Round 2

I recently harvested the peppers that had grown so nicely for me over the summer (jalapenos, cayennes, italian frying, bell, and banana pappers) and I am delighted to see that after the harvest, the plants are all blooming and fruiting again. Yay! I assume that harvesting is sort of the equivalent of 'dead heading'... maybe. With deadheading, the idea is to remove the bloom to signal to the plant that it has not fulfilled its goal of producing seed, prompting the plant to bloom again (and again). Though the flowers of a pepper plant have already set seed in the production of a fruit, somehow harvesting the fruit prompts the plant to bloom again. For whatever the reason, I am glad.

Cut Off

Cut off. That's what I've been.

I went looking yesterday for a pot for my newly acquired ZZ plant. A friend's coworker had been throwing away 3 healthy plants, so home they went with him instead. They ever-so-nicely shared one of them with me.

The trip was successful, but I ended up with 2 more plants (and 2 more pots). I took home a Croton, and another succulent plant.

My boyfriend vehemently stated that I don't need any more plants, that I've not got enough room as it is, and I still don't know what I am going to do with the container plants I will try to overwinter inside....

Ahh, addiction.

I couldn't resist the Croton. It reminds me of autumn, a favorite of mine.



Beautiful. Colorful. Overful.

Summer Camp

My adventures in exchanges don't stop at seeds. I've also participated in a "summer camp" exchange with friends from a gardening forum. The idea is that you send out a small stuffie, and get one in return. Your house/neighborhood is a sleep away camp for your partner's little friend.

Chichlet came to visit me. We had trips to the park, walks around the neighborhood, and playtime with Tyson.

Hes going back to his owner in the very near future.

Safe trip Chichie.

Twister

I was out of town this past week, and while I was gone, to the surprise of about 7 million people, a Tornado touched down in NYC, in my Brooklyn neighborhood, to be exact! Cars had been flipped over, pieces of sidewalks turned up, trees uprooted, just blocks from my house.

I was oh-so-worried about what I would find upon my return home. Visions of broken pots, bare roots, and smashed melons swirled in my head. I expected the worst.

Well,
I was delightfully surprised to find that *nothing* had been disturbed! Not even a fallen pot from the porch banister! I could not believe it.

Thank goodness for narrow routes.

More seeds via the post.

I received the seeds from my other partner in the exchange that I mentioned a few posts down.

This is just so exciting!

How fun it is to receive unexpected seed varieties in the mail (for nothing more than sending out some of your own).

I received the following:

Shasta Daisy.

Turnip.

Acorn Squash.

Cabbage.

Peas.

Sunflower. (I've got plans for the sunflowers for the children at school. They will be thrilled and fascinated with the speed and height of a sunflower.)

All varieties I do not already have.

I cannot wait for planting time!

I love being a gardener.

Seed Buffet

After a satisfying meal at the Chinese buffet, I took home one lychee nut.

I wasn't sure if it would grow, as they were lychee in syrup.

I potted it up, and sure enough, a seedling sprouted up.

I started it inside with the grow-op, but moved it outside a few days ago to soak up the sunshine.

Oh-so-cute.

Sugar News

Well,
I had been told that I could not grow sugar babies in the container in which I have them, that it wouldn't carry even one melon to term. Well, I went against that advice, and so far so good.

Only two of my plants have done well out of four, but thats good enough for me. I had the two containers very close to each other, and hadn't noticed until today that the other two plants were failing, as the vines were sort of twisted together. I untwisted them and separated the containers.

Hopefully, Ill have watermelon juice running down my chin in no time.


Sweet.