Tulips and Daffodils Planted in New Bed

I got part of the driveway and street border flower gardens finished a few days ago.

I planted pink daffodils near the steps, then yellow daffodils and purple tulips together along the driveway, and then more pink daffodils around the corner by the street. I’ll be adding pansies and snapdragons, which I’ve grown from seed, over the top of the bulbs so they will look nice over the winter until the bulbs bloom in spring.

Still have a lot of work to do, but it is nice to have the bulbs planted and everything mulched.

Plant Cuttings in Potting Mix & in Water

A friend on the Folia Garden Journal Site sent me some wonderful plant cuttings today! I wish I had some perlite and/or peat to root these in, plus some rooting hormone. I'm sure I'd have better success.

I was able to get 12 cuttings from the Wooly Morning Glory/Hawaiian Woodrose. I put 6 in water and 6 in potting mix to root. It is supposed to be very easy to root.

I got 10 cuttings from the Lemon Balm. I had some Park Starts seed starters left over from snapdragons that didn't germinate so I got the brilliant idea to put some lemon balm cuttings in those. I think they'll do really well.

I was able to get 5 cuttings from the Pineapple Sage. I put 2 in the Park Starts and 3 in water. This is also supposed to be an easy plant to root. I hope so because I've been wanting this one badly!

Made a new little garden

A couple of weeks ago I hurt my knees pretty badly building my butterfly garden. I'm not able to finish it, so it currently sits covered in thick newspaper and mulch. I've been struggling to find places for my new plants that I had ordered online weeks ago that were intended for the butterfly garden.

I've got 5 or 6 plants coming in any day now, so I built a new little 3'x3' garden to hold them. I cleared the weeds, then I turned the soil and mixed in 2 bags (3 cubic ft) of mushroom compost.
The bed will be surrounded by a walkway. This photo was taken from the porch, so the flowers here will give me a nice view.



It was a lot easier on my knees to use my new long-handle shovel instead of getting down on my hands and knees and using my hands and trowel as I usually do. I see all these little roots so I’m dying to kneel down and sift through and remove them all, but I just can’t do it--my knees are still too sore, though they are improving.

Free roses: Joseph's Coat Cuttings

Took a short walk down the street and saw some gorgeous roses at several of my neighbors' homes. I asked one neighbor if I could get cuttings from his roses.

The roses were growing waist deep in weeds and desperately needed dead-heading—so sad. I put half the cuttings into a cup and half into a milk jug greenhouse in potting soil.

Home-Made Net Cups for Starting Seeds

Larry Hall, inventor of the Rain Gutter Grow System, discovered that seeds started in perforated cups, such as the net cups used in hydroponics, grow amazingly faster and larger than seeds planted in standard cups or trays.

While net cups are not expensive, free is better so I came up with my own version: Peachy Net Cups.

I made these from diced peaches cups, though they are available with several different varieties of fruit. The holes were made by heating a Phillips screwdriver on my gas stove burner and then melting the holes all round the cup. You can make slits rather than holes if you prefer, though that would probably be easier using a soldering iron rather than having to keep reheating the screwdriver constantly.

I can fit several of these cups onto a Styrofoam tray such as those from packaged meat from the grocery store. (I clean the trays first by thoroughly washing in very hot water and anti-bacterial dish soap.) These cups, filled with seed starting mix or potting soil, fit conveniently on the trays and slide easily beneath my PVC grow light.

Before planting seeds, thoroughly wet the potting mix either by carefully watering from the top or by pouring a couple of inches of water into the tray and letting the cups sit in the water until it is absorbed. Repeat until the potting mix is damp but not water-logged. Now just plant your seeds following the directions on the packet. Keep the potting soil damp until your seeds sprout.

Germinate Difficult Seeds using Coffee Filters

 

The method I use is to place several seeds onto one half of a damp coffee filter, making sure they are not touching each other. Fold the filter in half and spritz with water using a spray bottle, then place the filter into a Ziploc baggie and seal. (You can fold in the ends of the filter some more if needed to fit into the baggie. Just make sure no seeds are touching each other.)

I store my germination baggies on a plastic tray which I place on an old heating pad set to its lowest setting. The warmth helps the seeds germinate. If any of your seeds require darkness to germinate, place them together in a baggie and store that baggie in a dark cupboard.

Each day I hold each baggie up to the light and look for any seeds that have sprouted a root. If the coffee filter looks a little dry, I open the baggie and spritz it with water.

Once a seed has germinated, I very carefully use tweezers to plant the seed/root very shallowly into a peat pellet, or into a tray with potting mix. The tiny seedlings can be extremely delicate and must be kept moist until they poke their heads above the soil.

Sources For Cheap, Sample-size Seed Packets

http://www.artisticgardens.com/ (samples $0.40)
http://www.seedman.com/ (samples $0.98)
http://www.sampleseeds.com/ (samples $0.99)
http://www.dollarseed.com/
http://www.seedsnow.com
http://www.ohioheirloomseeds.com/
https://www.superseeds.com
http://www.sustainableseedco.com

Make a Self-Watering Planter for Your Herbs

My self-watering planter is based on a design by Larry Hall for his Self Watering Pop Bottle Garden.

I will be planting herbs to grow in my kitchen over the winter.

Many cooks who aren't into gardening avoid indoor herb gardens because of (legitimate) fears the plants will die from too much or not enough water. This little system solves the water worries and practically guarantees success as long as there is enough light.

Herbs need at least 5 hours of bright, full sunshine a day to stay healthy, and sometimes the low winter light just isn't enough. You can place your herbs in a south-facing window, but for the best results, place your herbs under fluorescent lights for 14 hours a day, with the lights 6 to 8 inches away from the tops of the plants.

Making The Planter

The first step to making my self-watering planter is to add holes to the 2-liter bottle for drainage and to improve the wicking action of the water. To make the holes in the plastic I melted them with a screwdriver that I heated on my stove burner. You could also use a soldering iron, or a drill.

Make 3 small holes around the top of the bottle through the threads where the cap normally screws on. This will help the water to wick up into the soil.

Add 3 holes around the bottle 3 or 4 inches from the top. These are needed if the planter will be outside to allow rain water to drain down into the tub to prevent water-logging the roots.

Now, cut off the bottom portion of the 2-liter bottle. You won't need the bottom for this project.



 

2 larger holes are needed in the lid of the tub. The large one will hold the 2-liter bottle, and the smaller one is for adding water when needed. Trace around the bottle and the bottle cap with a pen to mark the holes, then cut with a knife or scissors.

Finally, make small hole about 3 inches up from the bottom of the tub to allow excess water to drain out and prevent over-filling of the tub. To avoid spills, you may wish to omit this if your garden will only be kept indoors, however, you must then be careful not to overfill when adding water. Keep only about 3 inches of water in the tub.

While not absolutely required, it is recommended that the bottle and tub be painted. In addition to looking nice, painting the tub and bottle protects the plastic from sun damage, and prevents too much light from causing algae growth. I used Krylon Fusion spray paint for plastic.

I'd recommend, especially if you are making these for gifts, that you not spray the bottom of the tub with paint. I found that the bottom gets scratched way too easily. Since the bottom wouldn't get exposed to sunlight, it's ok to leave it unpainted, which would avoid scratching issues. (I haven't had any problems with the paint scratching anywhere else. The Fusion paint really does a good job.)

The top portion of the 2-liter bottle will be inside the tub so it is not necessary to paint that area of the bottle.

The final step is to cut a small square of non-woven polypropylene fabric such as that from a blue Walmart shopping bag or some landscape fabrics. Fasten this to the top of the bottle using a wire or zip tie. This will keep the potting mix and roots in the bottle yet will allow the water from the tub to be absorbed into the soil to water your plant.

Firmly push potting mix down into the top of the bottle before filling the rest and inserting your plant. This will allow the water to wick up into the bottle to water the plant.

Maintaining The Plants 

The only maintenance required for this self-watering planter is to add water once a week or so, as needed, and to fertilize periodically. The plants will take only as much water as they need from the tub so they will never get water-logged, nor will they get too dry as long as you maintain the water level in the tub.

Fertilize your plants about once a month by adding Miracle-Gro All Purpose Water Soluble Plant Food to the water in the tub. Miracle-Gro and Jobe also make plant fertilizer spikes that you insert into the soil a few times a year. An excellent organic fertilizer is fish emulsion. These are all available at most garden centers.

Gardening in Straw Bales

I just read a great book by Joel Karsten, Guide to Growing a Straw Bale Garden. I was able to check out the e-book version from my public library, plus the author has a web site: http://www.strawbalegardens.com. I think the book and the method are completely awesome!

My new veggie garden is definitely going to be using straw bales, and it is going to be on my driveway! Because I don’t have a car, the driveway has just been wasted, south-facing, full-sun space. Straw bale gardens don’t need to be on dirt. And how convenient is it that fall is the best time to get straw bales?

Why is springtime so far away???

Make Your Own $50 Grow Light Stand from PVC Pipe

I made my own 48" grow light stand from PVC pipe based on instructions in this Vegetable Gardener Post.

I ordered everything shipped to my home from Lowes.com: a 48" shop light, fluorescent bulbs, 1" & 1-1/4" pipe, tee & elbow fittings, end caps, and lag & eye bolts— all for about $50. Since the order was over $49, shipping was even free.

I ordered the 1-1/4" pvc pipe as three 5’ lengths so it could be shipped and I’d have some extra, just in case. The 1" pipe came in 2-foot lengths already. I did not glue the pieces together--they are secure enough just pushed together and this way it can be dismantled for storage.

A word of warning to those with small hands: squeezing the pipe tool to cut the pipe was very, VERY HARD. Even with both hands I could barely get it done, and my hands are larger than most women’s. If you can’t get help from someone with strong, large hands to use this type of pipe cutter, you may want to plan some other method to cut the pipe.

Mystery Flowers

I seeded 4 coffee filters with seeds from an old Perennial Flowers seed packet.

I learned of the coffee filter method from this youtube video: Starting Seeds in Coffee Filters

I’m going to create a little Mystery Flower garden from these sprouts. Then I’ll spend all summer trying to figure out which plant is which.

It might be kind of fun to have a mystery garden flower seed swap where you get little packets of flower seeds, labeled only with their light and moisture requirements. (Or maybe call it a Guessing Garden???) Hmmmm…

There are still many left in the packet. I knew many of the common names, but there were still many I had to look up. (The packet only listed the botanical names.)

The packets says it contains:
Achillea filipendulina, Fern-leaf Yarrow (yellow)
Achillea millefolium, Yarrow (white)
Aquilegia vulgaris, Columbine (blue)
Centaurea cyanus, Cornflower (blue)
Cheiranthus allionii, Siberian Wallflower (orange)
Chrysanthemum Shasta, Shasta Daisy (white)
Coreopsis lanceolata, Lanceleaf Coreopsis (yellow)
Coreopsis tinctoria, Plains Coreopsis (yellow & red)
Dianthus barbatus, Sweet William (pink, red, or white)
Digitalis purpurea, Foxglove (various)
Echinacea purpurea, Purple Coneflower (purple)
Gaillardia aristata, Blanket Flower (yellow & brown)
Gaillardia pulchella, Indian Blanket (red, brown and yellow)
Gypsophilia elegans, Baby’s Breath (white)
Liatris spicata, Gayfeather (pink or purple or yellow)
Linum grandiflorum rubrum, Scarlet Flax (red)
Linum perenne, Perennial Flax (blue)
Lotus corniculatus, Bird’s-Foot Trefoil (yellow)
Lupinus perenne, Blue Lupine
Lychnis chalcedonica, Maltese cross (red)
Oenothera lamarckiana, Evening Primrose (yellow)
Papaver rhoeas, Corn Poppy (red)
Ratibida columnaris, Mexican Hat (yellow)
Rudbeckia amplexicaulis, Clasping Coneflower (yellow)
Rudbeckia hirta, Black-eyed Susan (yellow)
Saponaria ocymoides, Rock Soapwort (pink)