery flats as well as peat pellets. I set up a "grow op" in my kitchen. A wire shelving unit with 2 flourescent light fixtures hanging over each shelf. I lowered the lights right down to about 1/2" above the top of the flats.

Though not the most attractive picture, this should give you an idea:



This year I've grown the following herbs with success:

Flat Leaf Italian Parsley

Sweet Basil

Lime Basil

Cilantro

Dill

Fennel

Chamomile

Spearmint

Lemon Balm

Chives

Chameleon

It must be the case, that under certain circumstances and conditions (exactly which Im not sure) that colored daisies (in this case, purple) revert back to their natural state (white).

I am sure that last year I planted purple daisies in this very spot. This year, this flower, amongst many many more buds, are entirely white.

They must have reverted back to white.

Chameleon